Tuesday, February 17, 2015

Vogue 8995 - It's All About Refitting and more Refitting

I've made Vogue 8995 before.  It made my top five of 2014 garments. It should be an easy sew because the pattern alterations have already been made - BUT - and there always seems to be a but! My weight loss means that nothing fits like it use to.



So I started with the pattern alterations I made for the spring linen version. I've had to make several more alterations to make the dress fit me now. Thank goodness for a lot of seams because it made the alterations easy. As an aside, I'm now wondering if the original dress will fit come spring. *sigh*



Anyway, I've taken the back waist seams in an additional half inch on either side to give the back a closer fit. I'm sure that many would say that I could take it in even more but to be honest, I'm just not that comfortable with such a close fit yet. I also keep thinking what if I gain some weight back...what will I wear then? I'm straddling a fine line here and one step to either the left or right could end me up in the soup - so I'm straddling it and being cautious.

On the front I've pegged the center piece so that it looks more like the original pattern and not my hybrid above. I probably could peg the side seams a little to give it a bit more defined fit but more of that line straddling - y'know!

Okay how about some stats:

Fabric ~
2.5 yards of light pink worsted wool crepe purchased from Fabric Mart eons ago.

Notions ~
22" pink invisible zipper
1" lace that was tea dyed and left over from this dress
2.5 yards pink bemberg rayon lining purchased from Elegance Fabrics in NYC
Silk organza used to underline all of the pieces
Pink rayon seam binding

A few construction pics and info:

As stated in my previous post about this dress, I underlined each piece of the wool crepe with silk organza. I went back and forth about adding piping to the neckline and sleeve hems and finally decided not to. The bemberg rayon lining was added to the dress.  Some of the construction details are shown in the collage below...



The other interesting part of my construction is the sleeve bindings. I bought Vogue 1435, the new Tom and Linda Platt dress and jacket (it's in the queue, btw) and I was reading the instructions.  For the jacket they have you bind the edges of the sleeve openings. I really liked the technique and thought I should add it to the construction of my dresses especially since I prefer unlined sleeves.

So I used the rayon seam binding that I normally use for hems to bind the sleeves. First, I serged the seams close to the stitching line. Then I folded the seam binding in half over the seam and machine stitched it on. However, after pressing I didn't like the way it covered the seam. So for the second armhole, I hand stitched it down. I liked that coverage better. Now I really should take the first one out but honestly it's not bad enough to take out. Though I will be hand stitching the binding down in the future.


Otherwise, I have nothing new to say about the construction of the dress. Any other pertinent information is contained in the original posts

The theme of this dress is fit, fit and more fit. I did a lot of trying the dress on and then ripping out seams and resewing them. I think this is going to be a reoccurring theme throughout my sewing this year especially if I lose any more weight. 

Here are the pics of me wearing the dress:


Jacket made in 2010 - Simplicity 2958


Conclusion ~
This dress fits looser than my original version which was a little tight on me. I will probably end up taking in the side and front seams next fall if I continue to lose more weight but it works for right now.


BTW, my shoes are by Tahari.  I bought them two years ago and wore them once in real life and once on the blog...my feet were just too fat to wear them comfortably...and I paid too much for them to give them away.  Fast forward two years and they now fit comfortably again. They're a little higher than what I've been wearing but I will add some comfort pads to them. Okay this benefit of losing weight I can get with cause I have some amazing shoes sitting in boxes waiting to be worn!

Next up is a "Throw Back Thursday" outfit. As I was checking the closet for wearable garments, I tried on this dress and couldn't believe it fit again. So I will be sharing it next. Again...thank goodness I couldn't give it away!

...Miss Sammy was visiting for the day and her Mom took some amazing pictures of her.  Here is just one...






37 comments:

  1. That dress and those shoes look amazing on you!

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  2. A really pretty dress - I love that color! And yay for the shoes, too! Your granddaughter has beautiful eyes - gorgeous lashes:)

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  3. Love it! Gorgeous color. Thanks for sharing your seam binding choices. I've never tried that.

    And those shoes are EVERYTHING.

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  4. Don't ever think about gaining any weight back. Keep your goal in mind, you've come this far, it's great and you make clothes for your great figure, I know you've got one coz I read your last post!
    Xxx

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  5. As I was reading through the post, I kept thinking those shoes are awesome! Love the dress, and you look great in pink!

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  6. Hi pretty lady. The dress looks great on you. and congratulations on your weight loss.

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  7. You look beautiful.

    I hear you on the shoes. You must be sure to pass on that particular obsession to your granddaughter. If I ever get out of touch with popular culture (who am I kidding?), my granddaughter will still think I'm hip because we can always go shoe shopping together. She can Tweet about it, but we can squeal in synch over shoes.

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  8. The dress is lovely! Congratulations on your weight loss--you look fantastic, radiant actually.

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  9. Beautiful dress, beautiful shoes, beautiful baby!

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  10. Such a pretty dress and you look amazing. Your Tahari shoes are gorgeous and so glad you can now wear them comfortably, I just love Tahari shoes.

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  11. Congratulations, Carolyn, on the weight loss! I love the dress and shoes on you.

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  12. Sammy is beautiful...so are you.

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  13. Those shoes are amazing! I love that they fit well again. But man - that dress! Pink. love it - I'm all about pink these days. And Miss Sammy - wow! What a little looker. g

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  14. Gorgeous dress, all those seams make a really nice detail. And your shoes are perfect with this dress - very fierce!

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  15. The dress looks great and so do you!

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  16. Fabulous! And how wonderful you have shoes just waiting for you :)

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  17. The pink wool crepe is a wonderful color choice on you! I am now looking into the Vogue 8995 pattern, I think princess seam dresses are easier to fit. You are looking GREAT, keep up the work! Love the shoes too!. Can't wait to see what you're sewing next......
    www.sewplus.blogspot.com

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  18. You're looking great, Carolyn! The fitting and refitting is well worth the results, huh?
    Pale Pink is your color :)

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  19. Pretty dress and the fit alterations look great! Great shoes!

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  20. I love that pattern! Great styling....

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  21. You look stunning! Congratulations on the weight loss. You are an inspiration!

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  22. What a gorgeous colour - and in wool crepe! Sooo luxe. Your adjustments to the dress look good. Serious shoe envy over here, too. ;)

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  23. I wished I lived close to you. I don't mind doing alterations. And you have taught and inspired us so much....

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  24. She's so cute! :)

    I love it. That blush pink is perfection on you!

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  25. OK, first I got really excited to see you in such a springy dress (will winter just end, please??), then I saw your jacket and got more excited, THEN I saw Miss Sammy and lost my dang mind! All kinds of awesome going on here!

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  26. You are glowing Carolyn, the colour looks great on you and you have clearly worked hard on the weight loss. You have the most beautiful grandchildren.

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  27. This is sew exciting Carolyn, to see you go through this transformation and witness how you are adjusting to the changes!!! Stay encouraged!!! Such a cute dress and love, love, love those Taharis...hardly ever met a "cap-toe" that I didn't like!

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  28. Wow, I liked the other pink dress, but this shade of pink is PERFECT! And those shoes! Sigh!! The whole outfit is beautiful!

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  29. You have the cutest grandkids! Love the dress too, but those shoes. Wow!

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  30. Beautiful! I am definitely going to pick this pattern up and give it a go. Such a classic.

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  31. The dress is lovely, Carolyn, and the shoes are to die for.

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  32. The pink is absolutely beautiful on you and the shoes are killer ;)

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  33. You have a mean shoe game. Just loving all your shoes. Please share wear you purchase your shoes. This dress is giving me life, this pretty pastel pink reminds of spring.

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    Replies
    1. Both the Tahari and AK Ann Klein were bought from Lord & Taylor online. They have this great sale by 1 pair get xx% off, 2 pair xx% off and 3 pair xx% off - I usually buy three pair! *LOL*

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  34. That pale pink looks fabulous on you. Love those shoes too.

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  35. Yes pale pink is abosolutely gorgeous on you. Your shoes are fabulous. Congratulation on your weight loss.

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  36. Congratulations on your weight loss and good health! This might sound radical, but have you ever thought about taking a few of your favorite now-too-big dresses to someone else for alterations? I always do my own alterations, but if you hate doing them - why not ask around to find someone who is good?

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