Dusty Pink Nikko Dress with Stylish Fabric

If you follow me on Instagram, you’ve probably noticed that I’ve been all about the Nikko Dress recently. I originally fell in love with this dress when it was released, but wasn’t yet quite comfortable enough with knits that I felt ready to jump into this project. As I’ve mentioned so many times before, becoming familiar with knits was one of my 2018 sewing goals, and I’ve definitely put a lot of work in towards that goal! Now that I’ve reached a comfortable place with knits, and the weather is starting to think about cooling down a bit, I was so excited to FINALLY make myself a Nikko Dress!

This dress did not disappoint. As you may have seen in my Instagram stories, I waffled back and forth about this fabric from the time it arrived at my doorstep until I had the finished garment on my body. I absolutely love this dusty pink color for autumn, but I was worried that it was just a little too close to my skin tone, and might wash me out or make me look like I was wearing a naked dress! I’ll admit that I don’t typically spend time sewing with my best hair and makeup going on, so each time I would go to the mirror to check on my progress with this dress I was giving myself mixed signals. It wasn’t until the dress was entirely finished and I took it out for these blog photos that I came to the final verdict – I LOVE this color.

I truly think that this shade of pink qualifies as a neutral. For these photos, I paired it with some really beautiful turquoise and green accents, and I think it looks fantastic! (PS – if you are busy admiring my necklace and want to know where to get yourself something this awesome, you’ll want to check out The Flying Cactus. This awesome artisan jewelry shop is run by my beautiful and VERY talented sister-in-law, who makes each piece herself!) However, when deciding how I wanted to style it for photos, I also thought it looked great with some cognac-colored leather booties, and a new pair of sassy leopard print flats I’ve treated myself to for autumn. Color pairing options are limitless with this shade, which I love! This dress also has the great benefit of being able to be styled for so many different occasions – when I first showed it off to my husband, he commented that it was going to be a great option for me to wear to work during my office days. I love that it offers the versatility of transitioning from work, to date night, and pretty much anything else in between.

Another perk? This dress is secret pajamas. Especially in this fabric. One of my main concerns with high necklines is that in the wrong fabric, they can itch! Sweater knits can be hit or miss, and I always know that I’m taking a bit of a chance when I order them online. Not being able to feel them ahead of time, and test for potential itchiness, can be a gamble. Luckily, I won this round! This fabric is EXTREMELY soft, and I truly forgot that I had anything on up around my neck. Though it is listed as a thermal fabric, this knit was surprisingly thin. For the most part, this actually works out perfectly for this garment – however, I will be honest and say that some strategy must be employed when choosing proper undergarments to wear! In the future, I think Spanx will be a great safe option with this dress, but that will have to wait until this big old belly is gone!

The stretch and recovery with this fabric is wonderful. I decided to sew up a size 6 in this pattern, a size larger than my usual measurements but consistent with my current bust measurement, and I did not make a single modification to the pattern. As you can clearly see, the dress accommodates my baby bump like it is no big deal! I was a little worried that the rib knit would stretch in an unflattering way across the bump, but I truly have not noticed that being an issue at all. The best part for me is that I have a dress that I feel super stylish in right now, but that will still fit (and still be so cute!) post-bump.

I sewed all the hems using my handy heat and bond fusible interfacing tape. I KNOW that I talk about this stuff with almost every knit garment that I post, but you guys, this stuff is worth all the praises that I sing about it! I recently decided that I’m going to start adding a little segment to my blog posts, identifying some of the “key ingredients” that I used in making each garment. I’ll link you to the tricks and tools that I use to make construction as easy and professional looking as possible, and I’ll only ever recommend the tools that I actually use. If you feel like they’d be helpful tools for your sewing practice, and you decide to order them, I’ll get a small percentage back to support my own sewing practice! So to kick off my first installment of key ingredients, I’ve included Heat & Bond linked below, right under where I always include pattern and fabric information! I used heat and bond to hold my armhole facings in place, as well as along the skirt hem and up each side of both side slits, and I’d say they all look pretty solid!

I may or may not have two more Nikko dresses cut out and ready to sew hanging in my sewing room right now. I’m just really excited that I’ve found a dress that feels like it is not a big departure from my normal style, but is also flattering and cute on this growing belly (by the way – we’re in the 8 week countdown now – it’s only getting more massive from here!). I’m even tempted to grab another color of this particular fabric to sew this up in – I wouldn’t be upset to have one in every color of the rainbow! If you’re interested in trying out this fabric, I’ve included a coupon code below for this particular colorway – take my word for it, it is beautiful and flattering!! 🙂

Dress: handmade by me
Pattern: True Bias – Nikko Dress (View C)
Fabric: Dark Dusty Pink 4×2 Thermal Ribbed Stretch Knit Fabric – Stylish Fabric (you can use code “dustypinkrib” for 15% off of this fabric through September 30th, 2018)
Necklace: The Flying Cactus
Key Ingredients: Heat n’ Bond Soft Stretch 

Though the fabric used in this post was generously provided to me by Stylish Fabric, all opinions expressed are my own, as always!

• XX Elizabeth