Pattern in Focus: 405 Rachel Wrap Dress

I’m going to try something new; to focus on some of my patterns and create blog series around them. It’s also an occasion for me to sew with the pattern again and to fix minor mistakes in instructions etc…

The first Pattern in Focus is MariaDenmark 405 – Rachel Wrap Dress made for jersey fabric. I chose that one as the first, because it’s a dress I’m wearing a lot at the moment. It’s great for both summer, winter and transition and it can be varied in so many ways.

Sewing pattern for Rachel Wrap Dress for jersey fabrics

Rachel jersey wrap dress

Rachel is, as mentioned, a wrap dress. That is to say it has two front pieces, which fold on top of each other, and are tied at the side of the dress. This tying at the side is great! Not only does it create long slanted design lines, which always looks good, it also allow you to adjust the size just by tightening the ties more or less.

The neckline on Rachel is rather low. But a lot of thought – and a lot of muslins – have gone into drafting it before I was happy with it.

One of the big challenges you meet when sewing wrap dresses are that they often gape at the neckline, and end up exposing the bust. But I’ve done my very best to make sure that didn’t happen here. I’ve drafted a very curved neckline and tested that neckline on many ladies and their busts before I found just the right curve to make the neckline edge lie close to the body.

Well, don’t take my word for it. Look:

This is Gitte. Last year when I was on afair, she came and showed her new dress to me. The pattern had only been out for two days, so that was fast:-) I love the contrasting stripes of the neckline edge.

And this is Kristina. She is one of Danish dealers of MariaDenmark patterns. The fabric is from her shop www.kroldesign.dk

STYLING THE WRAP DRESS

For pear or hourglass shaped bodies, wear the ties tied around your waist (tie at the front or back, as you like) to emphasize your tiny waist.

For straight or apple shaped bodies, or for bodies with a short torso, tie the ties at the side. This creates a long slanted line, that elongates and flatters the body to the eye!

The lovely drawings are made by Sabine Petri

No matter what shape you have, you can play around with contrasting fabric for ties and ribbing.
For winter and autumn this dress is great to wear with boots and tights.

In the summer it works well with both heels and ballerina flats. And even flip flops, if you make the dress as a relaxed beach cover up.

Rachel design variations

It’s easy to customize the length of the sleeves by just shortening them or lengthening the lines. You can do that without help!

But there are many other options for playing with the design. I for instance have made a top with no neckline edge or ties, but with underwear elastic at the neckline instead. I love this top and the guide to how you can make one just like it, will be on the blog later in the week. This version can also be made as a dress and I find that the lace elastic is a lovely detail.

A lovely top with lace elastic at the neckline. The story behind the top is also great, but you’ll have to wait a couple of days for that.

You could also make the dress without ties. It’ll just take a few changes of the front piece and the neckline edge, which I’ll also share with you in this focus period.

This dress is from last year, but it’s still great. The fabric is from metermeter.dk

Oh yeah – and then I just have left to tell you that you save 20% on the Rachel Wrap Dress pattern (available in A4/letter, A3 and Copyshop/A0 versions) during the focus period…

See more and get your Rachel HERE

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