Wiksten Shift Dress

The Wiksten Shift has definitely been one of the ‘hit’ patterns of summer 2019 in the online sewing community – so here’s my take on the Wiksten Shift Dress.

Sooo, first things first, if I may.

My Wiksten Shift Dress is amazing, right???

It feels cute, yet modern and stylish. Ridiculously comfortable and perfect for warm weather. I am, frankly, a little bit in love with it!

The joys of a simple sewing pattern is that, sometimes, it can really be an opportunity for a beautiful fabric to shine – and I definitely get this vibe when looking at some of the Wiksten Shift Dresses out there. I’ve seen some lovely versions in feature stripes, in particular.

My Wiksten Shift Dress is sewn from this lovely flax embroidered cotton from Ray Stitch. For the yoke panel at the back, I used this cotton/nylon lace from The Fabric Store. For reference, after pre-washing, my fabric had shrunk to 105cm wide and I just managed to squeeze this Wiksten Shift Dress out on 3.2 metres of it.

My Wiksten Shift Dress

My Wiksten Shift Dress is a size 16 and I think the sizing is spot on for me. I read some reviews before sewing suggesting that it tended towards being too big and Wiksten is known for an oversized aesthetic so I was a little bit nervous in selecting the size.

I read this post on Wiksten’s website, suggesting that the bicep measurement is actually one of the most important, as you really need enough ease around the arm, whereas the rest of the dress has a more flexible fit.

So I chose my size based on my bicep measurements and, in the end, I couldn’t be happier with how it fits all over.

There won’t be any changes I make for next time!

But…

Ok, I gotta say, that while I couldn’t love the end product of this Wiksten Shift Dress more, there were a number of things that bugged me in the sewing stage.

So much so that I was pretty much cursing this dress as being a horrible potato sack right up until the moment that I finally put it on at the end, added the waist tie and promptly fell in love.

This was my first time sewing with a Wiksten pattern and there were a few things I thought were a bit lacking.

I printed the A0 version and was dismayed to see that sizes 6-18 of the pattern were all drawn with varying lengths of dashes. Not a dot or a bold line in sight. It was very difficult to distinguish between the sizes.

I’ve never had this problem with an indie sewing pattern before and it could readily have been solved by a more thoughtful distribution of the “line styles” amongst the sizes.

So it gave me headache just to start.

The A0 pattern also came with my email address printed in bold large font on top of several lines which I needed to cut through (it was printed over the top of the sizes in the upper half of the size range). Of course, I’m used to seeing my email address on a downloadable pattern for security purposes, but I’ve never seen it so obtrusively before.

In all honesty, before I had even cut out the paper pattern, I was feeling a bit cynical because to me, between the line styles and huge email address, I felt that the paper pattern layout had clearly been designed with the needs of people size 8 and under in mind. As they’re the only ones who wouldn’t be affected by the crazy lines and overprinting of the email address over the top of the lines of the “bigger” sizes.

And that left me feeling a bit cranky at the outset.

What do you expect from a simple sewing pattern?

As the sewing process continued, there were other things which continued to bug me.

I don’t know about you but, especially when I buy a very simple indie sewing pattern (which, let’s be honest, this is!), I expect it to be very thoughtful.

I want all the necessary details included. I want the finishing methods to be well thought through.

Here, I found the Wiksten Shift Dress a tad lacking.

Turning to the back yoke, for example, the pattern calls for you to just cut one, rather than being a shirt-style double yoke, which I think is a nice detail. I cut two so that I could use my lace overlay without having the problem of the facing being visible through the lace. But even if I wasn’t using lace, I would still have cut out two back yokes as this is the kind of slightly elevated (but, let’s be serious, still pretty basic) detail that I expect from indie sewing patterns.

I also added belt loops to my Wiksten Shift, since I will always wear it with the waist tie. Again, a simple detail which makes it much more wearable for me. On my body, the dreaded tie waist slide downwards can be pretty epic – belt loops are essential!

For such a simple pattern, these are the kind of little things I expect to be included.

The sleeve hem technique included in the instructions is simply overlocking and turning over 3/8 inch once before stitching. For me, again, this is not acceptable for the price! I’m not just going to leave all that overlocking visible on the inside.

So, ummm, yeah.

There were a few things that bugged me and I was slightly enraged at this Wiksten Shift Dress until I put it on.

Having said all of that, the process of sewing this was actually fine and very easy. I had no problems following the instructions. But I just didn’t always feel that I was getting the bang I expect for my indie sewing pattern buck.

Credit where it’s due!

There was one step of the instructions which I found great and which showed me a technique I’ve never seen before: the methodfor finishing the split hem.

The instructions have you sew the finished side seam until the point of the split, then reinforce that spot and then switch to a basting length and baste the rest of the side seam closed.

Then with the lower part of the seam basted together, it was much easier to press the “side” hem to the right size and sew to secure it in place. I found this method very easy and accurate and I will definitely be doing it again.

Also, on another note, I hate sewing ties by turning them inside out, so I used a bookmark and topstitch method to sew mine – you can see the details as a permanent story on my IG account.