Vogue 1221 - DKNY tucked and draped dress!

When I mentioned (in this post) that I had purchased Vogue 1221 I have no doubt that some of you thought “hmmm I wonder if she’ll ever actually make that?” For which you can be forgiven because I have to confess that I thought the same myself, especially when I opened it up and took a look at the pattern pieces. However, I have surprised myself because I have actually made it and here it is!

This is probably the most complex dress that I have ever made. Here’s a reminder of the pattern envelope

And here is a photograph of one of the pattern pieces –

it’s the front bodice, front skirt and drape, which is all one piece. It comes together with a lot of fiendish tucks and pleats.

If you are, like me, not a very experienced sewist and you are contemplating making this dress, I can offer a few words of advice. I do think that you need to ensure that you get a pretty close fit, especially around the waist. The drape depends on this to ensure that it sits where it’s supposed to. If you (also like me) have to make quite a lot of fitting adjustments then you will probably need to make a muslin – it’s very difficult to judge how this dress is going to fit until quite a lot of the construction has been completed and, by then, it’s a bit late. When I made a muslin I discovered that I had to take the whole dress down one size – the original looked blah and saggy. I should also mention that I raised the neckline by about one inch. I didn’t absolutely have to, it wasn’t quite Burda ‘plunging’ but I feel more comfortable with a bit more coverage. In case you didn’t notice, I also added several inches to the length!

This may seem obvious but I should point out that it is definitely worth taking the time to mark and then sew all the pleats and tucks perfectly because it’s fairly vital that all the tucks come together exactly right and it makes it much easier to work out what attaches to what and where if they do. By the way, I followed the pattern instructions to the letter and, even though I couldn’t quite envisage how it was going to work, what do you know, it all turned out fine!

Choice of fabric is quite important. Personally I think that this dress needs something that is soft enough to drape nicely (I didn’t want the tucks of the skirt to poof out!). A very thick fabric will give you problems because there are times when you have to sew through a LOT of layers (for instance where you have to sew a binding piece to the tucks at the bottom of the upper front then sew that to the tucks at the top of the lower front ). However, you don’t want something that is very flimsy because this dress isn’t lined (normally I’m quite up to lining a dress even if the pattern doesn’t call for it but lining this would be pretty tricky to accomplish!). I made mine from a ponte de roma double knit fabric which I picked up very cheaply in a discount fabric store in London. Before making the dress I didn’t have a lot of confidence in my ability to do a good job (especially as my last two projects have been fraught with problems!) so I was reluctant to risk wasting an expensive fabric but on reflection I think that this was probably a mistake. The fabric certainly works in terms of drape and thickness, and I like the colour a lot, but I think that having spent a fair bit of time and energy to make a ‘designer dress’ it would have made more sense to have made it in a really good quality fabric. So, that’s a lesson learnt!

Anyway, for your amusement here is a picture of the dress on a hanger.

Pretty weird looking, eh? If I had seen this in a store I probably would have passed it by. This is one of those dresses that doesn’t have a lot of hanger appeal but once you get your body inside it, and arrange the drape a bit, it seems to work.

So for my next project ……… something a bit easier I think!

Vogue 1203 - Tracy Reese skirt!

It seems that everything I sew at the moment is turning into a near disaster! However, I am really glad that I persevered with this Tracy Reese skirt – I absolutely love the finished product.

This is the pattern I used, Vogue 1203.


Before I show you the really nice thing about this skirt, let me mention my difficulties. This skirt has a raised waist so the waistband is shaped to conform to the body. It is cut so that the seam between the waistband and the skirt sits right on the waist and the waistband then becomes wider as it goes upwards towards the bust. Now, I have no doubt that the problem lies with my particular shape rather than the pattern, but once I had attached the waistband to the skirt and tried it on for fit, to my dismay, it was quite obvious that it just wasn’t going to work. Instead of following my shape, the waistband flared outwards like a kind of frill, there was no way that it was going to sit close to my body.

So, I ripped it off and threw it away. Instead I cut a new waistband but this time I made it a straight waistband, cut quite tightly to my waist measurement, which fits me much better but still keeps the raised waist style.

Anyway, the really nice design element of this pattern -



It has an exposed zipper at the back. This was my first time attaching an exposed zipper so I followed the pattern instructions exactly and, whilst I won’t try and tell you that I did it perfectly, it hasn’t turned out too badly.

I don’t know what to tell you about the fabric because I am not quite certain what it is. It is definitely wool of some kind but it has a strange shiny backing which makes it a bit tricky to iron but does give the fabric body and stops it from getting too creased. The print is rather crazy bold and being short I shouldn’t really wear such large prints but I don’t care because I like it. I used a bemberg rayon for the lining.

I think that Tracy Reese is a brilliant designer, I love her RTW collections, and although this skirt is a relatively simple style it is very well cut – the princess seams curve around the hips nicely and then flare out just the right amount. For me, wearing a high waisted skirt does take a bit of getting used to, I usually wear my skirts cut below the waist and then they can be a bit more forgiving ease-wise. With this style you need to wear it so that it is a little snug. So, deep breath, stomach in ….

I won’t be eating too many donuts while wearing this skirt. Probably not a bad thing!

Have a great weekend everyone.

Finished at last - the 'Uptown/Downtown' dress

I mentioned in my last post that I was working on the HotPatterns ‘Uptown Downtown Knit Dress’.


As that was a couple of weeks ago some of you might have been wondering where it is – how long can a 'Beginner' knit dress take? Actually my lack of posting has more to do with extremely exasperating difficulties with our internet connections than anything else but hopefully, after seeking professional assistance, those problems have been resolved. That said, the Uptown Downtown dress also presented me with some frustrations. But, as you have been so patient with me, I can finally offer you not one but two versions of this dress.

This is the first one I made

I used an inexpensive novelty double knit, called ‘Requiem Tiger’ purchased from Vogue Fabrics (how I love those people!). Fabric limitations meant I had to make what is called on the pattern ‘elbow length’ sleeves but they are actually more like what I would call short sleeves. I also didn’t make the hem band – I just cut the skirt to the length I wanted it then turned up a hem. It’s a fun, casual dress, although the sleeves were a touch pouffier than I would have liked. All in all, though, I was pretty happy with this one so decided to plunge straight into another one.

It was the second version that had me climbing the walls! This is it

The fabric is, I think, some kind of cotton/spandex knit. I can’t remember where I purchased it but it’s been in my stash for a while. Anyway, whatever it is, it behaved very differently from the double knit used in my first version.

As soon as I attached the neckband I was unhappy – this time the neckline was so loose that it was actually dropping off my shoulders, quite unlike my first version. I tried to tell myself that I liked it that way but the truth was I didn’t and then my DH stepped in and said that it was no good, it would have to be redone. So, I had to rip out all the serger stitching and cut a new neck band. I cut this one a full two inches shorter which turned out to be about right – despite the time and effort spent I was glad that I reworked it.

My second problem came when attaching the sleeve bands. I had no difficulty with the short sleeves but with the long sleeve version the smaller cuff has to be stretched out an awful lot to attach it to the sleeve fabric. Because of my neckband trouble I decided that I was going to use my sewing machine, not my serger, to attach the cuffs so that I could rip out the stitches more easily if I wasn’t happy. It was just as well that I did because after two failed attempts I had to re-cut the cuffs about ¾” larger in order to get them on properly. Although my fabric was stretchy, it just didn’t stretch enough to make this easy.

Lastly, a word about the hem band. As many other people who have made this pattern have pointed out, if you want the hem band to gather the skirt in, like the picture on the pattern instructions, you will have to cut the hem band smaller than the pattern allows. For my version I had to cut a couple of inches off the width of the band just to get it so that the skirt was straight, you would need to cut quite a lot out of it to get a gathered effect.

So, if you are planning on making this dress I think you do need to be aware that results are going to vary depending on how soft and stretchy your fabric is and it’s not very easy to judge exactly how it’s going to turn out. In general I really like the designs that HotPatterns offers and the video tutorials on their site are wonderful. Despite the challenges this particular pattern posed I am not unhappy with the final results and, now that I have a better feel of how different fabrics would behave with this pattern, I might make it again but definitely not right now. Enough already with Uptown Downtown dresses!

Vogue 1179, DKNY dress

I made my first version of this pattern last year (blogged about here). Every time I’ve worn it (and it’s been a lot) my DH has said “oh, that looks nice”. It’s one of those dresses that’s perfect to have in the wardrobe for those occasions when you’re not sure what to wear. So, I had to make another one -

The fabric for this latest one is a rayon lycra knit – it’s softer and drapier than my original version, which was made from a double-knit, but it still works very well. I like the muted autumnal colours and thought that the print had a Missoni look to it. So I have a ‘DKNY meets Missoni’ dress for not a lot of money!

There’s not a lot to tell you about this pattern, other than to say that I followed the directions pretty much as written and they worked for me. I particularly like that the instructions tell you to finish the armholes with clear elastic – it really does stop them from stretching out and gaping.

Talking of DKNY I have just bought this pattern, Vogue 1221, which is also a DKNY design.

But this one definitely isn’t going to be so fast or easy. I’ve taken a look at the instructions and the pattern pieces and was intrigued to see that the front bodice, front skirt and the waist drape is just one very strangely shaped piece, with all sorts of tucks and pleats. Phew! Hopefully, when the time comes, I shall be up to the challenge – I’m planning to give it a go later in the year. I love the style.

In the meantime I’m about to make the Hot Patterns ‘Uptown Downtown Dress’. So, more about that soon ……

Vogue 2647 + Simplicity 2599 =

An outfit! Yes, I am feeling quite pleased with myself because, at last, I have actually made two co-ordinating garments sewn specifically to work together. In the past I have tended to sew in a random, whatever takes my fancy, kind of way. But, as the New Year arrived, I decided it was really time to get myself organised and make an actual outfit.

The skirt is made from Vogue 2647 (which I think is now out of print). It’s a nice A-line shape with a slit at the centre front and zipper at centre back. Here’s a picture of the pattern envelope.

Because the fabric I picked for the top is quite a busy print I wanted to make a simple shell top and was searching for the right pattern when I realised that this one

Simplicity 2599 would fit the bill. I had made it before (blogged about here) so I had got the fit worked out – this time I just made it without the ruffles.

I bought both fabrics from Vogue Fabrics. They are from their Fall 2010 collection. The fabric for the top is called Reinhard Kernels and is a silk with a hint of lycra. The skirt fabric is a linen/cotton mix, called Reinhard Linen-Weave. As you might already know, Vogue Fabrics make co-ordination easy because in their collections they put together selections of fabrics that work together. I really like how these two fabrics look.

I should also mention that the top and skirt have something in common in that they both have a button and loop closure. At the back of the neck on the top

And at the top of the zipper on the skirt.

I’ve never come across this on a skirt pattern before and I really like it – it gives the zipper opening a neat looking finish without having to use a dreaded hook and eye. You can also, hopefully, see the topstitching which I have used on all the vertical seams and the hem of the skirt – I used a machine embroidery thread in silver, which gives a shiny but quite subtle effect.

You might also have noticed that with this outfit I am continuing my grey/gray theme from my last post. Thanks to everyone who made such nice and encouraging comments about my love of the colour. And it turns out I am not alone – Grey appears to be THE shade of the moment and lots of you (including Victoria and Allison) are going grey in the nicest possible way.

More soon ……..

Vogue 8667 - a New Year dress finished!

I can’t believe how long it has taken for me to complete my first garment of 2011! I actually had this cut out before Christmas but have only just found the time to get it finished and photographed.

After making my first version of this pattern, Vogue 8667, (blogged about here) I was keen to make another one. This one looks quite different from the last one because I have used the straight skirt and added the collar. The pattern gives you options for a few different looks.


This dress can be worn with high heels and a nice little brooch for a (Mad Men) retro/classic look but in the photo I have toughened it up a bit by wearing it with a studded belt and black boots and tights, which gives it a more casual look.

The fabric is 100% wool and I have lined it with my favourite Bemberg lining. I was interested to look back and see that the first garment I made last year was also a grey dress. This was quite coincidental. I think there must be something about the grey winter weather in London that prompts me into thinking about grey dresses! Actually, I like grey a lot. Although it is sometimes thought of as a dull shade, I like how it can be paired with so many other colours. It’s a nice neutral that makes a change from black, and, personally, I think it can look rather elegant. What do you think – is grey (or gray, if you are from the USA) a yeah or a nay?

I am feeling very happy about starting my 2011 sewing. It’s made me feel all inspired and I am now enthusiastically working out a plan for my next few projects. I hope your New Year sewing has started well and that you have some exciting projects in mind?

2010 - what worked and what didn't!

So, 2010 is over and it’s time to take a look at how my sewing year has gone. I completed the following:
13 Dresses
10 tops
6 skirts
1 jacket

That’s a total of 30 garments. When I looked back at what I had made during 2009 I was very interested to see that I had made a total of 29 garments. So this year I have succeeded in increasing my output by, er, just one garment!

However, I can say that I feel I have made quite a lot of progress in learning to sew to a much better standard and in making clothes that I really like wearing.

So, what worked for me in 2010? My award for my best garment of the year goes to this dress

Made from Butterick 5520 (blogged about here). As it’s a very ‘dressy’ dress I have, so far, only had the opportunity of wearing it three times but each time I have received compliments and I love having it hanging in my wardrobe, ready for a special occasion.

My vote for my favourite day dress has to go to this one

Made from Vogue 8555 (blogged about here). I wore this dress numerous times during the summer and it always made me smile.

My award for my most useful garment goes to this one

A simple black pencil skirt made from Vogue 8603 (blogged about here). Since making it I have worn it a lot – it just seems to go with everything and is good for day or evening. A classic wardrobe staple.

So what didn’t work this year? I will have to say my coat. What’s that, you are saying to yourself, she didn’t make a coat. Exactly. I said I was making a coat (blogged about here). I bought fabric for a coat. But no coat has materialized. Well, all I have to say for myself is there has been a lot of research and development but not too many results. I picked out a pattern from an old Burda Magazine, I spent ages making a muslin and reworking the muslin and altering the muslin but in the end, with a little anguish and a lot of frustration, I abandoned it. Maybe you, too, know that feeling? I am going to pick another pattern and try again. Perhaps my coat will be finished by the end of next year?

I hope 2010 has been a satisfying and productive sewing year for you? I would like to take this opportunity of saying how much I appreciate you stopping by to look at what I’ve made. I love to read your comments and am very thankful indeed for your friendship, advice and encouragement.

My warmest wishes to you all for a very happy New Year