Releasing The Gorgeous Eva Sewing Pattern + Testers' Makes

The Eva sewing pattern is finally here! and I am going to tell you all about it and of course share all the pictures from the lovely women who helped me test the pattern.

The Eva dress sewing pattern is my first pattern after almost 5 years and it is packed with so many features, Below is a list of what you get in this pattern:

Large size range 4-32 to fit women with full bust 30 to 61" (76-155cm) split into two overlapping size bands.
Multiple cup sizes, B,C, D and E for all sizes
3 style variations with possibilities for even more.
Illustrated sewing instructions with suggested cutting layouts and info on how to blend across sizes.
Trim A4/Letter tiles to print at home
No Trim A4/Letter tiles to print at home and skip the trimming
A0 PDF that you can print at copy shops
2 projector cutting files, one for light backgrounds; and the other for dark backgrounds so you can clearly see the pattern when cutting on dark coloured fabrics.

SIZING

The Eva pattern has been professionally drafted and graded with all seams checked and all notches aligning. The two size bands, Band A with sizes 4-20 and Band B with sizes 16-32, have been drafted separately to ensure a great fit across the size range. therefore sizes 4-32 cannot be nested. If you choose the option to buy the entire size range from 4 to 32, know that what you will be receiving are the two separate size bands.

The bodice cup sizes, B, C, D & E, which are different from your bra cup size, are designed for figures with a full bust circumference that are 2", 3",4" & 5" greater than the chest/high bust/upper bust circumference respectively. My preferred way of the chest circumference measurement is keeping the tape parallel to the ground while measuring around your chest.

STYLE VARIATIONS & SUGGESTED FABRIC

The Eva pattern with its straight-cut skirt, A-line skirt and peplum top variations is designed for very stable knits, medium to heavy-weight with not more than 25% stretch across and maybe even less or none lengthwise. Using more stretchy knit fabrics may require sizing down or additional seam intake. The pattern contains more info about the appropriate kind of fabrics. Stretch woven fabrics are also recommended especially for the A-line and peplum variations. The straight-cut skirt view may also be made with stretch-woven if you know the fabric has enough stretch to not make you feel constricted. While the "official" number of style views is 3, the pattern pieces included in the Eva can be used to create even more variations, I included suggestions at the end of the instruction booklet.

THE SLEEVE

Let me talk about the sleeve! oh my goodness! that is the focal point of this pattern. It is what you can call a statement sleeve. It is giving high fashion. As you will see in the testers' pictures, this sleeve looks different but interesting each time it is rendered in a different fabric; it can either look structured or draped. You can wear it "edgy" with its pointed tip out or you can make it look "soft" by tucking in the pointy tip. The choice is yours.☺

CUTTING & SEWING YOUR EVA

The instruction booklet has instructions on how you can blend the pattern across multiple sizes as many users may not be able to fit into a single size from top to bottom. The pattern requires installing invisible zipper, sewing kick pleats and sewing facing. If you are a beginner, or have never done any of these tasks, you may require additional resources. If and when you buy the pattern, I would love to see what you make out of it. The hashtag is #evabysewexplicit and you can tag me @sewexplicit as well.

HOW/WHERE TO WEAR YOUR EVA

I cannot tell you how to rock your outfits but I can suggest that Eva makes great work wear and it will make a great wedding guest or even mother-of-the-bride look, just perch a fascinator or a hat on your head ☺. One of the testers wore hers to a work conference and this is what she said: I wanted to tell you that I finished the dress and wore it to a conference today and it was a huge hit.

Someone called me the belle of the ball and someone else said "Are we at the Ontario Legal Conference or are we at Fashion Week?". Common now, say no more!

STORY BEHIND THE EVA DRESS & TOP DESIGN

The Eva Dress pattern started life as a work-wear style that I had designed as part of a clothing collection in late 2017 out of 10 or so styles that were produced and released in 2018. Then, it was designed in just the straight-cut skirt variation. This was a style that I had designed, made the pattern and sent off to my then-production partner at the last minute without sewing a sample myself as I did with the other styles. It turned out to be one of my favourite and best-selling designs. Since then, I always had it at the back of my mind to create a downloadable sewing pattern for the style but I stopped making new PDF patterns for a while for reasons such as I have narrated in this linked blog post.

I eventually got around to working on this pattern in October of 2022. I re-drafted the pattern from scratch as the original was in a very limited and single cup (B-cup) sizing. I also included another skirt variation and a peplum variation to give users more sewing options. I named the pattern "Eva" as my pattern-naming convention since releasing the Aria knit top pattern in 2017 is following an alphabetical system. So there is the Aria knit top, Bailey bolero jacket, Chloe dress, Daisy shirt and now Eva dress & top. Before then, I had released the Ekinni dress, Renikeji knit dress & top and Ebun top in 2016 with no naming convention in mind.

Drafting the pattern was the least of my tasks, writing and illustrating the instruction set constituted the most work and time spent. I knew the only way to stop procrastinating and release this pattern was to make an announcement so I made a testers call on January 2 of 2023. I had only the patterns drafted and fabric usage estimates figured out at this point. I invited testers to a private group, they were ready and I was not. This action forced me to eventually pull through and here we are now! So I am very grateful to all my wonderful testers, who not only waited but put in their time, effort, fabric and supplies to test the Eva sewing pattern. They have helped me improve the clarity of the instructions and of course, provided me with pretty pictures to show you 😉.

I have listed them and linked their socials (mostly Instagram handles) below and their lovely pictures of the Eva dress pattern comes after.

Buy the Eva sewing pattern now at 20% off from today, 14th February 2023 till 21st February, 2023. This is my Valentine gift to you 🎁 😉.