Making the Ninalee Park Lane dress from Sew_Got_This
We were so excited when Oyin was looking for a blogging team for 2022. We immediately registered our interest and were delighted to be picked to headline June and got thinking about what we wanted to make.
During Me Made May we conducted a wardrobe review and found I lacked floaty dresses for summer. At that exact time Yvette @blossomsandwich shared a pattern for a dress on her Instagram stories. We were hooked!!
This pattern was for the Ninalee Park Lane dress. There are so many variations for this pattern, which includes a blouse option. There are also two necklines and three sleeve variations. We decided on the midi dress with waistline gathers.
We looked at Lush Cloth’s website for some fabric inspiration and making a decision was hard! We were torn between three viscose fabrics which were all beautiful.
⭐️ Abstract Blue
⭐️ Wild Meadow (Ivory)
⭐️ Leaf Flutters (Burgundy)
We decided on the Wild Meadow in Ivory, which also comes in yellow. It is a lovely light weight fabric, with a smooth silk like finish giving a beautiful drape. Perfect for this pattern and the sunny weather we are hoping to get!
The fabric arrived and it was as beautiful in person! We got our notions together, which included a 41cm/16inch concealed zipper and some light weight interface. We used F220 Vlieseline lightweight iron on fusible interfacing. We picked the light weight interface as the fabric is quite flowy and we didn’t want it too thick or bulky.
We cut our fabric to a size 10, the Ninalee pattern goes up to a size 20, and got to work assembling the bodice. We recently made the Nina Lee Spring Dress which is a similar sort of construction. We did have to take off an inch off both sides of the bodice as it was slightly too big. We also applied some gathers along the back of dress, at the same point at the front gathers. Which worked really well in pinning the skirt to the bodice, without having that extra fabric throwing off the seam matching on the sides of the dress.
During a subsequent fitting it was decided that the recommended zipper would be left off. We felt the dress fitted so well without the requirement for a zipper that we didn’t need one! Taking the dress on and off wasn’t a problem either and ensured that once the sides were stitched up it would still be okay, luckily it was.
We went with the mid sleeve variation, leaving off the optional shoulder ruffle. The sleeves had a plain band cuff which were interfaced and attached to the sleeves, before attaching it to the overall bodice. We used the gathers along the top of the shoulder to help ease the sleeve on. It fit like a glove. The gathers look really lovely along the top of the shoulder, especially in this print as it really looks cute.
The neckline collar was interfaced and attached to dress. We thought the plain neckline would look great for this fabric and it kept the dress simple. We pressed this down and under the bodice to keep it in place. There is an option to top stitch this down, however for us the collar stayed in place nicely we didn’t need to top stitch.
The roulade was made and turned right side and attached after marking the correct spot. A cute silver flower bud button was hand sewn onto the back after marking the correct spot with some chalk. This was the most popular button when we did an Instagram story poll! Thank you to all who voted.
The dress was already the perfect length. As I am 5 foot 8 I need to remember length, especially with dresses and skirts. So we took the dress up by an initial 0.5 cm, pressed into place, followed by another 1 cm, then stitched into place. We pressed the top stitch after for a neat finish.
Overall, the fabric was just wonderful to work with from start to finish. The fabric pre-washed fine and the colours and pattern on the fabric is just beautiful. The drape is also perfect for this pattern and the overall affect was perfectly achieved.
Thank you so much Oyin for giving us the opportunity to pick some lovely fabric and make a beautiful dress to be featured by @lushcloth we will be making another soon, this time without the sleeves!
If you are interested in the fabric then click here for fabric details.
Laura and Carl