You can find the Kim pattern on the By Hand London website here. It's an absolute steal at £9.50 right now for the PDF.
So I feel like Kim and I went on a journey. A journey fraught with late night sewing, unpicking, tears and finally relief and joy. I want to start out by saying THE PATTERN IS GREAT. The issues I had were mostly self inflicted. I started by using my Swedish Sewing Paper (this stuff is the absolute bomb, fibrous paper you can SEW, genius) to make a toile of the bodice. At this point I was going to use the paint spatter fabric from Lady McElroy in the image below and the full skirt view. I showed my boyfriend the combo I was planning and he nodded sagely before saying: 'Don't you think that fabric looks a bit... er... 1980s shell suit?' WHAT??? It's beautiful, it's artistic, and oh okay yes it's a bit mad and 80s 😆
He then went through my stash (sounds a bit rude...) and found a gorgeous piece of Rifle Paper Co. fabric I had bought ages ago from Japan (this amazing etsy seller: Miss Matatabi). It was perfect for the wedding I was planning on wearing it for as she's Australian and he's English and it features landmarks from around the world including the Palace of Westminster and Sydney Opera House. I was worried as I didn't have enough for the full skirt version. But my new found fashion designer boyfriend put on his giant sunglasses, doffed his vintage fedora and said 'Daaarling, why don't you make the wrapped skirt version? It's so much more chic, n'est-ce pas?' (some of this exchange may be exaggerated for comic effect... not much though). So I had to admit he was right. And make him promise to design all my future makes. Here she is, my sewing paper toile with 80s fabric!...
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| Sewn up paper toile |
So far, so fabulous. Then disaster struck. The moral of this fable is NEVER SEW TIRED. I cut out the skirt panels forgetting that I'd made adjustments to the bodice which would need to be matched with the skirt panels. Basically I'd made them too small. I'd cut my beautiful fabric, there wasn't enough left to remake the skirt. Cue crying into my dress form and cursing myself for being a colossal idiot. Thank goodness for my partner-in-style who found the fabric online and ordered me an extra 1.5 meters next day delivery. At this point the wedding was just days away and I was really worried I wouldn't have time in my evenings to pull it together and finish it off.
Ta-dah! Thankfully I managed it. Those By Hand London ladies know how to make a brilliant pattern. Their instructions were like a reassuring friend, holding my hand as I reassembled to knife pleats and darts in the skirt, to create a super-sexy skirt shape (I don't normally go for such a fitted style, but with the brilliant fit of the Kim I felt like a 50s screen siren!). The only deviation from the pattern was my decision to hem the skirt with gold bias tape. As the skirt has a high-low thing going on I wanted a really pretty finish inside, a little flash of gold on the dance floor!
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| Gold binding of JOY! |
I love the finished dress. The only con (which others have also raised) is that the wrap skirt is a bit er, flashy when you sit down or dance. A carefully deployed safety pin sorted this out no problem. I danced the night away celebrating the marriage of two incredible humans and dear friends. Congratz Ash and Jess! xoxoxo
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| With Jess, the most beautiful bride! |
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With my fashion designer 😎 |
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