Waves and Wild Kinjarling Dress Sewing Pattern Review

It's been a while since I sewed a new favourite dress, but I think that the project I have to share with you today may be just that! Here's my Waves & Wild Kinjarling dress...

The Kinjarling is a relaxed pull-on style dress with short grown-on sleeves. It has three length options (below the knee, calf and full length), two necklines (round or soft V-neck) that can be finished with either a facing or a binding, in-seam or hip pockets, and two different optional waist ties.

I used the round neck (with the facing), calf length skirt, in-seam pockets and no waist ties.

The pattern comes in bust sizes from 28" to 57" and hip measurements from 33" to 63", and there are separate full bust bodice pattern pieces.

The pattern is rated as being for intermediate level sewists, but I think adventurous beginners would be able to tackle this pattern too - there aren't any fastenings, you don't have to set in sleeves and there's really nothing particularly tricky involved. I think it would also be relatively easy to get a good fit because of the relaxed style.

The instructions have a good level of detail and I found them easy to follow where I used them. I did deviate from the instructions as they have you sew the whole front and whole back and then join them down the side seams to form the dress, whereas I sewed the whole bodice and whole skirt and then joined them at the waist. I don't think there's anything wrong with the method from the instructions, I just personally prefer the process I used.

The instructions have you use French seams on all the seams apart from the waist. I do like French seams because they give you a really nice finish on the inside of a garment, but with the fabric I used I found that the seams around the pockets ended up a bit bulky so if I make this dress again (a very definite possibility!), I'd probably just use French seams on the bodice and use regular seams for the skirt.

I didn't have any problems making my Kinjarling - it was a nice relaxing sewing process!

The size recommended for my measurements (currently bust 38.5", waist 33", hips 43") is L and that's the size I made. The only adjustment I made was to lengthen the bodice by 1.5", which is a normal adjustment for me (I'm 5'9"). I think the fit is good - it's relaxed as intended (and as needed being as there are no fastenings), but it's not too oversized so doesn't feel at all baggy or shapeless. 

The fabric that I used for my Kinjarling dress is a Nerida Hansen cotton that I bought a little while ago from a shop that has since closed. I've been very tempted to try various Nerida Hansen fabrics for a while as they're generally great prints, but they're not cheap! I managed to pick this one up at almost 50% off, and I'm glad I finally got to give the fabric a try. It's an excellent quality cotton and the print really is lovely. 

The Kinjarling is a great pattern for showing off a statement fabric like this as there aren't too many seams to break up the print.

As you may have guessed, I'm quite a fan of my Kinjarling dress. It was easy and fun to sew and it feels lovely to wear. On its first outing it got a number of compliments from strangers and that's always a good sign, isn't it?! Something tells me this might be the first of many versions that I make of this pattern!