Iridis Wrap Dress by Sofilantjes

It's very refreshing to see unique designs in the PDF world, especially when it comes from a newer designer! I also love it when designers put a unique name on a pattern, and Iridis is no exception. It means "rainbow" in Latin and I totally see that in the design of this dress! Today we have Sarah and Brianne with us and they've sewn up two cute versions of the Iridis Dress by Sofilantjes. I'll stop talking now and let them tell you all about it!

It's Brianne from Ali Cat & Co.

Today, we have the Iridis by Sofilantjes Patterns.  The Iridis is a fun and advanced beginner friendly woven OR knit wrap dress! 

Break down:

  1. Sizes: 12 months to 14 years
  2. Price: $8.95
  3. Different pattern pieces for woven and knit
  4. LOTS of diagrams: piece layout, cutting, sizing (in metric and imperial)
  5. How to sew binding instructions
  6. 3 Different instruction types (explanation below)
  7. Illustrations and pictures through instructions
  8. Instructions in Dutch and English

The Iridis has three different styles of instructions included.  First, there is a 7 page written and photo instruction set, like we usually see with pdf patterns.  Second, there is a written instruction only for woven and knit.  Lastly, there is a diagram only instruction set for woven and knit.  With the second and third style, you could just print the one page to keep with your pattern pieces-totally handy!

For Madeleine, I sewed up a knit version and embroidered a little kitty cat on it.  She, like most little girls, is completely obsessed with cats. I made size 3, as that is her normal size.  I think it's a touch big but not much.  Size 2 would have fit her perfectly but of course with little growing room.  She will be able to wear this dress until the weather gets warm again. I do think the Iridis sizing chart is accurate, so be sure to cut the size according to your child's measurements.

I adore the results of the Iridis.  Can't tell me she doesn't look cute!  It took about 3 hours to cut and sew.  I'll be honest, it took me longer than it probably should have to figure out how the pattern pieces go together in order to cut fabric.  All the TOP pieces are the first layer and the BOTTOM pieces are the third layer.  FRONT and BACK on the pattern pieces refer to left and right side of the wrapped dress.  Seems obvious now that I've made the dress!

One more bit of information that I think is necessary to mention.  The woven pattern pieces alone are 39 pages to print and the knit patter pieces are 50 pages.  The PDF is layered so you can only print the size needed.  For size 3, I still printed 48 pages.

Sofilantjes has several other patterns as well. Be sure to check it out!
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Hello everyone!  It has been a little while since my last review, but I am back today with a review of the Iridis Wrap Dress from Sofilantjes.  

This dress is a tiered wrap dress with options for making it in both woven or knit fabric.  It has both long and short sleeve options as well.  That's good since my daughter is on a long sleeve strike!

The woven version of the dress is made with concentric tiers that are sewn into a one piece skirt and is finished with bias tape.  The knit version (which I made) has three graduated length skirts that are sewn into the bodice as one piece.  For the knit version, the skirts are finished with a lettuce edge and the bodice is finished with knit binding.  

I chose the knit version because I love the wearablity (and no ironing!) of knit fabric.  Plus, I thought that lettuce edge was really cute and knew my daughter would love it.  I made a size 4 in accordance with my daughters measurements compared to the size chart.  She takes a 4/5 typically and I have been making her 5's in most items, so I was really hesitant to make the 4.  BUT that's why size charts are there right?  So I went with it and it was a perfect fit.  I would say this dress runs very true to the size chart.  

The bodice is a true wrap, there is an opening on one side and a loop on the other for wrapping. The fit on the bodice was really good and I think she looks adorable in it.  She was terribly excited when she saw it and immediately asked to try it on and take pictures (can you tell I have them trained?) so I know she liked it.  As expected, she was very excited about the lettuce edge; she was touching it and ooh-ing over it.  It gives the dress a girly/ruffly look without having to make ruffles; that's something I can totally get behind. 

I love the look of the three tiers of skirts, but it does use more fabric to do three layers of skirts (obviously) so I would say this pattern is a bit of a fabric hog.  However, the bottom skirt is by far the biggest piece, and that was comparable to any regular skirt yardage.  I used a remnant from a scrap pack I bought for the middle tier and used just a small amount of fabric for the top tier.  You can definately use up some larger scraps for fun layers on this one.  It did take a bit of time to put the pattern together and cut out the dress; the pattern pieces for the knit version is 50 pages.  There is a chart showing you which pages are needed for printing dependent on size, so if you are making a smaller size, you may not have to print out all 50 pages.  The woven version pattern is 39 pages.  But once it was all cut out, the construction was very fast.  I definitely kept my pattern pieces because I would absolutely make this again, but I'd be very happy to not have to tape all those pieces together again!

The instructions for this pattern contain a lot of information.  All of the measurements are in both metric and imperial, so no conversions necessary.  There are complete cutting guides for both versions and printing guide to conserve paper.  The instructions are written out step by step and then also given as a written summary of steps and a pictorial summary of steps (think IKEA picture instructions).  I liked having those "quick guides" for reference.  

My overall pros and cons of this pattern are:

PROS
Very cute
Fit true to size chart
Lots of options, both in fabric choices and style
Very fast construction
Daughter approved

CONS
Knit version uses a lot of fabric
50 pages of pattern pieces

So that's it; my take on the Iridis.  I really enjoyed making it and hope to make another very soon!

Thanks for stopping by,