So the Anna dress from By Hand London is probably my favourite dress pattern of all time.

Yet, for some reason, it’s taken me about 4 years to sew my second version of this gem of a pattern.

And, violà, here she is:

Anna Dress: The Original

In fact, I think that Anna may well have been one of the first dresses I ever sewed. If not the first, the second.  My first version was pretty much copied straight from the design photos, out of a geometric-inspired leaf print broderie anglaise from coupon St Pierre in Paris:

Thankfully, I’ve given up on trying to look cool in blog photos by wearing sunglasses inside!

It’s really interesting to remake a pattern that you first made as a beginner sewist and compare how your skills have developed. The main thing that has changed is that my invisible zipper installation is actually, well, not absurdly visible. Which makes me nice and happy!

TNT and WW!

The Anna dress is definitely a major TNT for me. In fact, not only is it a TNT, in the sense that I keep wanting to sew it again, but my original Anna dress also has the special status of being a real wardrobe workhorse (WW!).

I reach for it all the time, as soon as the weather permits. Anytime I’m heading to warmer climates, it comes with me.

In fact, I don’t really have that many me-made workhorse garments. I’m lucky enough to have so many me-mades that I can go quite a long time without repetitions. Which means that I don’t usually tend to wear many things over and over and over again. The white Anna dress is definitely an exception to that rule.

So I’ve been saying for years that I need to make me a new one.

Well, I got there eventually…

Kokka Love

So, speaking of gems, am I allowed to go an  a bit about how much I looove this fabric?

It’s called Kokka double gauze metallic gems and I bought it from Nekoneko fabric – a new-to-me specialist in  (mostly) Japanese fabrics based in Singapore. It shipped over to Europe nice and quickly and it was all I had hoped it would be…

How divine is the colour scheme? It’s basically all my favourite colours having a little party! With just a tiny touch of subtle sparkle!!

As soon as the fabric arrived, I knew I wanted to cut it on the cross grain to make the most of its unique features, with the ‘gems’ being larger in the centre of the fabric and fading to nothing at the selvedge.

Speaking of which, using the selvedge to avoid having to sew a hem might just be my newest favourite sewing super-power!

Anna Magic

Obviously there’s not much to say about By Hand London’s Anna dress which hasn’t already been said. It’s just pretty magical the way that the Anna dress can make even I, a world-class awkward nerd, feel like I got some attitude!

It’s as though there’s some extra-sass sewn into the seams.

Or maybe it’s just those flirty kimono sleeves…

The only modification I made is to add pockets.

Sassy women need pockets.

The Anna dress is also one of those rare makes where I don’t know which view I prefer. Usually I gravitate towards one particular view of any given pattern, but Anna has me a little bamboozled. I would have loved to have sewn this Anna dress as a maxi but the store didn’t have enough fabric in stock.

So I made it as long as I could… This was definitely one of those projects in which almost every inch of fabric was used…

I also equally love the look of the V-neck variation of the Anna dress. But since I love this neckline too, I’m scared to change it up! Sewing fears, right?

I could probably do with a SBA to perfect the fit in the top half of the bodice. On both my Anna dresses, I’ve had to take in about an inch or so at the top of the back zip and then tapered down to the regular seam allowance at the waist.

But I’m lazy… And it doesn’t bother me. Perhaps I should be more critical of these things, but I just don’t tend to analyse myself that closely. And what I don’t notice, doesn’t bother me.

Maybe next time…

If I ever get around to trying that v-neckline…