Sewing Adventures – Nina Lee Kew Dress in vintage embroidered cotton

This is more of a wearable toile but I’ve been wearing it so much despite a few issues that I thought it was well worth it’s own blog post.

Last year when Pitt Trading did their Summer Soiree Nina Lee offered a discount code so I picked up the Kew Dress after seeing so many lovely versions online.

Because I wanted to make a wearable toile I used this vintage embroidered cotton from the stash. It’s got marks on it after the fire and while I loved the fabric it’s so very close to my skin tone that it was destined to be a dress I wore at home only. To combat the eyelet holes it’s fully underlined in white cotton voile.

The pattern itself went together with ease, all the seams line up and things just fitted which is such a pleasure in a pattern.

This one I cut without any alterations and in hindsight there are a few things I’d fix. It wrinkles at the back, the straps are too long for me (though I have a sneaking suspicion I actually cut them at the wrong length) and I need to adjust the position of the straps to cover my bra.

You can also see where it pulls at the centre front on the waist seam. This is not a pattern problem, this is because I’m lopsided after surgery and it causes things to gape there. Honestly I’m not that bothered about it on a dress I had always intended to wear at home or over my swimmers going to and from a swim. If it was intended for fancier purposes then I’d do something about it.

However, it has been such a great dress in this heat. It’s easy to wear and move about in, I particularly like the slightly dipped back hem. The buttons (awesome unicorn shimmer ones from Pitt Trading) also mean it’s not as tight feeling as a zippered dress which is good when you feel like a sweat puddle.

Pattern: Nina Lee Kew Dress

Fabric: vintage embroidered cotton from the stash originally from the Fabric Cave. Buttons from Pitt Trading

Alterations: next time shorten straps, eliminate back gaping and potentially look at under bust wrinkles (or just stand up straight!)