The Kielo Wrap Dress by Named Clothing

Here I will walk you through how I made the Kielo Wrap dress (another cult favorite) un 2 very different fabrics #kielowrapdress #thehemlineeclectin #namedclothing

Here is the Kielo! This pattern is the most popular pattern from Named Clothing! I love so many of their designs, I will post more of my makes soon!

The Kielo! - Fabric choices

This dress is designed for a knit garment but when I first bought this pattern I could not get my mind off of this silhouette in a beautiful lightweight block print. So I made it.

I would highly recommend knit fabric for this. You will be risking it with wovens, but that said, you can see mine below.

I would recommend a knit with at least a 35% stretch and good recovery, so anything that has spandex would work. I would not use a 100% cotton knit for this dress.

In retrospect, I am surprised at how it turned out. Usually substituting a woven pattern for a knit is not very hard (you just size down depending on the fabric you pick), but it is not easy to find a knit pattern that would also work with a woven fabric. But here is mine and I am thrilled!

Fitting the Kielo

The Kielo has very few pattern pieces (which is great). I love the aesthetics of these simple designs for my style!

As with most garments, I have to shorten it. The average height most pattern companies design for is 5'6". But with the shape of this dress, I had to pay attention to how and where to shorten the pattern. Unfortunately, there are no easy lengthen/shorten lines in this pattern.

After searching for sewalongs or other information on how to shorten this pattern, I found this image below online and it was perfect! Not sure where this is from , I think Pattern review posted it on their site.

Kielo modifications - Kielo #1

As you can see this image only helps to shorten your hem, which I deftly needed.

I used this beautiful lightweight cotton I purchased online from iTokri. These fabric don't come with a lot of width so take that into account when you order.

I cut out a size 10. I used this technique and shortened the hem by 2".

I am also short waisted. For this dress to fit well, the most important aspect is that your ties should be in line with your natural waist. So I measured the distance from my shoulders to my natural waist. I then shortened between the bust darts and then ties and moved the ties up by 2"

So the modifications were -

1. Shortened the hem but 2"

2. Shortened the bodice area by 2"

3. I also moved the slit up 4" to compensate for the shortened dress

All these gave me a great fitted dress.

Kielo #2

I also wanted to make the Kielo in a knit fabric. What it was designed for. I chose to use this Rayon Spandex. The color is absolutely gorgeous! Its is the very dark lush green that complements my skin color too.

I certainly agree that this pattern is much much better in a knit fabric. I am already planning the Kielo Jumpsuit. This fabric was also very easy to work with. I highly recommend you guys trying this pattern out.

Techniques you will learn

1. How to sew with knits

2. How to finish a knit neckline and armhole

3. How to sew bust darts and french dart on the back

4. How to sew a back slit.

Styling

In this post, I have styled my knit Kielo with strappy sandals and my woven Kielo with my brown ankle boots, both from Cole Haan.

Get Inspired!!

Finally, I leave you here with more pictures to inspire you to make this dress. Please msg me if you have any questions.

#thehemlineeclectic #slowsewing #indiepatterns #indiesewing #sewcialists #handmadewardrobe #handmadefashion