Description
About the Karen Drape Dress
Karen will quickly become your favourite dress when you want to up the stakes a little.
Why? I’ll give you 3 reasons:
- Karen makes you look and feel sexy
- Karen is becoming. The dress is hugging and emphasizing the bust area while the drapes skim over any tummy fluff, disguising it.
- Karen is (almost) as fast to sew as a t-shirt. Really!
Karen is a just-above-the-knee length jersey dress. The dress has fitted short or 3/4 length sleeves and a classic boat neckline, which is quickly finished by stabilizing with invisible elastic, turning the seam allowance to the wrong side and stitching from the right side using a stretch seam.
Sew your new favourite dress in a soft jersey with a nice drape. The grey dress in the front picture is made from a viscose/poly-blend knit with just a bit of elastane. Pure viscose (or rayon) or wool jerseys will also work great. But it’s best if they contain a bit of elastane.
Wear Karen for work with tights and knee length boots or for a party with heels, jewellery and great nail colour!
Sizes
Karen comes with all sizes from XS to size 2XL included!
Choose your size based on your high or full bust measurements as explained in this article.
I made the dress in a size M with no alterations.
My high bust is 90 cm, my full bust is 96 cm. And it works, because the fabric contains elastane. One could argue that I could use 1 or 2 cm more across the bust, but I think it works well without as well.
Delivery
This pattern is available as a .PDF download, which you will be able to download right after ordering.
You’ll need a recent version of Adobe Acrobat Reader (get it for free HERE) installed on your computer.
Save the pattern to your computer and open it in Adobe Acrobat Reader before you print. Browsers sometimes print inaccurately.
You will also receive a confirmation e-mail with links to the downloads (check your spam filter if you don’t see it within 5 minutes). If you register on the site (create an account) as you place your order, you will always be able to download your pattern form within your account.
You can then print the pattern on your home printer (A4 or letter) and easily assemble it following the instructions included in the instructions.
This pattern also includes an A3-version whcih allows you to print it on an A3 printer, should you have access to one. The A4/Letter-sized version of the pattern consists of 30 pages – Which should take you no more than 30 minutes to cut and assemble. The A3-version consists of 16 pages.
Recommended fabric for your Karen Drape Dress
The Karen Drape Dress was designed for soft, drapey jersey fabric. It could be a rayon jersey or wool or bamboo or a lot of blends. Try folding some drape pleats in the fabric and hold it up to see how it looks.
Use jersey that contains a bit of elastane (5 -10%), which is also sometimes referred to as Spandex or Lycra. This will allow the fabric to stretch across your bust.
The chart here, will give you an idea of how much fabric you need, when the fabric is 140 cm (55”) wide.
Notions needed
You’ll also need thread to match your fabric.
And a stretch twin needle if you wish to hem with a twin needle.
And about 1 m (1.1 yard) of invisible elastic for the neckline finishing. If you don’t have any invisible elastic, you can use fold over elastic or make a ribbing neckline from the dress fabric.
