Vogue 8907 Top

I previously made View B of this top here and in that post said I planned to make View A.  Usually making rash statements like that on this blog mean that it never actually happens, but in this rare case it did.

Badmomgoodmom asked a very good question on View B - she wondered if the asymmetric drape made it pull to one side.  I didn't find that it did because the drape extends across the whole back and is caught in the back neck seam and the hem.

This time I made View A in a very lightweight and badly behaved poly.  Getting the hem straight and the extra cape layer to hang properly was a nightmare.  This top is supposed to be a bit longer, but as I kept trying to trim the bottom straight it got shorter and shorter until I finally just decided to hem it as it was before it turned into a crop top.

The reason I used a badly behaved poly is that I totally fell in love with the print, a sort of enlarged fish scale digital print which I found at the fabric market in Sham Shui Po.  The fabric itself actually feels quite nice, it was just a devil to work with.

Sleeve detail

Neckline detail, as before I changed the facings to a binding strip, but the neckline one is too wide, not risking redoing it though and leaving visible holes.

Fortunately I don't think people will notice this in real life - the hem of doom!

Well, a few days in the magic closet and some time to forget the hemming traumas worked wonders and I now really like the top.  I like this sort of unusual draped style and I really do love the print.  I have some left to make another top or perhaps a scarf if I can face cutting and hemming it all over again!  There are so many lovely prints around in this type of fabric that I am determined to master it.

I initially planned to wear this with jeans but in taking these photos I prefer it with the denim pencil skirt.  Still, it's good to have options!

Vogue 8907 Top

Next up in the Italian collection is a draped asymmetric top from Vogue 8907.

I made view B, it was a bit experimental and I really didn't know how it would look on me so I used some cheap slinky jersey rather than cutting into my best silk.  The recommended fabrics for this top are charmeuse, crepe de chine and crepe so it is not designed for knits at all, but I think it works in a very fluid knit, silk jersey would probably be lovely.  The pattern does warn you that the wrong side of the fabric will show so a print is not the ideal thing, but in this pale colour I can get away with it.  I broke all the rules basically!

I cut a small (8-10) at the shoulders and neck merging to a medium (12-14) below the armholes.  (For reference I usually make a 12 in Vogue, but lately I have found the sizing a bit less consistent than it used to be).  It's quite loose fitting and I think needs to be worn with something narrow on the bottom half for the most flattering look.

But, other than the slightly low armhole I am pleased with how this turned out and it is so cool and comfortable to wear.  I might try View A next inspired by EricaB's fabulous version of it in blue silk.  Usually when I make statements like this on my blog they are doomed not to happen, but we'll see, it is a quick top to make and I like that it has a bit of drama.

The top looked mighty strange until I hemmed it, which catches the cape layer and tames it a bit, it does look a bit Superman until you do that stage so a bit of faith is needed!  Like Erica, I omitted the facings and bound the neck edge with a strip of fabric, the armholes are just serged and hemmed.

When it came to hemming this it became abundantly clear that my twin needles were all blunt and it turns out that they are not easy to find here now that Spotlight has closed it's doors.  Luckily my new (probably only!) HK sewing friend, Julie came to the rescue and gave me some of hers so I could redo the hem.  Thank you Julie for saving me & the Italians from this sorry mess....

So here I am wearing the top at one end of the very busy Ponte Vecchio, the oldest surviving bridge in Florence, still lined with jewellery shops as it has been for hundreds of years.  You can see the dome of the Il Duomo cathedral in the background.  One thing I loved about Florence was how easy it was to walk around, everything is pretty close together.

Vogue 1343 Tracy Reese Dress

I've just finished this dress by Tracey Reese.  I really like the details in this design, but in case you are the type to scroll over posts let me do you all a favour and say DO NOT BUY THIS PATTERN!

Vogue 1343

The details are great

The skirt is great

The back is great

The instructions are even really good and give you a nice finish on the inside (not so good when you need to rip it all out)

BUT

The drafting for the bodice front is appallingly BAD.  Seriously the drape on the cowl was heading towards my waist and although the bodice is meant to be loose fitting I don't think this is what the designer intended!

I know lots of people have trouble with the amount of ease in the Big 4 patterns and I have been one of them, but I have generally found Vogue designer patterns to be at least consistent, and especially within the pattern.  It feels like the front got mixed up with a different grading system entirely.

In Vogue's defence I used a knit (one of the recommended fabrics is a matte jersey which I think must mean a stable not very stretchy jersey, like a double knit) and I did not cut it on the bias, although I suspect it would have come to my knees if I had.  And in my defence, the only review I can find had exactly the same problems, I bet there are a lot of unfinished versions out there too.  Interestingly Merche has just had similar unexpected sizing issues with a Rachel Comey pattern so maybe something weird is going on at Vogue.  Anyway I used a combination of the fixes used by the pattern reviewer and Merche to come up with this.

The fabric is a camel & black printed jersey, and for those of you who wanted me to pair my last outfit with red accessories, your advice didn't completely fall on deaf ears, wearing a pop of red with these colours helps bring the dress to life.

Hopefully I've convinced you not to try this, but if you do I really recommend using a cowl front from a different pattern.  After making my changes I really didn't have the heart to do all the neat finishing on the inside again so I changed the construction.  Briefly the changes I made were;

• First I tried to not have to undo all the perfectly finished yokes so I took it up at the shoulder seams by at least 2 inches and reshaped the armhole a bit to compensate.  This helped but more was needed if I wanted to ever move in this dress without flashing everything to the world.
• Begrudgingly unpicked the front yokes and front facings
• Added an elastic casing to the front bodice
• Shortened the front yokes by another inch or so
• Joined them at the neck edge so I had a finished edge there and serged them onto the bodice front
• Applied a facing strip to the back neck edge
• Serged the shoulder seams and applied facings to the armholes

So all in all a very frustrating project and I'm glad it's over and that I managed to rescue the dress.  I feel all wound up just from typing this!

Vogue 1287 DKNY Dress - Second Time Around

I've made this dress before and when I went back to check if I'd written anything helpful the first time (no!) I saw my closing sentence was "I think I like it enough to try it in a plain solid fabric rather than a crazy print".

Well of course that didn't happen and in fact I have used a very similar print although in neutral colours.  This fabric was quite lightweight so I added a lining in the skirt.  This was just a simple rectangle which I stitched into the skirt after basting all the pleats and finishing the pockets, after that I just treated them as one layer and followed the instructions for attaching the waistband and bodice.

As I did with version 1, I inserted the elastic in the whole waistband, not just the back which helps support the skirt front better, especially with my double layered skirt.

I went to Chiang Mai in Thailand for Easter which was lovely and I made sure to pack this dress so I could get some photos of me wearing it there.  The weather in Hong Kong has been so miserable lately that although I have been sewing a lot, taking photos where you can see anything has been difficult.

That said while I have been sitting here typing this on Saturday afternoon the sun has come out (Mari - I hope you are still in Hong Kong!) so I'd better get on with taking some more photos for future posts while I can!

Vogue 1303 Kay Unger dress

I made this simple Kay Unger dress recently and I have to say I am totally uninspired by it and I'm not sure why.  I like the fabric and I like the pattern, but the combination together is just very...blah.  If it wasn't for the hot pink lining I might even have dozed off while making it.  I'm thinking (hoping) it's just wrong for the summer and I'll like it better in the cooler weather with boots and a jacket.  Anyway a reminder of the pattern.....

I used a grey jacquard rose printed fabric and as I started working with it I knew I had to make a few changes as it became very soft and stretched like mad on the bias.  That middle pleated section is cut on the bias with a straight of grain stay underneath it - I had to cut off a lot of excess to get the bias piece to fit the stay.  At this point I hurriedly added fusible stay tape to the neckline and armscyes and decided not to make the little v in the front neckline.  I also had to take it in quite a bit at the side seams, but that may have been due to my growing fabric rather than an inconsistency with usual Vogue sizing.

This is the inside front on it's side, you can see the darker printed fabric at the bottom of the photo that I had to trim off the bias pleated front part - a good 3 inches!

I did like that this pattern has no facings, it's just lined to the edges.  I decided to add little cap sleeves, but if you make it sleeveless do make sure you ignore the instructions and instead keep the side and back seam open until after the lining is attached at the neck and armholes.  It's a much cleaner and easier finish, if you're not familiar with this method (like the Big 4 instruction writers apparently!) see Slapdash Sewist's excellent tutorial here.

Hot pink silk lining - aka dressmaking caffeine in this case

Here is the finished dress, it really doesn't help the boring-ness factor that you can hardly even see the only detail on the dress!

OK the post is over, you can wake up now!  Much more exciting is that I am due to go to a wedding in the UK in less than 2 weeks and I decided today that I did want to make a new dress for it after all, lets see how that crazy idea pans out.

Vogue 1221 DKNY dress

I generally enjoy making DKNY patterns that typically have unusually shaped pattern pieces and are fun to put together but this one annoyed me no end and it took an age to get the motivation to finish it.

Things that annoyed me making this;

• Until the front seam is sewn there is a lot of fabric in the front pieces with bits sticking out which seemed to get twisted up just by looking at them.
• The back has a full facing but the front just has an armscye facing which has a tendency to flip out.
• As is typical with these designs you can't really get a sense of how it is going to fit until late in the process.  Of course that is what muslins are for so I shouldn't complain.
• I really wish Vogue instructions would tell you when to finish a seam, it's hard to work out the order myself in unique patterns like this.  As it is I have 2 small seams on the inside of the front bodice which I've had to leave unfinished.  I don't think the fabric will fray and I suppose I could go back and cover them with ribbon or something, but it's still annoying.
• Getting the front drape and skirt pleats to sit nicely takes a bit of fiddling around - I don't know yet how the dress will fare in a real life outing that lasts longer than 5 minutes and involves moving around.  I think I will roadtest it this weekend.
• Hand hemming stretch cotton is no fun!

Anyway enough complaining,  here is the dress, it was impossible to get it to look right on my dressform which leads me to conclude that you need hips to wear this dress.  No shortage of those on me!

Other than my gripes above the dress was actually quite straightforward to make.  I made my usual size 12, 14 at the hips.  I needed to raise the neckline about an inch.  I didn't alter the length at all but clearly my legs are considerably shorter than those of the model.

(And for Daudau, there is no email in your profile to contact you directly, but yes I do live in HK, the pics from my birthday were taken at Pacific Place).