Dress Vogue 1351

I first became aware of this dress a while ago when Carolyn (from Handmade by Carolyn) made a lovely version in navy and pink. She also mentioned that the lining of this dress was so beautifully drafted and the pattern thus has a neat finish on the inside. This got me intrigued. As it was OOP by then, I asked my friends whether they had a copy of this, but no one had. One of them found it soon after in a second hand shop and gave the pattern to me. YEAH!! (thanks again Sheila).

It’s an easy dress to make. I traced a size 16 for the body, compared that with my sloper and it was very close. I tapered to a larger size for the waist/hip area but trimmed that off later as it became shapeless. It indeed has a lovely finish on the inside, of which I now realise I haven’t taken photos yet.

As my fabric is a non-stretch fabric of unknown material I did sew in the side zipper, as indicated by the pattern. With the front and skirt being cut on the bias, the fabric made strange pleats around the zipper area. I interfaced the edge where the zipper was sewn, which probably added to the effect. End of story is I took out the zipper and don’t miss it. The other changes were lengthening the bodice by about 4-5 cm (default change for me), adding a center back seam to be able to make it less wide at the neckline and sewing the underarm with a very narrow seam allowance. The armhole was a bit too deep if I used the 1.5 cm seam allowance.

For a change there are photos of me wearing the dress outside.  These pictures are taken in France, where we enjoyed a lovely holiday. Not perfectly ironed, not my priority on a holiday, my apologies ;).

On our way home tomorrow. Some sewing again next week probably.