Oh, Vienna

I made this dress as a bit of an impulsive palate-cleanser, for my birthday drinks last week and using some fabric I’d only bought the night previous!

The pattern is the Fibre Mood Vienna dress which was kindly sent to me by them as part of their pattern-preview blogger network. (It was back in September so it’s hardly a preview any more though, ha ha.) I was drawn to the chuck-on easiness of the style and am feeling like after a long period of very trouser-centric dressing I might want to try bringing some more dresses back into wardrobe rotation.

I picked my size according to the measurements chart and the fit turned out well. The shoulder draft of the bodice is particularly nice and the skirt is slim but with ample hip space. The only tweaks I made were to take about 3 inches of length off the skirt and to swap the overlaps so both the bodice and skirt have the left side as the overlap rather than right/left offset, I don’t know why but it just looked better to me this way (although it works really well as designed in the striped sample).

The digital pattern overall is a nice package – you download the PDF and the instructions separately from the Fibremood site and they are clear and comprehensive in measurements, fabric requirements etc. I struggled a bit assembling the PDF pattern as the pieces aren’t super well-marked, and bear in mind you do need to add your own seam allowances – this is a bonus for me but I know some don’t like it. I did not really follow the instructions and deviated slightly in both the sequence of sewing and some techniques – I did the bias facing differently and also made a channel for the waistline elastic instead of sewing it directly onto the seam allowance.

This fabric though, right?! I got it from the New Craft House who have just expanded their workshop space due to getting a massive new shipment of amazing fabrics, all of which are deadstock (unused leftovers from the fashion industry). This is an ex-designer viscose with this incredible Roman busts print and I’m afraid to say I got the very last of the roll, however keep your eye on NCH’s site and Instagram as they have a ton more amazing prints from the same designer that they will either be putting online or selling IRL. This slightly beefy but still drapey viscose was a great match for this pattern, however I could have been a bit more careful to avoid the slightly rippled hems along the fronts – I was rushing a bit.

I made a tie belt last minute to hide the elastic waist but I think it looks okay either with or without it. This dress definitely has spring/summer vibes to me: although I did persevere and wear it with tights and boots I can’t wait to wear it bare-legged when the weather warms up.

Thanks to Fibremood for the Vienna pattern and New Craft House for a discount on the fabric!

3 thoughts on “Oh, Vienna

  1. Estelle Duff

    Katie I have been following your blog for ages and am so pleased to see you have been at it again! I really like this dress, the style and the fabric look great, casual but interesting and I think it looks great with your pink boots. Beautiful. Well done.

  2. Lia

    Wow, that fabric really shines. I agree that it works with or without the belt, though looking at photos, I prefer without because I can see that amazing print more clearly. :) A cool, breezy dress!

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