Today I am sharing my sewing review of the Nunzia Dress by Viki Sews.

This is one of those blog posts where I just don’t quite know where to start.

Well, why not start with the quick version for anyone in a rush.

This Nunzia dress is a hot mess!!!!!!!

Viki Sews is a Russian pattern brand and I’ve seen many English-speaking sewists starting to embrace their patterns over the last year or so. Recently, some of their patterns have started to be available in English and for purchase from an English-language website, like this Nunzia Dress.

This is my first every experience sewing a Viki Sews pattern.

This is one of those patterns that when I saw it popping up on my instagram feed, I just instantly though “yes!”.

To me, it just screamed autumnal back-to-the-office chic but, in ponte, so actually secret pyjamas.

I happened to have caught sight of the Nunzia Dress for the first time on a morning when I was about to go to a seasonal fabric market. So, lo and behold, I ended up coming back from the market with a nice thick ponte that I thought would be perfect.

Buying the Nunzia Dress

It was only after having purchased the fabric and becoming totally attached to the idea of sewing the Nunzia Dress that I actually went to purchase the pattern from Viki Sews.

I’m no going to lie. At this point, I almost gave up on this pattern entirely. If I hadn’t already purchased the fabric, I definitely would have.

First, Viki Sews sell their patterns in the way I hate the most: as single size patterns. Until now, I had succeeded in steadfastly refusing to buy any pattern sold only as a single size.

My body measurements do not fit into a single size. I dare to venture that this is probably true for many, if not most, sewists.

It is beyond me why sewing pattern companies would perpetuate what is one of the worst features of RTW fashion by making their patterns most useful only for those whose bodies fit neatly into one size. I feel extremely frustrated by the idea that I either have to purchase the pattern multiple times to grade between sizes or I have to make adjustments which wouldn’t be needed if there were different sizes to grade between. In my case, as I purchased based on my waist and hip size, the pattern was way too big around the bust, whereas if multiple sizes were available this could have been simply taken care of by some grading between sizes, especially in a knit fabric.

This single size thing is even more of a barrier for me when I am making my first every purchase from a company as I don’t yet have a feel for its sizing, ease etc.

There were also a couple of other things that made me nervous about purchasing my first Viki Sews patterns. The first is that you have to have an account to make a purchase and one is automatically created for you with the first purchase. I know that Viki Sews is not unique and that this is becoming increasingly common.

But I hate it. I just hate the fact that in order to purchase something, my email address and name have to be retained somewhere. I really wish I could just have the same anonymity that comes from buying a paper pattern in a store and walking away.

The other thing to note is that after you purchase your pattern, you receive an email about how to receive it and the two emails I received were entirely in Russian. Even though I had purchased on the English website.

In order to try to find where my patterns were I was clicking on links which I couldn’t understand. Which made me deeply uncomfortable. One of the links also took me to a spam-like website selling coupons and vouchers!

I found the right link in the end and got my pattern, but between how-do-I get-my-pattern and only being able to purchase a single size, I ended the purchase experience thinking “yep, I think this will be my last Viki Sews experience”.

Well, I hoped it would at least be worth it!

But, instead, I’ve produced one of the most ill-fitting garments I’ve made in years.

I’m not gonna lie, after I snapped these photos for your viewing pleasure, I stripped off and chucked this Nunzia Dress directly in the bin! I couldn’t even face trying to re-home it.

I fully acknowledge that it is actual helpful to share the failures and it is only for this reason that I am putting this mess out in there in the world. Gotta say though, when I catch a glimpse of these photos, I am very tempted to click delete!

My Nunzia Dress

My Nunzia Dress is a size 46 in height 2 (Viki sews may be good for tall sewists, as the patterns are is offered in height variations, which I haven’t really seen in sewing patterns before). The Nunzia Dress caters for a maximum waist size of 96cm and maximum hip size of 122 cm, so it is not size inclusive.

As I noted above, I selected my size based on my waist and hip measurements. But, as is evident in these photos, the bust of the size 46 is a horrendous fit on me. I’ve never actually learnt to do a small bust adjustment and was, in any event, a little confused by the odd-shaped asymmetric bodice pieces so not sure I could have done it successfully had I tried!

The bust dart on this Nunzia Dress was also one of the largest bust darts I have ever seen in a pattern, it reminded me kind of like a nice chunky piece of cake.

Big enough that you’d be excited to eat it.

Most bust darts I’ve encountered before are the size of a dainty pieces of cake that you try to eat in front of others while pretending that you are the kind of human being who can either take or leave cake, but which is so small that you are left feeling entirely unsatisfied.

Even a little bit empty.

This bust dart was not one of these delicate slivers of bravado but was, rather, a decent hearty decadent chunk of cake.

As cake, it would have been the perfect size.

But as a bust dart, it just didn’t look right. It was too big!

And you can see from the pics that the shape just is not working with my body.

And you can see from the pics that the shape just is not working with my body.

Also, I’m not sure if I missed something in the instructions, but the bust dart ended up being so large that when it was pressed upwards (which it seemed to have to be based on the side seam line), it ended up extending into the armpit.

It was just weird all around.

The bust dart is bust, as far as I’ve concerned.

I also saw from the pattern that the sleeve was designed to have negative ease at the bicep. As I find that ponte generally doesn’t have too much stretch to it, the idea of negative ease in the upper arm was not sounding fun.

So, from the outset, I did a fill bicep adjustment to make it more comfortable. But it just ends up looking underwhelming and dowdy. I added 5cm into the bicep, which was obviously a bit too much.

I also found a couple of things with the instructions for the Nunzia Dress rather irritating.

And I know these are minor things but, what can I say, frustration is just not the vibe I want invading my creative tactile time!

The instructions to the Nunzia Dress come as a file that is too large to email, so I couldn’t just look at the instructions electronically as I prefer. Yes, I know I need to figure out how to use the cloud or drop boxes or whatever.

But not today.

There were also aspects of the instructions which just didn’t gel with my sewing style. It tells you to interface every single seam and to baste every single seam before sewing it.

What the?

Does anyone out there sew which such degree of caution?

No judgments if you do, only the utmost of respect for your commitment to the craft, but for my sewing persona, that’s just no way to live!

Obviously it was no issue to just ignore these aspects of the instructions but, between everything else, I was just left feeling that I couldn’t wait for this Nunzia Dress to be over!

Having now finished this unashamed complaint fest of a blog post, I would acknowledge that the neckline is interesting (although a bit of a squeeze to get on and off). And if I had done a bust adjustment and picked a more subdued colour (black, navy), perhaps it could have been wearable. Speaking of colour, it is actually more rust than it is photographing – it’s coming across too red in these photos which is only adding to my dislike since red is not my colour. And, finally, for all my complaints about the pattern itself and the single-size thing, to be fair I would note that Viki Sews’ patterns are on the cheaper end of the indie sewing pattern spectrum (around 8 euros).

But sometimes sewing is about lessons, and my key lesson today is that I just don’t think Viki Sews patterns are for me.

Or, at least, this Nunzia Dress is not.

If you want to see more of my sewing adventures, you can find me on Instagram here.