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!

Waves & Wild Superstar Bra

I've tried making a bra before and it wasn't very successful - I didn't particularly enjoy the process, and the end result wasn't brilliant. I was quite content not to get sucked into the world of lingerie sewing, but when Waves & Wild released the Superstar bra it looked like it would be easy to sew and comfy to wear so I was tempted to give bra making another try!

The Superstar bra is a lounge bra with crossover back and three band options (regular jersey, cropped top jersey and elastic). It's for high bust sizes between 28" and 52", and has cup sizes A to H.

It can be made using just jersey fabric (with options to add clear elastic or sew in cups if you want), which appealed to me for two reasons; firstly it meant I could potentially make it using jersey left over from other projects without the need to buy lots of extra notions. Secondly, it was all the little rings, sliders and various types of elastic that made me not enjoy my first bra making experience - I don't like sewing fiddly things!

The instructions for the pattern are really good - they're clear, easy to follow and contain just the right amount of detail. They also provide good information on picking a size and on possible fitting adjustments. 

I found the process of making the bra fairly simple, and didn't have any problems.

In terms of sizing, my high bust measurement is 36.5" and my full bust is just over 39" so I made the size L in a C cup. 

I lengthened the straps because I almost always have to lengthen tops as I'm slightly taller than average. I decided to add 1.5" because I usually have to lengthen patterns by somewhere between 1 and 2 inches, and I was intending this version to be a wearable toile so I was happy to experiment a bit.

Thankfully the experimenting worked out well and I'm really happy with the fit.

The main fabric I used is some cotton jersey that I had left over from making some Juno pyjamas a while ago - I don't think they ever made it to my blog, but they're on my Instagram here. The bra is lined, and my lining fabric was some slightly thinner cotton jersey, also left over from another project.

Having worn the Superstar bra a couple of times, I'm happy to report that it's really comfy! As it's designed to be a lounge bra, it's not as supportive as a "proper" bra might be, but I found it's perfectly fine for my not-very-large bust for daily life.

I'm really pleased that I gave bra making another try with the Superstar bra, and I can definitely see myself making more. If you fancy giving the pattern a try yourself and happen to be reading this in the next few days after I post this, now would be a really good time to treat yourself to the pattern because Waves & Wild have a 50% off birthday sale running - grab yourself a bargain!

Waves & Wild Emi T-Shirts

 When I was sorting my fabric stash recently, I unearthed some pieces of child-appropriate jersey left over from other projects and I decided to use them to make some tops for my nephews and niece. Here they are in their Waves & Wild Emi t-shirts.

The Emi pattern gives you lots of options for jersey garments. For a start it comes in sizes from newborn to age 12 so you can get plenty of use out of it. There are also options for a t-shirt, peplum top or dress with a circle skirt, as well as short sleeves, long sleeves and grown on sleeves. Lastly, there's the option of pockets for the dress. You're definitely not short of choice!

For my nephews I made the short-sleeved t-shirt, and my niece has the short-sleeved peplum top.

The instructions seemed to be good - I say "seemed" because I only really skimmed through them, but they contained plenty of detail and looked like they explained everything thoroughly. 

I actually did my own thing a bit because I've made a few similar t-shirts (albeit on a bigger adult-sized scale!) so I'm familiar with the steps you need to work through and the order in which I like to do them. For example, I prefer to sew neckbands after sewing the shoulder seams whereas the pattern has you sew them later. I don't think either way is necessarily better, but sewing the neckband is my least favourite part of making a t-shirt so I like to get it out of the way early!

I also made a slight change due to the fact that I was using leftovers and didn't want to buy extra supplies. The sleeves and body are designed to be finished with ribbing, but I didn't have any so instead I lengthened both the sleeves and the body so that I could hem them instead without ending up with tops that were too short. 

The sizing seems to be fairly accurate. For both of my nephews I had to use sizes that were a year or two above their actual ages, but they are both quite tall. My niece is more averagely sized, and her top is the size recommended for her age.

They were all really pleased with their tops when I handed them over, and as you can see proved to be quite exuberant models! The Emi pattern was easy to sew, and I'll definitely be making it again - not least because having made these three tops I probably owe my littlest niece a top too!