Self Draft Maxi Dress

You've seen a million of these this summer, so decided that it might not be a bad idea to make a fall version.  This one has a fuller skirt than most, and can be worn loose or belted.

I already had a good start with a favorite tank top.  I liked the depth of the armholes, neckline and racer back, so this took the guesswork out of the top part.

Here's what the pattern looks like. It uses the full width of the fabric, and will need further shaping at the side seams, just a slight taper from armhole to hemline.  In this fabric which is a rayon jersey (thin but with weight and drape), 2 3/4yds were used for a floor length dress.  I would recommend more if you want to shape the hem to floor length, instead of the curved hemline you see here.

Side seam shaping next....at this point I slipped the dress on and pinned until I liked the silhouette.

Finished!!  The neck and armholes were finished with a contrast black binding.

It's less of a straight skirt silhouette and more of a tent shape, but the stripes create a nice downward curve on the finished dress. You'll notice that the pattern does not match  Since there is no shoulder seam, and the print has a direction it wasn't possible.  

With a belt

Fun and easy first draping project if you are keen to do one. 

Snoop Shopping - Erdem Chiffon Swallow Dress

Do you remember this Erdem dress from Spring 2010?  I loved this dress (for a much younger thinner person), it is very romantic, and I also loved the birds and the texture they achieved with the chiffon.

I had the opportunity to take a closer look.

Here we have the main motif, since the print does not have sharp edges, they have solved it by running a chain stitch to outline the bird, and some essential details, along with a satin stitch around the neck.

The other motifs, some of which are easy to identify and others less so.

The dress itself is pretty amazing when you consider that all of the texture is simply bias chiffon layers that have been sewn on a chiffon background.

It is lined in silk charmeuse, in a coordinating print.

Of course this goes back to my textile envy post, these fabrics are manufactured for the designer.  I couldn't begin to imagine how much yardage went into this dress, or how it was manufactured.  So this is one of those fabrics, while not impossible to make would be cost and time prohibitive.... but if you really wanted it...

Vogue V1220 Embroidered Cotton Spandex Shirting and Fabric Defects in Cutting Layouts

Really comfortable and very cute, it even nips in at the waist, 

and it has pockets,

and I can never get enough of using my vintage buttonholer.

I left two buttons undone at the hem for this shot, now that I've worn it for a little while I can say that it needs a little something to keep it closed at the center front bust, otherwise it does open a bit.  This was a problem I didn't have on the other DK style (wrap blouse OOP pattern 1961) because it was cut on the bias, this pattern is not.  The dress on the envelope is made up in a dark charcoal, which I think is perfect for this style.  It's just the type of fabric I would walk right by because unless it's made up in a dress I would think it boring.

Here I've rolled the sleeves up a little more and used a contrast belt instead of the self fabric belt.

I'll be making this one again.

Fabric Defects

I loved this fabric, but I received it in a mystery bundle shipment.  While I lay the fabric out to be cut, I noticed some defects.  If this happens to you, this will make it easier to avoid them turning up on your garment.

  It's like nothing else I have in the stash, but as I was laying it out I noticed some irregularities.  Some black circles were darker than others on the back, so I flipped the fabric over and had a closer look.  Now we know even industrial machines have tension issues.

The circles on the top pic, are on the back of the fabric.  The pic on the bottom are also on the back, notice that the ones below are darker, and it's the same design repeat.

I'll do my best to avoid the light band, where it looks as if they were changing threads out on the embroidery machine because around that same area on the face, there are loose thread ends.

The front piece on the pattern is very large, so it may be difficult to avoid this area.  If it can't be used, I'll pop this back into the stash, with my notes and look for something else.

Here's how I've marked it to avoid cutting into the areas.... painters tape:)  I've marked the areas with defects, then again at the selvage so I can leave these areas as space between the pattern pieces.

Vogue Vena Cava V1228 Cotton Silk Broadcloth Dress

I love this dress, flirty and easy to make and wear.

It's a little too low around the neckline, as in... the bra peeks in the corners of the neckline.  The interior is finished with french seams, and it's very clean looking on the inside.  The only change I made is slip stitching the very narrow neck facing, and adding a snap to the end of the sleeve tab (instead of tucking it into the cuff), if you do the same, remember to finish the edge of the tab instead of leaving it unfinished (for a cleaner look). I left the zipper off, because it slips on relatively easily (the dress form was another issue, I just couldn't get it on her).

You could make this dress in a weekend easily.

Now to address the neckline, to raise it would mean the tuck would not fall where originally intended which may or may not be an issue for you, but on this first try, I left everything as is.  This was supposed to be my wearable muslin, and that's what they are for (tweaking).  I may go back and add some of the same fabric to the corners so I won't be checking exposure while wearing it, but the issue with that part of the neckline is that the facing is enclosed in the pleat, and the height of the pleat will be changed if you raise it.  Another solution is to take the neckline up by way of  lowering the shoulder seams.

Here is the Vogue pattern instruction.

Here is the close up on the garment.

The fabric for this project was a cotton silk blend from FabricMart, it was a pleasure to work with, it is opaque, lightweight, but with body.

I like the unusual construction of this dress, you can see the details a little better on the line drawing.  All in all a successful little pattern, and a dress that I'll get a lot of wear from.

Onion Patterns 2025 Embroidered Cotton Swiss Dot Striped Dress

I have been testing different pattern companies and venturing outside of Vogue, Butterick, McCalls, and decided I was ready to plunge head first to Onion patterns of Denmark. So what if the instructions are in a language I don't understand, I love to learn. Did you know what the word for pattern is in Danish? Snitmonster! I just loved this, and you never know when this information will be useful. I was really looking for something simple but wearable, I'm looking to wear more dresses and needed something that could be a little more sporty to start with, so I settled on #2025.

Something you have to be aware of is that the pattern does not have seam allowances, you have to add them yourself.

Out came the plastic, I did my research on PR and decided that Fjoelner would be my vendor of choice. The pattern arrived in about a week, which I thought was pretty fast.

Yesterday I cut it out, and today I finished it, despite some set backs.

The fabric is very delicate. I was very excited when I received it, but after washing, it left a trail of lint everywhere, in the bathroom where it was air drying, on the ironing board and lastly under my fingernails.... bleh. It ripped twice while I was working on it, so I am equating this to poor quality. This was a Fabric.com purchase and I wouldn't recommend it (at least not in black, maybe the other colors are better). It wasn't very expensive, so I'm not really upset about it. It was called "Embroidered Cotton Swiss Dot Stripes".

I have some Liberty Lawns upstairs that I know will be wonderful in this pattern, this was my practice piece after all.

I changed the pattern a bit, the black was a little overwhelming, so I ommitted the gathered half of the sleeve and replaced it with a roll up cuff. I'm happy with this change, and overall happy with the style once it's accessorized.

Now without the accessories, I would look like a wet cat, so I won't be wearing it this way.

Here is a close up of the fabric detail.

Vogue V1258 Vena Cava Dress

After the last project, it was nice that this one was quick and relatively painless. The stretch in the ITY knit, made for some tweaking but I like the end result. This is another one of those patterns that you have to mark all the little circles and squares because the pattern pieces are unusual and it's not obvious to which seams are which. This will definitely be a date night dress.

Without spanx :)

It needs a good pressing the ties are a little puckered, but other than that I like the way the dress turned out. You'll notice on the pattern envelope, there is no sleeve but the pattern gives you a bit of a cap sleeve, I don't mind it, but just an observation.  If you want it to look like the pattern envelope you will need to adjust the sleeve piece up into the shoulder.  The pattern does not match the pic on the envelope.

The ties were very very long, so I chopped off 5", and raised the neckline 1/2", it is very comfortable.

Vogue V1250 DKNY Cowl Dress with Alteration Notes

This pattern has been extremely popular, I made it and didn't have as much success the first time around.

It takes 2 yards, and sews up in about two hours and  the original review is below. Many versions I've seen have been made up in ITY (which has 4 way stretch), I used a rayon jersey (2 way stretch - which the pattern specifies) which didn't have the same drape.

I had a lot of fullness under the bust across the abdomen and it seemed all over.

Turn the dress inside out and try it on, and pin the side seams to fit.

Take the dress off carefully to avoid those pesky pins and place on a table.

Straighten the pins out so that they form a continuous line and are more or less symmetrical on both sides.

Your corrections might look like these.

The sway back addresses the little pleat that formed at the small of the back.

Fullness under the bust was addressed with a curved side seam.

It's worth it to baste this dress and try it on first.  I made these alterations on a dress that was already completed and fortunately the armholes and center back seam were not affected.

The First Time Around

So many of these have been reviewed already, it has turned into a very popular pattern because of the cowl and it's very easy to make. I would say this is about a two hour project (not including the time spent shopping the stash). The common observation with this is the fullness around the midsection.

On the pattern envelope they must have used a fabric with more drape than the rayon lycra jersey I used. This was purchased from Fabric.com last year. It is very lightweight and once it was washed, the surface of the fabric became fuzzy, so we aren't talking about the highest quality, so it went into the muslin pile. It is very soft and the cut edges curl, there is widthwise stretch and no stretch in the length.

The pattern was made with no alterations in this view. The skinny belt is actually 1" wide, and it disappears in the blouson. It looks best with a wide belt, but the belt has shortened the length a little, so I would lengthen the pattern.

The back is very long waisted, and I could make a sway back adjustment to correct it or wear it with a belt.

If I were to make it again to wear without a belt these are the alterations / changes I would consider.

- Removing excess below the bust.

- Sway back adjustment - 1" total at the center back waist tapering to nothing at the sides.

- Shifting the shoulders to get rid of upper back wrinkles

- Lengthening the pattern 1.5"

- Reworking that puckered back seam (because I know this is going to drive me crazy)

As it is, I'll hem this puppy up and wear it around the house :)

Some people didn't have to make all of these alterations, as the Sewing Fanatic noted in the comments, she made it up here in three different versions and it looks fantastic on her.

Diary of a Sewing Fanatic

Also the only part of the instruction that could be confusing is the cowl facing instruction.

The illustrations don't show you the front tuck but if you match the shoulder edges it will show you what you need to do. All the edges should match.