My Dreamsicle Summer Dress - Vogue 8727

Summer is officially here! It's been hot and sticky in Chicago off and on for the past several weeks. Summer time is a great time to show off brightly colored floaty skirts and dresses.

Several weeks ago I stumbled upon this beautiful light weight cotton blend with a velvet flocked floral pattern and burnout flowers. I simply had to have it. So I quickly ordered five yards of it to make a special summer dress. The color of the fabric reminds me of Dreamsicle ice cream. Back in the day, when a ice cream bar was only 15 cents. Dreamsicles were my favorite. I like a lot of the trends that are out this season. Many of the runway shows featured over the top full, long floaty skirts and dresses. I've pinned a few (RTW) on my board: This Should Be In My Closet.

After my fabric arrived, I started second guessing my plans for it. I contemplated; maybe I shouldn't make the dress. The fabric is too loud. Does it look like a tablecloth? Then I said to myself, "Self who cares. Go for it!"

Silly me.  The fabric is gorgeous and makes an attractive dress. I wore it on Sunday to church receiving tons of compliments.

I used Vogue 8727, View F. It is described as an easy to sew misses dress that is close fitting through bodice, lined. I added, with straight and full skirt variations. This is recommended for all body shapes except rectangle. The pattern comes in sizes 6 to 20 with two combinations A5 (6-14) and EE (14-20). The drawings on the envelope were very much like the actual pattern. The guide sheet drawing was slightly different.

The instructions were easy and there was nothing confusing about them. I only followed half the construction steps suggested as I added piping to the bodice and changed how I installed the invisible zipper and attachment of the lining.

For the lining a used a some ivory pongee lining from my stash. It's light weight and works well with the cotton blend.

Bodice Piping - I added piping to neckline and the armholes after sewing the front and back bodice together at the shoulders. Next I attached the bodice lining along the piped edges. Then turn the bodice to the right side of the fabric and sewed the side seams.

Midriff - I cut double the lining. One set to fuse the interfacing to and the other to serve as it was intended. This was done because I didn't want the interfacing to show through the burnout. First, I attached the right side of the interfaced lining to the wrong side of each section of the midriff. Next, I sewed the midriff together forming one long band. Then I sewed the piping to the upper and lower edges of the midriff. Finally, the midriff was attached to the lower edge of the bodice. The lining was sewn and attached to the lining bodice following the same process minus the fusing and piping steps. At each intersection of the bodice and midriff, I tacked the lining to the fabric seam allowances to secure the lining to the dress.

For the Skirt - I did not attach the lining to the skirt before installing the zipper. The skirt was attached to the midriff with the midriff lining free. Then I installed the zipper. Next, the skirt lining was attached at the waist. Finally the bodice lining was hand sewn to the waist of the skirt and around the zipper concealing all exposed seaming.

Hemming - I cut the skirt 1" longer then the pattern and cut the lining the exact length of the pattern. Both were finished with a rolled hem. Because of the burnout, I had to carefully finished the hem of the skirt. There are some areas were the burnout is right at the hemline. It looks just fine.

In my photographs, I did notice that there was still a little gapping at the neckline. I think I could have sewn the shoulder seams 14 instead of 16.

Other changes and alterations are here.

I really like the style of this dress and that there are variations for the bodice as well as the skirt. This style is timeless classic. The design is easy to sew. The difficult parts are nailing down the fitting adjustments and determining what fabric/embellishments to be used.

I'm happy with the results. The dress wears well and is not difficult to sew. I will use the pattern again. The bodice will be paired with other skirts and will be used as a sloper for other pattern with similar design lines. I certainly recommend it to others. It is a timeless classic.

 Happy Sewing!
C