Laura’s Holland Park Dress
Sometimes projects come to test us, and we get the dose of reality that not all sewing goes the way we want. Unfortunately, this was one of those times.
I’ll start off with the positives: the fabric. Oh, my goodness, what an absolute stunner! The Lady McElroy viscose is so soft with gorgeous drape. I really love the print and colours too.
I had such a clear vision with this beautiful fabric. I really wanted to emulate a boho vibe with a long flowy skirt, floaty ethereal sleeves, and a cinched waist. The Holland Park dress from Nina Lee seemed like the perfect choice.
The pattern looks great on paper, and when I looked up the hashtag on Instagram, everyone was singing its praises.
It is described as the “ultimate cottagecore pattern”. Exactly what I was looking for. It comes with 7 sleeve options, as well as a top variation. So, plenty of bang for your buck. I went with the plain long sleeves, albeit amended slightly as I didn’t want the sleeve frill.
As the fabric is so drapey, I decided to make my life easier and use some grosgrain ribbon for the elastic channels around the waist, which worked out really well.
It was all going swimmingly until it came to the neckline facing, and that is where my sanity was thrown out of the window.
The facing around the neckline is 4 straight strips of fabric, sewn together to form a large loop. This is then attached around the neckline. The instructions do state that you are attaching a straight edge to a curved edge and will need some easing in.
My major issue is that the facing came up so short, the amount of easing is a bit ridiculous but I got there in the end.
Next, you folded the facing to the inside and sew two lines of parallel stitching to create a channel for the elastic and a short frill around the edge. This is where I seriously fell out with it!
Admittedly if I wasn’t on a deadline to get this finished, it would have gone into the naughty corner for a significant amount of time.
There was not enough easing in the world that that facing was going to lie flat. I ended up with so many tucks, I was not at all happy with it, but I figured that it was going to get hidden anyway with the elastic in to bunch it all up.
It was such a relief when I had eventually finished this dress. I really wanted to love it, but I think that I am probably too clouded by negative emotions connected to this dress right now.
Something about the drafting seems completely off to me, which is very unusual as I have made and loved several Nina Lee patterns. I would love to know what I’m doing wrong here, as the reviews from other sewists who’ve made this dress are polar opposite to my experience.
A reminder that everyone’s sewing is not perfect, and what we see on Instagram is just a highlight reel. A bad sewing experience makes way for the pure joy in getting it just right.