The Helmi Tunic Dress is everything I love about a pattern. Versatile for all year round and can be dressed up or down. The pattern features both a blouse and tunic. This is a wonderful pattern by Named Clothing, one of my favourite pattern companies.

I decided to make this pattern as the Tunic dress perfectly fitted Arrowmountain’s  phases of the moon buttons down the centre front of the dress. The pattern comes with extra fabric for a hidden button placket which I didn’t include when cutting out my dress as I wanted the buttons to be visible. I followed the normal method for making a button-down shirt.

I hemmed the dress using cotton bias tape. I find this the easiest method for hemming curved seams. I may try making this pattern with the Inari dress hem or just a straight hem as I find curved hemlines tricky. The dress is made of pure linen and is size 40.

I used bias binding around the neckline instead of a collar stand. I wanted a really neat finish to highlight the buttons. For my next version, I’ll add a couple of centimetres to the width of the sleeves. Otherwise, it’s as designed.

Sadly I needed to make a small alteration to my dress as I ripped a hole in the fabric on my left breast. I adding a pocket to cover the repair. Generally, I don’t add pockets to this area as I don’t find it flattering. Because it’s cut from the same fabric I don’t think it looks too bad.

I have already started planning other versions of this dress.