The Named Clothing Kielo wrap dress has been popping up literally everywhere and it was in the back of my mind to make when my friend Hélène proposed that we both make it (merci Hélène!).
I had the pattern printed and traced super quickly, but then faffed around trying to decide what fabric to use. I even laid out the pattern on some viscose knit and pattern matched and everything before changing my mind and going with yet more silk/cotton knit from Knitwit.
This time I used this rather gorgeous green, but as I was making it I began to worry that I would look as though I had emerged from a swamp! This dress will henceforth be known as my “swamp dress” :).
I did worry about the sizing. I should really have sized down a couple of sizes at the hips but decided to risk it because I actually couldn’t be bothered printing out a second pattern to do the grading. You can see that the wrap part overlaps at the front, where it perhaps shouldn’t. The pattern is also designed for someone 10cms taller than I am, but I didn’t have a clue how to accommodate a reduction, so I left that too. It doesn’t appear to be too long in the body – I was concerned that the wrap part would be around my knees!
There have been a load of reviews on this dress, so I won’t add to them. Yes, the pattern is quick to tape together because the pattern pieces are nested, and I really like that. I traced the nested pieces out separately and simply sewed the pattern pieces together to make a single pattern piece. Worked like a charm.
As you can see, I also printed off the free sleeve pattern, and it’s brilliant. The sleeve pattern also comes with a little armhole adjustment, but it’s easy to do, so don’t be put off by the pattern pieces. 
I chopped the bottom off the dress as a short dress is more useful to me than a long one, and this did cause me a bit of angst. I somehow didn’t make the bottom of the dress level and then I really struggled to make it level when I hemmed it. I also forgot to leave a gap at the back seam for a vent so cunningly put vents in the side seams, but I don’t think it was such a successful move. The dress doesn’t hang properly, so I unpicked the coverstitching that I had put round the two vents (what a pain!) and sewed further down the side seams, leaving very small splits. Originally the front of my dress was longer than the back and now the back seems to be longer than the front. I am considering my options here. I may just level the whole thing up and sew the seams all the way down to the bottom.
I also added a wide bias binding at the neckline to make it a bit higher for winter, and it probably could have been tighter, but I got sick of unpicking it. When I make a summer version I will eliminate this. 
I had several attempts to photograph this dress, making alterations after reviewing each set of photographs, and at some point Archie decided to join me – he’s busy annoying me by tickling my neck here.
This will be the perfect dress for my Sew a Seasonal Wardrobe: Destination challenge with the Facebook group. It’s going to form part of my capsule travel wardrobe and it can be layered for cooler weather which is a bonus. What’s nice is that the wrap can go either to the front or the back for different looks. 
In spite of its deficiencies, I think I will get a lot of wear from this dress. It’s a terrific pattern.