Sometimes you fall in love with a fabric without knowing what to make from it. That is exactly what happened with this amazingly beautiful Atelier Brunette fabric. The color is not a color I wear a lot, but I liked it so much that I couldn’t resist! Especially the print makes it unique but also very wearable.

As you might, or might not, know, we have a Pinterest board with lots of inspirational content for different kinds of fabrics, and types of prints, like gingham or houndstooth. On one of my scrolling expeditions when looking for new inspiration to add, I bumped into a wrap dress, made out of this gorgeous fabric. I knew then and there this fabric needed to be turned into a wrap dress!

The sewing pattern

As wrap dresses are my all-time favorite, you would guess I could just take a sewing pattern that I already own and recreate this look I found on Pinterest. This particular dress had gorgeous short kimono sleeves, another big favorite of mine, and I didn’t have any sewing pattern that had this feature… A couple of weeks ago Sew Over It brought out their new capsule wardrobe e-book 'Summer dreaming' and in there I saw the Ravello dress. Lisa looked amazing in it, as ever, and this dress had the exact features I was looking for.

I have been a big fan of their sewing patterns for years already so I knew I was going to like it a lot. Sewing up the pattern was very straight forward. The instructions are always very detailed with drawings for support. Also, they are doing sew-along videos on YouTube for their new patterns, so you can follow them step by step, putting the garments together.

The only thing that was a bit fiddly was the 4m (!!) bias binding you need to add to finalize the seams of the dress! It’s relatively straight forward, except for the part that overlaps with the extra piece of fabric on the skirt part that is going under the front wrap part. But since nobody is going to see this, I think I did a good job 😉

I cut a size 10 but for the next versions, I will go down 1 size. Being a bit stubborn I actually took the measurements from the sewing pattern and decided to be a good girl and follow the size table. In the back of my mind, I know the SOI sewing patterns always are a bit big on me, so I should’ve chosen a size 8… Nevertheless, it looks great and I really enjoy wearing it!

The only small adjustment I made is that I took 4cm off the length of the dress. I like my dresses to be shorter rather than longer. Wearing a skirt just above my knee (which is the case with this pattern), makes me feel frumpy and I like to be jolly and fun!

The fabric

That it is gorgeous and super nice, you can already see, but let me first tell you what this material is made of. This EcoVero viscose from the brilliant designers of Atelier Brunette is free of harmful substances and the manufacturing cycle has been optimized to drastically reduce the environmental impact compared to traditional viscose.

Produced by Lenzing, leading cellulose fiber producer, near the Attersee Lake in Austria, EcoVero is made using sustainable wood from controlled sources which are either FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) or PEFC (Program for Endorsement of Forest Certification Schemes) certified in Europe, instead of bamboo or eucalyptus which is commonly used in normal viscose production.

The cellulose fiber is produced on-site, at a state of the art facility via a new, innovative environmental process which has significantly lower emissions and water impact than conventional viscose. Nearly all the chemicals used during the production of EcoVero are recovered and reused. Compared to conventional viscose production, the production of EcoVero causes 50 percent less emissions and takes up half as much energy and water in addition to its pulp bleaching being 100 percent chlorine-free.

On to the sewing! Sewing with this fabric is quite easy. It’s a soft and lightweight fabric that you would expect to be difficult to sew, as it might move around quite a bit, but it actually is not. The fabric has beautiful drape but is not slippery. Ideal fabric to make nice flowy garments with. 😊

One very important thing to keep in mind is that you ALWAYS use a very sharp and thin needle (60 or 70) in your sewing machine when sewing with Viscose fabrics. You don’t want to damage the fabric when sewing!

Happy sewing!