Vogue 8379: Wrap Dress Conversion

I've never really understood the popularity of the wrap dress. I've seen them, I've liked them, but the shape never said "Wow!" to me. I know it's a classic dress and is said to be universally flattering, but I think I was always nervous about the wrap part - that it would fly open or gape or something else equally mortifying.

One of my clients wanted a wrap dress, and after looking at options and reading reviews on PatternReview.com, we settled on Vogue 8379. She liked the fuller skirt, the collar, and the bodice pleats, and I liked that it seemed to be a well-drafted pattern.

Vogue 8379

The more I looked at versions of this dress and worked on Gloria's, the more I wanted one for myself. And I already had the perfect fabric in my stash, a beatiful ponte knit from GorgeousFabrics.com that I had been saving for the "right dress" (I'd thought about and rejected at least three other patterns for this fabric).

So, first Gloria's dress.

I made a muslin of the bodice and I didn't need to make that many alterations for the fit. I started by cutting two sizes smaller than the pattern suggested after looking at the garment measurements. I lengthened the bodice by 3/4" (expected, the reviews says that the bodice runs short), changed the angle of the shoulder seam (took up 5/8" at high shoulder/neck, tapered to 0 at the armscye), lengthened the skirt by 2.5" (Gloria is tall) and took in the side seams a bit. We also decided to shorten the sleeve to elbow length and keep the cuff vent. And that was it!

Here's Gloria in her dress before I finished futzing around with the facings and hemming the dress:

Her fabric is this lovely ponte knit from GorgeousFabrics.com: 

I made my dress up in the same fabric but in different colors!

I really love this dress!  The colors are PERFECT for me: magenta, teal, and mustard yellow (they even match my logo!) on a cream/black/brown background. And the fabric is so wonderfully soft. Here's a close-up shot:

For my own dress I needed to lengthen the bodice by 1 inch and taper the shoulders the reverse of Gloria - from 0 at the high shoulder to 1/2" at the armscye. I kept the skirt length as it was (with 3/4" hem) and shortened the sleeves by 3 inches to elbow length. The only change I made to the construction process was to add clear elastic to the shoulder seam and the waist seam (this fabric is a bit heavy and I didn't want the skirt to make it droop).

And look! No back issues!

It even makes me want to dance!

A lot of people on pattern review complained about the facings. It seemed to roll a bit on Gloria's dress so I tacked the shoulder seams to the facing, topstitched the front facings, and added a snap. For my own, I just tacked the shoulder seams. I'll do more if I need to, but so far I've found that if I arrange the facings when I put on the dress, they usually stay where they should.

And what's next for me? Well, I convinced another client that she needs a wrap dress, so I'll be making her one out of this ITY fabric (also from GorgeousFabrics.com). I guess you could say that I've been converted when it comes to the wrap dress.

And then I might be done with this one for a while. Although, I was thinking it might make a nice top . . .

Jalie 2921: Scarf Collar Top

I think this was my first make of 2014 for me.  I've been wanting to make this pattern up since I saw Lauren's version last year.  I love it!

One of the things I loved about making this top was the construction steps.  Jalie has you sew the scarf collar with the top inside it (before sewing the side seams) so that the scarf has a nice finish all the way around.  It looked a bit like a sausage when I sewed it up:

You have to remember to leave a gap in one end of the scarf so that you can turn the sausage back into a top (and then slip stitch the hole closed).  I love learning new techniques like this!

I used a super soft rayon blend fabric that I purchased from GorgeousFabrics.com.  I bought the magenta, and now I have my eye on the peacock.  Seriously, this fabric is like wearing marshmallows, without the stickiness.  It's so stretchy that I was worried about recovery, but it's not an issue - it stays in shape all day. And I've washed the top a couple times with no funny business.

See how cozy it is?!

I didn't need to do much with this pattern, fit wise.  I cut a U on top and tapered to a T at the waist/hips. I lengthened the sleeves, because I wanted something that would keep my lower arms warm. And I added clear elastic to the back neck area as well as the shoulder seams because it seemed like a good idea with the scarf. This is my first Jalie pattern and I'm sold!!

I'm not really sure about the tying the scarf into a bow.  Here's my best attempt, and it's not so hot:

This really is a bow, trust me.

 I'm much more likely to wear it in a knot (I'm capable of tying that) or loose like a tie/scarf.

I liked this pattern so much, that my second make of 2014 was a dress, using Jalie 2921 on top and my TNT Sew U Stretch skirt on the bottom.  I'll show you how I did it later this week!

A Few Morsels From the Past Week(s)

I get to teach kids in the summertime and I've been looking forward to this for a few months.  I'm teaching a couple of week-long camps later in the summer, but for now I am teaching 4-6 students on Friday afternoons.  Most of the girls are around 8-9 years-old (and yes, all girls - I keep waiting for a boy!) and for the first class we sewed pillow cases.  They were all keen to sew stuffed animals (I thought they might be too old for this, but I was wrong wrong wrong), so in our last class they got started on stuffed owls.  Here they are with their owl "heads":

There's one girl hiding under the table to avoid having her picture taken.

I finished my next Stitch project (due out in the fall) but I can't show you that.  Cora is very happy because I used leftovers from the project to embellish one of her dresses.  She hates clothes that are only one color, so she's very happy with her new look!

I've been doing a lot of alterations lately but I've got some new garment work coming up.  I also finally kicked myself out of my procrastination loop with my own garment project.  I've been working on this for at least a month and it's not a quickie.  I've had trouble finding longer amounts of time on the weekend to make progress with it, but I did finally complete a step.  I'm following the steps from Susan Khalje's Couture Dress class on Craftsy, but using a different pattern.  So far I've fitted the muslin and cut out the underlining and fashion fabric from the muslin pieces.  Here's the organza (for the bodice) and batiste (for the skirt) underlining pieces laid on the backside of my fashion fabric.  Can anyone guess the pattern?  I'm hoping to hand baste the underlining to the fabric while I'm on vacation next week.

And up last in my show-and-tell is a dress I actually finished about a month ago.  I was almost too embarrassed to post it because I've made this dress (Simplicity 2580) so many times.  But I love the fabric - Groovy Bricks ITY Jersey from GorgeousFabrics.com so much that I just had to give you a peek.  One of my upcoming custom garments came after I wore this dress to book club.  Maybe I'll actually get photos of me in the dress sometime soon.

If off with the girls to rural PA for a week.  Cheerio!

But on the way I got distracted . . .

Does this ever happen to you?  There's this dress I want to sew but it's going to take some experimentation.  I got started on it last weekend and the first effort was a failure in part due to the fabric choice.  But I thought that the fabric might work better as something else . . . which led to a different idea . . .

I tend to be a somewhat rigid meticulous structured person.  One of the things I like about sewing is that it gives me a healthy outlet for these tendencies.  If I can be exacting about a buttonhole or the fit of a bodice, I'm less likely to be exacting in annoying ways (closet organization, room tidiness).  But I also like that it gives me the opportunity to follow creative ideas and play with them, especially in my personal sewing time (the deadlines are mine so I can break them if I want).

One of my goals this year is to replicate a dress I spied in a Garnet Hill catalog:



Garnett Hill Athena Dress

I love the sort of faux peplum/draping under the midriff band - just my kind of detail.  When I saw Cake's Tiramisu pattern, I knew it was the perfect starting point.  So I sat down to give it a go last weekend.

For some reason, I decided at the last minute to try it out with a slinky fabric I bought from EmmaOneSock.com ages ago.  I have a lot of this fabric because I orginally intended it for a different project that I have since decided really isn't for me.  I planned to do the dress with a ponte knit, but I didn't wanted to cut into the real stuff for my draft.  Using the slinky fabric was not a great decision.  I guess this is what happens when you start sewing at 10pm on a Friday night after having a couple cocktails with your husband . . .

So this top isn't a disaster but it's not great either.  Just barely wearable, mainly because there's just too many seams for this slinky fabric. 

But then I realized that the slinky fabric was perfect for one of my all time favorite patterns, Simplicity 2580 (I think I have now made this pattern 10 times).  The only changes I made to the pattern were to cut the bodice on the bias and use fold-over elastic to finish the back neck and arms.

Then I remembered this cute top from Boden:

Boden Twist Jersey Top

I'm still in the midst of my love affair with cowl necklines, so I didn't want to do away with that, but I borrowed the band from my New Look 0172 pattern and cut a front and back version (the orginal pattern only has the band on the front, which I think looks silly).  I wasn't very technical about this - I simply held the band over my Simplicty 2580 pattern piece and folded under the center front/back edge so that it was roughly 1/2" smaller.  And I've got something new!

 

 

 

I know you might think this looks like two new tops, but the first is for my dear friend Candice as she starts a new decade (I won't tell you which one).  It's a good thing I like her so much or I'd be tempted to keep it for myself!  The dark purple top is a rayon-blend matte jersey in concord grape from GorgeousFabrics.com - it has an almost crepe-y feel and only 20% stretch.  The firecracker top is a poly/lycra fabric from Gorgeous Fabrics with 60% stretch.  Both fabrics are still available if you're interested!



 

Now that I've got that out of my system, I'm ready to get back to the dress.  Any one have suggestion for how to do that draped peplum thing under the midriff??