WHOOOOOOOOOOO LOVES CAKE? I’m talking about the new pattern line, the brainchild of our beloved StephC (although the food is all kinds of delicious too, mmm). Tiramisu is her first offering – a knit dress with a mock-wrap front (in cup sizes A-D), short kimono sleeves, and pockets.
I was actually part of the crew of ladiez who were initially chosen to test the pattern before it went to print. There was a small snafu with the tester printing (so it goes), which is why you see my dress at the same time you are (hopefully!)holding your own copy of the pattern. I’m still treating this like a test pattern, which is why I actually paid attention to the instructions and made notes as I sewed. I also made a muslin. I never make a muslin for knits – are you proud of me? ARE YOU?
Despite treating this like a test, I’m sorry to report that my pictures are still total shit. You know, winter, lack of light, I’m not getting up early, blah blah. Also, my hair looked REALLY good last night and I need to take advantage of that. Them’s the breaks!
Anyway, check out my new dress!
~So in love!
It looks totally different in a solid color, yes?
For this lil guy, I used a gorgeous purple bamboo knit that I bought at Vogue Fabrics while I was in Chicago. I actually bought it specifically to make this pattern; I’ve been holding it for a few months haha. I wish I had a big enough piece to send every single one of you a little swatch – it is the softest thing I have ever put on my body ahhhh!! And the color… none of these photos (mine or the ones from Vogue) do it justice. It is the most beautiful eggplant purple in the world.
Basically, I never want to buy another knit that isn’t bamboo again. Ever.
So let’s talk about the pattern! The sizing is pretty brilliant, and in fact my favorite part – you pick based on your high bust measurement, and then corresponding cup measurement (which is more of a measurement of proportion rather than the actual size bra that you would normally wear). The waist band is chosen based on your actual measurement (rather than the usual, “Well, if your bust is x, then your waist is y.”). It sounded confusing at first read, but once I actually got the pattern in my hands and looked over the sizing information, it was pretty easy to determine what size I should cut.
The size I ended up with was 30D, based on my measurements, and the waistband was cut for a 25″ measurement. I had to make a couple small changes to get my preferred fit, but even straight out of the envelope it was looking pretty good!
The changes I made were actually pretty mundane:
– I took about 1/2 off the bottom of the front bodice, as it stretched a little too low in the muslin (PROTIP: When making a muslin for this dress, you only mock-up the bodice & midriff. Since the skirt weighs down the whole top and thus affects the fit, it is pretty important to pull down the band to mimic this if your fabric is on the heavy side. Otherwise, you may end up with a longer bodice once you sew the skirt on!)
– I took at least 1″ off the side seams, for a much more snug fit
– I took 3.5″ off the hem, as below-the-knee doesn’t look so hot on me. The skirt is 20.5″ now.
Ok, looking back, I realize that those bust changes mean I actually ended up with a 30C. WHATEVA.
Things I love about this dress:
DAT SKIRT.
SOFT POCKETS.
NO GAPE.
Seriously, the bodice engineering on this thing is a thing of beauty and wonder.
One thing I did note with this particular dress is that the pockets do add a bit of bulk at the hips. I think this is unique to my particular fabric (it’s quite clingy due to the 4 way stretch), as it’s not apparent on Steph’s version (or the bonus version), but I think it bears mention if you are concerned about that kind of thing. I’m not, personally, so the pockets will stay.
Oh, here are some pictures without the belt, btw:
It’s still pretty! I just like to belt, well, everything 🙂
The only thing I would change next time I make this is to sew the sleeve binding on after the side seams are sewn. It’s a personal preference – I know why the pattern has you sew the binding on before (so you can test and tweak the fit – and yes, it comes in handy!), but I just like the way it looks as an, er, uninterrupted tube. It also may or may not have anything to do with the fact that I sewed the sleeve binding to the bottom of the midriff on my first go (and no, I’m not bitter or anything, why do you ask?).
Another thing I’ll mention is that the fabric estimates are generous. I only used 1.5 yards of my 60″ fabric. Even at $15 a yard, that’s a pretty cheap dress!
I know my threads look as white as I am, but I promise they are purple! Also, this picture is boring as hell.
Anyway, super happy with this one! I can see this in lots of different fabrics – it’s so comfortable, especially since you don’t have to worry about THE GAPE.
With that being said, if you haven’t already done so – you really need to pick up a copy! And OMG so excited about the upcoming Pavlova!!
LLADYBIRD 
that pattern looks great in that color! very elegant!
OMG – LOVE this!
I love your version, it makes me want to make this dress right now. The one colour looks really sophisticated but still super comfy and wearable. Fantastic job!
I love the dress, it looks fabulous on you 🙂 The pattern really does look different in a solid color, and I like it.
Your posts always make me laugh, they are so witty and amusing 🙂
It’s beautiful!! AMAZING fit and it looks ridiculously comfortable. I feel like lots of patterns that are intended for knits kinda of d.g.a.f. about the cuteness factor and just assume that knitwear = frump city. NOT the case here! It’s super cute and stylish and a knit! WIN WIN WIN!
I hear ya! A lot of knit patterns can veer on the side of fug (especially when they start adding a lot of positive ease when it isn’t necessary). I’m so glad that the indie patternmakers are stepping up the game on that side of the fabric world – because I looooooveeee knits haha 🙂
*gasp* It’s gorgeous!! And how marvelous that it doesn’t gape!
This is a fabulous dress. It really accentuates your figure, in a great way. Thanks for sharing, as I was not crazy about the striped one. This gives a much different view of this pattern.
This is such a lovely pattern and the eggplant colour suits you to a tee. Love the tights and wedges as well. Overall style win, I say.
That’s absolutely gorgeous! Love the colour and the shape on you. Really really awesome!
It does look different in a solid color; more Katherine Hepburn somehow. Thanks for the review. That seems like an ingenuous way to cut out the pattern pieces – based on real measurements!
Yes! It’s so nice to get a good fit without having to do maths and head scratching 🙂
Its fab fab fab!!!!!! Have my patt a week now. have traced it and have the fabric. you have spurred me onto getting started. love the colour of yours, may have to get some even if it means paying huge shipping. well done.
I have my pattern…I know where the fabric is coming from…I just need to clear a few decks before I can sew this. I was in love with it before…but a dress that doesn’t flash boobies at the school gate AND looks this cute is top of the soon to sew list. Especially if it turns out anywhere near as cute as yours.
Gorgeous! The colour and shape are literally perfect on you! I was sceptical about this pattern for myself because I really did think that it would gape at the chest, but you have totally reassured me that that’s not the case ;o)
I promise it doesn’t gape! I tried to hard to get it to, but no matter how much I slouch and contort my body, it wants to stay in place. SO AWESOME.
WOW! What a great dress! Love the fit and shape, and the ‘no gap’ – definitely a win win! Terrific job! I’d probably leave the pockets off for me, but I love that it has that option.
BTW…May I just say that the state of your sewing room impressed me no end. Mine has not EVER looked that way. EVER. Yet in your pics, yours always looks incredibly organized and pristine, with not bits of fabric, thread, etc cluttering the floor or tables. Amazing. Mine constantly looks like a war zone…which considering my latest go with a knit dress, perhaps that’s accurate!
Enjoy your dress – it’s terrific.
Hehe! Well, to be fair, I do a quick clean-up before I take pictures – but it’s not usually much, just randumb fabric scraps and threads. I do try to keep it clean for the most part, since I can’t work too well in a messy space 🙂
Ah! Very nice dress! You look terrific in it!
Fricken awesome!!!!!
I love this dress and your hair is mega glamorous!
Very Cute
Very flattering, and I imagine it’s comfortable too.
It is! Like wearing super stylish pajamas 🙂
Will you please just become a sewing instructor and put me out of my misery!! I am soooo ready to get onto the other side of the learning curve 😦
Teaching sewing is my end-goal dream, actually! So it’s possible! 🙂 In the meantime, you should check out Steph’s blog – she’s doing a 30 minute a day sewalong for this pattern.
this is adorable but i can’t sew— gimme a hair tutorial ;-]
It’s just pin curls 🙂 Come over with a pack of bobby pins and I will show you how! HAIR DATE.
It’s fabulous! You look amazing in eggplant and I’m in awe of the non-gapage factor. I love every single thing about it! I’m now more convinced that I want to make this for myself. Wonderfully inspired! You rock it girl!
I bought the pattern,and every time I see another version, I like it even more. Can’t wait until this pattern gets to the top of my project queue !
’tis awesome. I love it!
Totally amazing on you, the fit, the style, not to mention your sewing skills, but then again, with your figure you could wear a paper bag and look a million dollars.
Ahahahah! I love this dress on you! The bamboo really really shows of the drape in the skirt, doesn’t it? How lovely! 🙂 #excited!!!
Yes! Bamboo was an awesome choice – the best of all knit worlds, I think. And I have enough left over to make a bunch of undies lol. Thank you again for letting me try this out!
Oh that is SOOOOO pretty, I love the colour. Always had a soft spot for purple. It looks great on you. I really cannot wait for the work craziness to die down for Christmas so I can give it a go myself.
Looks great!!! So happy to hear the fabric estimates are generous, I have a knit in kind but I only have 1.5 m. 😀
I almost made mine in a dark purple too! And I know that fabric you’re talking about- I often have to pet the knits when I go into Vogue. Unfortunately though, I’ve heard from other bloggers that bamboo knits can be prone to lots of pilling. I haven’t worn mine nearly enough to tell yet (I did not get them from Vogue). Great job on such a flattering dress! I wish my Tiramisu looked as lovely as yours, but I’m running into a few fit problems.
Thanks for the heads up on the pilling – I’ll make sure to treat this dress a little more carefully. At bamboo is a renewable resource (unlike some, ::cough:: other “fibers” haha), so I won’t feel too bad replacing it when it does die 🙂
Oh my – that gif totally didn’t come through on my reader, so it caught me off guard when I clicked through to comment. So funny. Anyway, love the dress. I need more of these type of dresses in my life. Now to make that a reality…
Wow! This is GORGEOUS, Lauren! I wish I could commission you to make me one. It looks stunning! ❤
Wow. This looks amazing on you. That .gif cracked me up too! But you’ve convinced me to try this pattern, it looks so good in a solid and you rock this so well. Then again, I pretty much want to make everything you do after you’ve made it. (Note to self. Try to avoid being toooo stalker creepy online.)
Hey, I’m a creep too sometimes! Creep on, creep on 🙂
Should I mention that I have half your pages bookmarked as inspiration then? 🙂
Tiramisu looked more like a fun frosting project to me when I first saw it in the stripes, but I think the mere fabric change-out to a solid, shows how this pattern really is the substance that can make a wardrobe. You look amazing in the eggplant colored fabric, too.
It’s so great to see your version as I hold mine own pattern and stare longingly at it. I have fabric, just too may gifts to make….still. It’s gert lush ( West Country 90s speak) and your beautiful plum version is exactly why I bought the pattern- a slightly glam wardrobe staple and it’s for knits!!
That’s great pattern and dress – all with the serge – great!
OMG you look amazeballs in that dress! Fabulous as always and yes your hair does look good!
It looks totally adorkable on you. Love the color too!
You look simply great in this – the style is beautiful on your figure! I confess to wondering if it will look as good on me. The band around the middle – it is designed to go from just under the bust to the waist? I am very long-waisted, and I wonder if lengthening it so it fits appropriately will make it look strange instead of just cute. Any thoughts on how this dress is designed in that area?
That’s a good question. Mine goes from under the bust to the waist, although I am also petite, so I have a bit of a short waist. I think you’d be find either way – lengthening it or leaving it as-is. Maybe email Steph and see what she says? She’s pretty great at answering all my weird questions haha
Gorgeous, as always! I love the color on you – and wrap dresses, mock or real, are really one of my all time favorite silhouettes on ladies! I know the gape can be annoying as shit, but when it’s all working and fitting… DAMN!! Girl looks good.
Oh my god you look wonderful Lauren, that dress is AWESOME! I’ve received my pattern and now that I’ve seen yours, it’s gone straight to the top of my sewing list. I love the shorter length too. x
Yes!! I can’t wait to see yours – I hope it’s red 😉
When I saw this post in my inbox, I was like “OMG I just got my pattern in the mail a few days ago… how on earth did she make it so fast??” and now I know ^__^ What’s funny is that the fabric I ordered for mine is almost identical to yours, albeit a little more ‘plummy’. Great minds think alike, no? ^___^ Beautiful job, I like it with the little slim belt 🙂
Haha, I actually got my pattern the same time y’all did 🙂 It just sews up really fast! I think I had the whole thing made start to finish in like 2 hours. I love knits so much.
wow, that’s so awesome to hear!! I’m definitely being won over to the knit side as well ^___^
I recognized that fabric right away! It looks awesome!! I remember when you were here and I asked you what the hell a Tiramisu was, and of course I looked it up and realized its awesomeness and have my own pattern here waiting to dive in, once I figure out what fabric to buy. (Well and I’m waiting for her sew-along too.) Anyway– that aside: LOVE THIS. So perfect and classic in the color you picked. Seriously fabulous. I can totally see dressing it up or down. Win win win!
It’s going to look so good on you, I can’t wait to see if after you pick out a fabric (y’know, Vogue has lots of those bamboo knits in other solid colors 😉 haha). I remember the woman cutting my fabric was like, “… you know this is $14.99 a yard, right? Are you sure you want two yards”? and I was all, “JUST SHUT UP AND TAKE MY MONEY, GOD!” haha!
Beautiful! the pattern, the fabric, the color, everything!! Iwant it!
I need to get my ass in gear and start sewing with knits, because this is just too damn cute. I love this colour on you, as well!
This looks amazing on you! What a great color for you! This style really emphasizes your ridiculously awesome figure, and WHAT?! A no-gape surplice?!?!?! It’s a Christmas miracle!
LOVE the dress! And your hair is totally adorable!
This is so gorgeous! I love the colour of the fabric – just lovely. I’m definitely going to have to get myself a copy of the pattern!
It looks bloody amazing Lauren!!!!
Love the solid color! That is gorgeous! Also love your tights!
Love it. Your dress makes me want to buy the pattern. I’ve made the Vogue DKNY wrap dress, and it gapes like all hell…
Great color, great cut on this dress– and I didn’t even know it was possible for wrap dresses like that NOT to gape in the front (also, I didn’t know that was the technical term for the “oh, for all the blamed…is my slip/bra/naked chest peeking out of this?” phenomenon of many seventies’ dresses). Also, that gif is hilarious. Bravo, lady!
love it , love it, love it!!
fab stuff as usual
Wow–your version is so elegant and beautiful, it’s totally made me give this pattern another look. The sizing does indeed sound brilliant, too. Do you think this would work for breastfeeding? Or, you know, just if I feel like exposing my boob now and then?
You know, I actually think it would work for breastfeeding. I’m not 100%, since I’ve never had to do that… but the bodice seems good for that purpose, without actually exposing both girls at once (just one at a time haha) 🙂 I think it would be best in a stretchier fabric – anything too stable (like double-knit) might make if difficult to pull over one side.
This is really pretty! You inspired me to buy the pattern and give it a try. Do you get a commission for that? 😉
Haha, no, no commissions for me (and I promise I’ll let y’all know if it ever comes to that haha). I just like to support my friends and pattern companies that I think deserve some recognition!
This is such a lovely dress. That color looks so good on you. Yay, for no gape! That alone makes it an excellent pattern. Oh and I understand the impulse to always wear a belt. I like to belt everything, too! 🙂
I love your blog and especially love this Tiramusu! It’s been ages since I’ve done any sewing but you’ve inspired me to pull my sewing machine out of the back of my closet and plan a new wardrobe. So thank you!