Category: Pattern review

Nemesia dress by Glasshouse Patterns- pattern testing

Hello sewing friends!

You might have seen recently that lovely Tanja from Glasshouse Patterns realised yet another gorgeous pattern. This time it is for a knit dress with so many variations it makes my head spin.

The pattern


Nemesia dress comes with a flattering below the knee A-line skirt, with pleats at the front and the back. It features 3 sleeve lengths: full lenght, 3/4 and short. This can be further personalized by finishing either with a cute tie cuff or a cuff with a slit. This pattern also comes with an option of a crew or a V style neckline. Every option can be mixed and matched together creating different dress with each variation. Och, and let’s don’t forget the most important detail of this dress! It has big pockets!!!

For my tester version I decided to make a version 6 : dress with a crew neckline and short sleeves with a slit cuffs.

Fabric choice

A little while ago I had purchased two meters of this lovely red and white stripes viscose jersey from myfabrics.co.uk for £7.45 a meter and thought it would work really well with this pattern, although the pattern reccomend to use medium to heavy weight stretchy fabrics. My viscose jersey is more on a lighter side of a spectrum, which gives my dress more drape and movement. It turned out pretty good, but I would not wear it this time of year in London. It is more a spring/ summer type of dress.

As always, if you play around with a pattern layout you can manage to save on fabric. For my version the pattern suggests 2.5 meters of fabric, but I made it without any problem out of 2 meters. This is easily done if the width of a fabric is more than 140 cm as per instruction.

Pattern adjustments

Like with most patterns I had previously tested, there is no surprise that I had to make some adjustments to this pattern or tweak it in some way to achieve a better fit and/or correct some drafting errors. I cut out size 8 as per my body measurements, which is the standard size I use for Glasshouse Patterns and made the dress.

During this testing phase I had shorten a shoulder seam by 4 cm, because it came out way too long and looking at the line drawing of the pattern it was not correct. Next, I lowered an angle of the shoulder seam by 2 cm at the and dropped the armhole curve by the same amount. After comparing measurements of both, the sleeve cup and armcycle I decided to use sleeve one size smaller.

After basting the bodice pieces together I also decided to sew the side seam using size 7 lines because there was a little bit too much ease. Any excess fabric I had in the skirt I transfered into slightly bigger pleats.

Tanja had taken all feedback from the testing team and the final version was updated accordingly. The shoulder seam for bigger sizes has decreased in length and the armcycle redrafted. Sleeve were made tighter, the skirt pattern piece has been lengthened and back pleats made bigger. On top of that she added extra photos and improved the instruction booklet to make the assembly process even more easy.

Sewing the pattern

It is a easy and relatively quick pattern to sew. I made my dress within 3 hours, but as always matching stripes extended the time. I had no problems during the sewing process and as always the pattern instruction are very clear and simple to follow.

Nemesia dress pattern is designed for beginners in mind so there is nothing too complicated. The neckline has a facing instead of binding, which may surprise some people.

Final thoughts

Although I really love this pattern, and am planning to make more winter friendly version with long sleeves I need to be honest here and tell you the truth. Be careful about your fabric choice! Pockets on this dress are big, and the weight of them distort a hang of the dress significantly. That is why I wear mine with a belt, to keep the waistline at the waist. I was considering making pockets smaller to reduce the weight, but I love their size and didn’t think that it would make much of a difference at this time.

Are you loving this new pattern?

See you next time!

Monika xxx

Pattern testing Florence skirt by Sinclair Patterns

Hi sewing friends! This week I am bringing to you yet another pattern I had a enjoyment of testing, however this time it was was a Sinclair Patterns. This was my first time not only testing one of their patterns but it was also the very first time I had a pleasure of sewing a pattern from their broad collection. It is always fascinating to me how every business is unique and a little bit different in their approach.

Similar to SBCC Patterns, Sinclair Pattern target not only regular height people, but also people of a petite frame! This (as you may know) is something I always look for, because it make the whole process of fitting the garment so much simpler! So an a day I sew the call for pattern testers on Instagram I instantly knew I had to apply. The process to test the pattern for Sinclair Patterns looks exactly the same as for any other company I tested previously, but their time line is so much shorter. Normally I would have 2-3 weeks to sew a pattern, take photos and write a feedback. Sinclair Patterns however gives you about 9 days to do it all. It was not a problem for this particular project, but I can imagine it could be more difficult if a pattern is more complex.

Oxana, who runs the Sinclair Patterns company uses a closed Facebook group during pattern testing process, where we could past our in progress photos and ask any questions or share a feedback. This was very helpful and it was nice to see how everyone is getting on with their makes.

Let’s have a look on what I’ve been sewing!…

The pattern

Florence skirt comprises of 8 panels that give it a close fit at the waist and is semi fitted and flared at hips and hem respectively. There is an option to make a front button placket or you can skip the placket and go for a plain front with a side zipper. There are also two lengths variations: knee length and calf length.

I tested the knee length version with a button placket and apart from shortening the hem by 6 cm I did not make any other adjustments to the pattern pieces.

Fabric choice

The pattern is designed for light and medium weight woven fabric and I made mine from light chambray denim I purchased few months ago from myfabrics.co.uk for £8.45 a meter. At the time I wanted to make a casual trousers for end of a summer, but I never came around to doing it. I had 1.5 meter of this fabric and it was a perfect amount. You will definitely need more if you planning to make one out of directional print.

Overall the fabric was easy to handle, sew and press, but during the fitting process I realized that it have a tendency of stretching a little, in a similar manner that some linens do so I ended up having a little bit too much easy at the waist.

Sewing the pattern

The pattern is pretty straightforward, so it did not take long to sew. The whole process took about 2.5 hours, including making 8 button holes and hand stitching all buttons.

The pattern instruction is very detailed and it takes you through every step including recommended seam finish using a French seam method. As this is my preferred method I was happy to oblige.

After realising that my fabric stretched slightly, even after stay stitching waist edge and being careful I decided to take in 1 cm from each side seam plus inserted an elastic inside the waistband starting and ending on the second front panel. This worked absolutely fine and now it provides more comfort and flexibility during wear.

Final thoughts

Although there is nothing wrong with the pattern, I am not sure it is something I would like to wear. I like that it is easy to pair it with many different styles of tops, but even that does not convince me. I am glad I made it though, because it was a new experience and I am again one step closer to understanding what I like and what I do not like.

Have a great week!

Monika xxx