For my 11th  post, the letter K, I used Kwik Sew pattern #3533. 3533 is a kimono style stretch knit dress or tunic with a V-neckline and an inset waist with back ties. The pattern envelope shows the dress with short sleeves and the tunic with 3/4 length sleeves.

There’s a lot I like about Kwik Sew patterns. First of all, (here comes the cliché) Kwik Sew really sews up quickly! I made 3533 in just one evening and I’ve never sewn ANYTHING that fast! I also found Kwik Sew faster to cut out – Kwik Sew uses different colors to differentiate their size lines instead of just various combinations of dots and dashes in a single color. It was much easier for me to cut out my size with Kwik Sew. When I cut the Big 4 patterns I constantly pause to make sure I’m still following the right cutting line. I also prefer the paper Kwik Sew prints their patterns on. It’s not thin tissue like the Big 4. It’s similar to copy paper and much sturdier than tissue. I think it will hold up much better for multiple makes – and I will be sewing this dress again!

As I mentioned, I made 3533 from start to finish in just a few hours. I cut the size small with no adjustments. The measurements listed for the small were less than my own measurements, but the dress fits well. I think this is more a factor of the amount of stretch in the knit I used than Kwik Sew running large. Gotta love how forgiving stretch knit is! The only thing I would change in future versions of this dress is to make the V-neckline less deep – the V is a bit too plunging on my high busted figure.

Even though I keep referring to this garment as a dress, I actually cut out the tunic, not the dress. But when I put the tunic on it was just about long enough to be a dress. Well, if I was just about 30 years younger it would have been… So I figured since I couldn’t subtract 30 years, then I’d add 3 inches instead. 3 inches to the hem of the tunic that is, in order to turn it into a wearable dress. Copying the idea from the sleeve bands, I figured out the additional length I needed in order to not look like Tina Turner’s anemic twin and doubled it. Since the band is folded in half widthwise, I needed a 6 inch wide band to end up with 3 extra inches at the hem. I measured around the tunic 5/8th of an inch up from the bottom (where the band would be sewn on) and cut that length by 6″ wide from my solid knit. Super simple to do and it also eliminated the need to hem the dress – the folded edge is the hem edge.

I purchased 3533 a few months ago on-line from Sewing Patterns.com when they had a sale on Kwik Sew. Although their Kwik Sew pricing was really good, I didn’t receive the patterns I ordered for more than a month! For that reason I wouldn’t order from Sewing Patterns.com again – I don’t have the patience to wait nearly 5 weeks for my patterns to arrive. Including the purchase of this pattern my best guess for the cost of this dress was less than ten dollars. The thin sweater fabric I used for the body of the dress was from the stash, a thrift store purchase from years ago. I think I paid $1.95 for it. I don’t remember how much I paid for the solid color polyester I also used, but I know it wasn’t more than a few dollars. Ten bucks – not a bad price for a dress I really like!