Vogue 1395 - Breezy Rebecca Taylor Summer Dress

Bold and beautiful Anna Sui silk voile, a pale soft yellow topped with bold vibrant sunflowers on flocked dots, little texture.  This fabric is extremely breathable. 

As stated in my previous post about this dress, my confidence was boosted after working out the fit issues and ignoring the recommendation  indicated on the pattern envelope. 

Vogue rated the pattern "easy", and I think that is an appropriate assessment.  It sewed up easy and didn't present any difficult construction techniques or confusing instructions.  The dress is basically five major pattern pieces plus two binding stripes.

It comes in sizes 8 to 24; I used size 14 with modifications.

My plan was to make this for my summer vacation, but I was unable to make it in time for the trip.  Luckily, it's finished and ready for my next vacation.

Construction - I appreciate some of the construction techniques provided by Vogue.  The little things like the finishing on the neckline and armholes gives the dress a polished finish.  Now, there are some that I'm not to crazy about; like the three rows of stitching.  That seems like a waste of time.  Why not suggest french seams or serging.  Anyway, I serged the seams of the skirt, the two layers of lining, and the underlining to the fashion fabric of the bodice.  For the overlay, I sewed a french seam down the center back. Other changes are noted here.

Observation -  I underlined the front and back bodice to reduce transparency.  The back overlay is not underlined as I didn't want to add any bulk to the draping of it.  It has the cut-on back sleeve.  So part of the sleeve is underlined whiel the other half is not.  It almost goes unnoticed.  I realized it been I attached the overlay to the bodice.

Will I sew it again?  Sure, I want a crepe de chine version too.  And I do recommend it to others with modification if your body shape is similar to mine.  With most commercial patterns, 99.5 percent of the time I need to modify some aspect of it. 

I think this is a nice little summer dress.  It could be made up in knit as well.

 

Happy Sewing!
C

Mixed Blue Abstract Rayon Jersey and My Favorite Maxi Dress M6700

Changing up on the print is good sometimes.  So instead of my favorite print (floral), I chose this great geometric rayon jersey.  I wanted a quick, easy cute dress to wear to the Toni Braxton concert.

My all time favorite, a McCall super easy and super cute maxi dress.  I made it twice before and thought it would be the perfect match for this awesome jersey print.  This dress takes about two hours to make.  My previous reviews are here and here.

It's 54 inches wide.  I ordered only three yards, not enough for a belt.  So I wore a silver belt to complete the look.

Not much more to say about this dress. Love it.

Happy Sewing!
C

Notes on a Pattern - Vogue 1395

 
Vogue 1395 is an easy summer dress designed by Rebecca Taylor. It was published in 2014 and since that time several sewing bloggers have made it. To name a few: Lauren has made it three times and Andrea made it a few months ago. Based on the figure flattery diagram, this is not the best style for my body type. I bought it anyway, determined to make it work for me.

I like:

• the gathering across the back and the tie in the front
• the "V" neck
• the appearance of a very comfortable summer dress

 My Concerns:

• the dropped back neckline that could make my back appear to be even wider
• the affect of the draping formed by the back over my sway back
• making an appropriate FBA without a bust dart

Selecting a fabric with the right amount of drape could disspell my concern about the "broader back" appearance of the neckline.  But the FBA was still questionable.

I found this lovely Anna Sui silk voile and lined it with a fine silk/cotton voile.  Both fabrics are from Mood fabrics. 

Again Andrea to the rescue on the FBA.  She recommended this FBA to resolve the issue.  I've been similar FBA's in the past, but did not think of it for this dress.  To deal with the excess fabric at the waist, I lightly gathered it to match the width of the skirt.  The gathering is totally unnoticeable once the elastic is inserted.

Other Changes:

• Small tuck to reduce the gaping neckline, front bodice.
• Lengthen the skirt about two inches.
• Tapered the the skirt from the mid hip to the hem and balanced out the hemline.
• Underlined the bodice with silk voile.  The Ana Sui silk is sheer.
• Added two layers on the silk voile to the skirt to reduce transparency.

Should have:

• Raised the lower armhole by an inch.  Too much underarm exposure.   
• Made the tie a little longer.

More later this week on my version of the Rebecca Taylor summer dress.




 

Watercolor Floral - New Look 6322

It's clear that I love floral prints.  In recent months I've ordered several yardages of bright, bold floral prints.  My favorite, so far, for 2015 is Mood multi- color watercolor cotton sateen.  (Too bad it's already sold out.)  The colors warm my skin giving me a summer glow.   Mood has a huge selection  of floral prints to pick from if this is not your favorite color.  My dress is completely lined with Mood's mint -mechanical stretch polyester crepe de chine. 

I regularly surf  Pinterest looking for inspirational garments.  I found this dress early summer and I knew I'd make a new slim dress to complement my summer wardrobe.

The pattern used is New Look 6322.  It comes in sizes 8 to 18.  There are several things I liked about it:

•  pleating at the waist giving me a little more shaping through the hip area and minimizes the excess fabric below the bust.
• the 'V' neckline.
•  the option of a straight skirt or an a-line one.
• simple to make.

The finish dress is true to the photos and drawings including with the pattern.  My version looks like view D with sleeves.

The construction techniques are standard.  I've used similar instructions in other patterns.  So I just glanced over them.  I did fiddle with the pleats and darts until I was satisfied with the location of them.    More on the alterations and changes can be found here.

This dress has good bones, and I definitely will use it again to make one of the other views.  For this dress, the combination of the fabric and the patterns works well for me, and I recommend both to others.

Happy Sewing!
Cennetta