Chantelle's Nina Lee Kew Dress

It was such a hard decision picking a fabric from Harriet's shop as there are so many beautiful ones to choose from. But when I saw the Alexandra crepe in all its gorgeousness, I knew I had to have it.

Then to choose the pattern. Well, I knew I wanted to make a dress and the Nina Lee Kew dress had been a firm favourite of mine ever since it had been released. I love the version with sleeves as it reminded me of a 1940s tea dress. The pattern comes with three options to either make the tea dress, a cold shouldered dress or a skirt. The possibilities are endless as you can make it up in a needlecord for the colder months or a soft floaty fabric for the summer.

When I received the fabric I was not disappointed. The colours and bold print are even better in real life. The fabric washed perfectly using a 30 degree cycle and it did not need ironing! I could not wait to get started and cut my dress out using a rotary cutter and pattern weights. I did not make any alterations to this pattern at all and just cut my size. I have made the Bloomsbury blouse by Nina Lee before so I knew the sizing would be perfect.

The dress came together remarkably quickly! There was nothing complicated in the construction so a confident beginner could totally make this. The trickiest parts to the make were setting in the sleeves and making the buttonholes. The crepe fabric sewed together like a dream. The little gathered details on the shoulders really suited this fabric and look so pretty.

Before I knew it, I had nearly finished and just had the buttons to sew on. I chose some fabulous iridescent blue and green shell buttons which I thought would add a little contrast to the fabric.

I am so thrilled with this make! I have never sewn with crepe before but after using this one, I will definitely be back for more. It is so soft and floaty! I think the Kew dress is such a flattering silhouette that will suit all body shapes. I just want to twirl around endlessly when wearing this dress and that is exactly what I am going to do now.

You can follow my sewing journey over on my instagram page @i_seam_sew_happy_xx.






Chantelle is part of the Sew Me Sunshine blogger team.  Chantelle picked the fabric that she wished to work with and chose what to make with it.  Chantelle was provided with the fabric for free in return for this blog post.