Made by Laura!

I love dresses. I have quite a few hanging in my closet. I find them so comfortable, and I also feel pretty when  I wear one. This one is already a favorite for me! This is the Whitney Dress by AK Patterns . When Athina sent her testing group an e-mail about this pattern , I was a little hesitant at first. I absolutely LOVE the style, but I've had such limited sewing time, and the dress looked a bit time consuming at first. I also was a little reluctant to test because this is a knit sewing pattern, and I only have regular interfacing. With the way things are right now, I knew I couldn't get out to get knit interfacing. So, I e-mailed Athina. She told me knit interfacing is suggested, but that my regular interfacing would probably be fine. So... I decided to test, and I'm REALLY glad I did. Putting the Pattern Together:  Truthfully, this pattern took me a while to tape together and cut out. I taped it all together one afternoon. Then that night after the boys went t...

I'm so happy for the opportunity to try and review the Athina Kakou Samantha Dress! If you've been following me long, you might have picked up on my love for wrap dresses. I've made quite a few, and have really loved them all for different reasons! So... this is just my latest wrap dress addition to my closet, and yep, I love it too! 😃 The Samantha Dress is very nice, and has several differences from other wrap dress patterns that I own. Let's talk about what sets this pattern apart! The BIG difference between this dress and other wrap dress patterns I own is the sleeves! This pattern does not have regular set in sleeves. It uses dolman style (grown-on) sleeves. Another difference in this pattern and others I own is the darts at the waistline at the front and back. This gives the bodice some shape and pulls it in slightly at the waist. In this pattern , there is also a choice for your neckline - do you want just the regular band, or would you prefer ...

The pleats, the drape, the crossover neckline, the dropped waist dress option... all the reasons I was drawn to test the Lauren . I initially started out sewing the Lauren with a super light weight, very drapey fabric that I got somewhere really cheap. It was a mystery knit. I would assume it was some combination of rayon and polyester, and who knows what else. But it wouldn't cooperate and I was getting super frustrated, so I decided that I needed to put it down and cut the pattern out again. I reached for a liverpool that I have had in my stash for a little bit. It was from a Knitpop auction. I love liverpool and got a great deal on it! I was excited to recut, because the print is so pretty. I had two yards of this gorgeous print, and had to decide whether I would sew a top length with long sleeves or a dress length with short sleeves. I loved EVERY Lauren I saw in the testing group, but was really drawn to the waist on the dress. Most of the patterns I own have either an e...