By Hand London – Hannah Dress and Ruffle Bag

pr gifted draft-your-own Ruffle Bag pattern

I finally grabbed the cotton poplin from my shelves that I’ve meant to sew for the past year and gave the By Hand London Hannah Dress pattern a go! To match I tried out BHL’s new draft-your-own Ruffle Bag for a cute matching set.

MATERIALS

5m Cotton Poplin Fabric (colour: Tan)

approximately £30

By Hand London Hannah Dress Pattern

By Hand London Ruffle Bag Pattern

By Hand London Hannah Dress

I’ve had this fabric at home for such a long time, and have actually used the cerise colour way before to make a Nina Lee Bakerloo Dress. The floral pattern and colours are so nice and I’ve just admired it where it has been sitting on my shelves. I actually have had the Hannah Dress in mind for it for over a year but finally decided to make this project when By Hand London reached out out asked if I wanted to try their new draft-your-own pattern. I used this handy guide on the By Hand London’s website to adjust the neckline for more coverage as I usually end up with a bit too much cleavage for my liking when it comes to wrap dresses (with the exception of my fave Lliria Dress from Pauline Alice) and I’m really happy with the result. I bought the larger size in the pattern which features a D cup rather than a B cup and cut a size 16 which is what I sewed straight away. I’m a no-toile-for-me daredevil and *knock on wood* it’s not punished me so far… I made the skirt pattern about 10 cm longer so that it measured about 90cm in total – my preferred length of skirt – and did not hem it as I used the selvedge instead. I changed up the sleeves and went super puffy with the Stitchmaiden Bluebell Dress pattern, which is one of the dresses I’m working on next.

By Hand London Ruffle Bag

The bag is a quick little project which is great if you want a matching accessory or if you’re in need to a quicker little project to reload the batteries before doing a longer or more demanding make. The pattern is a draft-your-own so you get to decide exactly how big or small you want the bag to be. I chose a fairly big size so it can fit my laptop if needed, but am already planning a smaller one that I can use as a purse for events. The bag is fully lined and features optional ruffle around the edges and you can of course customise it with any details you can think of.