Vogue 8742

This Vogue dress has been reviewed many, many times by bloggers and pattern review members. It's definitely a winner. I thought about making it for a long time. And when I saw ArtAttack's version, I decided to move it to the top of my to sew list.

My first version was made in early January. But I wasn't satisfied with it. I used a ponte roma knit. Wrong choice of fabric. I didn't compensate for the lack of stretch or built in ease. The ruching looked bad in the bust area. I did a FBA, which included more ruching along the bust area. Not good either. Vogue describes this dress as close fitting, but, it's also princess seam with ruching along the side front; mid-knee length with long or no sleeves. It was designed for two way stretch knit.

The sizes available are 8 through 22. I used size 14 with modifications.

Both version looked like the drawing, but the first one had fit issues in the bust and arm areas. I did notice that in the drawing the ruching started at the lowest part of the bust. My first dress has ruching along the entire bust area. Initially, I thought this may have caused some of the horizontal lines near the arm hole. So, I decided to try moving some of it down an inch. There are still horizontal lines, but the print fabric hides them. The sleeves were snug in the ponte knit version, no stretch, remember. For the second version, I cut the sleeves between 14 and 16 to add more width above the elbow. No problem with fit the second time. I ended up taking the extra width out. In the first version, there is a horizontal line across the center of my chest below the neckline. Second version, no pulling or line.

Fabrics used:  First version - Ponte Roma knit from JoAnn's  Second version - four way novelty knit from Sheila Powell.

I liked the simplicity of the pattern. The princess seam design offers many options to make fit adjustments. The dress is "very easy". But you should use the recommended fabric. If not, make a muslin first.

No real dislikes about the pattern. I think my issues were due to my fabric choice, the amount of the FBA, and the placement of the ruching. I wanted the ponte roma knit to work for this dress, and I think it can with some work on the fitting.

I made a few changes and alterations:
 - FBA - reduced in the second version.
 - Sleeves 3/4 length sleeves; increasing the width above the elbow; then remove it(second version).
 - Added a few inches to the length. 
 - Instead of using bias tape to finish the neck edge, I cut a stripe of fabric (bias) 2"W X the length of the neckline minus 1".
 - Sway back adjustment.

I definitely plan to make it again. This is a nice staple to have in your wardrobe. Two or three wouldn't be overkill as there are so many fabric prints, solids, and combos you could try. It's a great basic dress that is easy to sew and would be good staple in most wardrobes. I recommend it to all level sewists. No zipper or buttonholes to install. The hardest part is the ruching and some possible fit adjustments.

All pictures are on Flickr.