Vogue 1369 - Alternative Back View

Interesting, it seems that the back view of the Kay Unger dress is a real turn off for lots of you.  Since it's Christmas here are some pictures of the back view for you, not very good ones admittedly - my poor old dressform needs some cosmetic surgery, but you can see it has a centre back seam and darts in each piece.

The shoulders are asymmetric due to the front design so there are separate pieces for the lining left and right.  If you use them for the main dress remember to flip them upside down and place on the right side of the fabric (since lining has the right side of the fabric facing into the body and outer dress fabric faces outwards).

I wish you all a very merry Christmas and in case I don't post before new year, a very Happy New Year too!

Vogue 1369 Kay Unger dress

Another doubleknit dress - this time a Vogue pattern by Kay Unger, one of the last batch of new patterns.  This has restored my faith in Vogue designer patterns - or at least in their sizing.  I made my usual size 12 graduating to a 14 at the hips and didn't need to make any alterations to the fit at all.  The suggested fabrics are crepe, crepe back satin and jersey, by which I think they mean something like a doubleknit that has a bit of weight to it.

Vogue 1369

Making it in a knit meant that I could eliminate the back zipper, but I swapped out the back pieces for the plain lining pieces because I wasn't sure that the ruching would work in my fabric.  I'm not even sure it works on the Vogue version either, I quite like the ruching at the back waist, but those folds going into the skirt look a bit strange.  I totally forgot to take photos of the back of my dress, but it has a centre seam and 2 darts to shape the back. 

I really liked the asymmetric detail on the front of the dress, the instructions were good and it was quite easy to make.  

I still don't have any lining suitable for a knit dress so once again I left the dress unlined.  I did however need to cut an undercollar piece in lining so I just used self fabric instead.  This was a mistake as it did mean I had a lot of layers of quite thick fabric in the collar area which would have looked too bulky if they were serged.  I couldn't bring myself to leave them unfinished even though the fabric won't fray - once I had trimmed and clipped the seams it just looked a bit messy.  So I used bias strips of silk and bound the raw edges at the neck and front band, partly by machine and partly by hand.  I also used the same treatment on the armscyes making sure no stitches show on the right side of the dress.  Honestly it would have been quicker to go out and buy some lining or to unpick the collar and redo the undercollar with silk lining - no stretch is needed in that area and it won't show - so don't do what I did!

Anyway I am pleased with how this turned out, I think it looks just like the envelope promises and having it in a doubleknit makes it a really comfortable cocktail dress.  I also plan to wear it with boots and a jacket for more casual (and colder!) occasions.  I haven't seen many reviews of this pattern, but I do recommend it, I can see myself making it again.