The Kimberly dress was the pattern I selected for my December’s Reviewers Group. I thought it would be the perfect dress to sew for the holidays and I’m so glad I was right 🙂 Their versions blew my mind and today I’m here to share with you what they’ve been making.
So, without any further ado, let’s move on to the makes and reviews!
The first Kimberly dress belongs to Whitney. She opted to make it sleeveless, so she could layer it with a cardigan, using a hot pink fabric. You can find her full pattern review HERE.
Sam made her Kimberly dress in a scuba, following the tutorial I posted HERE. This is what she said about the pattern:
“Oh my Goodness…where do I start with this dress. The pattern by the lovely Athina Kakou is just perfect. Ticks all the boxes for it’s fit, style and easy to follow instructions. The pattern is for woven fabric but explains how to size it to make it out of knits in her YouTube video. The half circle skirt has a double fabric panel hem band which is a great touch as it adds weight to the skirt and therefore helps it to hang beautifully. 😊
I opted for a knit dress as I already had this beautiful fabric from Fabric Styles. The only modifications I made was to size it down to size 6 as I was working with knit fabric. Reduce the bodice by 1.5cm which I have to do with most patterns. Shorten the sleeves. Oh and also didn’t add the pockets as I feel it may have added too much bulk because this scuba fabric is medium weight. The pattern also comes with a tie belt, but I had this ribbon for another dress so decided to wear it with this one. 💕
My first time ever adding a v-neck neckband was a success thanks to @mellysews for her excellent tutorial.
Will be adding few more Kimberlys to the wardrobe “
Nicki also decided to make her Kimberly dress in jersey. This is her review, as posted on The Foldline:
” I was chuffed to bits to be a reviewer for Athina Kakou’s Kimberly Dress Pattern for the month of December as I had seen the pattern when it was released and knew it was a style I liked with a fitted bodice and fuller skirt.
Being a December review it seemed obvious to make this as my Christmas Day dress and I had an idea of what I wanted so the plan was hatched. I had the idea that this style could be reminiscent of those gorgeous 50’s movies – think Grace Kelly in Rear Window but I really fancied making it in jersey, after all I planned to wear this on Christmas Day to enjoy all the fabulous food and also surprisingly enough I am not Grace Kelly so comfort was the way to go.
Athina is really good at detailing options with her patterns and invariably details many hacks and sewalongs to keep each pattern interesting. So, although this is primarily a pattern for a woven fabric she has indeed the option to make it in jersey.
I picked up a very simple grey ponte in my local fabric shop as well as a black stretch velvet and set to work.
The pattern instructions are clear and concise and great for beginners but as I was going off piste with this I relied on her website where she details the changes needed to make the dress in jersey. Firstly, size down, then front and back bodice pieces need to be tweaked to take out the seam allowance to then be cut on the fold. Essentially that was as complicated as it got. I did then need to draft a neckband and used the instructions on Athina’s Sheona dress to do it. Full disclosure, this was my first V neckband and I am pretty proud of it.
The dress came together quickly as I was able to construct most of it on the overlocker.
I will admit the stretch velvet was a bit of a struggle but lots of pins, slow and steady sewing seemed to do the trick. I used the velvet for the bottom band of the dress, the cuffs (these aren’t part of the pattern, I just added them for the look I was going for) and the waist tie belt. I was looking for a simple but classically elegant dress that was comfortable and I really think this hit the mark. I wasn’t sure initially with the tie belt because I am quite short and think sometimes belts can exaggerate that but because it’s quite a thin belt it actually works and really completes the old movie look I was going for but also works just as well without it. I did end up wearing it without the belt on Christmas Day and got a lot of lovely comments on the dress. So, that’s a success in my book. I will definitely try the pattern again, probably in a woven for the spring / summer.
Isa used a very unique fabric to create a contrasting panel, which I love so so much! You can find her full pattern review HERE.
Sherelle
Last but not least, Sherelle has made her first ever memade dress for Christmas and when I read her blog post about this Kimberly dress I got all teared up! She loved the pattern and I may have converted her back to wearing dresses again 🙂 Read her full review HERE.
And that was it for December! Can’t wait to see what everyone will be making for January’s pattern review 🙂
Hope you enjoyed seeing their versions. If you like the Kimberly dress, you can get the pattern from my shop HERE. Until the next time, happy sewing!
Athina
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