Hey friends! I’m super excited to have been invited back for a second Indiesew collection, both as a designer and as a blogger, My Hampton Jean Jacket is part of the collection this time around and I’m SO excited to finally be able to see this entire collection of patterns together.

This collection is GORGEOUS–tanks and dresses and a jean jacket to give you a ton of different options for this Spring/Summer. Allie (of Indiesew) took the collection to Maui to have it professionally photographed. Go check it out here! You can buy the full collection here for 25% off. (You may also scroll to the bottom of this post for photos of all of the patterns.)

I sewed up Allie’s second pattern–the Highlands Wrap Dress. As soon as I saw Allie’s line drawings for this dress, I knew I wanted to make it. It’s highly wearable (speaking as a mom of toddlers), very comfortable, and extremely flattering.

After sewing it up, I LOVE (seriously all caps) this pattern. The high side slits keep the longer length from being too frumpy, but are not so high that I feel uncomfortable.

BOOM hourglass shape–another thing I love is that this is a very flattering shape for many body types. The tie is meant to hit at your natural waist, which definitely gives you the illusion of an hourglass shape, even if you don’t naturally have one.

The front wraps are all one piece, but the back is three different pieces–a bodice, a waistband, and a back skirt. The back skirt is gathered into the waistband, inside of which you have the option of adding elastic for added comfort (I did add elastic). The back bodice has two darts at the waist, so you end up with a very flattering somewhat-fitted back bodice, but plenty of ease in the gathered skirt below.

The front wraps have hidden buttons, so they don’t rely on the ties at all to stay in place or stay closed. I really love that since wrap dresses can be somewhat fiddly without those hidden button closures!

The facings and hems are all 1.5″ wide, which is really pretty, in my opinion. Allie also gives you several options in the pattern if you don’t want to topstitch the facings into place.

All of the corners on this pattern’s hem are mitered, which is SUCH a nice touch. They look extremely professional without a lot of work.

And of course I had to throw my Hampton Jean Jacket on over it! I need to give Allie the credit for giving me the kick I needed to get this pattern finished. We first started chatting about this pattern back in January, and when she asked if it would be done in time for this collection, I told her I would make sure it was. 🙂 As soon as I knew what she was working on, I couldn’t WAIT to wear the two patterns together! All the heart eyes.

The pattern also includes optional sleeves and a maxi length option. I really want to make another version with both of those. I will definitely be making up this pattern again as I think it will be the perfect dress to wear in San Diego (where we are moving in a couple of months!).

The Fabric: My fabric is not very Spring-ish, but the olive green color (very hard to photograph, as it turns out–it looks very brown!) is one that I feel looks good on me, and it will get a lot of year-round wear. This solid rayon challis from Vogue was also $4.99/yard and I was using this as my wearable muslin, so can’t beat that price! I really want to sew it up in some Wonderland.

The Pattern: I made a straight size four with no changes whatsoever. There is nothing I would change for my second version. The pattern is professionally drafted and all notches line up/darts are perfectly trued.

The pattern itself is not difficult–I would recommend it even for a beginner. There are just a couple of buttons/buttonholes, but no other closures, so it is quite simple to sew up!

The facings are all interfaced, but I decided to leave my lower front facings (the facings on the front skirt) un-interfaced. My fabric is very drapy, so I did want the heft of interfacing for the bodice neckline, but wanted to keep the drape intact for the skirt. The interfacings are optional, so you can pick and choose like this based on your fabric.

There is a lot of time spent pressing in this pattern, but other than that, it is a very quick sew!

Though you may think I’m biased about this pattern, I’m actually not. My glee over how flattering the shape is and how well it all comes together is purely because of how professionally it is drafted. I was just lucky enough to get the opportunity to sew it up for the blog tour.

Be sure to check out everyone else on the blog tour–this is a fantastic round-up of bloggers!

• April 17: Hey June
• April 18: Threadbear Garments
• April 19: Alina Sewing + Design Co.
• April 20: Groovy Baby and Mama
• April 21: The Sara Project

• April 24: Ada Spragg
• April 25: True Bias
• April 26: Ginger Peach Studio
• April 27: Sew MarieFleur
• April 28: Cookin’ and Craftin’