An Anna maxi dress for Christmas Day
Well now, I’ve made an Anna with a contrast bodice, an Anna with a gathered skirt, an Anna with a half-circle skirt, and an Anna with a RTW skirt attached, so I pretty much had to make a maxi length Anna to complete the set, didn’t I?!
By Hand London Anna Maxi Dress
I got this fabric from Goldhawk Road in the summer. I didn’t really look too closely at the print, I just liked the overall effect and the colour scheme. Once I’d prewashed it, I started wondering what these leaves actually were – they reminded me of cannabis! A quick Twitter poll revealed, thanks to Vicki Kate, that maybe the leaves are Japanese Maple leaves – they are the right colour and the right shape! Once I was satisfied that I wouldn’t be making a maxi dress with pictures of drugs all over it, I cut out my Anna maxi.
Believe it or not (it’s hard to tell), but this print is actually a one-way print. By Hand London do warn you that if you are making the Anna dress with fabric which has a nap or one-way design, you will need ‘significantly more’ than the fabric requirements stated on the back of the pattern envelope. I did manage to squeeze this dress out of 3.5m of fabric, but it was 1.5m wide and I had to get very creative with my fabric layout in order to make it work. Like many other sewists who have made the Anna maxi, I also chopped off quite a bit of length, as although I am quite tall, I am not Amazonian!
I wasn’t planning on this being my Christmas Day dress, but I tried it on and immediately my husband declared, quite emphatically, that he liked it, which struck me as unusual. He said of all the things I’ve made recently, this is his favourite. And I really like it too. I do love a good maxi dress – somehow they always seem so much more comfortable! I thought it was a flattering fit, and it felt glamorous without being too dressy – perfect for Christmas Day!
Oh and in case you were wondering: I didn’t bother with the thigh-high split. That look is not for me, it’s impractical. Part of what I love about maxis is that your legs are covered up!
