By Hand London: Be Still My Heart!

I've quite recently fallen in love with By Hand London.
See all their available patterns here.

I love their style. These ladies know how to design sewing patterns!
Over the last two months, I've sewn two of their dress patterns. And one of them I've sewn twice!
I wanted to share with you all how much I dig their stuff.

Elisalex
My favourite things about it:

• that back! Those pleats!
• I love the snug fit through the bodice and extreme tulip of the skirt.
• This was my first time working with a much heavier cotton fabric; I think it worked well with the dress.

 My mods:

• had to cut off over 10" of skirt length
• this required me to nip in a bit at the bottom edge to keep the original spirit of the skirt shape, instead of getting a more flared A-line

For next time:

• I need to learn FBA! I think that's what I need. You can't see it in the pic above, but it gapes something awful at the sleeve edge.
• of course, cut about 10" less for the skirt length!
• and add pockets! By Hand London has a tutorial for adding pockets here.

Flora
My favourite things about it:

• I love the hi-lo skirt. Very flowy and fun.
• There's something about this dress that provokes my creative brain. It seems to have endless, attractive ways to modify it.

 My mods:

• I think I accidentally cut the front for the longer option. That's fine! It hits perfectly at my knee.
• Still struggling with adjusting for my bust, but the faux wrap front allowed me a bit more wiggle room in my adjustments. I totally cheated and hand stitched down the extra gaping fabric towards the waist. Which is one of the reasons why I added the belt!
• I added a length of ribbon to the inside neckline. I got this little sheepy ribbon a few years ago in Paris; I thought this would be a great way to use it!

For next time:

• I've already sewn up a second Flora, all white. This one, I cut to the shorter length, and to be honest, would really prefer it longer.
• I'll share the second Flora once it's complete: I have some plans for embroidering on the neckline.
• Don't do the faux wrap front. I just don't like the way they look on me.
• There's also ideas brewing to work some gradient colour into the lining of the dress. I think that'd be fun, as you can see the lining well with the hi-lo cut to the skirt.