Paisley in the Park – Named Helmi dress

Hi there – it’s definitely autumn here now! The clocks have gone back and the days are already so much shorter. Today it was a little grey so the photos aren’t the greatest but at least I remembered to get some before it got dark!

This is the Named Helmi tunic dress, from their latest collection ‘Evolution’. I have a mixed history with Named – I love the designs but they don’t always work for me – my Nascha skirt was a bit of a fail, the Dakota dress was a win – but my first attempt at an Inari was so awful that no photographic evidence exists…I love Helmi’s  looser silhouette with the waist seam and A line skirt give some shape – I really want to try some different styles this autumn and this is a cautious first step!

I cut a 40 at the shoulder and bust, based on finished measurements, grading out to 42 at the waist and 46 at the hip (with extra wide seam allowances just in case!) I made a trial run to check out the fit and there was too much fabric at the back so it was looking a little sack-like. Jenny at Needleswift has just made the Helmi tunic and she had solved the problem of excess fabric at the back by adding darts, so I shamelessly copied her and I prefer this extra shaping. You can’t see the darts at all in this extremely busy print – I just pinched out a bit of the excess to work out where the darts should go and it was very unscientific!I did struggle with the shoulder and armscye fitting – it is better now but not perfect and I’m not sure what else I would change – I got to a similar place with my Sewaholic Granville shirt last year. After adding some height to the sleeve cap I trimmed back the front bodice armscye about half an inch. I added this width back onto the front sleevehead. I still haven’t cracked sleeve fitting and it is always a challenge for me on closely fitted tops.I added the collar from the helmi shirt (which is included with the tunic) and decided not to make the hidden placket. I really like the version which What Katie Sews has made with the placket running right down the front  – maybe next time..

This fabric was purchased from Clothspot about a year ago – I think it is a polyester – but I can’t remember any details now!This is a much crazier print than I would usually wear – I haven’t quite decided yet how I feel about it – I love it in theory with its seventies vibe, but will I actually wear it? Today in #bpsewvember the prompt was ‘red or purple’ and I realised that I have absolutely no red clothes and this is the closest thing I have to purple – maybe I need to embrace more colours?