My sewing buddy Erin bought the Kielo recently and it specified that the pattern should be made up in stretch fabric - I'm not sure if this is a new instruction, or something I've previously overlooked as I've never made it in stretch fabric before. Anyway, for the sleeved version, you really need something with a bit of stretch to allow for some movement in the arm/shoulder area. I made it using a quite unusual, textured, stretch fabric I picked up for about £3 at October's Hebden Bridge WI Rag Market. It's pretty see-through, so I'm wearing a slip underneath it in the photos.

New dress and fresh undercut!

Cutting required a bit of care - the stretch and texture of the fabric meant that the darts were a little bit trickier to keep on track. After that, the fabric was much easier to work with than I imagined! The dress comes up slightly bigger than my other versions, but that's fine as you can wrap it just a little bit tighter.

The sleeve pattern came to wrist length, and I was aiming for 3/4 length when I cut them down, but somehow they've ended up much shorter - oh well. I also took an extra 2 inches off the hem of this version compared to my others. This means it's 11 inches shorter than the original pattern - which seems to have been designed with very tall ladies in mind! I also took the back vent/split up a little so it's level with the backs of my knees (I had to do an emergency fix on a previous version after splitting the vent on an energetic walk).

Testing that back split!

I feel very chic in the finished garment - the sleeves put a whole new spin on a much loved pattern. I like the Kielo with and without sleeves, but I think for some people, adding sleeves will make quite an unusual silhouette seem much more wearable.

I've been wearing it out (LOTS) with coloured tights to highlight the fabric. And it's already had the wear and play test with my one of my best friends and her beautiful little boy...

I picked up some beautiful velvet in Abakhan a couple of weeks back - a good-sized bundle of textured emerald green. I had planned to use it to make a pair of trousers, but I was a bit too optimistic on the meterage. Instead, I managed to squeeze out a skirt of fairly lengthy proportions and it's quickly become my most worn item.

I cut the waistband a bit longer than my natural waist (to allow room for a little bit of gathering once the elastic was inserted) and made sure this length would match that of the front and back skirt once they were sewn together. All I had to do was sew the front and back skirt pieces (both cut to the same shape/size) together into a tube, and attach the waistband. I constructed the waistband in the same method as The Great British Sewing Bee casual trousers - this Megan Nielsen tutorial also nicely sums up making an elastic waistband.

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