Marbella Dress Tour & Giveaway

Hi & thanks for stopping by for the Itch to Stitch* Marbella Dress Pattern Blog Hop!

I’ve always loved Audrey Hepburn. I know I’m not the only one. As a teenager she was a great role model – classic, beautiful, charming, graceful, timeless. I love her in this iconic photo wearing that boat neck dress with tulip skirt pegged down to the floor. *swoon*

Lovely, but a little impractical for daily wear. Insert the Marbella Dress by Itch to Stitch Designs*.

As I mentioned on Monday’s Post, when I first saw the Marbella Dress I was over the moon for Kennis Wong’s design! I’m sure a lot of it had to do with it’s classic feel and clean lines. I was so thrilled to be able to test such a lovely garment pattern. The Marbella Dress features a wide boat neck, front and back yokes allowing for color blocking, feminine princess lines that allow for a close fit in the bodice, roomy, slightly above knee tulip skirt, functional in-seam pockets and invisible back zipper closure (description from the Itch to Stitch website*).

The group of testers and Kennis were so wonderfully helpful through the entire process. Before cutting into our fashion fabrics (mine being this solid blue, slightly textured bottom weight from F&M Fabrics), several of us started with muslins (practice garments) from solid cotton or leftover fabrics to get the fit just right. This pattern has sizing for A/B/C/D cups (I KNOW!) so the bodice fit wonderfully in front right off the bat. However, I did have some pooling of fabric at my lower back. That was quickly remedied by a sway back alteration on the appropriate pattern pieces. This is a common alteration for me on all patterns, one I failed to do (since I skipped the muslining stage) on my Easter Dress and really regret! As you can see in the picture below, the alteration was worth it! No extra fabric, just smooth seams.

Another change I made to the pattern was to blend between sizes. This is also common for me as my measurements always do land a little smaller on top than on bottom. At first Kennis and I did not think it would matter since the skirt is so roomy, but after some mystery fitting issues with the first muslin, I cut a larger skirt and attached to the practice garment after resolving the swayback and the correct size skirt made all the difference in the world. 

I really want to emphasize that these are alterations I have to do every time I sew for myself so it was definitely not the pattern! In fact, the pattern itself was wonderful to work with. Everything fit together beautifully. And I really adored the techniques outlined in the instructions. They made me a better seamstress by walking me through some steps I am usually in too much of a hurry to consider (like trimming the lining pieces slightly to make them turn a little inward so you don’t see the lining peak out from the front of the garment). Little things like that, and more outlined in the instructions, really contribute to a professional finished product! 

I think this dress has a lot of potential to be drastically different just by changing the fabrics! The fabric I chose is great for fall/winter with a jacket or sweater, but a floral would be great for spring and the yoke and bodice would lend themselves beautifully to color blocking, as you can see in some of the others’ tester versions. So be sure to click around below and follow the tour – you won’t be sorry!

ALSO – enter to win your own Marbella Dress pattern here!

*The Marbella Dress pattern was given to me in exchange for sewing and testing the fit and pattern details. Opinions are all mine. This post does contain affiliate links*

Wed, October 15:
Ann from The Pattern Studio by 1 Puddle Lane
Lindsay from Design by Lindsay

Thursday, October 16:
Debbie from Stitch It Now
Jaime from Jaime Johnson

Monday, October 20:
Darcy from Ginger House Designs
Stacey from All Sewn Up by Stacey

Tuesday, October 21:
Diane Guess Post on Itch to Stitch
Ajaire from Call Ajaire

*Any link with an asterisk indicates an affiliate link. If you make a purchase through any of these links, I earn a small commission. Thank you for your support! See more on the Disclosures tab.