Washi Dress ~ Women's Dress Pattern Review

I am in love with this pattern! I mean, seriously. When Rae (Made by Rae) released her Washi Dress pattern I knew I must have it. I could just tell that it would work on my body and I actually saw Rae in person at spring quilt market last year wearing her own version of the dress and she looked adorable.

The beauty of this pattern, is that you can really fit the dress to your bust measurement and the rest is pretty forgiving whether you are straight-figured or curvy in the hips. I went with a size medium, even though my bust was on the upper end of the measurement that was given. I think the fit is spot on.

So this is me modeling this dress. I am SO not used to taking pictures of myself. But I knew you would want to see this dress on and not just on a hanger, so set up my tri-pod and was trying to work it in front of the camera. Ha! Far from 'working it', but I tried my best. It felt quite self-indulgent photographing myself, but oh well. Who knows what the neighbors were thinking watching out their windows.

This dress came together very quickly and easily. The most tedious part was putting together all the pattern pieces since this was a PDF pattern. I believe there is a paper copy of the pattern out now, but that was not available when I bought mine. The sewing time was probably about 2 hours.

The pattern comes with facings for the neckline. Instead I opted to fully line the bodice (you know how I love fully lined garments) and did the sleeveless version so that I could layer it for winter. And the dress has pockets! How great is that? It's great, trust me.

The back of the dress calls for shirring, but I'm not much for that technique. One, I don't feel like I've perfected it and two, it's a hint casual for my taste. But instead I had seen Rae add in an encased elastic in the back of one of her variations, so I decided to give that a try. I couldn't find an exact elastic measurement, but just in case you want to do the same, I cut my elastic 6" shorter than the width of the back of the dress. That seemed to work well.

I used the scoop neck option because I knew I would be layering it with a long sleeved shirt, but I also love the other variation that is given with the pattern. I think I will try that one next.

There are so many options with this dress. The pattern comes with two sleeve options, two length options (tunic and dress) and over on Rae's blog she has given a long sleeve and a maxi length tutorial. I plan to draft a peter pan collar for this dress, so if I get that done, I am happy to share that with you as well.

This pattern is a little pricey for a PDF at $16.00 and there is A LOT of taping that is involved for the pattern (took me about an hour). But with that being said, the instructions given for putting the pattern pieces together are so easy to follow. Probably the easiest I've ever seen. Also, there are so many design options with this dress that you can use the pattern over and over again and create many different unique looks. So really the $16.00 will be nothing if you make several. And you will make several because the fit is so great.

Have you tried the Washi Dress pattern yet? I haven't heard of anyone who doesn't just absolutely love it. I was not given this pattern for this review, I bought it and am giving you my honest opinion. If you want a dress that fits and flatters, go get the Washi Dress!

Fabric: Anna Maria Horner: LouLouThi (Clippings Passion)

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