Athina Kakou has asked me to review her newest pattern, the Sheona pattern, so here I am with my version!
The Sheona pattern has a ton of options... a simple shift dress, a basic t-shirt top, a drop waist/dramatic ruffle hem dress, a ruffled hem top or a shift dress with narrow ruffles at the sleeves and hems. Sheona (which is named after the lovely Sheona of Sewisfaction!) is a great building block dress or top!
In addition to the options provided in the pattern itself, Athina has tutorials on her blog for seemingly a million creative pattern alterations you can make to the Sheona for different looks... bishop sleeves and a curved hem (adorable!), flutter sleeves, maxi dress, swing dress with pockets, tie front top, and many more. She's really gone all out to demonstrate all the potential variations on this pattern! A pattern hacker's delight.
For mine, I opted for the simplest option. This is Version 2, the 3/4th sleeve t-shirt. I always need basics for layering! And, also, if I'm being honest, because ruffles are not for me. I appreciate them on others, but feel very un-me in them.
The fabric I chose for my Sheona is a nubby grey cotton jersey that I bought in Bangkok many years ago. You might remember that I made Tim a Strathcona tee from this same fabric about a million years ago...
The Sheona pattern goes from size 4-28. This is a size 20, and I'm happy with my size choice. I'd say it's an average fit- not body hugging, but definitely not oversized. I'm finding that my top is a teeny bit short in the bodice, hitting me at my high hip/hip bone. Next time I'll lengthen it an inch or two.
This was my first time working with one of Athina's patterns and I had a pretty good experience. I liked her thorough instructions, with a ton of helpful diagrams. The only trouble I had was a few minor issues printing the pattern. I couldn't find a print guide to help me discern which pages to print if I only wanted to make the top (as opposed to the dress and ruffle versions). Once I figured out which pages to print, some of the pages seemed to print out of order, so I had to go back and hand select pages to get what I needed.
