Elbe Textiles Homme Wrap dress sewing pattern review

Jul 17

Jul 17 Elbe Textiles Homme Wrap dress

Today I'm showing you the Homme Wrap, another pattern I chose on impulse when putting a printing order together a while back. I made the dress version (view A), there is also a jumpsuit version. This comes in a B and a C/D cup version, I did the C/D in a size G.

woman wearing a wrap dress in pale coloured flowers on a cream background

The fabric is some linen viscose I got from a friend, she was getting rid of it as she thought it was too pale to suit her. I don't usually wear these sort of colours either but I was persuaded to give it a try because it is so pretty. She thought there was 2.5 metres, and the pattern called for 2.9, which seemed doable to me. Except there was only actually 2.35, and that wasn't quite possible. I ended up shortening the skirt pieces by 10cms, and that was enough, and I probably could have got away with just shortening by 7. So I reckon 2.5 actually should be just about doable. Maybe 2.6 to be on the safe side. In any case, this pattern is drafted for 5'7" and in 5'4" so it being shorter is definitely not a problem

I was overconfident and only skimmed the instructions and that bit me in the bum slightly, as I missed that you need an absolute ton of bias binding to finish the wrap fronts and sleeve hems and also some elastic for the waist. Fortunately I had just about enough of both to make it work, phew!

I also don't know if I followed the instructions properly anyway, as it seemed to be suggesting that you finish the curve with bias binding and then turn it over again, which sort of defeats the point of using it in the first place? I probably didn't read it properly. In any case, just attaching it to the inside worked perfectly fine.

Speaking of turning things under a couple of times, this fabric is on the thick side and in places you have to get through four layers, which my standard needles struggled with a bit. The other thing I struggled with was threading the elastic through the waist. The channel is made out of the bottom on the bodice and the top of the skirt, so there are a lot of seams with folded over seam allowance to get past. I ended up having to unpick the channel at the two side seams.

One thing I would do if making this again is to line the waist ties, because this fabric does have an obvious wrong side, which you can see when it's tied up. It does suggest doing that in the instructions, but my the point I got to this step I just wanted to finish it, plus I'm not sure I would have had enough fabric anyway.

So that's quite a lot of problems I've had with this, but I actually really like this pattern and am very happy with the result. It's an interesting and clever construction and it's something different for me, including the colour. This makes me feel as if I'm going to the royal garden party!