Summer of Dresses - Vogue 8728

6.16.2013

Good news everyone, you've all been cordially invited to my "Summer of Dresses" cake tasting party/dress parade. They'll be plenty of cake and alcoholic beverages, but you might want to clear your schedual cause the dress parade might take all summer.  Get out your lawn chairs and settle in cause the festivities are about to BEGIN!

The first dress in our parade is the vintage inspired Vogue 8728.  Let's let the our model tell us a little more about the pattern.....
Pattern
Vogue 8728 - As if you didn't know. ;) Actually if you're anything like me you don't remember pattern numbers at all, just the illustration on the front of the envelope.  This is the one with two vintagey ladies looking put out about having to attend some lame ass cake party.  The one is the black already has her "bitch please" pose going.  The flora lady is either mocking us or is secretly pleased with her armpit hair removal technique. 

Fabrics used
Stashed rayon/lycra jersey originally from Emmaonesock.com. All the birdy prints will be MINE!
Also some left over stretch lining also from EOS. She has it in different colors than the one I bought a couple of years ago.

Pattern changes/alterations
It was a classic Heather moment when I went and bought the pattern and then read everyone's PR reviews on this dress.  The common recommendation was to go down a size or two, however I'm a Vogue size 16 which is the smallest size in the larger size split.  There was no smaller size to go down to unless I threw some more money at Vogue. And Vogue was getting any more of my crumpled one dollar bills, at least not today.  That turned out to be a good decision because I needed the depth of the size 16 bodice to fit my girls and taking in a side seam is a lot less work.
Here is the rundown of all my changes....
1.  Cut down all the seam allowances to 1/4" since I was using a knit.

2. The neckline was too wide so 1" was filled in just at the shoulder edge and then graded out to nothing.

3. On the back I folded the darts closed and taped them shut.

4. Took in the side seams 3/4" and raised the bottom of the kimono sleeve 1".

5. Reduced the length of the neckband  4.5".

6. Shortened the bodice length about 2" in the back and about 1 3/4" in the front because my waist is titled.

7. Reduced length of skirt about 4". 

8. Drafted a lining for the gathered part of the bodice.


Confessions/Advice
1. I want to thank Jennifer of Jennifer Lauren Vintage for bringing to my attention the potential problem of  "boob gatherage".  Aka the gathers sliding to the sides of your boobs leaving you with an unsightly smooth areas attracting you the wrong kind of attention.  She mentioned that one fix for this was to draft a bodice lining piece without the gathering ease.  I did draft one up in a totally half hazard manner using the upper and lower bodice pieces.  First I took the upper bodice piece and traced the shoulder and sleeve area.  Then matched the lower bodice piece to the upper and traced the upper curve.  The neckline curve of the bodice lining was just drawn freehand.

2.  I reinforced my neckband with the beloved tricot interfacing that I won't shut up about.

3.  It was hard to tell how long the bodice needed to be before adding the skirt so I did a lot of last minute tweaking of the bodice length/waist tilt.  I should have removed the skirt, cut down the bodice, and reattached the skirt.  I went maverick and just basted extra wide seam allowances at the waist until the bodice length looked correct.  Then a permanent seam was sewn in, the SA cut down, and edge reserged.  Most of the extra skirt length was sucked up with this alteration and I only had to cut an 1" off the bottom edge.

4.  The skirt was first sewn on with the 1/4" serger stitch but it felt too heavy for that narrow seam. I used my regular sewing machine to put in a lighting bolt/stretch stitch further away from the edge.
And now a little rant about the lighting bolt stitch....it is the work of Satan!  It's like trying to hammer in a nail with the handle of a screw driver.  You can kind of manage to do it, but not without cursing a blue streak and partaking in an alcoholic beverage so that you don't stab your loved ones.  Lord help you if you make a mistake and have to rip that motherf***king stitch out.  You might as well just fall on your sewing shears and end it all.
If you feel like sewing with knits on a regular basis, please for the love of god, buy yourself a serger!  I own the Brother 1034d, it's inexpensive, easy to thread and and never acts up...unlike the other two machines I own. Yes, I'm giving an extra slightly eyed look at you coverstitch machine.  Knits are only hard if you don't have the proper tool, get yourself the proper tool.  Thus ends my PSA/rant about sewing knit with your regular machine.
P.S. Here's my non-professional video on how to easily rip out a serger seam.  Now save your pennies and buy one.

5. I used the coverstitch machine to put in the hem and finish the kimono sleeve edges. A 3/4" worked well on the sleeves.
6. Hey Heather, didn't you just say that you don't wear gathered skirts cause they're not flattering and blah blah blah blah, gored skirt, blah blah?  Ummm yes, yes I did but a "lady" has the right to change her mind.  In this case I thought the gathered skirt echoed the gathered bust line and decided to go for it.

Husband Comment
"I actually like this one. What's that bird? A phoenix....like a phoenix rising from Arizona."

My Final Thoughts
Whoever first thought to make this pattern up in a knit deserves an award and a giant piece of cake.  Because you can eat a giant piece of cake and still look good in this dress. 

27 comments:

  1. Love the fabric you used! And the gathers look good on you - they aren't too bulky and look comfy. Great pattern choice! =)

    It was fun to hear what you sound like in the video.

    ~ Brooke

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    1. Thanks Brooke, thought that the knit might let me get away with the gathers. The belt seems to also help giving you something else to look at.

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  2. Great dress. I love that print. And the gathered skirt looks really nice on you.

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    1. Thanks! It seems like I might be wrong about how gathered skirts look on me. ;)

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  3. Dress looks great on you - the extra fiddling and work you put into making this really paid off...J

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    1. Thank you Judith. It dress went together pretty easily until the last waist bit. But at least it was almost done at that point so I had plenty of motivation to keep going.

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  4. The flora lady looks like she's thinking: 'I am too cool (and thin) for this party' or this can be translated in her thinking 'This party is too lame for my gorgeous gathered bust-piece'. Too bad for her, now you can have all the cake, and you deserve it, because you made a really nice phoenix-knit-dress! Yeay, double cake-servings for you!

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    1. Haa haaa! Flora Lady is totally thinking that. You know cake has never crossed her lips. Which means you get some extra cake, eat it, your skin and bones. ;)

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  5. Great dress and an even greater review! I'll be hanging around in my lawn chair, waiting for my cake slices as I review the parade of dresses...cause you know I love me a good dress! :)

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    1. Awesome, I'm glad you came ready for the parade. Let me freshen your drink and get you another slice. :)

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  6. This is the perfect summer dress! I love the Phoenix fabric and I think the gathered skirt looks just right. I've had my Brother 1034d for about a month now and it's soooo much easier to sew knits with. My sewing machine is always trying to eat them. I'll bring the tequila and be down in about an hour and a half or so to watch the parade!

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    1. Thank so much Shar. That Brother 1034D is a little work horse, I love it so. But I need to be a good mommy and give it a new blade. Tequila you say, you're gonna get a good seat in the front for that.

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  7. Ah, there it is, Gorgeous! I think it turned out beautifully. You've also 'moderned' it up with your fabric choice.

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    1. Awww Shucks Catja. I love the turn of phrase, "moderned it up". Let's use that some more!!!!

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  8. Lovely dress! Those blue shoes are pretty great, as well. :)

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    1. Thank you Laura, I got those shoes last year during the annual summer dress making binge.

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  9. Great dress! You do beautiful work!

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    1. Thanks! It helps that you can't actually handle the garment and see all my half assed shortcuts. LOL

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  10. Personally, I think that is a very skinny piece of cake.
    I love this dress and made 3 woven versions for last summer. Why didn't I see how awesome it would be in a knit? It looks gorgeous on you, what an excellent choice for prime position in the dress parade.

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    1. Oh no, I've been accused of a "Sister Anne slice" of cake. You must be in the same club as my husband who goes for 1/3 of the cake as a slice. :)

      I would not have thought to make this up in a knit if it wasn't for other bloggers. Hooray for the internet.

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  11. I am slightly disappointed that you aren't doing the arm pit pose... but I do LOVE your version! And knit dresses are now officially a revelation to me, cake AND still looking cute :)

    How did drafting the extra bodice piece go to avoid the boob-gathering?

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    1. You are so right, I should have done the arm pit pose. LOL I thought the extra bodice piece works pretty well to reduce the boob-gathering. You get a little but perhaps that can't be helped if you have larger boobs . :)

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  12. Hey Heather,
    HY-sterical post, and your dress is pretty adorable too! I know you will get a lot of wear from it - CUTE!

    Your "summer of dresses" reminds me of the Notre Dame professor's rant/class on how sloppy we dress in these current times, compared to previous eras. I am wearing more skirts/dresses too. If we sewists aren't inching the fashion-consciousness upwards, who will? ;-)

    Happy sewing!
    Maris

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    1. Thank you Maris. We sewists should set a trend of looking fab/comfortable and get other people doing it too. There's no reason to look like a slob all the time.

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