It's All About Kew

 Hola!

I've been away on a short (yet sorely needed) break and come to you today with a post about the Kew Dress.

The Kew Dress is by Nina Lee and has to be one of my favourite dress patterns of all time.  I have made several versions of this such as here and here. 

Once again my label can do the talking.

 Since it's original inception, the Kew Dress has been updated and added to, with several extension packs now available for differing sleeve and skirt shapes - there is the regular A-line version, a gathered version and also pencil skirt. All of which now come as separate skirt patterns too with the expanded sizing range. 

The version I could not get out of my head was this amazing maxi hack by Nina herself. It's a beauty of a version back from 2020 and I even bought the fabric straight away to make one!

And of course everything languished about for a couple of years.... 

During that time I found out I'm a fan of tiers (news to me but I'm going with it) and made a skirt and the Indigo Dress (yet unblogged). The gathering is now super easy using the shirring method and so an attempt at this Kew seemed less daunting!

I think I had also procrastinated about making this as I was sure I needed to size up and re-trace all my pattern pieces. I dug out my previous version and it fit just fine, so with a holiday on the horizon I set about a little project with a week to go. (For reference this is a 14 bust and 16 waist).

Oh it was worth the wait....

The pattern is immaculately drafted and the strap placement perfectly hides a bra. There are bust and waist darts in the front and back which shape the bodice nicely. The skirt piece then has a slight A-line shape to it and so skims the hips and tum wonderfully.

For this version I followed Nina's instructions and added a centre back zip which eliminated the need for a functioning button placket. The buttons were sewn through both layers of the placket without a buttonhole.

This fabric is 3m of viscose and I THINK it was Fabric Godmother however I can't be 100% sure on that. Regardless I absolutely love the colour palette and vibrant floral.

The tiers were added at mid-thigh and calf height and just consist of 2 large rectangles added to the layers above. The effect is a lovely swooshy maxi-dress perfect for the warm weather.

To anyone looking for a great dress this summer I would definitely recommend the Kew Dress! 

Kew (sic) another picture of me posing about in it.....

Wishing you all happy sewing.... in the meantime here's a picture of a little Wall Lizard I knitted when I got home.

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