AnnaKim Skywalker

Anna-Kim

Sewing time has been woefully hard to find lately, but here’s a wee dress I made recently for a friend’s wedding. I procrastinated for ages on what pattern to use and ended up short on time, so went for a TNT bodice with a frankenpattern twist.

Anna-Kim

If you didn’t deduce from the post title, it’s the By Hand London Anna bodice with Kim‘s pretty petal skirt. Then I couldn’t resist a bad Star Wars pun since the fabric print sort of looks like little space invaders! As we know BHL patterns are definitely ripe for a spot of Frankenpatterning and I think this is a lovely combo. I wish I could say I carefully planned the hack but in fact I just cut both patterns out as is and hoped for the best. The back darts join up seamlessly and I sort of eyeballed the front as I went along. With a bit of fiddling I made the wrapover skirt front hit the outer bust tuck of the bodice so it sort of looks cohesive all round. Yay!

Anna-Kim

Luckily the Kim skirt fitted fine with mini tweaks along the way. I exaggerated the side seam shape a bit, curving out at the hip and pegging in at the hem for more of a tulip shape. I also made a tuck instead of the little pleats in the wrapover skirt to echo the bodice design.

Anna-Kim

As one final flourish I left the top half of the back seam open like a keyhole split. There’s an invisible zip right below it to close the dress. The neckline is finished with self-bias.

Anna-Kim

The fabric is a lovely silk double georgette (I think) that I got at Mood in LA; it might’ve been from the Anna Sui section. It was the last 1.5yd on the bolt and I used nearly every last scrap. It was a little shifty to cut but pretty nice to sew. It’s quite bouncy and thick but still pressed well, though I serged my seam allowances rather than French as I thought it’d be a bit bulky.

Anna-Kim

This isn’t overall my best or most precise sewing as I was up against it with time. But it’s nice to have made a little black dress for party season – something my wardrobe was lacking – and I’d definitely use the Anna-Kim combo again.

19 thoughts on “AnnaKim Skywalker

  1. SaSa

    Your dress is so pretty! I love your pattern combination and this is such a lovely fabric. I have got problems with silk clinging at my body. Do you wear an underslip? :)

    1. Katie Post author

      Thanks! Actually this silk doesn’t cling at all so I didn’t need a slip. It’s nice and slippy but not too thin!

  2. Louise

    Your dress is really lovely Katie. I especially like how you left part of the back seam open for a key hole effect – I’m tempted to try that myself.

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