Dotty Anna & Lily Anna

Here are two more Anna dresses from By Hand London – this is such a pretty and versatile pattern that I will be making more of them this year.  I made both of these in December but haven’t had time to blog about them until now because, well, life.

The first one is made from some polka dot fabric which I bought at the Knitting & Stitching Show at Ally Pally in October.  I like polka dots, in the same way that I like gingham, and bird prints, and I like this particular one very much because (a) it’s cotton not polycotton and (b) it’s white dots on a colour rather than the other way round.  I decided to make this with a gathered skirt, which is just two widths of the fabric (58” wide) with one cut in half to accommodate the back seam, so I got the whole dress out of 2m of fabric.

As with my first Anna I cut a size 12 and took the back neckline in by ⅝” and tapered it out.  I also did size 14 bust pleats because the pleats on my Anthro Anna come up a little high.  With a machined hem this dress came together very quickly.

Dotty Anna

This next one is a v-necked maxi version made with stretch cotton which I bought in Fabricland recently.  As soon as I saw it on the roll I knew I wanted to make an Anna maxi from it (and that doesn’t happen often – it’s more usual that I buy fabric without a particular pattern in mind).  I bought 3.5m and as it’s 56” wide and I cut the skirt pieces 6” shorter this was enough fabric, even though it has a one-way print.

This too I made with size 14 bust pleats, however I didn’t think to cut a size 14 skirt front, so there is a bit of mismatch going on at the waist.  I don’t think it’s that noticeable though and it’s not something I’m going to fret about.  Next time though, if I am using the skirt pattern pieces, I will either cut a 14 skirt front, or use the size 12 bust pleats and make them shorter so that things match up.  With a gathered skirt of course this doesn’t matter!  I also tapered all the skirt seams from ⅝” out to ½” to give a little more room around the waist and this has worked well.

As I was sewing the skirt pieces together I noticed one of them had a mark on it – not sure what from, but having seen it I decided to cut out a replacement piece which fortunately I had enough fabric left to do.  If there hadn’t have been enough I’d have left it and tried to ignore it, it wasn’t that noticeable really and I’m not sure that anyone else would have seen it, but once I knew it was there…  However, I didn’t have quite enough fabric and so the replacement piece was a bit shorter than the rest.  This meant I ended up cutting 1½” off the length, and with a machined hem of ⅝” + ⅞” it is now an ideal length for wearing with flip flops rather than killer heels.  Which is just fine actually as I tend to live in Birkenstocks in the summer.  The only thing I haven’t done, and probably will, is to top stitch the neckline to keep the facing from riding up at the front.



Lily Anna maxi

I’m really pleased with both these dresses and I’m sure other versions will be appearing in the next few months.  At least one more maxi (this is the only maxi dress pattern I have), and maybe a mash-up with the Elisalex skirt, possibly one with the Cambie A-line skirt if I can make the darts line up (or use a fabric where it won’t show if not), and, well, we’ll just have to see where the fancy takes me for further outings of this pattern.