Reviewed: Lady Skater Dress by Kitschy Koo

Having now fully replenished my winter skirt wardrobe with my last three sewing projects, I decided to face the horror that is fitting anything to my upper body and work on seeing if I could figure out a simple knit dress TNT. Actually, saying that I want a simple knit dress TNT is not really a good description of what I want. What I really want a set of simple knit dress components that work together: some skirt options, some bodice options, some sleeve options. My idea is that I'll figure out a few such basic components using various patterns, and then see how frankenpatterning them together works out for me.

I decided to start with the Kitschy Koo Lady Skater Dress, as previously made by oh, half the internet. This is really the most basic knit dress imaginable. It's fundamentally a tee with a skirt attached. It has a close fitting bodice and an overall fit and flare shape with a waist seam. Since I want to be able to swap in different skirts/bodices later on, I really wanted to start with a basic dress with a waist seam.

Lady Skater Dress in floral print, as modelled by Flossie. I am so much taller than Flossie that her hip is my waist.

Being really basic does not necessarily mean easy for me though. A recent (depressing and therefore unblogged) failure of an apparently easy knit top pattern from Ottobre made me really reluctant to get started on this dress. I had started to feel like I would just never get anything to fit my bust ever. I eventually, grumbling to myself, printed it out and stuck it all together, and spent a LOT of time measuring and being unkind to myself about the size I needed (why do I do this to myself? who gives a damn what size I need?). I eventually cut a muslin to a very very weirdly shaped pattern because I span like, four sizes between shoulders, bust and waist, sewed it up dubiously, and then was like: oh! oh! THIS WORKS! :D! So, I'm writing this up as a WIN, even though I am less than 100% sure this printed fabric really works for me. The actual dress is maybe not so much as a win as an 'um, OK, but the next one is going to be AWESOME". Plus, with this being the most basic of all basic close-fitting knit bodices, the fact that I have something that works so well means that I also, essentially, have a knit bodice sloper now. And it took one muslin with a very few little tweaks to get there. I am sure I will refine it a bit, but for now I almost feel like I cheated my way to a sloper. Bad sewist, finding something that works so quickly. No biscuit. Get thee back to blood sweat and tears and thirty-eight muslins.

As modelled by yours truly. Why is there always a thread you only notice AFTER you've taken photos?

Pattern Description: From the website: "This funky yet functional knit dress has a fitted bodice, scooped banded neckline, a curved flared knee-length skirt, and options for trimmed cap sleeves, or banded ¾ length sleeves or long sleeves."

Pattern Sizing: Sizes 0-8 (pattern creator's own sizing system) which relate to upper bust sizes 30"-44". The pattern is written with negative ease through the bodice for a close fit. I ended up with a hybrid size that was somewhere between a size 4 (shoulders) and a size 7 (bust).

Did it look like the photo/drawing on the pattern envelope once you were done sewing with it? Well, the drawing is a bit basic, but yes. It also looked just like the samples shown on the pattern creator's website.

Were the instructions easy to follow? Yes, and I appreciated the fact the author provided both very detailed instructions for beginners and a cheat sheet for those who'd worked with knits before. This would be an excellent pattern for a beginner or beginner with knits who wants her hand held through every step.

What did you particularly like or dislike about the pattern? I was drawn to this pattern by how simple it was after I saw other people making it around the sewing blog world, and by the fact that it didn't take too much fabric. Having made a muslin, including a little peplum skirt just to see how and where the waist seam would fit, I found I really liked the fit straight off the pattern sheet. The pattern all fit together beautifully along every seam, which I also really appreciate, and it was even really very painless to stick together the original e-pattern. I heartily dislike that the pattern author includes NO metric measurements at all. This is marginally forgiveable when indies are American, where inches and yards are the norm. It is not at all forgiveable when the pattern creator is British, as this one is, and metric is the norm. Overall, though, this was just a really easy, simple make that lived up to all my expectations.

Fabric Used: I just BARELY managed to squeak a three quarter sleeved dress out of this 1.75m remnant of a lightweight printed black jersey. It has plenty of horizontal stretch and a little more vertical stretch than I was entirely expecting. Mostly though, I am impressed with myself that despite my fabric shortage, I didn't end up with a flower right over a nipple. Go me!

Pattern alterations or any design changes you made: I did a cheater's FBA to accomodate my enormous bust and blended across multiple sizes from shoulder to hip. I lengthened the skirt by 7cm (which really didn't help my I-have-barely-enough-fabric problem) as I am rather taller than the pattern creator's model (the instructions say it should hit the knee at 5'4". I am 5'8"). The extra vertical stretch in my fabric meant I ended up turning up a little extra hem in the end because I maybe only needed to add 6cm to the length.

Would you sew it again? Would you recommend it to others? I will definitely sew it again, and I would definitely recommend it to anyone looking for a very simple dress pattern. It's not a world-changing design, but if you're looking for a simple, easy to make basic pattern, it's great.

Conclusion: I've seen this pattern described by several people as the closest a dress can get to pyjamas, and that is exactly what it is: easy to make, easy to wear, and really comfortable. Basically my perfect jersey dress.

Additional wibblings

Side-seam pattern matching FAIL

Fabric: This was a random remnant of probably polyester jersey that I got from eBay in December 2012. It's actually a really nice fabric, in the sense that I love the texture and it's really drapey and stretchy. I definitely didn't have enough fabric to try to match the print at the seams anywhere, especially given how big the print is. In fact, to be honest I never even thought about it. It was only when I was pinning the side seams that I was like, oh, hey, maybe I should have worried about matching this! I don't think it really matters. The print was honestly too big to even try.

I have to admit though that I am not actually super excited by the print overall. I am not a big wearer of prints to begin with, or florals, and there's a part of me going ... uh, really, is this my style? I'm not sure. Still, it's a really nice floaty, drapy jersey and I love how the full skirt drapes on this pattern, so I'll probably get some wear out of it even if I don't totally love it.

Cost: Luckily, even if I'm not WILD about the print I paid £5 including p&p for this piece of fabric, which, plus overheads means I spent definitely less than £6 for this dress (not including the price of the pattern). I definitely call that a win for a first attempt at this pattern and I'll use a fabric that I like a little more for my next version I think.

Sewing: I spent more time laying the pattern out on the fabric than on the sewing. I constructed it using my overlocker and I was actually struck as I whizzed along the long side seams by how much my overlocking skills have improved. I think because it's incremental, you don't really notice how much easier you find some of the little sewing stuff, but I really had no problems with any of the sewing elements I've struggled with historically, like putting on the neck band. I did the hems and neckband with my coverstitcher, and that was more awkward -- I'm not quite at the level of expertise I want to be with my new machine, though I did a decent enough job I guess.

Remember how one of my resolutions this year was to take better photos. I went for an artistic "posing by looking pensively downward" shot. Outcome: I look surprisingly good when I'm this blurry!