Vogue 8787 Stripiness

Please be warned that there are many stipes in this post.  If stripes tend to make your eyes go all wonky, you might want to look away, or pause to make an eclipse box:



Source: http://mail.colonial.net/~hkaiter/sunearthmoon.html

Ta-da!  I finished off my striped version of Vogue 8787!

I must say that I'm quite pleased with how this turned out.  The fabric (still available) is one of the pieces that I received in the great birthday haul from GorgeousFabrics.com.  It's a ponte knit and is so deliciously soft and cozy.  I lined the dress in a knit tricot lining (also purchased form GorgeousFabrics.com). 

It was a little fiddly to work with but I am happy for the extra warmth as this will make a nice transition dress for spring/fall. 

Alterations made to the pattern: I made a narrow back alteration and a sloped shoulder alteration after seeing how the muslin turned out (you can read about the process here and here).  There's still a little gap in the back neck area and I think this is due to an upper back slope - next time I'll increased the back darts more and extend the shoulder so that it still matches with the front at the shoulder seam.  I took in the side seams in the skirt by 3/8" on each side (for a total of 1.5") to account for my nonexistant hips.  I took about 2" off the length. 

I did away with the cap sleeves since they don't suit my shape.  And I thought long and hard about stripe placement . . . and then entirely forgot to match the stripes above and below the midriff band in the back.  Jeez.

I made one ridiculous mistake when I put in the zipper.  The first part went in nicely and after carefully matching up the midriff seams across the zipper and putting in the second side, I realized one of my shoulders was twisted and I had to take out the zipper and put it in again (after going to bed as this was a sure sign that I had sewn past competence). 

I got to wear it out on Saturday when I met up with a group of Chicago sewing bloggers (pictures to come).  Now I think I need a nice black ponte knit cardigan to go with it as a kind of spring jacket.  Maybe McCall's 6408 . . .

 

Next up?  I'm working on some peplum tops for myself and a chambray skirt for a client.  Then it's on to Elisalex which arrived in the mail last week - I am so excited for this dress!!

Progress with the Work In (Vogue 8787)

So a few weeks ago I posted an SOS about my Vogue 8787 muslin. As you'll remember, the upper back was a mess:

I received a lot of advice, both on my blog and on BurdaStyle.  I tried some of the advice and increased the back dart, made a square shoulder alteration, and shifted the back shoulder seams over.  It was better, but still not quite right:

I am a lot happier with the dress after hacking off (not literally, of course) the sleeves:

If I don't look happier it's because I'm wondering what the hell is up with my hair.

I felt like I could do better so I did a little research in the books I have on fitting, Real Fit for Real People and Fast Fit.  My problems pretty exactly fit the definition (vertical wrinkles, back armhole seam goes out into arm) for a Narrow Back Alteration (let's just call that an NBA for short).  I found this highly confusing - I mean, how can you have broad shoulders and a narrow back? 

This alteration involves cutting an L-shaped line into the back pattern, overlapping the cut edges by 1/2 inch, then truing the side seam.  I love to look at pattern alterations so I'll assume you do, too:

The NBA in all it's glory.

I also made a square shoulders alteration to the pattern piece as this is something I almost always need to do.  Initially I decreased the back dart size (according to instructions) but then brought it back to it's original size after my first fitting.  And here are the results:

 

 

I am MUCH happier with this!

I hope to finish this dress in the next few days if I can carve out the time.  Here's a peek at the front of the bodice - I decided to have fun with stripes again:

So what are you working on??

Vogue 8787 - Sleeve Suggestions, Anyone?

I've had this pattern in my stash for a year or so now and I was finally prompted to make it after seeing Ann's version of it a few weeks ago.  I had some purple ponte knit that I bought on sale at Hancocks, and decided to use that to make a wearable muslin.  I haven't had a lot of luck with the solid ponte knits I've purchased there - the prints seem to wash/wear well, but the solids knits I made up into tops all started to pill after only a few washings (machine cold, line dry).  Meh.  Glad I used my coupon.

 

I made version A, cut a 12 (my measurements call for a 14 but the finished garment measurements said otherwise), and took the skirt and waistband in an extra 1.5" total after trying it on.  I didn't line the dress and finished the neckline with two strips of fabric cut on the bias.  I didn't make any other adjustments and I'm mostly happy with the fit.  There are two problem areas:

WTH is going on with this back neckline??  It's all . . . gappy.  I haven't had this happen before.  The back shoulder already has a dart in it, and this seems to be more of a center back issue anyway.  I noticed this before I put in the neckline facing.  I tried to remedy the problem by stretching the facing as I went, but all this did was to make the facing want to flip up.  Why is this dress so damn loose in the top of the center back?  I need to do some research, but does anyone know anything about this problem?

And then there's the sleeves.  I am probably overly paranoid about my wide shoulders (they are a good six inches wider than my hips), but there you go.  I think that cap sleeves tend to emphasize my width up there.  I'd like some kind of snug short sleeve and I need to go through my patterns to see if I find something I like better.  But, dear sewing readers, do you have any suggestions?  A friend suggested I make the shoulders more narrow so that the sleeve starts a bit higher up - I tried pinning this and it didn't look right. 



Here I am staring hard out the window because I can't make a decent face looking at the camera.

My master plan is to make this dress with my new magenta/black striped ponte knit so that I can play with stripe directions.  But I'm a little worried this dress is just too straight up and down for my figure.  The more I stare at these pictures, the less I like it.  Does that ever happen to you? 


On another note, if any of you sewing peeps haven't put yourselves on the map, hop to it!  I'm leading the charge for a Chicago meet-up and we need to know who is nearby!

Fashion Focus: New Vogue Catalog, Vogue 8789

Vogue Pattern's new Spring 2012 catalog is out, and I don't know if it's the more fashionable photography they've got going on or the actual patterns, but I want to make many of the items from the preview.  

Here's one that I've been mulling over:

Vogue 8789

I love the bodice and I have the perfect fabric - that orange/persimmon stripey fabric I bought from EmmaOneSock.com:

When the fabric arrived I loved it but I quickly realized that it was too crisp for what I originally had in mind (top with cowl neck).  But it could really work with Vogue 8789 and I like the idea of maybe a lilac lining that would peek through the stripes.  The bodice is cut on the bias so that the stripes make a V.

But in staring at Vogue 8789 for long, long minutes I realized I have a real aversion to those full 50's style skirts.  I appreciate them.  I like looking at people wearing them (like Betsy from Madmen).  But the thought of putting one on myself makes my skin crawl a little (I know, very dramatic, but it's true!).  First, I picture an imbalance since my upstairs has shrunk to the first letter of the alphabet since having children and couldn't possibly compete with such a full skirt downstairs.  Second, I just can't imagine where I would wear it.  To the park with the kids?  Only if I wanted to sit daintily on the sidelines.  Out for a date with my heavy metal-loving husband with the long beard and pony tail?  Ha!  Out with friends?  Nah.  It's just not me - too pretty, too princess-y.  And I love skirts and dresses - I wear them all the time during the summer (I hate shorts) and often during fall and spring.  I wear them to the park with kids and out with my husband or with friends.  So my aversion is certainly not because I'm a pants person. 

One of the other pictures from the catalog is this one:

 

And this says it all.  I will never go anywhere with a basket of flowers on my arm, even with somewhat sultry sunglasses on my face.  In my heart of hearts, I'm not Trudy or Betsy.  I'm probably not Joan either, but somewhere in between.

But with a different skirt I can picture wearing it anywhere.  I'm thinking I might swap out the full skirt for a full-ish A-line or something with pleats.  Or a skirt that's more straight, like one of 8789's numerical neighbors:

Vogue 8787



What about you?  Are you a full-skirt kind of gal?  And if you are and you can pull it off, how do you do it?