Nerida Hansen Fabrics: my first foray

I’ve been creepily eyeing up Nerida Hansen Fabrics for far too long than is acceptable. The colours, the prints, the shapes, it is all so so gorgeous. If bold prints and colours are your thing, Nerida is your gal. The ethos of the company seems really cool; Nerida Hansen left her job as a buyer and created this collective of independent artists and designers, all supported by and working under the Hansen name. Mmmbop indeed.

But back to the creepy lurking. Although I LOVE sewing and all the fabric and stuff that comes with it, I am careful with how I spend my money. The fabric I’d been eyeing up was from Fabric Godmother at £20 per metre, and if I’m going to get fabric as amazing as this, I’m going to get 3 metres. That’s £60 in one pop. Before notions. And time. Precious, precious time. I kept going back to the Fabric Godmother site, revisiting the 3 metres in my basket that I never clicked ‘purchase’ on. Then it went out of stock. The regret hit me hard, friends.

However, the fates were on my side. The fabric came back in stock, and Fabric Godmother was offering a discount code, so I swooped in and bought those 3 metres! I wanted to make a statement dress, so I went with one of my favourites: the Kew Dress from Nina Lee. I’ve sewn this quite a few times now and each one has ended up completely different. It’s a bloomin’ brilliant sewing pattern.

Nina Lee Kew dress — But back to the fabric. I had high hopes for this, so when it arrived I gave it a good inspection; the colours are gorgeous and vibrant but the fabric was ever so slightly transparent, although that’s kind of to be expected on the light pink sections. I was planning a big gathered skirt so it wasn’t an issue, but something more fitted may need to be lined. I wanted the front pieces to match, but other than that, my aim was to mix up the colours and create a really unique, fun dress.

But back to the fabric. I had high hopes for this, so when it arrived I gave it a good inspection; the colours are gorgeous and vibrant but the fabric was ever so slightly transparent, although that’s kind of to be expected on the light pink sections. I was planning a big gathered skirt so it wasn’t an issue, but something more fitted may need to be lined. I wanted the front pieces to match, but other than that, my aim was to mix up the colours and create a really unique, fun dress.

For accuracy, I cut the bodice pieces individually rather than folding and cutting two in one go. I carefully lined up the top point of the bust with a specific part of the grid, so they would definitely be symmetrical. However, as you can see, the point at the bust lined up (where the pink squares are meeting in the middle), but as you go down the piece, the grid goes waaaay off. The darts ended up in different parts of the print and the squares at the very bottom are completely wonky:

Needless to say, I was getting worried that the whole thing was going to look off-kilter and a bit shoddy. I carried on, but the grid still worried me. I even got all Patrick Grant about it and whipped out the ruler. There’s a 0.5cm difference in grid size on some of the lines:

It was a case of either getting fed up and annoyed that this fabric wasn’t ‘perfect’, or embrace the fact that it is fabric: it moves, it will move with me, these small discrepancies I’m picking up on really will not matter in the grand scheme of things. I decided to go with the latter!
With a positive hat back in place, I continued on and absolutely loved playing around with placement of the gingham; the colours are fantastic, mixing yellow, red, pink, green, blue, but all in a cohesive way. I didn’t want the front and back to be colour matched, but I did my best to match up the horizontal lines, so it looked neat but still a bit bonkers. I think this was achieved.

One element I did have to sacrifice was the pockets. I love a patch pocket, so I sewed the side seams with French seams (without in-seam pockets) and went to add the pockets on after. It was only once I could see the shape on the skirt that it was clear they weren’t going to look right. That’s right, this is a dress WITHOUT POCKETS.

*See how rubbish it looked? The difference in grid size made this look so amateur and it was warping all over the place.*

It’s fair to say this dress had, so far, been something of a mixed bag. However, when I attached the skirt to the bodice, something magical happened. It looked so, so pretty. I hung it up in my sewing (ahem dining) room, and just gazed at it in wonder for a few days. Those wonky lines on the bodice and the lack of pockets just didn’t matter any more.

I finished sewing the dress in time to wear to a wedding party and I felt amazing swooshing about. As you can see in the photos, the lines that looked off on the bodice don’t show at all; I’m so so pleased with this latest addition of another Kew dress to my wardrobe! I guess sewing can make us hyper-critical of the details as there was nothing to worry about with this. If you’re on the fence about treating yourself to some fancy fabric, I’d say go for it (as long as it won’t cause any financial strain, ofc), I’m so glad I got my hands on this beautiful, beautiful fabric!