As soon as I saw her I knew it was meant to be. You know when you see a pattern and just KNOW you are going to love it. Everything about it says yes , that is my style. Not just linen, but a gorgeous rust colored linen. Cute little pin tucks, tick. Excellent sleeve coverage with button action, tick tick. Stylish, but not really trying too hard, BOOM tick!
This is the Helena dress, from UK based Sew Me Something. The pattern comes as a paper & PDF pattern, in sizes UK 8-22. For reference I made a 20, the fit is definitely relaxed, even the sleeves, which as you darlings know, is my nemesis!
I brought this gorgeous Merchant & Mills linen a wee while ago, intending to make a pair of pants to go with this top. The pants pattern I ordered took an AGE to arrive, and in the meantime that minx Helena caught my eye!
I have a long standing love affair with linen, particularly in “autumnal” hues. When I met my now husband, my absolute fav item of clothing was a forest green linen shirt, which I liked to wear with dark brown cords. It was the mid 90’s and I was channeling a slightly grunge (only very slightly mind, ’cause otherwise ewww?!) Seattle look…. (never having actually been outside New Zealand ) My intended described it as “your dressing like a tree phase”. Yes dear reader, astonishingly I did still marry him.
This is a pretty easy sew, I cut out and made up in a weekend (with all the usual mundane weekend “stuff” fitted in comfortably) There is short & long sleeve options, I think the placket and button is really cute and makes the dress slightly different. The instructions are excellent, Jules who designs these patterns also runs sewing workshops, I think her teaching experience shows.
While the fit is relaxed, the darts and gathers mean this doesn’t feel “sack” like, I want to be comfortable, without appearing to drown in fabric. I wont bother with the pockets next time, I never actually put anything (besides hands) in them anyway. I like this with leggings & sandals, in winter jeans and boots will step up. Jules has great personal style, she wears this dress a lot, check out her Instagram feed here
So is this a lasting relationship? Will I make more Helena’s? Absolutely! Next up is a tunic version with shorter sleeves and some pretty stitching around the neckline.
So, are you tempted??
Kristina xxx
Plum Kitchen 
Yes I am definitely interested. I love, love, love this. It looks so good on you. I might just have to !
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Thank you! It’s a great pattern, worth it in my opinion 🖒
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It’s even better on you than on the pattern cover! I really love this.
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That’s so kind, thank you!
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This is the last thing I made, in grey linen, and I absolutely love it. Thanks for a wonderful post.
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Oh funny, I have a lovely grey linen lined up for the next one I make, going to make a shorter version with shorter sleeves & some embroidery around theach neckline 😊
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I love that dress and the shoes are perfect 🙂
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Thanks! Enjoying my sandals while it’s still warm enough!
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I’m in love! I just ordered it. Thanks!
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Oh that’s fabulous, you will love it!❤
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Love this! If you end up making the tunic version, too, would you consider writing a review of this pattern for the Curvy Sewing Collective? We haven’t heard much about this pattern company and I’m sure our readers would be interested to hear about your experience! If you’re interested, send us an email at mail@curvysewingcollective.com and we can give you more details!
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Hi Meg, thanks so much, I’d love, I’ll send an email! Kristina
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Loving this one! Yep gonna get the pattern…
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Yay, do it!🤗
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Hi, I’ve just bought this pattern too, it’s looks great on you. I’m half way through it but have hit a brick wall on the yoke turning part. I’m just baffled. Any tips.
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Hi Cathy, it is a bit tricky, I tied myself up in knots initially, but I found the easiet thing was to step back and think about what I was trying to end up with (ie the seams all fully encased) and how the pictures related to that. I found watching a few You Tube tutorials on sewing shirt yokes helped, as I could see what I was actually trying to achive, it feels counter intuative to “scrunch” the fabric up so much then sew (seemingly inside out) but when you pull everything back through it does work. The next Helena I make I’m going to take pics step by step , its a tricky concept to explain , although once youve nailed it it does make sense I promise!
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