DVF Rip Off Wrap Dress/October Garment of the Month

Pattern Review: Butterick 5454

At the beginning of September I went on holiday to Paris.  We were walking past the Galeries Lafayette where Diane von Furstenberg was paying homage to 40 years of the wrap dress. It was such an awesome window display, here is a very sunkissed photo that I snapped. 

Suddenly it dawned on me that my current wardrobe does not contain a wrap dress. And I wanted one. Like right now. For this wrap dress I used Butterick 5454, now OOP. I had made this pattern before ages ago in my pre-blogging days and knew that it would be perfect. 

As you may have guessed, I am not a huge fan of dresses with sleeves, so I went for the flounce sleeved version, which is also a bit different and not hugely DVF in style. I cut a size 14 all over and made minimal changes My only alterations were to grade in a bit more boob coverage to the bodice pieces (aka a FBA) so I could wear this bad boy to work and I took 1.5" off the length, no reason really, just personal preference. 

I love the pleat detail as it creates a great A-line shape for the skirt. However, I wasn't sure how I felt about them in the back, I do have a fair amount going on there already, but having worn this dress they have really grown on me. Another thing that I love about the pattern are the sleeve options. I probably wouldn't go for view C, but I think that it is awesome that they have drafted the pattern pieces for this view should you be working with a border print fabric. I thought that was a nice touch. 

The fabric is a fun jersey print that I picked up from Dress Sew during my travels in Vancouver. I think it was around $7.99CAD per yard, and I snapped up two yards. It pre-washed and sewed beautifully. Lastly I love that this dress requires no notions! No popping out to buy a zipper, finding a hook and eye or anything else! This was a quick and easy stash-busting project, that filled a hole in my wardrobe and provided a fab burst of colour for the colder months. 

Speaking of, Summer is well and truly over here in the UK and there was a definite chill in the air when taking these photos. Not to mention rather windy!

You can see my Pattern Review here.

I already have a ITY knit in my stash earmarked for another version of this dress, so expect to see it burst forth on the blog sometime soon. In the meantime I have started thinking about my November Garment of the Month - Simplicity 1460. Believe it or not, this will be my first time sewing a vintage style pattern. Wish me luck!!