Sabrina and Victoria

I had an occasion lately for wearing something a little more dressy, a fun Gala musical event at our local theatre, a good excuse to try out a different pattern and make something new.  So, whilst surfing the internet one Saturday evening I ended up with the byhandlond sabrina dress.

I love this pattern, it's 'a sweet and simple princess seamed A-line dress', and it really does come together very quickly.  I decided to use fabric that I have had hiding for a number of years that I got from Tessuti, it was for one of their competitions that I never got around to using at the time.  It's called Gridlock (if you google Tessuti Gridlock you will see all the creations that were made at the time).  It's the first time I have made a ByHandLondon dress, I did buy the Anna, but wasn't sure about the bodice, I thought it would make my very wide shoulders appear even more wide.

Clearly need more width here!

Anyway, this pattern is great and very simple, I think it took a couple of evenings.  There is a bodice lining, for that I used an atelierbrunette fabric cosmic blue, which goes really well with the Gridlock fabric, it's so lovely and soft to wear as a lining to.  It pressed beautifully too and as long as you do your understitching there shouldn't be any poking out.  The gridlock fabric can be used either side, white or blue, so I thought I'd use the princess sections to do that, I think it works well.  The back has an invisible zip which went in fine.

Unfortunately, as is very obvious from the photo, it is a little bit snug around the waistline, I suppose I could let out some of the seams, not sure I'm going to be ripping this one out though.  I do really like the pattern though so if I make it again I'll adjust accordingly, I think I would also use a lighter, more drapey fabric, it would be nice in linen for summer or a crepe fabric.  It's simple enough in style to make a great work dress too.  You could, of course, do some colour blocking like black and white, lots of possibilities.

I wore it with my byhandlondon victoria blazer that I made a couple of years ago when it was first released - I think they went very well together.  Also because of the A-line design of the dress, it was great for dancing!  No photos of that, you'll just have to believe me!