Kielo Wrap Dress for Winter

While trawling through the sewing blogs, I stumbled across The Kielo Wrap Dress by Named, a Finnish clothing pattern label founded by sisters Saara and Laura Huhta. This is a very simple dress, but also quite elegant.

Image from the Named website

Line Drawing

After stealing the idea of making a wintery version of this dress from Busy Lizzie in Brizzy (thanks Lizzie for the inspiration), this is the result:

Front view

I used another piece of my Ponte de Roma purchased from Lincraft during their sale a few months ago. I am wearing it here with my Grainline Archer shirt made last year. These photos were taken after wearing this outfit to work all day.

Using their size chart, I cut a size 42 which was a little smaller than my bust measurement. As I was using a stretch fabric I figured this would be OK, and I was right. The fit in the bodice is good. I shortened the dress at the back slit notch, which has brought it to just below knee length.

Back view

I copied the long hemline shape which dips lower at the sides. Maybe this is to accommodate those ladies with hips, that I am sadly lacking. Not sure if I like this feature. It may look better if it was straight all the way around.

Side view

When bringing the ties to the centre front, they overlapped slightly which made it all a bit bunchy in that area. If I sew this again I may take some off the side seams so that they just meet when tying at the front.

Close up of front ties

The ties are plenty long enough, wrapping right around my waist to tie at the front. I think the most difficult part of the construction of this dress was turning the ties right side out after sewing the seams.

Close up of dart and top stitching

The dart is probably a little high but it works in the Ponte. I really should realise that this is a standard required alteration for me...now that gravity has taken a hold. The neckline and armholes were overlocked and then turned under and top stitched using a twin needle. This is a nice clean finish without added bulk in the Ponte. I am really pleased with how well these openings sit with no gaping at all.

Shaped hemline

Here is a closer view of the shaped hemline. I turned it up twice by 1.5cm and top stitched using a twin needle. The fabric sewed beautifully with no tunnelling that can be an issue with using a twin needle.

I'm a bit on the fence about this pattern. I thought the waist tie would cinch in my waist in a flattering way but I look very rectangular after looking at these photos. My dear partner said I looked like a school girl (I think he was just referring to the grey fabric with the white blouse).

Let me know what you think.


Happy sewing