Washi Pattern Review
My first pattern review I'm going to talk about a dress pattern that anyone in the blogging/ sewing world knows about; The Washi by Made-by-Rae.com. I love it. Basically the review right there but I’ll go on. The first thing I made with the pattern was a tunic with no sleeves. I had a little trouble with the facing around the neck, just because I’d never done one before. But the instructions, pattern, and tutorials are all expertly put together so I figured it out. I had also never done shirring, which proved to be much easier than it looked. I followed the pattern exactly and was very pleased with the results, but then made a necessary change. At the time I was still breast feeding my son frequently, so I made a sloppy alteration to the top and added some buttons. It was an experiment I wanted to try before I invested the fabric into making a dress. Not a very successful experiment I’ll admit, but it’s wearable. Fortunately since then Rae has come out with and expansion pack and along with it some great tutorials on making it into a nursing top!!!
The next thing I made was a dress, also no sleeves, which is
what I prefer. But this time I did a facing that was half the width of the one
in the pattern, left out the Pelion, and then did a straight stitch along the
bottom to hold it in place. I did this because I didn’t really care for the
feel of the facing, hot and muggy climate makes layers like that a little
uncomfortable. Once again, very pleased
with the outcome!
The third thing I made was a dress like before, but with
three little changes. This time I did bias tape around the neck, used elastic
casing at the back from the Washi Expansion pack, and I added some lace to the
bottom. This is now my favorite dress in my closet! The elastic casing was even
easier than the shirring and I personally will be using that from now on
because I like the way it hugs my natural waist. The bias around the neck was
easier for me to do than the facing, and I liked how it turned out. Don’t you
just love the black lace? I adore this dress, and now that I know the pattern
this one only took me 2 hours total!
All in all, great pattern! Simple, versatile (especially if
you get the expansion pack), cute! Dress it up, dress it down, wear it every
day! Once my sewing machine arrives from the States I will be trying a few
other things from the expansion pack that I'm very excited about, like the
Peter Pan collar. To find out more and get the pattern go to Made-by-Rae.com. Oh, and bows, and sleeves, and other
necklines! Super cool, and I will definitely be doing those too! Enjoy!