I have been seeing many pictures of the Wiksten Shift Dress on Instagram. So I thought I can give it a try since it has been a while since the last time I sewn.
Because I don’t have much experience in sewing, I thought I would do a test run with the short version and a lower end fabric. This would be the second dress I made on my own. I used Neon Neppy by Robert Kaufman in Denim. It’s a quilting cotton, $10/yard at Fancy Tiger. So some ironing is required after each wash.
According to the measurement, I should be making a size 2. I don’t think I cut the fabric right. So I ended up making a slightly smaller than a size 0. As you can see at the picture below, my back gathering is off center. Overall, I thought this ended up looking like a patient’s gown so I accessorized with a belt. Because of the stiffness of the quilting cotton, the sizing down turned out quite form fitting for me.
With the long dress version, I made it size 2 again. This time I used Bouquet Burst by Cotton + Steal (designed by Oka Emi). This is 100% rayon. This fabric drapes very nicely, it isn’t as big of a deal if it’s a little too big.
I am pretty happy how these two dresses turned out. I don’t have much of a body shape, but this design made me look like I have a smaller waist 😛
I just bought this pattern, and your two versions and comments are very helpful. It seems that the drape of the fabric really matters in the finished product! Love how you styled the first one with the belt, but I can see that the second one looks pretty effortless, just because the fabric behaves better for this pattern. Thanks for sharing your experiences!