By Hand London Flora Dress Pattern Review

Does anything say summer quite like a sundress? I’ve been coveting the By Hand London Flora Dress since I started sewing, but after a not-so-great beginner sewist experience with the BHL Anna Dress, I was turned off the brand. With a couple of years of sewing under my belt, I decided to give the brand another go, and I love the Flora as a building block pattern*! I love it so much that I made four BHL Floras in a row! 

*Lots of caveats below!

The Pattern

Pattern Description

The BHL Flora Dress comes with two options – the high square neckline that is incredibly popular and a faux-wrap neckline. There are also two skirt options – a voluminous pleated skirt with either a straight hem or a dipped hem. I found the skirt that comes with the pattern to be a really poor choice for my fabrics, so I drafted my own gathered skirt which I like much better.

Sizing

BHL took a lot of heat in 2019 for its limited size range. Their most recent patterns now go up to a UK24/US20, but the Flora Dress sizing has not been updated and runs from a UK6/US2 to a UK20/US16. That’s a finished bust of 32¼ to 45¼. I really wish pattern companies would do better on sizing. I know it’s an added expense and can be a stretch for a small business owner but there’s no excuse – the demand is certainly there.

I found the sizing to be very close to UK ready-to-wear. I knew I would be wearing my Floras in the heat, so I wanted a little more ease than I usually do, so I used a UK10 as my base.   

Pattern Adjustments

When I was working on my muslins, I knew I wanted two different fits of the dress – a “relaxed” fix and a “fitted” fit. I started with a UK10 as my base for both. To get the bodice just right, I shortened the front and back bodice by ⅛”, took out a ½” sway back and then moved both sets of bust darts to align with my apex. That was it for the “relaxed” version. For the “fitted” version, I also graded the waist to the UK8. All of the dresses featured are the “relaxed” version.

Design Modifications

I’m pretty sure Elisalex from BHL would agree with me, but I find the By Hand London patterns to be great building blocks rather than the greatest comprehensive patterns on the market. That’s totally fine if you’re an experienced sewist – if you’ve been sewing for a while, you know it’s easy enough to add a ruffle, change the skirt design or add tie straps – but if you’re just starting out, it can be really frustrating that there are all of these beautiful versions on Instagram that, at best, only use the general shape of the bodice.

I played around with a few different iterations until I got the exact look I wanted. Here’s what I did:

• Tropical Palms Linen: I drafted tie straps for this pattern. I cut four strips of fabric 24” long and 2” wide. Then I folded them in half to form a tube and then turned out the tube. The finished strap is 6/8” wide. I used the skirt that comes with the pattern and I do not like it for this fabric. The pleats are relaxed pleats (not sewn shut) and my husband asked me if I was wearing a bustle. 
• Carolina Gingham: Next, I embarked on my journey of getting the skirt and ruffle lengths just right. This is a 20” long gathered skirt with a 9” ruffle. The skirt is massive and feels very overwhelming on my petite frame. I made wider tie straps for this version. I cut four pairs of straps (so eight total pieces) 25 ½” long by 3 ⅝”  wide for a finished strap width of 1”. I like these much better!
• White Linen: Since the Carolina Gingham skirt was so overwhelming, I tried cutting a shorter skirt and ruffle.  This skirt is 14” long with a 6” ruffle. It makes for a super cute mini-dress, but not the look I was going for. I used the straps that came with the pattern and they fit without any lengthening or shortening.
• Painted Tiles Linen: And now, for the coup de grace. This dress is absolute perfection! This is an 18” gathered skirt with a 6” ruffle. Exactly what I was looking for!

Construction Tips and Tricks

I found the pattern instructions to be incredibly lacking in highlighting the skills you need to get a polished finish. You expect that with Style Arc or Burda patterns – pattern companies designed for more experienced sewists – but not the indie pattern companies that pride themselves on being beginner-friendly. In fact, there are quite a few patterns companies that I swore off because they don’t encourage you to use basic skills, like understitching a lining or facing. By not encouraging those finishing techniques, I worry that the person making the pattern is inexperienced and the drafting usually proves me right.

But, all that said, I made an exception for the BHL Flora dress and added in the best practices, below, to get a better quality garment:

• Grade your Seams: BHL has a tutorial on its blog for grading your seams. I wish it was in the pattern instructions, but oh well!
• Understitch the Neckline: Understitching is essential to keep the lining inside the dress where it belongs. It also has the added benefit of being another row of stitching locking in the straps. Most commercial patterns include this as a step, so you’ve probably done it before, but if not, here’s a tutorial from the Collette blog.
• Stabilize the Zipper: This is a trick I learned from Gertie at one of her workshops, and I think she now includes this tip in her pattern instructions. To get a nice crisp look, I always stabilize my zipper with interfacing. The easiest way to do it is with precut strips – I like this one from SewkeysE, which comes in 1¼” rolls, but you can just as easily cut strips of interfacing you already have on hand.
• Stabilize the Straps: I used some interfacing along the seam line where I anchored my straps. I’ve had issues in the past with the strap fabric fraying along the stitch line and then falling apart, so now I always interface the seam line with interfacing or organza.
• Lapped Zipper or Invisible Zipper Insertion: I really like Gertie’s lapped zipper instructions, and I use her technique on every dress I make with a standard zipper.  For an invisible zipper, I use Christine Haynes’s Emery Dress method. 
• Making Pleats from the Right Side: I find pleat instructions to be vague in every pattern that has them! Do I stitch them down or not? One thing noticeably missing from the instructions what that you make pleats from the outside of the fabric. You also don’t stitch these ones down – they’re more relaxed pleats.

The Fabric and Haberdashery

I made my BHL Floras in four different weight fabrics – three linens and a cotton. The Tropical Palms Handkerchief Linen is lightweight with a loose weave – I wouldn’t recommend it for this dress. It doesn’t have the necessary structure and the pieces just grew and grew and grew! The Kaufman 1” Carolina Gingham was the most stable to sew with and it was a dream! My White Linen version uses a midweight linen from Joann’s. I bought it during their end of summer linen sale last year, and let’s just say, it’s worth splurging on the good stuff. It looks fabulous, but I can definitely feel the quality difference between their linen and what I get at Stonemountain. And my favorite of all the fabrics, the Telio Painted Tiles Linen, is a light-to-medium weight linen. It has a looser weave than the white linen, but still held its shape pretty well. I interfaced my strap pattern pieces for this version to stabilize them.

• 

• 

• 

• 

Keywords: By Hand London, BHL, BHL Flora Dress, By Hand London Flora Dress, Flora Dress, Sundress, Pattern Review