Vogue V1115 Chado Ralph Rucci Rain Poncho

New pattern, new fabric, sewing is a little like cooking, the ingredients change just a little bit everytime. 

Rainwear and technical fabrics, determining right sides, wicking sides, waterproof sides.

(Sometimes you have to let it sit a while)

There are so many variables when embarking on a new project, I would like to know if when we choose a pattern, fabric, interfacing, notions, and we iron, layout, pin, cut, assemble, do finishing handwork, and give it a final press what our brains look like.  Do our synapse fire like a concert violinists?  What happens to our brains when we are engaged in this activity, I'm willing to bet it's beneficial (even with a wadder).

Morning Show clip (knitting is good for the brain, I bet sewing is too!)

Vogue Advanced, they aren't kidding, this is just a little teaser of the project I'm working on now.  Hopefully it will be completed tomorrow, and then I'm going to need an hour of yoga to get the cricks out of my neck and back :) 

I don't want anyone from Chado Ralph Rucci emailing me to say this is not the intended purpose of this pattern :).  For a wearable muslin, I really like it.

It took an estimated 30 hours from pattern tracing to finish without the welt pockets, and countless pin pricks because of the stubborn fabric.

I really love the seaming details, and will leave the zipper off, the next time I make it.

I really like this sleeve...

Almost looks alien like...

Thank you Mr Rucci for the inspiration!!

Vogue V1317 Houndstooth Chado Ralph Rucci Dress

For all of my belly aching yesterday, I am very happy with this dress.  It is a very flattering style, it's comfortable and the print gives it a bit of an edge, although it does hide all of the top stitching.  I ended up using 3 bobbins worth of thread on it.  So aside from the instructions yesterday, and a few other changes to the assembly order, and assorted tweaks, it went together fairly quickly over 4 days.  

A few things to keep in mind, this is a double knit, they also recommend other fabrics that have no stretch.  Don't use them.  The neckline is very deep, I shortened the slit and the placket before cutting.  Pick a fabric that looks good on the back as well as the front because the backside shows on the front ties.  Read on for clarification on some pattern quirks.

Here's the pattern envelope and the line drawing to jog your memory.

There is a mistake in the instructions, which will give you the skirt below :D.

Here's a version of this dress that's never been seen on the runway, you might call it an exclusive design, or a wadder.  Now this isn't really how it would look if you followed the instructions to the letter, it's actually worse than this, so read on if you are planning on making this pattern.

.  If you are making Vogue 1317, be advised that there is an error in the instructions.  I was making progress on this dress this weekend, taking my time, cutting out on Friday, marking on Saturday and assembling on Sunday.  Here it is Monday Step 30, the diagram shows right sides facing one another, that is incorrect, that will give you the skirt above, with the wrong side of the fabric facing out.

I'll play along... ok why aren't my pieces meeting?

They match in the diagram, but not on my garment, let's check the pattern pieces.  When I match small circles it's about 1/4" shorter, the edges do not meet as detailed in the instruction diagram.

Eventually that seam allowance will be caught in the fold of the topstitching at the pocket opening, but why give yourself such a small amount of fabric to catch?  Do yourselves a favor and add that 1/4" to the pattern piece before you cut the lining out.

The instruction to place right sides together will give you this.  

Hmmm that doesn't look right... and if you follow the instruction to turn right side out, the center piece will end up to the right, exposing the pocket lining beneath.

STOP AT STEP 30

Do yourselves a favor and with piece 9 (the center piece), before joining the piece, reinforce the two large circles which mark the pocket openings, clip to the stitching line.  Place the piece 9 (center panel) on the u shaped piece 8, and join the pocket lining to piece 9 sewing between the large circles (RIGHT SIDES UP, as the diagram above, not as step 30).  Fold the seam allowance under and top stitch, it will look like the right side of the diagram above.   Then proceed to "EDGESTITCH AND TOP-STITCH".  This is a lapped construction which is unusual but totally acceptable if explained properly.

I would have shown you on my garment but as you see it would not be much help, it camouflages all topstitching.

Chado Ralph Rucci - Vogue 1181 - The Caftan, not strictly bias.....

I'm likely to never wear this outside the house, except for maybe having my morning tea on the deck.  When I first saw this pattern I thought it was impractical, but as I would peruse the Vogue pattern website looking for other things this kept on popping up. Then I saw it sewn up, but many had changed grain lines to get a better fabric yield.  I was curious what would it look like with the intended grain line?  Then another review, a less than perfect fabric selection (fabric with no drape), the reviewer had a sense of humor about it, but how disappointing after all that work and expense.  Just another way that sewing bloggers help each other, we learn from each others triumphs and experiments.


Aside from the general shape of the garment, there are some other areas that need to be studied and they are the length, the center front and the front opening.



The length... puddling silk is lovely but I have wood floors and do not want to find myself collecting debris as I walk across it.  So we need to look at the grain line of the pattern and the "growth" of the fabric and the pattern measurements.


The center front is on the cross grain, the center back is not true bias but off grain.

The pattern's finished measurement from back neck to floor is 59", and my measurement is 56".

The center front opening
The front opening falls right between the breasts, and I'm not comfortable with that, so that will have to be addressed.

The center front bust area
Figuring for the possibility that I will wear this without support, I would like to address that area with texture or some kind of stiffening, or maybe just another layer of the self fabric.






Have I covered all of the challenges to making this caftan... no there's more.

This design takes almost 6 yards of fabric, and the yield is less than impressive, but it's the price you pay for these voluminous styles.  You can be sure that I'll be making panties and if I can a a bias slip or cami out of the scrap.

Now raise your hands if you thought this was cut on the bias!  I thought so too, but as it turns out the front falls on the straight grain (bodice only), the two body panels are off grain.  The center back bodice is bias, the panels are cross grain.  I had originally let the fabric hang to measure the "growth" of the bias as the intention was to factor that out so that it wouldn't drag on the floor behind me, after 48 hours the bias was 30% longer.  Since this isn't true bias, I will need to make an adjustment.

So many adjustments.... overall the garment would be long, so shortening it was always the intention.  Across the board I needed to shorten it 3" front and back.

On to construction....

Top piece with neckline facing

Tacked center front

The finished product in a polyester georgette.

Wearing 4" heels, it is still too long, but that can be remedied.  If this were in an opaque fabric, it will make it look wider still.  You really need something with transparency, fluidity, or super saturated color with sheen to show off the drape.

This highlights the seaming, which is really interesting.  You can see how the front piece seams circle around to the back.

I'm a little disappointed that the top piece couldn't be cut as intended, the piecing seams create drag lines that wouldn't be there if it were a continuous piece, but the pattern is a commitment in yardage and this was a test.