Let's Do it Again

That's make Vogue 9220!  The last time I made this dress was in 2007.  I made "The Ladybug" version first.  However, I no longer wear it to work because I think it's a little too casual.  Instead it's worn to hang out with friends on the weekend.  

My second version of this dress is one of my all time favorite summer dresses.  I used a border print for it and added a tie using the directions from the Fall 2007 issue of Sew Stylish magazine.

Since I'm still in the midst of meetings, I wanted another dress or two.  I was roaming around in my Flickr sets and realized that I hadn't made this dress in awhile.  So after digging through the fabric collection, I found the perfect mid-weight polyester blend in a subdued black print that is perfect for this dress.

Some stats:

Fabric:
2.5 yards of a black polyester blend from FabricMart

Notions:
6 yards of black bias binding

Construction:
*Because I had made this dress before, I didn't need to make any pattern alterations.  This was a lay it down and cut it out dress. 

*I added all of the elements of the dress to this version...short sleeves (which are actually shorter than the ones on The Ladybug Dress), and the necktie.

*Due to the fullness or depth of the neckline, there is no need to add any closure to the dress.  It easily slips over my head.

*As with the other two versions of this dress, it is unlined.

*The only difference in this one vs. the others is that I added black bias binding to the hemline of the dress and the sleeves, to define the fabric's print better.

After inserting the first sleeve, I realized that the shoulder seam is too long.  For this dress, I just cut the excess fabric off and lessened some of the gathers in the sleeve cap to make it work.  I will alter the shoulder seams on the pattern, so that the next version will truely be "lay down, cut out, sew it up!"

One more shot of the dress:

I want to make another dress from this pattern...maybe from one of the more distinctive border prints that I purchased this year...I just hope that I don't wait another three years to sew it up!

...as always, more later!

Summer of the Dress - No. 8

I originally titled this post "Border Prints" but then I realized that this is like the 8th dress I have made this summer, I thought this title was more appropriate.

For this dress I am revisiting Vogue 9220 and using one of the border prints in my collection to make it. Personally, I love border prints. Whenever I find an interesting one in a color and print that I like, I buy it. No hesitations, no questions, just slap down that credit card for as many yards as I can afford! Border prints usually linger in my fabric collection longer than most other fabrics because it always needs the perfect pattern to showcase its beauty.

I found this embroidered rayon/linen blend at Fashion Fabrics Club last spring. FFC had it in several colorways but I really liked this sage and a navy version. The fabric is 60" wide with an embroidered garden print at the selvege. I purchased 4 yards of this fabric and put it away to wait for inspiration to strike.

After carting around the latest Sew Stylish magazine last week, there was one idea that keep coming back to me...the blouse with the tie. I loved the fact that the Editors took the bodice top and made it into a blouse and then made several modifications to the blouse neckline. You would think that this would inspire me to make a blouse (and I probably will make that blouse when the pattern arrives in the mail) but mostly I kept seeing Vogue 9220 with the ties at the neckline. I went through various sleeve modifications in my mind and had not settled on a definitive sleeve treatment by the time I sat down to work on this dress. I did cut out sleeves but as you can see I never used them.

I made several changes to the pattern to get this dress:

1. Since the neckline is pretty deep, I omitted the center back zipper. Okay, I did try "The Ladybug dress" on first to make sure the dress would go over my head without a problem! *smile*

2. The entire dress is cut on the cross grain and the pattern pieces were carefully laid out to take full advantage of the embroidered border print.

3. I added the tie by using a pattern piece from Vogue 8118 which I made last summer. However, I made two changes to the tie pattern piece...first, I lengthened the pattern piece by three inches. And then I folded the pattern piece in half and after pinning it down to the fabric added another inch to the width. This did not make it as wide as the original pattern piece but it wasn't as thin as it would have been just folded in half. So why did I even bother to change the tie piece? Because I wasn't happy with the tie on the original blouse. It is a little large and floppy at the neckline when I wear the blouse and I didn't want to duplicate that with this dress.

4. The tie was attached to the back neckline of the dress matching center seams. The part of the seam that wasn't encased in the tie was pressed, clipped and top stitched.

5. Originally I was going to add sleeves to the dress but when I tried it on I really liked it sleeveless. I own a lacy lilac cardigan sweater that I made several years ago that coordinates with the dress so I will wear that with it when the air conditioning is overwhelming.

6. The hem is not hand or machine stitched. I did a sample on a scrap but the hand stitching and the machine stitching affected the border print so I steamed in some Stitch Witchery (industrial strength!) for the hem. It actually makes the hem stiffer and weights it.

So this is my nod to pattern modification as inspired by the Fall 2007 issue of Sew Stylish!

Circa 1995 ~ Vogue 9220

Or the polka dot dress:



The pattern back describes it as a fitted, and slightly flared, lined dress, above mid-knee, has princess seams, back zipper and short sleeves.

I was attracted to this pattern because of the cover illustration. I am sure now that the dress is finished that I could have used a current pattern like Butterick 4980 or Simplicity 4014. But I had to take the adventure with this pattern. Y'know how you get an idea into your head and then there is no turning back. That's what this pattern's journey was about.

First I made quite a few alterations to this pattern, even though I started with a size 22. Alterations such as:

~ 2 inches in length was added to all of the pieces

~ 1 inch was added to all the side seams beginning at the waist and ending at the hem

~ The sleeve was altered by adding length to the pattern and width to the biceps. I showed a picture of the altered picture in one of my last posts.

~ I also used the pivot and slide techniquee on the center front piece adding another 3 inches at the hemline and 2 inches at the waist.

Of course to achieve the close fitting appearance of the dress, I ended up taking all of those added inches out. I also did not put the lining in the dress. Because the pattern included a lining in the dress, there were no facing pieces. The linen I used for the dress was a medium weight piece and I am sewing for the 90 degree weather we are currently experiencing. I just could not bear the thought of a lining sticking to me.

So I used binding to finish off the neckline edge...a 1" black satin binding that I had in my stash. I added the binding to the neckline, sleeve hems and the hem of the dress. The black did a good job of breaking up some of the red/black in this dress...I don't look like a big polka dot since I added the black trim.

Sorry there are no pics of me in the dress but I finished this dress late last night and started in on the seersucker pantsuit - that is in the next post - but I will add pictures later, I promise! Now the final and most important question is ~ will I use this pattern again? I don't know. This might be one of those patterns that sits and waits for the perfect fabric to come along or then it might never be used again...only time will tell!

Vogue 9220 - The Substitution

As stated in a previous post, I have decided to remove the St. John's dress from my end of summer sewing list. At first I was going to use my TNT dress pattern and transform it into one more outfit ~ the yellow blouse pictured in the substitution post was to be the jump off ~ however I really am sick of working with my TNT dress pattern so I am moving on.

Yesterday while digging through my considerable pattern stash (which is contained in 10 legal bankers boxes that reside in the back of my DD's closet) I found this Out-Of-Print (OOP) pattern - Vogue 9220.

The pattern envelope describes the dress as: fitted and slightly flared, lined, above mid-knee, has princess seams and back zipper with short sleeves. The pattern is copyright 1995. I really like the accompanying jacket but since I am using the black & red polka dot linen that I used as the centerband of the Chloe knock-off dress (I mean it was out of the fabric closet ~ what was the point of putting it back in?) I am concerned that the jacket and dress combination would make me look like a big ole fat polka dot. So the jacket is not being made this time. However, this jacket will get made some time in the future.

I need to say something here about using some of the older, OOP Vogue patterns in my stash. Every time I have used one of these older patterns I have had to make less alterations in my size to get the best fit. Fewer alterations to the shoulder seams and throughout the body of the pattern. I don't know why but the patterns from the last decade seem to be drafted with more ease than their latest offerings.

For the accompanying piece to this dress, I will probably make a lightweight black sweatery type jacket. I believe that this type of jacket will serve me better when moving from very cold public transportation to a very cold office space. The only time I seem to have any issues with heat are when I am taking the subway around the city...and even then it is only journeying through the station and standing on the platform waiting for the subway. Some of those trains are just as cold as the bus!

Yesterday and today I worked on the pattern alterations. I added an inch in length to the dress and 1/2" to an inch on some of the side seams from the waist down. I also lengthened and added length and width to the short sleeves.

The shell of the dress is basted together for a quick fitting and I will need to take out some of the width that I added to the center front piece. Other than that I just need to make some decisions about trim, lining and the sleeve treatment to finish up this dress. As always I will keep you updated on my progress...