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Saturday 16 July 2011

Vogue 1120 DKNY Dress, version 2

The dress is finished, it should have been done days ago but it was left hanging on my dressform waiting to be hemmed. I always seem to run out of steam at the end of projects and the hem in this slippery silk was fiddly so I kept putting it off. Of course it actually only took about 20 minutes to do once I got around to it, I will learn one day....



I only had 2.5 yards of 45" fabric and the pattern called for 3.25, but I was determined that I wanted to make this dress in this fabric so I had to do a bit of jiggery pokery (technical term) to do to make this work as follows;
  • left off the pockets
  • made the ties narrower and pieced them
  • left off the hem facings
  • left sleeves unlined
I don't recommend always buying less fabric but it is interesting how much you can save with a few changes that don't compromise the overall design.

One annoying thing about this design is that the front facing wants to flip out so I handstitched it to the front with invisible stitches underneath the pleats. If you are confident of doing a perfectly neat job, narrow binding might be a better option. That said, the pattern is now out of print, but there are plenty of patterns with similar necklines around and the rest is just a basic shift.


This dress is so comfortable to wear, here I have dressed it up with gold tone heels and clutch bag, but I will wear this a bit more simply for everyday wear (yes I do wear silk dresses quite often, they are perfect for our hot summers).



In sewing room news, I did do the promised tidy up and all I managed to find was that in addition to losing the Cynthia Steffe dress pattern I wanted to make next, I have also misplaced my February Burda and 2 yards of orange cotton fabric. They must all be together somewhere weird, I will probably find them in a kitchen cupboard or something in a few years time.

27 comments:

  1. Haha, sounds familiar. I misplace things that way all the time, sometimes even because I thought of the perfect place to keep things so they wouldn't get lost, which I then promptly forgot about.

    Love the dress. I wear silk in daily wear too. I want to enjoy the good stuff as much as I can!

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  2. I really do love this number, particularly for the colour. I recall the good ol' days when silk dresses were de rigeur for getting through a humid work day down in the Commercial Building on Queens' Road East. I suspect BusinessWeek has upgraded their digs since my day.
    Great jiggery pokery!

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  3. I'm guilty of jiggery pokery on so many of my projects, probably because I almost always buy fabric without a particular project in mind. As a rule I hate facings, they always flip up so I usually avoid patterns with facings or convert it into a bias binding where possible.
    Absolutely agree on the silk! Makes humid hot weather more bearable.

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  4. What a beautiful dress Allison , I love the colour. I have had this one cut out since I saw your last one .

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  5. This is such a beautiful color on you! I really like the neckline on this one.

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  6. Such a pretty colour! I love it when I can squeeze out a garmnet in much less fabric than is "required."

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  7. Beautiful dress--love that color. Congrats on being successfully creative with such a small amount of fabric!

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  8. Lovely dress and the color is really pretty. Lol @ jiggery pokery... what is sewing without that.

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  9. That is a gorgeous dress. Love the deep blue color.

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  10. Very beautiful dress, the color is so pretty on you.

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  11. This is a great dress on you. I see why you've made it again!

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  12. This dress is fabulous and I love that color!

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  13. this is lovely, teal?
    if so that is the color for fall.

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  14. Allison, your dress looks lovely on you.

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  15. Gorgeous dress- the color is beautiful and I love the neckline!

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  16. What a gorgeous dress! It embodies casual chic, and in my favorite color too.

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  17. That style really looks lovely on you! Love the colour too....and the shoes

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  18. I upped my ebay bid, bought the pattern and am so glad I did. I just love it in teal silk. Thanks for the tips. would lining the bodice work?

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  19. Very elegant dress! I think you must have the dream wardrobe of glorious outfits. Envy!

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  20. Beautiful dress! Love that style and the color!

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  21. Another beautiful dress! I love it!

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  22. Very pretty dress on you and it's a beautiful color.

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  23. Lovely dress! The color suits you well!

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  24. I love your dress - that's one of my favourite colours, and it looks great on you. I have made this dress as a top in a turquoise silk (I had such a tiny amount...) and had been curious about how the drape would change with the additional length. I'm tempted...

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  25. Lovely dress, Allison. These dress I trying to add more silks to my everyday wardrobe. It is great for warm weather.

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  26. I love it, you did a wonderful job with this dress! Bravo!

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