Meet Vita: the new Bella Loves Patterns dress and blouse! After months of hard work and lots of back and forth Vita is finally here! To celebrate get a 20% off on the pattern until May 11th at the check out.
I know lots of you have been waiting for this for some time now! The wait is now over and you’ve had enough of me teasing you with pictures of shirred cuffs on Instagram, right? Now you will get the full view of the pattern in all its glory.
Vita is the first dress I am adding to the collection and it is a super feminine pattern inspired by the Victorian & Edwardian era. There is also a very princess Diana vibe about it (I can’t say I wasn’t influenced by her 70’s style tea dresses!). All this royal inspiration aside, Vita will definitely make you feel chic and confident for that work meeting or a special occasion.
Vita has a very forgiving loose silhouette that will suit many body shapes regardless if you choose to make it as a dress or blouse.
The dress version has a shirred waist line and a below-the-knee skirt with side vents. Vita looks perfect in light-weight fabrics with drape. The shirred neckband is present in all views with a charming back split opening.
The pattern comes with two options for the sleeves. The first is a puffy, gathered sleeve with an internal sleeve head to give the light-weight fabrics structure and volume to the shoulders. To finish it off, the sleeves have a narrow, shirred cuff. The second is a simple bishop sleeve with wide, shirred cuff option.
VIEW A
VIEW B
For sure you are asking if you can mix and match the cuffs? The answer is yes but not without hacking the sleeve length! In fact one of the lovely testers hacked the View B sleeve with the narrow cuffs from View A and it looked gorgeous - I am hoping to be able to share some of their versions soon. Hang in there!
The blouses in View C&D are an extension of the dresses without the shirred waist line. They look perfect worn loose or tucked in - you can also hack this blouse into a little shift dress by extending the length (I am getting ideas while writing this post!). I have made the blouses with the back bow closure, but you can have it made with the buttons instead.
Vita is packed with small delicate details that make it the perfect pattern for intermediate sewists. As mentioned above, Vita includes two optional back closures. Although I have made both dresses with a buttoned-up back and the two blouse versions with the bow closure, you can definitely mix and match to make it your own.
THE SHIRRING TECHNIQUE
Vita is the perfect pattern to up your sewing game as it introduces you to the shirring technique. Whether you are new to it or more experienced sewist, it is a very challenging pattern to stretch your skills to the next level.
I have prepared a very detailed instructions booklet to guide you on how to set up your machine and how to wind the bobbin by machine! Yeah, believe me it is possible! - I know many people do it by hand, but it is not impossible to have it done by machine, that was how all my samples were made. You will feel like a champion once you master this technique!
VIEW C
Vita is available as a PDF pattern in UK sizes 6 to 20 and it comes in A4 and letter paper format. If you don’t feel like taping pages together, there the A0 Copyshop file. The pattern also comes with the most detailed instructions booklet I’ve ever made.
I don’t yet know if I am going to be preparing a full formal sewalong detailing the full process, but I made three videos showing the most challenging parts for now. Later I might be adding more blog posts to this pattern. You can find the tutorials here.
VIEW D
Share the love with us by using the hashtag #BlpVita and don’t forget to tag @bellalovespatterns to your post so I get to see it. I hope you all love this pattern as much as I do. Find the pattern here.
Happy sewing!