The Fun, Ruffley, Fabulous, Flor Wrap Dress

Shortly after I tested the Vita dress for Bella Loves Patterns this spring, the owner/designer of said pattern company, Isabela, posted a picture of a new dress she made herself on Instagram. And I fell in love with it. It was the most delightfully ruffley, full-skirted, gorgeous, wrap dress. 

Pretty much the wrap dress of my dreams. I like wrap dresses in general, but this one, this one, was absolutely perfect. I commented how amazing this dress was, and Isabela responded telling me it was going to be her next pattern. Yay! Yay! Yay!

After that I kept a close eye on the Bella Loves Patterns Instagram for the next couple months waiting for the testing call. I wanted this dress immediately, so I was hopeful I’d be able to test the pattern when the time came. After weeks of waiting, since I’d tested a former pattern for BLP, I got an email asking if I’d like to test this one, the Flor Wrap Dress, as well. Yes!! Of Course!!

Shortly there after, testing began and I excitedly made my own ruffley, beautiful, wrap dress.

The original sample dress for this pattern was made out of a lovely solid lavender linen. It was gorgeous, and I initially wanted to make my dress out of a solid linen as well. But, I don’t have a ton of linen in my fabric stash, and what I did have didn’t seem quite right for this project. Thus, after some brainstorming, I decided to go a totally different direction.

 

In Japan last summer, I’d picked up dress lengths of two different light weight cotton batiks. Most batiks are about quilting cotton weight, if not heavier, but these were more like cotton lawns. Lightweight and airy. I decided that one of these two batiks would be just the thing for my Flor Wrap Dress.

One of the batiks was darker, with more subdued colors - blues and purples, and such. This is the one I thought I’d use for my dress. However, when I went to pull the fabric out, I changed my mind. The second batik was a bright as bright could be - bright yellow, lime green, and hot pink. 

Fun, but very, very, bright. Brighter than I usually wear. As soon as I saw it again however, I knew that brighter batik was what my Flor Dress needed to be made from. The darker fabric could go back in the bin and wait for another project. Bright, almost neon, fabric it was! 

I only ran into one issue using this fabric for my dress - it was almost impossible to pick a thread color to go with it! 

This fabric was such an array of colors no one thread color would match all, or even most, of the fabric. The majority of the dress got sewn with either pink or green thread. The bodice ruffles got hemmed in pink. The bottom ruffle of the dress got hemmed with a investigated rainbow thread I found in my stash. None of the top stitching truly "blends in" to the fabric, but this material is already so colorful, it doesn't really stand out either. So, I'll say it works, even if no one color was absolutely perfect.

This pattern was already going to be awesome because of the fabulous ruffley design, but it was made absolutely amazing when Isabela announced it would have cup sizes!!!! The original pattern was drafted for a B cup, which is industry standard. However, as this is a wrap dress and getting the right bust fit is essential to getting a non-gapey bodice, Isabela also decided to include separate C and D cup bodice pattern pieces. This saves those of us with larger bodices from having to do full bust adjustments ourselves! 

Based on my full and high bust measurements I made a size 10 D cup, and the fit was absolutely perfect for me. No gaping in the bust whatsoever! A big deal for a wrap dress! 

One final little thing I appreciate about this pattern? The pockets. 

I put pockets in everything, so you might be thinking "What's the big deal? Of course it has pockets - you made it!" Well, here's the thing - even if a pattern includes pockets, I generally ignore the pattern for the pockets and use my personal pocket pattern instead. I usually find the included pocket pattern much too small. 

With the Flor Dress, however, the pocket pattern is actually a decent size! Thus, I decided to just use it instead of my personal pattern. After finishing this dress and wearing it quite a bit, I have no complaints about the pockets. They are a good size, placed at a good level inside the skirt, and do their job well. As a picky pocket person, I can whole-heartily endorse this pattern!  

I love this dress just as much as I thought I would! It is so much fun to wear! 

Pretty much every time I wear it, I get compliments on it. A definite show stopper.

Even without any compliments, I just feel pretty in this dress. Like I belong in a book or something. A nice feeling for sure.

For the pictures, taken by my younger brother, I paired the dress with the fun, floppy “Vintage Simplicity” sun hat the same brother gave me for my birthday a week or so earlier.

This hat is so much fun! And makes an amazing photo prop! Why have I never owned such a sun hat before??

This dress is everything I thought it would be when I saw the original picture of the sample dress. Thank you Isabela for letting me test this fabulous pattern! I certainly intend to make it again!

For those of you who are interested, the Flor Wrap Dress pattern can be found here and it’s on sale for 15% until this Friday 9/4/20. I highly recommend it!

*I was given this pattern free in exchange for testing and giving feedback on it, but all thoughts and opinions in this blog post are my own. I was not required to share about this pattern in any way, shape, or form.

Photo credit: Sam Wesselmann