kitty kim dress

Out of all my handmade cotton dresses my favourite one by far is my By Hand London Kim dress so I thought it was about time I made a second. 

The fabric I used is a double gauze adorned with the most adorable kitties wearing glasses and bow ties. Hipster kitties! Although my fabric is probably more suited to a less structured silhoutte, I'm really happy with this dress. I like the soft, relaxed look and it feels so light and floaty to wear - perfect for summer weather. Not that you get many hot days in Scotland, but at least I'm prepared with a lovely dress when the occasion arises.

For ultimate luxury I self lined the bodice. Double gauze feels gorgeously soft against the skin so it would have been criminal not to self line. Sadly I had to sacrifice pockets as I didn't have enough fabric, but I can live with that.

This was the first time I had sewn with double gauze and although it sewed together fine it slightly scared me as the weave felt so fragile in comparison to the more robust cottons I'm used to handling. I felt paranoid about the fabric stretching out of shape so I ironed on strips of lightweight fusible interfacing at the stitching lines of the front and back necklines, waistline, around the armholes and zip before construction for extra stability. I also used a longer stitch length on my machine to minimise damage if/when I needed to unpick anything.

Although my first Kim dress is one of my best fitting cotton dresses I made a couple of extra alterations to this dress to further improve fit:

• pinched 1/2 inch out at the waistline for a slightly neater fit.

• graded up one size from the armpit to the shoulders as I was curious to see if it would correct the gapping/pulling I was getting at the front armhole and straps on the first version. The straps sit flatter against my body on this dress so grading up appears to have helped. Yay for fitting my man shoulders!

Other alterations included omitting the pintucks on the skirt as I didn't think they'd work well with this fabric. My skirt doesn't have such a full gather either as my fabric wasn't wide enough for the original skirt pattern. I also hemmed the skirt longer than I normally go for (I generally prefer skirts/dresses to hit just above my knee) as I felt the floaty nature of the fabric suited a longer length. It feels beautifully swishy to wear so that was a good decision.

I was worried that the skirt might need underlining or I'd need to wear a slip with it, but thankfully it is opaque enough not to need an extra layer. I'm also delighted to discover the fabric doesn't stick to leggings. I'm not normally a leggings-and-bare-feet-with-pumps wearer, but I'm attempting to train my ice cold feet to survive without socks or tights when it's not quite warm enough to commit to bare legs yet I want to feel summery. Bare legs *and* feet is a rare occurrence. Perhaps twice a year, haha.

I'm hoping this dress wears and washes well as I really love wearing it. By Hand London's Kim dress pattern is receiving a lot of love from me at the moment as all the horrible fitting issues I experience with my upper back/shoulder area are completely avoided due to the low back and lack of sleeves. I have already nearly finished making a third Kim dress, so watch this space. Another pretty, summer dress shall arrive here by the end of the month!