When designing the Leila Dress I wanted to create a loose fitting tier dress that wasn’t a boxy shape. This pattern has clever waist shaping and minimal gathers so you don’t feel completely consumed by the finished dress. The Leila PDF pattern is now available through the PDF Pattern Shop. Below are some details for the pattern
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The Leila Dress is a mini or maxi length dress that is unlined. However, if your fabric requires lining this pattern also includes a pattern for the Leila Slip. The Leila Slip comes in a mini or midi length.
The Leila Dress features a V neckline with gathered tiers. The shorter version has 3 tiers, with the maxi length dress having 4 tiers. Entry to the dress is through the neck opening. There are optional ties that can be attached to the back of the dress to bring the waist in. The sleeve has gathers at the sleeve head and a gathered circular frill at the hem.
The Leila Slip also features a front V neckline with a straight back. The slip lines up with the dress to form the perfect lining slip or can be a dress in it’s own right. The slip comes in a mini or midi length. The midi length slip comes side splits. Try using grosgrain ribbon for shoulder straps. The neck edge is finished with a wide stitched down facing. Also consider using adjusters and sliders with your straps. You will need to increase the recommend strap length by 5cm (2” ) if you are adding adjusters and sliders.
This is an intermediate beginner pattern with the following sewing skills used. Gathering, neck facing and double turn finish to hem.
There are many pattern hack options to be explored for this pattern. You could extend the 1st tier of the dress to convert the dress to a top. You can take tier 2, 3 and 4 and convert it into an elastic waist maxi skirt. Tier 4 can be shortened to create a midi length flowy dress instead of the maxi. The slip can be easily converted into a cami. You could mesh the slip and cami together to create a sleeveless dress with gathered tiers. So many options in one pattern. The sleeves from the Sia Dress will also fit the Leila Dress for further variations.
FABRIC
This dress and slip are best suited to a fabric that is soft and drapes well. Consider using light to mid weight fabrics such as: linen, linen blends, cotton & cotton gauze. For a softer silhouette consider polyester, viscose, rayon, Tencel, silk or blends of. The surface texture of a crepe or a crinkle is also a great option.
I have personally made this dress is a light weight linen, mid weight linen, cotton lawn, cotton gauze and rayon crepe. I have made the slip dress in a viscose linen blend, light weight linen and viscose. All of these fabric have worked beautifully to create different result.
NOTIONS
* fabric (meterage as noted below)
* coordinating thread
* 20cm light weight fusing
Please note with yields that I have created tight pattern lays. It is important to follow the cutting guides to ensure you won’t run out of fabric. It does involve a lot of single layer cutting but I hate wasting fabric so they are tight. Please make sure all your pieces will fit prior to cutting.
SIZE GUIDE
PRICE
The Leila PDF pattern will be AU$12 (a little over US$8 at today’s rate).
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