Vogue 8876

Time for a Burt Bacharach/Hal David sing-a-long:

What do you get when you fall in love?

A guy with a pin to burst your bubble

I do like this dress, I just don't LOVE it. I fell really hard for the envelope, though. You all know how that goes.

I challenged myself to randomly pick out one of my older pieces of fabric and do something with it. Using my homemade iPhone app, I chose this black and white stripe. The fabric is really very thin and when I washed it, it crinkled up like crepe, especially near the selvages. That's probably why it languished in my stash so long. I had a lot of it too. I decided to use this pattern: Vogue 8876. Since the pattern had these nice seam details, I figured I could pipe it to add some body to it. I added cord to this bias leftover from this skirt. Then I threw in the rose floral piece. I think it had a been a table scarf in a previous life.

I started by making a muslin from some old sheets. It fit surprisingly well. I did a small slope shoulder adjustment and a princess FBA:

Princess FBA

Design wise, I felt that the tuck in the front was adding too much volume, so I smushed it out.  

the tuck in the princess panel

The tuck smushed out

Just in case, I basted all the pieces together and checked the fit before adding all the piping. The sewing was all pretty straight forward, but I did notice an error in the notches: The notch on the bottom hem band that should line up with the bottom of one of the princess panels is marked on the outside curve not the inside:

That notch on #12 should be on the opposite side

Another thing I thought was a little odd is that the center front pattern piece is the same for both the zipper version (B and C) and the button version (A):

I altered the one on the left, but believe me, other than the curve at the top, they are the same.

I had originally planned on using buttons, but when I saw how the center panel looked when  lapped,  I went with a zipper. The pattern calls for a separating zipper, but I used an invisible zipper 'cause that's what I had. The pattern version opens completely but mine requires a step in since my zipper stops a couple inches above the bottom band.

Oh, and did I mention it has pockets?

It is a fun dress and I enjoyed making it.  I really love the mix of materials, but I just don't think its flattering on me: too much volume in the skirt, too high a neckline, plus I really don't  like princess seams. 

Yet I'm strangely attracted to the long sleeve version....I should just get over it!

Bonus Content:

This is why you should never empty the trash until the project is complete:



damn serger!



I still had a lot of leftovers, so into the garden jar they went:

Don't they look great with the eggplant?