Pattern: Vogue 7871, size 12.
Fabric: Red cotton print from Metro Textiles in wonderful NYC. The fabric is wonderful, oh so soft, and a pleasure to wear. Some beige cotton as a underlining.
Mods: I cut the front skirt piece as one piece instead of two. I really don't like how dresses look with a seam up the front so I try to omit them if it's suitable. I also lowered the neckline. I tried it on with the high neckline and I thought it was really unflattering on me so snip, snip, snip.
Like? Eh, it's okay. I can see myself wearing it on a lazy weekend or something (maybe).
Problems: This is a pretty easy pattern as the envelope said but I still had some problems. Maybe it was because the fabric was so soft and liked to move around quite a bit. The back was way too poofy, but look below, I was able to fix it by adding a faux princess seam (per patsijean's suggestion, thanks!, I ended up removing 2.5 inches off the back)
4 comments:
I have a skirt marker and when I was making more dresses, I used it quite often. When hemming a fuller skirt, you have to blend the chalk lines a bit, but that is all. Sometimes because the fabric is tweedy or something, the chalk marks are not real prominent, but I would usually see them.
I think the dress is very cute and don't quite understand your reservations. You did a good job on construction and the neckline is very flattering. I love the fabric.
If you are concerned about the drape of the skirt, you will need to have that seam up the front. When you cut the dress on the fold--the center on the straight of grain--the bias/drape falls at the side seams. Better drape can be achieved by cutting the skirt in two sections instead of one flat piece. If the straight of grain marking on the pattern is parallel to the center front seam, draw in a new grain line . Draw a line up from the center of the hemline to the center of the waistline. The bias will be more evenly distributed with a more flattering drape. Do the same with your underlining. You may want to let the skirt portion for a day before hemming, just to be sure the hem hangs straight; but this is not a true bias and should not be a problem. Sorry about the center seam thing.
it really does look good on you in the pictures, but I understand that kind of post-project malaise, which has less to do with how it really turned out than how you imagined it would be versus how it actually is (plus the amount of annoyance involved in getting it to even mildly satisfactory completion.)
That aside, I think you did a wonderful job fixing the problems you had with the pattern, and it looks great on you (the slightly longer rear hem looks "on purpose" and very nice, actually!)
I think the dress looks nice! The fit is great. I agree with the above comment that you when you imagine something one way in your head, and then it doesn't look exactly like that, it's a let down. (I know from experience.) Hold onto this dress, maybe next spring/summer you'll find yourself more into it.
I love the dress--the print and colors are fantastic. Unfortunately, given that my sewing has yet to venture into dresses, I don't have words of wisdom on the markers.
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