Giving serious goth girl stares in the DP Studio Le003

I came across DP Studio online a couple of months back and have noticed a growing buzz around the French pattern company on social media. I was amazed by the patterns, which shoot well beyond the realms of Vogue-designer in terms of 'fashion forward' and 'on trend'. I'd say some of the designs are even a bit too trendy, but it's so refreshing to see such edgy and current looks available in sewing pattern form! I took the plunge and ordered the Knit Asymmetric Dress, which was quite possibly the most expensive pattern (including shipping from France) that I've ever bought.

One of the most expensive patterns (including shipping) that I've ever bought💸 but well worth it based on the beautiful packaging/presentation alone! Nearly finished sewing the Knit Asymmetric Dress and it might just be living up to my high expectations! 💕#DPstudio

A post shared by Shauni S (@shaunimagnifique) on Apr 4, 2017 at 10:50am PDT

I knew it was worth it the minute it landed on my door step, if only for the beautiful packaging and presentation alone! The envelope is deep and A4 in size, and contains both French and English language instructions; a huge relief as I thought I'd be using a translator the whole way through!

Based on the pattern's recommendations, I picked a 2-way stretch, scuba-like fabric from the grab bins in Abakhan Manchester. The fabric weighed in at less than £10, so a pretty cheap way to test run the pattern. It's a decent weight for holding the shape of the dress and giving body to the drapey asymmetric design.

Side view

I fell across sizes 40-44 with the measurements given, but eventually went with the 42 as I thought the stretch would give me a bit more wiggle room (I'd usually go with a size 40/UK 14 with big 4 patterns). I spent quite a lot of time worrying that the dress would come up too small - it looks tiny to make up, but then I guess it's meant to be pretty fitted when finished. I made a few fit adjustments along the way:

- 0.5cm side seams for a bit of extra room through the hip, which was surprisingly narrow (my hip measurement actually fell into the size 40, which would definitely have been too small)! Sonja also found the hips ran quite small in her DP make so maybe something to watch out for.
- 1.5cm arm hole seams - the shoulders were just a bit too wide, hence the adjustment after the first try on.
- Re-cutting the neck band with an extra 1" added to the width - although the neckband would look better flush to my neck in it's original size, there was absolutely NO WAY I was getting it over my head.

Despite some crazy looking pattern pieces, the dress was a breeze to put together and I managed most of the construction in an evening. It felt a bit like making a jigsaw using random fabric shapes.

Mid-questioning the camera angles. Thanks Chris for taking pictures.

The instructions are somewhat minimal text-wise, but the illustrations are some of the best I've ever seen. The pattern requires the maker to apply a bit of pre-knowledge/sewing sense to press out the seams and finished raw edges - it doesn't tell you to do these things at each step along the way - but I followed the each step with total ease. My only small gripe is that the pattern suggests using a coverstitch machine to finish all the hems, which I'm not really sure that many people will have access to (I've barely got to grips with my overlocker yet, never mind introducing another new machine)! I hemmed my garment on a regular machine which worked out just fine.

Milk bottle legs are out to distract from weird ruching in the back

The 'can you see what I ate for dinner last night?!' pose

In all, I'm hugely impressed with the pattern, the instructions and the cool and unusual design of the dress. I'd definitely make it again or purchase another DP Studio pattern in future.

DP Studio website

Have you made or got your eye on any DP Studio patterns?