Vogue v1672 - A Festive Dress

I could tell you the backstory behind each element of this dress, but honestly it's a bit easier at this point to say it's a stashbusting project. The red crepe outer fabric is from Stoff & Stil, the lining is from Fabworks and the pattern came straight from the Vogue website. All the elements were bought with this specific project in mind.

Lining Fabric

Sometime in December 2020 I decided that even if no one was going anywhere anytime soon, I should make a defiant party dress. I pulled out the material and patterns to get started on this. 

V1672 describes itself as a Very Easy pattern but I think that's a little generous. The pattern does have big impact for a relatively simple set of pieces, but it does have a couple of elements that would cause issues for someone looking for a very easy pattern. For example, the bias cut bodice is prone to distort or stretch out if you mistreat it. The tradeoff here is that the neckline is on the straight grain, which means it probably won't gape as much compared to a bias edge. I also found that the bias cut bodice was tricky to fit. This might've been due to my spongy stretchy crepe, but I found I didn't need to make my normal adjustments (extra space at crossback for my shoulders, taking out some back length between shoulder and waist for my swayback) and was confused about which adjustments I should make. Instead of a small bust adjustment I just pinned out the excess along the princess lines on the front bodice. The back waistband does dip slightly but I decided I was too lazy to fix it. 

I do like the bodice and am wondering how the wrap front will fare over time. It shows my bra, so I'll either need to remember to wear a pretty lacy number or whip up a camisole. Depends on the occasion. As I mentioned earlier, the neckline does stay put and I don't think there's much risk of a wardrobe malfunction - when standing up. I have found that it gaps a lot more when sitting down. I think this makes a great party dress because the bias bodice allows for a bit of expansion if you've had a big meal! I should've tested this on Christmas Day but the dress wasn't finished in time. I had spent all of my sewing time making garlands and pyjamas.

The skirt is long. Vogue have done that trick again of using heels and shooting from below the model to create the illusion of showing more leg than the pattern allows. I left the length fairly long because I like the drama of the skirt and I think it contrasts nicely with the very deep v-neck.

This dress is fully lined. I used the burrito method on the neckline and I think it came out very clean! The lining hem is pretty horrible but I'm hoping no one is going to notice.

The zip is a centred zip. It does look a little puffy but hopefully it'll be mostly hidden under my arm. The pattern originally calls for the zip to be placed in the centre back but I moved it to the side seam, as usual.

The pattern envelope promises inseam pockets but I'll tell you right now that this is a lie. There are no pockets and no mention of them in the instructions.

I tried to avoid topstitching unless absolutely necessary. The crepe didn't take it nicely and the thread I had available wasn't a brilliant colour match anyway.

That's it - I ended up wearing this dress for a very special occasion: getting my first vaccine shot!

K x

 

The Doppler Dress

I think we can all agree that for those of us who sew, there is a perpetual quest to make clothes that look presentable, high quality and stylish but which feel like we're swanning around in our pyjamas. In the world of dresses, nothing exemplifies this more than the t-shirt dress (except maybe the slip dress, but bear with me). Quick to cut, quick to sew and infinitely customisable. The t-shirt dress is a great thing. So when I finished this project and showed it to B, I was very proud when he finally said "I think you've made a nighty".

This dress was another palette cleanser project. I had the fabric for over a year. On our autumn 2019 trip to Japan, B picked it out of the remnant bin in one of the Tomato stores in Tokyo and I wasn't too keen on it. It's a knit with barely any stretch and no recovery. If it weren't striped I would have probably used it for shorts or culottes but bold stripes on that kind of garment isn't my vibe. I settled on a plan for a dress fairly quickly but never really had the time or desire to sew it up.

Roll around December 2020...

I searched a few Burdas for suitable patterns. My first design idea included a centre front placket and collar so the dress would reference polo shirts a little. My second design idea was an overlapped bateau neckline (a bit like my purple stripe jumper) but using some fancy ribbing from my summer myfabrics.co.uk haul. For this second design I planned to copy my sloper and make adjustments.

I started making this in that quiet gap between Christmas and going back to work. I wanted a 'no stakes' kind of project, which meant that I chose design idea #2 over tracing a Burda pattern. This is not high quality drafting or sewing, but it was quite fun to get out all of my rulers, tapes and pencils. I cut the sleeves according to how much fabric I had left. 

I stitched up the ribbing and put the dress on my mannequin. It looked awful. The seam was scratchy and the ribbing pulled this weak dress fabric in all the wrong directions. With hindsight I shouldn't have tried to be clever with the shoulder seam as I drafted it badly. Oh well. I ripped it off and just bound the neckline using some jersey binding instead.

The seams are zig-zagged and then overlocked. There are no pockets because I didn't feel like adding them here. When we get another mega-heatwave I'm hoping this dress will prove its worth. Right now, I'm layering it with tights, fluffy slippers and a duvet.

K x