We have an exciting announcement to make today - we have just re-launched our beloved Hannah wrap dress sewing pattern in our extended sizing range UK 16 - 34 (US 12 - 30)!

Illustrations by Anna Walker

What's the difference between your two size ranges?

We now have two size bands - UK 6-24 and UK 16-34 - that are drafted to two different blocks. The smaller size range is drafted to a dressmaker's B cup, while the larger size range is drafted to a dressmaker's D cup*.

There is an overlap of five sizes between the two size bands, and the two size charts are quite different as the proportions of the two blocks are different, so please make sure you look carefully at both the body size charts and the finished measurements charts on the patterns' product pages to decide which sizes are closest to your measurements. Here is the size chart for our D cup 16-34 size band:

*Please note - dressmaker's cup sizes have absolutely nothing in common with bra sizes! Dressmaker's cup sizes relate to the ratio between your high bust and full bust measurements, whereas your bra size relates to the ratio between your full bust and under bust measurements. A dressmaker's B cup indicates that the full bust that is 2" larger than the high bust, while a dressmaker's D cup indicates that the full bust that is 4" larger than the high bust.

While our existing B cup size band is based on a traditional/antiquated "fashion industry standard" - 2" difference between high bust and full bust; hourglass figure - the new extended sizes have been designed for a figure with a full bust and a full tummy. Based on our experience teaching our Bodice Fitting Masterclass, this shape seemed to be what we encountered the most, with many of our students struggling to fit patterns at the higher end of the size chart to their larger busts and fuller tummies. So for us, and our brilliant pattern cutter Jackie, that seemed like the right way to go. Of course, figures of all sizes come in all shapes, and there is no way that we could cater for everyone with this new size band. We hope that people will be open to toiling, tweaking and altering our patterns for their perfect fit regardless of their size. Plus, with more and more pattern companies now starting to offer a larger size band option, and with all of us drafting to a slightly different block, hopefully before long there really will be something for everyone!

What other BHL patterns are available in extended sizing?

At the moment, we have Hannah, Anna and Tamzin available in both size bands. All future patterns we release will be available in both the B cup size band UK 6-24 (US 2-20) and the D cup size band. Behind the scenes, we are working hard to redraft designs from our existing library of patterns so that bit by bit we can re-release them with the new sizes as well.

Please be sure to select your preferred size band from the drop down menu on the product page!

If I already bought the Hannah dress pattern, will I get the new size band for free?

Yes! Anyone who previously purchased the Hannah wrap dress who thinks they would prefer the D cup size band can get the update for free! We had hoped we would be able to automatically send it out to everyone who had previously purchased the Hannah, but unfortunately we just couldn't figure out how.... 😬 It's a bit of a faff all round - sorry about that! - but please just drop us an email and we will sort you out 🤗

For those of you who were waiting for the new size band to be released, now is the time - and there's 20% off Hannah in the new size band until Sunday 25th October 2020 midnight GMT! No need to enter a code, the discount will automatically apply at checkout.

We can't wait to see more of your Hannah wrap dresses popping up in our feeds! If you choose to share your creations on social media, please use the hashtags #bhlHannah and #byhandlondon so we can find you.

And if you've read all the way down to here, we'd love to ask a small favour if we may. Most of our existing customers and followers fall into our existing size band, and we really need help spreading the word of our extended sizing so that more plus size and curvy sewists find us. Any shares and shout outs would be sooooo much appreciated! 🙏

Lastly but not leastly, we just wanted to explain why we currently only have illustrations of the newly updated Hannah dress - our next photoshoot is booked in for Nov 13th when we'll be shooting the new Hannah dress samples, as well as a brand new pattern! It makes more financial sense for us to photograph as many samples as we can all in one go, but seeing as the updated Hannah files were ready, we just couldn't wait until after the shoot to release her! We hope you can forgive our excitement!