Little Lizard King - Bloomsbury

I’ve been meaning to share this for a bit, so it’s better late than never!

I recently started doing some pattern testing for LLK and I was able to help test this cute new pattern! Little Lizard King recently came out with the Bloomsbury for women, girls and baby. It’s a fairly basic knit top/dress with multiple sleeve lengths and 3 skirt lengths. It also has neck binding and an optional thumbhole cuff. I sewed up two versions in the dress length, one with short sleeves and one with long sleeves and the optional thumbhole cuffs.

If your into projectors for sewing, there is a projector file included! However, I hate that the projector file/page isn’t it’s own file. It’s at the end of the instructions/print-at-home pages. Kind of annoying, but it does have layers and it has a 1” calibration grid. (I did try to separate them, but then it removed the option for layers)

The only main adjustments I made was lengthening the short sleeves by about a 1/2” and lengthening the skirt by an inch. I think I originally added 3” but then cut off 2 since it was a little too long, though I should have kept a tiny bit more… oops! (I like my dresses to hit just above my knee cap.) I usually always have to add some length to the skirts on my dresses, even ones that are technically “knee” length. (Maybe everyone just likes short dresses!)

The blue floral fabric is Bri Pointelle from Mily Mae Fabrics and the white floral is the Alice Rib knit, also from Mily Mae Fabrics. (Mily Mae has the BEST rib knits!)

Tips

If you are sewing the Maxi length and your fabric has vertical stretch, I highly suggest using clear elastic in the side seams. This will help keep the shape of the dress without the skirt weighing down the bodice
If your fabric lacks strong recovery, clear elastic in the shoulder seam can keep it from stretching out
When gathering your skirt, tie off your basting stitches. This will help keep the gathers from coming undone.

I tend to like empire waists more than natural waists for dresses, but since this dress is more in-between for my figure (with no adjustments to the bodice), I really like it. Though, I hate how hot it is here in Arizona, so I won’t be able to wear that pretty, long sleeve, white dress until it cools off a bit! I think the next one I make will be another dress, but long sleeves without the thumbhole cuffs.