Fibre Mood Debra in Robert Kaufman Poplin

This is a pattern I've been meaning to make for ages, glad I finally got round to it!

Pattern: It’s the Fibre Mood Debra, view B with the V neck back.

Fabric: This is a Robert Kaufman poplin, the design is by Leslie Tucker Jenison, design number #19974 (not fully sure what this means but might be helpful to Robert Kaufman aficionados). It's a sort of organic, tree bark design in charcoal and black with a bit of navy and a slightly lighter blue. Quite a bit more subtle than what I usually go for, but I thought it would make a nice little black dress that's not actually black.

One thing to note is that this fabric is too narrow to be able to fit the back skirt piece on the fold (at least in my size), I had to add a seam in. I still had enough fabric though, but something worth bearing in mind when deciding on how much fabric you need.

 Size: I made the L. The Fibre Mood size chart is pretty odd, my measurements (40-36-44) put me between the 18 and the 20, which is quite a bit higher than in other companies. I asked around on Instagram about ease in for this company and got some pretty mixed responses. In the end, I decided to risk it and go for the L (which is the equivalent of 16-18) and that was good. I couldn't have coped with a much bigger neckline. 

Instructions: The instructions were great. I’d hear that in the actual magazine, the instructuins are minimal, similar to Burda, but this was a downlaodable pattern and had full, clear diagrams. One thing I liked was that it tells you when to overlock the edges of things. I didn’t follow rthose instructions, because I always overlock everything before I start sewing, but I like it. A lot of pattern companies don’t mention the finishing at all.

On the other hand, the pattern doesn’t mention seam allowances at all. I guess it’s all part of that German thing where patterns don’t have seam allowances, which I will never understand. At least there was a pattern sheet with them included, they obviously just don’t think they’re worth mentioning after that!

Adjustments: I didn’t make any adjustments to the pattern pieces, I made the straight size L. The front dress looks scarily narrow when you cut it, but trust in the process! Like I said above I had to cut the back skirt piece in two bits and sew together instead of cutting on the fold.

I did omit the interfacing you're supposed to but in the neck facing, mainly just because I forgot and couldn't be bothered to add it after I'd already sewed the front and back together. But I don't think it needs it anyway. 

The pattern has you handsew on the facing, which I was too lazy for. Instead I topstitched the facing on 5mm from the edge, and when that wasn't enough to stop it flapping about, 2cms from the edge. That's done the job!

Wearability: Overall, this is a really great dress, the sort of semi oversized thing I'm all about, but with added details! The back makes it interesting, but I'm a little worried it might make me a bit cold during the winter. We'll see! 

One thing that is a bit annoying is that if you tie the tie too tight, it pulls the front neckline up too high. It's quite difficult to get the tightness right when tying it yourself! I wonder if you could just omit the ties actually. And maybe adjust the neckline a bit so it’s a bit narrower, you do see brastraps peeking through.

Also, the pockets are really a lot too small, I don't exactly have huge  hands and I feel cramped in. If I make this again, I'll definitely be making them bigger all the way round, and particularly length wise.

But overall, thumbs up from me!