Itch to Stitch Kalispell Dress Sewing Pattern Review

Sometimes a sewing pattern grows on you gradually, and sometimes you know as soon as you see it that you "need" to make it. For me, the Itch to Stitch Kalispell dress definitely fell into the second category! It's been a while since I sewed a pretty dress, and the Kalispell seemed like the perfect pattern to remedy that situation.

The Kalispell dress is a slightly vintage style, with a princess seamed bodice and full skirt with inverted box pleats. The dress has a V neck and a front button closure with button band. It has options for cap or flare sleeves (I chose the cap sleeves) and in seam pockets. The pattern also has different bodices for A, B, C, D and DD cups, which is helpful for getting a good fit.

This was the first Itch to Stitch pattern that I've made, and I was really impressed with it. The PDF is fairly big given all the different bodice pieces, but there are clear directions included about which pages you need to print for which sizes/options.

The instructions are very detailed (as an example, there are 11 different instructions just about applying interfacing and stay stitching!) and easy to follow. The diagrams accompanying them are also perfectly clear. All of the notches/seams etc. matched up nicely when I was sewing, and I didn't have any trouble at all with making the dress.

The only thing that I found slightly odd was that the instructions have you hem the skirt before it's even attached to the bodice. I don't know about you, but I definitely like to try on a dress before hemming it to get the length just right as even a small change in the hem length can change a dress from dowdy to delightful.

The instruction to do this does make sense in terms of the rest of the construction because the hem needs to be finished before the button band is attached. To get round this, I left the skirt unhemmed, then when it came to attaching the button band I stopped stitching a few inches above the where the hem should be. Once I'd finished sewing the rest of the dress, I hemmed the dress as I wanted and then finished off the button band and that worked fine. Hopefully that all makes sense!

In terms of sizing I used the A cup bodice and made a size 10. That's the size recommended for my bust and hip measurements; my waist measurement is actually between an 8 and a 10, but based on the finished garment measurements I thought I'd be happier with a 10. Thankfully that worked out nicely for me! I'd say the sizing is good, with just the right amount of ease to make the dress fitted whilst still being comfortable to wear.

As for adjustments - I lengthened the bodice by an inch and a half, which is fairly standard for me. Because of the added length, I also altered the button spacing and used more buttons.

To give you an indication of skirt length - I'm about 5'9" and this is the skirt straight from the pattern with a slightly bigger hem than called for in the pattern (I think half an inch more), and it's knee length rather than the midi length intended for the Kalispell.

The fabric I used came from Seasalt last summer. It's a cotton crepe that I managed to pick up at a bargain price (yay!). It's a nice quality fabric as I've come to expect from Seasalt, but I didn't enjoy sewing with this as much as I've liked their cotton voiles and poplin. It's a very fine fabric (this dress would probably be too sheer if I wasn't wearing a slip with it), but also quite crisp, and my sewing machine had a tendency to snag it, which it has never done for any fabric before. It did cause a couple of marks in the fabric, but thankfully they seem to be fairly inconspicuous in the finished garment.

The slight issues with sewing the fabric made me feel a bit downhearted about this dress when I was making it, but I'm happy to report that I feel a lot more positive having worn it. It's a lovely dress to wear as the skirt is pleasingly swishy! I'd quite like to make another one in a fabric with a bit more body to it at some point to see what that would be like, but for now I'm more than happy with this version of the Kalispell!