The Sew House 7 Wildwood Wrap Dress has a LOT of pattern pieces. It took weeks of procrastination just to get my size traced onto pattern paper, and weeks again before I got around to marking and cutting the fabric. When I finally traced everything and got out my fabric, it took an entire day to cut out all the pieces interspersed with my other responsibilities.

Nearly everything is asymmetrical, meaning opposite sides have separate pieces. I marked everything with chalk to keep the pieces straight while I worked.

I made the short sleeve, view A version in a straight size 4. In addition to the regular pieces, I cut out two cuffs for the sleeves – not committed to using them, but as an option. Instead of using the cuffs, I finished the sleeves with scant double folded 1/4 inch hems. I did save the cuff pieces though, because I may change my mind about them once it gets cold out.I also planned to make multiple Obi belts to mix and match, so… more pieces to trace and cut out. I set aside of pile of fabric to choose from for the other belts, and started with basic black on black for the dress and belt.

I began the dress by handsewing the front opening of the bodice. This was a waste. What I was sewing was the inside of a self facing that was totally hidden on the finished garment. That’s an argument for reading the instructions all the way through before starting a sewing project.While there were a lot of pieces, it was a really pleasing sewing experience to follow the steps and see how each section came together. Having made an 18th C. European bedgown, I thought I knew how the shawl collar was going to go. I was wrong. It was fun to see the way it ended up working out.

I’m a little intimidated by darts, but in this pattern they are essential for creating the shaping that makes the dress flattering on so many different bodies. I’ve been doing a lot of pleating lately, and maybe that’s why the darts went smoothly.

In terms of finishes, the pattern alternates between French seams, and regular seams finished with a zig-zag stitch. Thanks to a sewing fairygodmother, a serger will soon be mine – right now it’s hanging out at my parents’ house until I can come pick it up.

In the meantime, my finish options don’t include serged seams. So I was puzzled why some of the seams in the instructions (like the back center seam and the bottom pocket seams) weren’t also French seams. It would have been easy to make the seam allowances to accommodate that.

I did a French seam at the center back, but then the pattern pieces didn’t line up, and I had to take it in. It felt like a lot of work to finish seams with seam binding tape, and it’s not my favorite finish aesthetically. It’s not a huge deal, but I like my guts to be nearly as clean as the outside of my clothes. It would have been nice if more of the work was done for me. The center back seam especially, although I understand that French seams can be inexact and having the pattern pieces match up at the back neck was pretty important.

I didn’t add the optional hook and eye to keep the skirt from gaping. The dress splits open about 6 inches above the knee when I sit, sometimes a little higher. I thought the hook and eye would pull unpleasantly and I hate when clothes resist me. I would rather pull the right flap of the skirt over once I sit down to get a little better coverage than to permanently have the skirt attached in a way that might tug. It took one windy afternoon for me to question that choice as I awkwardly tried to hold the dress closed on a walk around the neighborhood. I still haven’t added the hook and eye, but if I do I’ll update with a note about placement and if it helped.

An option for modesty and warmth (the one I went with today) was wearing bright yellow chub rub shorts under it. I wouldn’t wear a regular slip with the dress – the front split makes that seem impractical, because the dress and slip wouldn’t move together. This was fine for indoors, but with the windy day, it felt like the entirety of my undershorts were showing while I walked, which made me feel a lot less confident about choosing yellow for the underlayer. It was supposed to be a peek of yellow, not a blazing sun with every gust of wind.

I used 1/4 in. twill tape I had on hand from historical costuming for the inside closure on the dress. I like the buttonhole loop closure in the front under the belt. I followed the instructions when putting it in, but I feel like it doesn’t sit right. Fortunately, since it doesn’t show, it’s just another one of those perfectionism issues.Our trip to Rwanda was one of the things that motivated me to get started on this dress. I wanted to wear it on a date night while we were away without the kids. As the trip loomed closer, it became clear that to finish it would mean too much sacrifice and stress.

Instead, before we left, I prepped several sewing projects  including this one, by putting baggies together with the thread, cut or partially sewn projects inside, and sewing notions. I pieced the colorful scrappy obi belt ahead of time, and packed it in pieces to assemble while we were away. I worked on handsewing the facing down around the edges of the skirt on the plane.

After we arrived, I pulled the belts out any time I had a few minutes throughout the trip, starting with our hotel quarantine. I added black on black sashiko stitching to the monochromatic belt, and did some simple embroidery to embellish the scrappy belt. I finished the dress near the end of the trip with the button for closure. I wore the dress on the last day for our visit to the Genocide Memorial, since the pandemic meant we didn’t get to a have a date night while we were there. The Chaplain is always supportive of my makes, but he especially likes this dress.

The obi belts are constructed slightly differently – the black belt is lined (instead of interfaced) with a scrap of midweight linen I had on hand. The colorful belt is lined with a piece of canvas, which makes it a lot firmer, more structured, and a bit bulky. I doubt I would ever wash the belts enough to reduce and soften the canvas in the colorful belt. (I realize, this is again a perfectionism problem.) Any future belts will be lined with fabric in the midweight range, or maybe even just interfaced per the instructions (I didn’t have any interfacing on hand when I was working on this project, so I substituted).

By the time I went to wear the dress a second time, it was clear I was going to need to add a second button to allow me to pull the dress further closed and prevent gaping at the neckline due to the linen stretching out, and also probably because I could have done a better job of sizing/altering the dress to fit a narrow, flat upper body with muscular arms. You can see, the distance between the buttons is a good couple of inches. I’m going to leave them both so that if I have a day where I need a little more room (or I’m wearing a shirt under the dress and the top gaping doesn’t matter as much), I can choose the “looser” setting.

I like that even if I don’t tackle this pattern again in the near future (the countless pattern pieces!), I can still make a couple more obi belts of different colors to wear against the neutral backdrop of the black. I’m thinking navy, white, and orange, purple and yellow, or a shade of red – color combinations I would never normally wear but seem OK in small doses with a mostly black outfit.

I’ve been having an issue for a while now where when I reduce the size of my images, the quality becomes garbage. For the past couple of posts, I’ve been trying a couple of different things simultaneously to fix it. That means until I figure it out, images may be weird sizes or look different than usual. If you notice anything has gotten markedly better or worse in the display on your device, please let me know. Maybe it will help me solve my problems.