Allison Dresses Up in a Silk Noil Wiksten Shift Dress

I am so glad I made this Wiksten Shift Dress out of dreamy and drapey silk noil.  It was the perfect garment to wear to an outdoor wedding in Santa Fe, New Mexico. I felt comfortable, fashionable, and like I belonged in the southwest landscape! Silk Noil is one of my absolute favorite fabrics to sew with and I recommend it for any advanced beginner sewist that wants to try sewing with more luxury fabrics. It is incredibly easy to sew with due to its beautiful, nubbly, texture.  You get all the ease of sewing with cotton flannel with the drape and luxury of silk.   

Instagram: @alliswans

Pattern Name and Designer: Wiksten Shift Dress
Size Made: 8 Long length dress
Materials used: Silk Noil in Rose, Silk Noil in Black

Modifications: I wanted my Wiksten to be boldly color-blocked! The alteration I made to do this was pretty simple.  I just added a 5/8 seam allowance to the front and back main pattern pieces along the straight side that is intended to be the fold.  I left the yolk one color, for simplicity and a cool graphic on the back.   

The garment itself was refreshingly easy to sew (despite a little goof-up on my end).  I’ve been on a kick of sewing more complicated projects recently so it was nice to sew a more simple garment with just a few seams.  The project would have been done much quicker had I not made a silly mistake in my first pinning of the front of the dress.  The way I sewed it originally made the dress look more like a circus tent, because I accidentally alternated the colors instead of blocking them on each side of my body as I had intended.  Luckily, silk noil has no “right side” so I was able to make a french seam in the front of the garment and flip my pockets to the new front of my dress to make the garment look as I had intended.  In the end, I was glad to have made this mistake because initially, I had the pockets alternated, so the black pocket was in the rose panel and vice-versa.  I think it looks much better to have the pocket color-blocked with the garment.  It enhances the simplicity and makes the dress look more balanced to me.  

I’m excited to style this garment in different ways moving forward.  I think that this long shift dress is incredibly versatile and can be styled for many seasons and occasions.  This fall, I’m looking forward to styling my Wiksten with heels for a fancier look or dressed down with some sneakers and cool earrings.  As the weather grows colder, this dress will look so cute layered with leggings and a cropped chunky sweater or even layered over a long sleeve t-shirt.  I think this dress could even be styled in the summertime with sandals almost like a maxi dress.  

In all, I am very pleased with my color-blocked Wiksten shift dress.  I have seen so many cute versions of this pattern and it was a delight to finally make it with such a dreamy fabric. I’m looking forward to wearing it in all the seasons to come!