Wednesday 24 November 2010

Finished - a festive dress from Vogue 8667!

In my last post I mentioned that I was making a dress, from Vogue 8667, and that I had some lovely fabric for it. What I didn’t mention, however, is that I didn’t have enough fabric to make the whole dress. You see I was walking through the fabric department of John Lewis (on the way to the electrical department – really, honestly, I wasn’t there to buy fabric at all!) when I spotted some lovely silk twill. Mesmerised I stroked it ……. until I saw the price tag - £40 (about US $60) per metre. Yikes!

But I really wanted it, the print and the colours were exactly what I wanted for a Christmas dress that would look festive without being costume. So I came up with an idea – I would make half a dress with this and the other half with something a little more reasonably priced. I think it worked out fine

I needed less than a metre of the silk twill for the bodice and I made the skirt part of the dress from some 100% English wool, purchased in the Goldhawk Road for £10 (about US $15) per metre. Actually, this is not the first time that I have made a two-fabric dress (I blogged about my Burda magazine dress in this post). With the right pattern, it’s a fun way of getting creative with fabric and being able to use some expensive fabric without breaking the bank!

So, here’s the back of the dress

The neckline is a little lower than the base of the neck and the back of the skirt is an A-line shape.

Here’s a reminder of the pattern envelope

I really love this pattern. It all goes together very well and, unlike quite a lot of dress patterns, it does give you instructions for the lining. Although I am now up to lining a dress without instructions, it was very helpful for the pleated skirt because Vogue provides a separate pattern piece for the skirt front lining so that, although the outer skirt is pleated, the lining isn’t, which cuts down on the bulk and allows the skirt to hang nicely.

I can definitely see me making this pattern again – next time I want to make one with the straight skirt and with that lovely collar. I do like patterns like this one that give you a lot of style options – it means that once you have got the fit sorted out you can turn out several quite different looking dresses very easily!

So, what about you - do you have plans for a holiday season dress?

37 comments:

  1. The fit is fantastic, dress looks beautiful. I like that simple pleated skirt.
    Still plugging away on my holiday dress, Michael Kors Vogue pattern, fiddly to fit :)

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  2. Great dress just in time for the holidays

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  3. I can see why you had to have a piece of that silk twill. It is lovely, and looks wonderful combined with the black wool. That style is so flattering on you. I am off work today for the US Thankgiving Holiday and I just traced the pattern for one of my two planned party dresses.

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  4. Wow! Great idea!! I believe Anthropologie has a dress in the two tone that is not as wonderful! I love the fabric and think that it was worth everyone pound.

    And, I wish I had your execution skills - Brilliant!

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  5. Pretty festive dress. I love the marrying of the two fabrics.

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  6. What a clever idea. Glad the pattern worked out - I'm very interested in using it myself at some point.

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  7. This is beautiful on you. I love how you married the two fabrics, to make this delicious new dress.

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  8. Lovely and so smart. Thanks for the idea. As for the holidays, I have a couple of events coming up, so what every I decide to do, it has to be soon. :)

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  9. This is a lovely dress. The fit is good. I purchased this pattern in the last Vogue sale. I plan to sew it up during the Christmas break. Combining the fabrics worked out very well.

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  10. So pretty and what a superb shape. You look awesome in this dress. I haven't got a specific dress in mind for a holiday season dress, but I do have an event to go to on 12-18, which hopefully I will be inspired to sew for.

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  11. So festive! I love the print. I can see why you had to have it.

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  12. It's gorgeous! I never would have thought of mixing two fabrics, but it looks great. I think I've seen this very silk twill at JL myself! The pattern looks like a real winner, especially if you can make another view which is a completely different look.

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  13. WOW, that is a gorgeous dress!

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  14. Really beautiful dress! I love how you mixed the fabrics. I'm glad you had a good experience with this pattern I have it and is on my to-do list.

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  15. Perfection! Now, don't toss those silk scraps - use them to make yourself a little cosmetic bag or something....

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  16. What a lovely dress - great use of such a pretty fabric!

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  17. Gorgeous dress - great idea on how to use expensive fabric.....no holiday dresses planned here.

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  18. So beautiful! What a great way to splurge :)

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  19. I like patterns with a lot of mix and match options. Your dress is really lovely.

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  20. Well your plan worked out beautifully. I'm glad you were able to get the fabric you want and turn out a spectacular dress:)

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  21. I love this! Looks great! Fits great!

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  22. This dress turned out beautifully. A lovely combination of fabrics.

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  23. Fabulous idea, Eugenia! It turned out beautifully, and you can feel great wearing it, knowing you didn't pay a small fortune! I will definitely keep this tip in mind for the future!

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  24. What a nice, festive dress. Your choice of fabric worked well. Now, go WOW everyone!!

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  25. Wow...that is gorgeous! You did a beautiful job....

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  26. So festive! I enjoy the two-fabric dress look, it's like separates but so much easier to wear!

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  27. Wow! Your fabrics are delightful, and this dress is perfect for holiday parties!

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  28. I think that is a great way to use a fancy fabric without breaking the bank. Lovely holiday dress m'dear. :)

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  29. What a pretty dress! I love two-toned dresses. Super cute.

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  30. You make such lovely pieces. This is one of the loveliest. Your idea to combine the $$$ fabric you loved with a more affordable fabric is wonderful - it's making me regret that I didn't pick up a yard of silk I was admiring at Emma One Sock. At $19.75/yard, I couldn't justify a 2 or 3 yard purchase - but I should have gotten a yard to make a bodice only. Drat.

    Re: holiday dresses, I'm planning to make a simple sheath dress with a Carolina Herrera fabric from Emma One Sock... I'm so nervous to cut into it!

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  31. What a great idea to use expensive fabric. I love it. Beautiful!

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  32. That is a beautiful dress! And such a great idea for those really pricey fabrics. It looks so pretty on you.

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  33. That dress is beautiful, and sew two coordinated fabrics is a wonderful and creative idea to use. I think it might be very beautiful and elegant necklace with that too.

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  34. i love this dress

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