A Kielo Wrap Dress pattern hack!

And here's the inspiration for my slightly less 'stage-y' version...

PJ Harvey at Primavera Sound 2016

If you're a regular reader then you'll know that I've made the Named Clothing Kielo Wrap Dress many times - this one's my favourite! - so it made sense to use that as my TNT starting point. I altered the shape of the dress first to cut my base pattern, and then cut a second longer front and back piece to get the layered effect. This meant that my pattern pieces looked something like this:

Base and overlay pattern pieces - I also cut two waist ties (not pictured)

I skipped the back darts, and removed the big triangles that wrap around the waist - you can see them folded in on my pattern pieces - by straightening the side seams from the armhole downwards. The base dress is cut just above knee length (this was a bit of an accident as I wanted it slightly longer) and the overlay pieces are midi length, and slightly wider as I included an extra 1.5cm allowance for hemming the side seams.

Base pattern pieces

First up, I hemmed the sides of each overlay piece, as I wanted them to hang freely and separately during wear. This also means that I can style the dress differently - e.g. belt one overlay piece in and leave the other to hang loose - but more on that in a bit! I sewed the bust darts on both of the front pieces as normal. Then I basted the two back pieces and two front pieces together at the neck lines, shoulders and arm holes.

The finished side seams of the dress

The finished dress, worn with the front overlay half tucked in the waist belt

Strange draping from the back seam, we'll call it a design feature...

I really love that the finished dress can be worn in so many different ways - something I hadn't really considered when working out the original concept. There's the fairly conservative day dress, the 'high fashion' tent, the 'little bit PJ Harvey/little bit Vivienne Westwood' look(s). There's also an ever-so-slightly 'Strictly Come Dancing' look when you wrap it some ways - I think this might be the sheen of the fabric, and yes, I'll probably be avoiding this look!

Just some of the ways the dress *could* be worn

I'm thinking of wearing it to a September wedding, which feels very prepared for me - I was sewing my Martha dress and culotte jumpsuit right up until the last minute for the other weddings I've already been to this year. It's also a good thing that I'm prepared for once, as I'm very lucky to be off to Chile with work this week, so I'll be spending a bit of time away from my machine (*sob*).

A windy outtake - I definitely has the desired movement!

I'd be interested to know which way people think the dress looks best! Please leave a comment and let me know :)