I’m so excited to share this one today – the Helena Wrap Dress by Just Patterns!

I was provided an advance copy of this pattern free of charge in exchange for sharing a picture of it on pattern launch day. Which was a total no-brainer for me, because I would have otherwise purchased the pattern and started sewing the day it was released.

The free copy just enabled me to get started a little earlier!

Over on instagram, in addition to the Just Patterns account, its owner, Delphine, also keeps a more personal sewing account over at @sewingtidbits. Over there I really enjoy following her because you really get to see the process as she develops her ideas and creates her patterns.

With lots of indie sewing companies, all you see are carefully marketed sneak peaks, followed by a sudden drop of a new release. But on @sewingtidbits, it really feels as though you get to see a pattern unfold from the first time Delphine comes up with a design until it’s ready for us! I really enjoy these insights. It’s a really natural, not-at-all orchestrated, behind the scenes of an indie sewing pattern company!

Plus it gives you the chance to unashamedly gush about how adorable an upcoming pattern is, which is probably why Delphine invited me to sew the Helena Wrap Dress up after so many not-so-subtle hints from me about how irresistible I found this one!

The Helena Wrap Dress has so many of my favourite features in a dress: wide belt, voluminous skirt, showing just a bit of flesh at the neckline, cuffs, plenty of room around the sleeves.

And as for POCKETS, the pattern comes with two options for a choose-your-own adventure vibe: patch pockets or a nice and roomy in-seam pocket.

I really feel that deciding which pocket option to use was the most challenging aspect of sewing the Helena Wrap Dress!

Wrap it up

Wrap dresses are definitely having a bit of a moment in the indie sewing world right now. I have already sewn the Elodie Wrap Dress by Closet Core Patterns and the Wildwood Wrap Dress by Sew House Seven and enjoyed both those patterns. For me, the Helena Wrap Dress combines the elements I like most about those two patterns into one dress, while still giving it a unique and modern feel.

When I posted this dress on instagram stories, I definitely got quite a few questions about how it compares to the Wildwood Wrap Dress, in particular. Based on my personal preferences, the main area I find the Helena Wrap Dress superior is the arms. Unlike the Wildwood Wrap Dress, this one isn’t too tight around the arm but is nice and roomy> I really like the strong shape it creates. I also prefer its increased arm coverage compared to the Wildwood.

I also have a personal preference for the fuller skirt of the Helena Wrap Dress compared to the straighter one of the Wildwood.

In my view, the Helena Wrap Dress creates a very balanced look – between the structured shoulder shape, the wide belt and a skirt full of life and movement, it’s a winner for me.

And as for that age-old question of wrap dresses, the overlap of the two skirt pieces is quite considerable and I feel very secure in it. I could definitely cycle in this. However, I’m not going to lie, it’s not entirely immune to a little bit of leg flash in the wind.

My Helena Wrap Dress

The Helena Wrap Dress by Just Patterns is available in sizes 34-56, with the size 56 accommodating a maximum hip measurement of 152 cm. Sizes 34-46 are drafted to accomodate on a B/C-cup bust, with sizes 46-56 based on a D-cup.

My Helena Wrap dress is a size 46, so I was able to choose between using the B cup or D cup versions. I used the B-cup size 34-46 version, which is better suited to my bust. My bust, hips and waist all fell into slightly different sizes, so I chose my size based on the waist measurement.

I was a little unsure about whether to go down a size to match by bust measurement. And the bodice has a quite unique shape so I wasn’t sure how to adjust it while keeping the waist size, so I decided ultimately opted for using my waist measurement as the guiding point for my size selection.

In the end, I’m glad I did this because even though a waist tie is inherently somewhat flexible, the unique shape of this waistline is really designed to sit in a specific way for the best effect. Having now sewn the Helena Wrap Dress once, I feel that it would be feasible to play around slightly with the bust pleats to make it slightly smaller at the bust. It’s not really necessary, however, as I feel perfectly secure at the bust line as it is.

This fabric is a viscose linen slub from Blackbird Fabrics. I purchased this after Carolyn announced on a Love to Sew Podcast “linen” episode that this was her favourite linen blend that Blackbird stock. When it arrived, it did not dissapoint. It has a gorgeous texture, a slight lustre and a really “linen” feel but with a bit of additional fluidity from the viscose.

I couldn’t really imagine a better fabric for sewing the Helena Wrap Dress. Its only downside is that I chose navy, which is rather notoriously difficult to photograph. These photos don’t quite do justice to just how wonderful this Helena Wrap Dress makes me feel!

Sewing process: Helena Wrap Dress

I found sewing the Helena Wrap Dress straightforward and without issue. After all, the joy of a wrap dress is that there are no buttons or zippers to worry about!

The trade off being that there will be some kind of tie to deal with but the nice thick waist ties in the Helena Wrap Dress meant it wasn’t a pain to make these ones!

When sewing the Helena Wrap Dress, do make sure that you transfer all markings correctly though! I was initially a little bit lazy with my notches and sewed on the skirt so that it just met in the middle without overlap at all because I hadn’t properly transferred all markings on the waist band!

The thing I really enjoyed is that the instructions are designed to ensure that you make a garment with nice clean finishes on the inside – instructing you to use French seams, where relevant, throughout. With the construction techniques there is only one seam (the shoulder) that you end up having to finish so that it is externally visible with an overlocker or zig zag stitch. Everything else ends up nicely tucked away and all pretty insides.

The project came together surprisingly quickly. The only place where I felt I had to pay particular attention was the waistband. Which is always the case for a wrap dress – it somehow hurts my brain to make sure that my waistband and waistband facing end up with the gap for the belt to slide through on the same side!

The only minor little thing to flag is that the dress uses quite a bit of interfacing to get the nice crisp finish – which is great!

But from the pattern pieces I hadn’t fully grasped exactly how the neckline around the bodice would be constructed and I hadn’t twigged on that the interfacing that you place around the back neckline will end up being visible in the finished dress. I had assumed that all interfacing would end up hidden so I used what I had on hand – a bright white interfacing against my navy fabric.

No big deal and only I will ever see it, but if you’re a stickler for coordination, make sure the back neck interfacing is a colour that won’t stick out like a sore thumb!

All in all, this Helena Wrap Dress ticks just about every box for my dream dress.

It features details which I adore, has enormous pockets, the wrap nature gives some flexibility for weight fluctuations and I will feel equally comfortable wearing this at the beach or at the office. Which frankly, in this current age of ‘will life ever go back to normal life or not” is just the kind of flexibility that I need!

In the ultimate endorsement, I already have the fabric for a second version!

**UPDATE 25 JULY 2021**

OK, I’ve made that second version already – it’s in bold gingham linen from the Fabric Store. This time I didn’t make any changes except that I tried out the lovely roomy inseam pockets instead.

This linen is a bit less fluid than the linen blend I used for the navy version and it does give it slightly different look, particularly at the skirt.

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Told you I would make a second version!

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