Vogue 1158 - Nautical Dress

My Vogue 1158 Tracy Reese dress is finished! If you recall my earlier "making progress" post, you'll know I took this slowly - but it was worth it; I've ended up with a dress I really love.

Here's a back view - unfortunately the back view on me photo didn't work out:

the dummy doesn't really list to the side, she's on a hill

It fits very comfortably (I muslined the bodice, and adjusted the neckline and sizing to fit) and it looks very close to how I envisaged it would look. It even looks OK inside out!

inside out - front

In fact, this is pretty much the happiest I've felt about something I've sewn.

A Close Call
I told you about the bodice already here. I decided not to sew in the bias band because it looked odd in my fabric, and instead I decided on this navy piping that just happened to be in the stash. When I made that decision it was too late to sew the piping in the usual way (sandwiched between the outer and lining fabrics), so I basted it in place and then sewed a straight machine stitch. Luckily I reviewed what that looked like before going too far; it was a shocking mess - I guess because the machine was going over several layers of fabric in some places and because the fabric was trying to stretch out more than the piping (no doubt also some operator error in there too). So I unpicked the machine stitching and went with what I think is called a pick stitch. I think it's ended up looking neat.

my pick stitching

the piping on centre back

A Few Changes
As mentioned in my earlier post, after muslining the bodice I decided I needed to raise both front and back necklines to better cover my bra. It still looks like the dress pattern - note that I didn't shorten the bodice at all; I added extra height in the front scoop and in the back V and phased these in with lines that followed the original neckline shape.

I didn't attach the belt to the dress as I want the flexibility to leave it off or to fasten the little tie at the back if I want. It can always be sewn in place later.

no belt

The skirt is not supposed to be lined but my fabric was too sheer to go without. On the outer skirt I omitted the centre front seam, and I meant to omit centre back but accidentally cut it. The ribbon stripes on my fabric run on the bias, so I decided to have the stripes run straight up and down on the skirt - this achieves pretty much the drape that's intended in the pattern with a fabric whose stripes are on the straight grain.

I haven't made the self-fabric covered shoulder pads but still may do (with plain white voile) - I suspect they will help to keep the bodice structure in place for me with my narrow shoulders. If I don't make the shoulder pads I may need to sew in some of those little things that you attach around your bra straps.

If you're making this dress, the underarm patches would ordinarily go about 1-2 cm higher - I had to sew them in lower to hide some coffee stains (don't bring coffee to the sewing room!).

That's all - I love this dress! If you're thinking of making it, I definitely recommend you do!


A Reminder
There are still 2 days to enter the pattern giveaway - hop back and leave a comment if you want one of these patterns, the odds are looking brilliant!

If neither of these patterns interest you, what about 70s/80s patterns? I'm thinking of giving away a few of these soon. I may also be letting one of my vintage reissues go to a good home....

Making Progress on Vogue 1158

Just to let you all know - I am sewing. Slowly.

I'm making Vogue 1158, a Tracy Reese dress pattern. Here's what my bodice is looking like:

FRONT BODICE

BACK BODICE

It's an interesting fabric, isn't it? It's a cotton voile which has red ribbon and navy blue wool sewn across it on the bias. I haven't quite managed to make the red and blue lines symmetrical about the centre front - but I tried! I'm lining it with plain white cotton voile.

You're supposed to make your own bias strips from the dress fabric to edge the neckline and armholes with, but instead I'm using a piping from my stash. I decided to use the piping after I'd stitched my bodice outer and lining pieces together, so (as you may be able to tell) I'm not using the normal approach to sewing in piping. Oops. I hope it will still look alright.

If you're thinking of making this dress, the neckline is low cut front and back, and I found I needed to raise it in both places so as to cover my bra :-) The armholes seem to be low cut but have insets that bring them up to normal level. The dress is fully lined and so far the seams are French seams, which is ideal if you don't own a serger but would still like the inside of the dress to look neat.

And here's the Vogue pattern picture - they didn't line up their stripes perfectly either!