A Named Clothing Summery Leini Dress

There’s no denying that the few days of sunshine we have had of late totally inspired this dress! And why the hell shouldn’t it….

I had this gorgeous fabric from an impulse buy from the Sew Over It website. It is a lovely soft cotton (lawn I think) called Hyacinth. And the colours had me completely sold. I’m a sucker for blues anyway, but this just reminded me of the woods where I sometimes go with my family, when they are like a carpet of bluebells. You might remember an old post of mine with a Rigel bomber jacket which was photographed in said woods with bluebells.

When I received the fabric I realised that it is quite sheer. I thought I’d see if I could get away without lining the dress, but made the right decision to fully line it I think.

On to the pattern – A Named Clothing Leini dress. This was my very first Named Clothing pattern. I bought it online, so had the PDF assembling to tackle first. I genuinely think I am fully converted to using PDFs.

I was initially drawn to this pattern because it has the lovely elasticated waistband, which tends to look ok on me. I decided to go for making a size 10, as I was worried that the skirt could look too tight if I went for an 8. As it turned out I kind of wish I had made the 8, but the design of the dress means that it is forgiving on the bodice, as a billowy/blousey effect kind of works. But I’ll remember to take it down to a size 8 for the next one.

This pattern also features some large pleats up the front of the bodice. When I came to make this I just felt as though that would give the dress an angular/severe look which I thought possibly wouldn’t work well with my fabric choice. So I decided to keep the pleat on the wrong side of the fabric, so you only see the neat seam running up the front. Pleased I decided to do this!

And I also had to take quite an amount off of the length of the dress – maybe about 15cm. This is probably because I am quite short though 😉 And I do like to wear dresses at a slightly shorter length anyways.

I had a bit of fun messing around with the overlocker to hem the skirt lining, and tried out a rolled hem for the first time. Genuinely thought I was going to stuff this up, but it was fantastic! Not sure if it is the perfect type of finish for a skirt lining, but I like it.

I am so pleased with how this dress has turned out. Definitely going to be slipping into this for summer BBQs and parties!

I have added a few more close-up photos to this blog post, so hope you like seeing more of the detail of my makes. Let me know what you think – always love a natter me 🙂

Pattern: Leini Dress by Named Clothing

Fabric: Sew Over It

Size made: 10