Category Archives: Victory patterns

Victory Patterns Lola dress

Victory Lola

Just squeezing in one more make before Christmas! I had an unexpected day off on Friday so had a selfish sewing day – after all the gift buying/sewing it felt pretty good.

Victory Lola

I’ve had Victory Patterns’ Lola dress on my radar for a while – lord knows I love a comfy day dress, and look at those POCKETS – but to be honest I was put off by all the panels, imagining all the little pieces that would need to be cut and assembled. I finally bought the print-at-home pattern after seeing some beautiful versions from Rachel, Lauren and Dixie, and found my fears completely unfounded: this lovely little pattern comes together very quickly and is a delight to sew.

Lola dress

In fact I think the panelling details make this a more enjoyable project to sew than a regular dress pattern: it all whizzed up quickly on the overlocker and every piece fitted perfectly into place. I love the bodice, with its flattering princess seams, and how the edge panels wrap around with no side seam. And the raglan sleeves!

Victory Lola

And did I mention the POCKETS? Love it all, really.

Victory Lola

I was a good girl and used up some stash fabrics: a solid grey ponte knit, part of a big remnant piece from Rolls & Rems, and a lovely crescent moon printed ponte from Minerva (the rest of which has gone into a Christmas present!). The shades of grey aren’t a perfect match but I think they look nice together and make this casual sweatshirt dress a little bit smarter. I omitted the triangle neckline decal and the ribbing panel on the bottom, and also just used the ponte instead of ribbing at the neckline and cuffs.

Victory Lola

Victory Lola

Victory Lola

I didn’t toile as I was using stash fabrics, but I would recommend it as I found I needed to do a bit of adjustment which was tricky to retrofit. I cut a straight size 6 according to my measurements but found it a bit loose around the middle and too long in the body. I was able to fix the length by taking about 1.5″ off the bottom panels, but it’s still a little baggy around the middle as I couldn’t really alter it once constructed. I will adjust the pattern pieces to fix these bits before making another Lola (yes, I’m sure there will be more).

Victory Lola

It even goes great with my coat! I love a me-made outfit day (apart from the leggings, though I definitely want to make some of those next year too).

I think this’ll be my last post before diving headlong into a week or two of festivities, so hope you all have a lovely Christmas and see you on the other side!