Festive bits and pieces

I thought by now I would have a holiday version of the V1191 dress by now, but this is how far I have got with that....

Thanks all for the comments on the black and white version. I wore it (for the second time) last week and found a stray, bright purple tailor tack still in it so if you do go old school with your marking do remember to take them all out afterwards! To follow up on a couple of comments;

From JoanneM

Is the fabric poly/lycra or rayon lycra?
I would like to make it, but I only have rayon lycra and that stuff can cling and is thin, whereas poly lycra seems to have more substance.

Erm, I don't know to be honest but it is a fairly substantial knit, it can definitely be made in a thinner knit, it depends how comfortable you are wearing a clingy knit - the bodice is completely self lined and it would be easy to attach a skirt lining to the waistband piece too which may help (Inkstain, that should answer your question too!). Recommended fabrics per the pattern envelope are rayon, wool or cotton spandex which all sound pretty thin to me!

And from Lin3arossa

It looks great with the busy fabric! Which do you like the fit of most? This of Vogue 1951's?

Good question - I assume you mean the Donna Karan dress 1159? Although they are similar I think there is room for both in my wardrobe. I'd say that 1159 was dressier, more formal whereas this one can be either an everyday dress or a formal dress depending on the fabric and styling choices. 1159 is a bit more close fitting too I'd say.

In semi related dress news, by weird coincidence, Jacquie who made this dress a while ago and helpfully blogged about it extensively was in Hong Kong on a short holiday so we got to meet up. I love meeting fellow sewing bloggers, you feel like you are already friends, and that was the case with Jacquie, we didn't have much time and it whizzed by way too fast but hopefully we will meet up again in the not too distant future. You can read about her trip here.

I have been doing some holiday sewing though, just not for me. For my two nieces who are into dressing up and all things girly I made them each a little evening bag from stash remnants and stuffed them with hairslides, chocolate coins, stickers and other bits of nonsense. The pattern is Vogue 7221, long out of print I imagine. The great thing about these bags is that they don't require any fancy notions.

The inside has a sort of drawstring lid to stop anything falling out.

I've also made a pair of silk pyjamas for my mother in law and I have to get these posted very soon or I will be tempted to keep them for myself! The floral fabric is actually a stretch silk and was a total bear to sew (no offence to bears). I was a bit short on fabric so had a rummage through my stash and finding nothing that matched, decided to get a bit creative, hence the blue contrast and gold piping, but I like how it is a bit unexpected. The patterns are from Burda 11/2009 - 130 and 131.

Both of these gifts are silly things to make in Hong Kong really as they can be bought cheaply just about anywhere, but never mind, I enjoyed making them. Now to get to that red dress before the holidays are over....

Vogue 1191 completed

Here is the finished dress. It does work in this print I think, I did shorten the hem by about 4 inches and I had to cut the sleeves slightly shorter (I am wearing them pushed up a bit in the photo below) so I am now wondering if I will be able to squeeze another version or 2 out of some plain jerseys I have in the stash. Even if I can't, I am definitely going to make this dress again and if that means a fabric shopping trip so be it!

To answer a couple of queries from earlier posts;

Marking jersey - I am very old school when it comes to marking fabric and for all internal markings I use tailor tacks. I like knowing that I can use this on any type of fabric and that I will be able to see the markings from both sides. The downside of course is that it is slower than other methods. For markings on a seamline or for ends of darts I just clip into the edge of the fabric in the seam allowance.

The waist facing - I found that this was necessary after all - as well as covering up all the pleats and giving a smooth neat finish on the inside, it gives something for the pleated skirt front to anchor to, leaving the twist part free. At least I think that is what's happening! In any case I recommend adding it in even though it seems like there are is too much fabric in the front twist already.

Back waist facing

Front waist facing

Vogue 1191 - looking like a dress

I've made good progress on the Michael Kors draped dress. The most time consuming (and boring) part was marking up all the dots, squares and pleats, once I actually got started on the sewing things happened fast. Admittedly for the first few steps I had no idea how the pattern piece for the front worked and it was only after step 9 that I discovered the front bodice was self lined! This seems obvious now given that the back bodice is self lined but it goes some way to explaining why the front bodice looked so odd.

I'm finding this very similar to the Donna Karan dress in that you just have to mark everything carefully and have blind faith in the instructions. The only changes I have made so far are;

Neckline adjustment a la Jacqui

The pink lines below show the adjustment you need to make, basically move the large dot on the centre front line up towards the neckline.

Omitted the centre back zip

Unless you have an extremely stable knit or a very elaborate hairstyle, I can't see any reason to add a centre back zip, especially as the front is a low v neck so save yourself the trouble.

Still to do are the waist facing which I still haven't figured the point of yet, sleeves, hem and to tidy up the drape and close any remaining gaps there. But it is really looking like a dress now and I feel like I am on the home strait!

Autumn sewing begins - Vogue 1191

Dresses served me so well over the summer that I want to get a few together for autumn and winter too. Since I enjoyed making my Donna Karan draped dress so much, I'm starting with this very similar long sleeved Michael Kors number - Vogue 1191.



I'm making it in a black and white print jersey and to be honest I don't know if it will be totally successful in a print but that's what I had enough of on hand and I wanted to start right away so I will cross my fingers!


If anyone else is thinking of making this I thoroughly recommend checking out Jacqui's Home Made Couture blog which has lots of fantastic tips and photographs - thank you Jacqui, especially for the hint on how to raise the neckline.

More coming soon when I have something that actually looks like a dress and not just a random pile of jersey....

I am back!

Still somewhat jetlagged and generally exhausted from lots of partying at my wedding anniversary weekend - it was all much easier on the old head and body 10 years ago - but we had a brilliant time.

Amazingly the weather was unseasonably gorgeous, just as it was on our wedding day. Thank you all for the comments on my dress, I loved wearing it. Some pictures from the weekend until I get back to sewing...

Me & my Auntie

View of the venue, Polhawn Fort on the coast of Cornwall, from the road above

I won't lie it was a bit chilly!

Views from the grounds

The fort from the grounds