I made a new dress! The pattern is Vogue 1343, a Tracy Reese design; and I used this beautifully thin and slightly crisp georgette from Minerva in colour Rust…
The fabric is gorgeous, yes? I really really love the deep rich smoked-paprika colour, definitely my colour, and just enough sophisticated black, grey and off-white thrown into the print to keep everything looking sharp.
I bought the pattern ages ago, and have wanted to make it for even longer! obviously, haha… I really like the multitude of details it has; it’s not your average little shift dress at all. To be honest, halfway through I wasn’t liking it very much; there were a few little problems so I’d gone off it a bit, and had pretty much decided I was NEVER going to make the pattern up ever again. But once it was finished and I tried it on and was like… hmmm, ok I get it now! I think it ended up way cuter than I expected!
The first problem was that front neckline drape. It’s beautiful isn’t it?! but SUPER low cut in its original format. I did actually make it up as is to start with, but it was so crazy low almost the full bridge on my bra was on show. Ridiculous!!
And it’s pretty difficult to remove width from the cowl once it’s been cut and you’ve folded and sewn all those pleats etc… so I pulled up the drape by opening up the shoulder seams and removed 1 1/4″ in height from the neckline edge of the front shoulder yokes instead, tapering to nothing at the armhole edge. I kept the height at the armhole the same, because the armholes on this design are not huge already and you don’t want them tightened up more! The back yokes are unchanged.
You still get masses of drape, but a little less scandalously so, and at least I’ve got complete bra coverage now!
This picture also shows how the armhole edges are finished with bias cut strips. The back neckline edge is finished the same way.
The next problem was finishing the hemline. The pattern includes separate facing pieces for the hemline; which are attached, under stitched, and hand-stitched to the dress. I had doubts this was going to work for georgette but trialled one and of course it looked terrible. So I did what I should’ve in the first place; stitched up the side seams with French seams and just finished the hem in one go with a narrow hand-rolled and -fell stitched hem. Much nicer!
Oh yes! French seams! The pattern stipulates them and of course they are the perfect method for this fine and floaty fabric anyway.
I do love how the folds give this lovely soft fall of fabric in the skirt
The last problem… not really a problem but just a little annoying? according to the pattern you stitch the skirt to the bodice, matching side seams etc… well there is no way the side seams can be matched in this design so I think this is a mistake in the pattern…
this is the bodice back and the skirt back pieces… you can see the notches are way off, for a start. It’s almost like there’s a missing seam allowance on the skirt back?!
It’s ok though in the end, because you can actually fit the whole bodice into the skirt without any dramas. Just let go previously held notions of notches and side seams aligning, match up the centre fronts and backs obviously, and bob’s your uncle!
I didn’t have any matching buttons, but wait a minute, what do I have here? but a small handful of leftover ivory-crepe covered buttons leftover from when I made 100 of ’em for Kelly’s wedding dress! I’d covered lots of extras; partly because some of my earlier ones weren’t up to scratch, and also just because I wasn’t sure how many I’d need. I painted some with leftover acrylic “blackboard” paint, and they’re perfect!
My rouleau straps turned out super skinny!! 3mm… rather chuffed with this! It’s all thanks to quality of this super fine fabric, I think 
This is used for the button loops and the belt loops too; the latter will probably not be used because my favourite belt doesn’t really fit through them! Yes, this is a design greatly improved by a belt, I think. Partially because the waist is elasticated, and I looooooooathe elasticated waistbands with the fieriest of fiery passions! This one is hidden nicely under my old, super-wide belt… which also hides those super skinny belt loops. Ehhh…
And… this is my first thing out of my “make nine/twelve” for this year! Here is my updated mud-map….
I may have had my doubts while I was making it, but I’m very happy with the outcome in the end!! I love the rich colours of the fabric, the design is quite unlike anything I’ve used before; in fact that goes for the style of the dress too! Well a change is always a good thing for the system and I plan to wear this both on cool days of summer, and warmer days in winter too. Who knows, I may even make up the pattern again one day!
Details:
Dress; Vogue 1343, in a fine paisley georgette
Belt; super old, emu leather
Shoes; Zomp, from Zomp boutique
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