Victory Patterns’ Lola Dress, or, red hot Valentine’s love!
Look at me! I got all dressed up for Valentine’s Day.
I love Victory Patterns’ design style so much. This is the second pattern I’ve made from their pattern line (See my version of the Anouk dress here) – the Lola Dress – and in red! Who needs some frilly lingerie for Valentine’s Day? I’d rather have a super comfy (and super cute) sweatshirt dress!
The pattern is a twist on on your good old fashioned sweatshirt only much more stylish. I liked the curve seams which make it less boxy and the big fat side pockets are fun.
The fabric is a sweatshirt fleece from Fabric.com and the ribbing is from Joann.
If you remember my New Years Sewing Resolutions (which BTW, I think I’m doing a pretty good job keeping up with) and what I learned from my Closet Catalogue then you’ll notice that this dress fits many requirements: it’s a dress, it has long sleeves, it’s a solid color, it’s from an indie pattern company and it is a different style that I wouldn’t normally sew for myself.
Let’s talk body consciousness! I’m much more inclined to make dresses with cinched-in waists or at least with a belt to define a shape. I have a slight fear of looking like a balloon in designs like this. I’m also not used to wearing such a bold color but I’m so glad I stepped out of my comfort zone!
You have no idea how much I love this dress. It is so comfortable but I don’t look sloppy. And, best of all, I don’t look or feel like a big fat balloon! I wear this thing all the time, and I even really like the red color. I don’t have any other dresses with a solid bright color all over. I love my Lola!
On a more technical note the dress was fast and easy to sew and with the loose fit I didn’t have to make any adjustments. I just cut a straight size 8. The only slight problem I noticed was the neck opening in the line drawing and sample pictures seemed slightly wider than mine and the ribbing puckered a bit, although after wearing the dress so many times I never really noticed it so I guess it’s not that big of a deal. The front triangle is a nice touch. The pattern calls for serging it onto the dress but I didn’t want to figure out how to remove my serger knife so I just zig zagged it on. Still looks good!
Justin and I have never been much for doing traditional activities for Valentine’s Day and we never really plan anything either for the event, but we always seem to do something fun. This year we explored a car graveyard which is pretty cool if you like adventure and have a fascination for the rusted and the abandoned like I do. What did you do for Valentine’s?
***In other news, I’m back to brunette. These were my last sewing related photos with purple hair. The purple lasted a good month but faded pretty badly and I was tired of not being able to wash my hair as often as I liked so today I reverted to my natural state. Goodbye purple! It was fun while it lasted!
It’s gorgeous! And I love how it gives suc a different feel to the grey version on Victory Patterns (which I also love). Is the fabric a sweatshirting or is it double-knit/ponte?
ugh, i forgot to add fabric info – it is sweatshirt fleece and is kind of fuzzy on the right side – very soft!
I love your Lola! And you fit great into it and in red! In fact, I would love to do one b y myself!
Wow – awesome Lola. I was not sure about this pattern, but seeing it on you makes me want to make one, like, immediately!
I love this in red! It looks darling on you!
This wasn’t one of the three I bought but now I regret it! Your dress is awesome and looks great on you!
This is gorgeous! You look so cute! The curved waistband is so flattering! I’m trying to decide if I want to attempt this dress without a serger… seems a little crazy, but I LOVE it and am tempted to try!
you could totally do it without a serger. the pattern has 3/8 in seam allowances i believe.
What a great dress! You’re right, it looks like the best mix of stylish and comfy, and I love the color! I’m still debating if I’d look any good in that silhouette, but every make I’ve seen so far has looked gorgeous!
I love the dress! I find knits so difficult to work with – bravo on the dress.
What’s nice about sweatshirt fleece is that it’s not very stretchy so it doesn’t really stretch out of shape as you sew.
Super cute! I shy away from this sort of thing for the same reasons as you, but you’re totally selling it! Oh, and it has the classic sweatshirt triangle? Rad to the max.
I love this pattern! I’ve been perusing Victory and came across this. I’d love to get away without shortening the bodice but the back seamline seems right at the waist. I’m pretty short. May I ask how tall you are and whether you have to do upper bodice shortening/lengthening?
I’m 5’6″ and pretty evenly proportioned (like, I don’t have extra long legs and a short torso or anything). I didn’t make any changes whatsoever to the pattern. If I remember correctly I think Victory sizes this pattern for a 5’6″-5’9″ lady. It should be pretty easy to shorten the waist of the dress!