Dress not working for me

I made a second muslin and solved a few fitting issues, but it's not there yet and I'm giving up on this dress. Sorry to disappoint those of you who hoped to see my version first before making it yourself. I'm looking forward to versions of those of you who can tackle this pattern.

I have spent quite a few hours on it till now and not convinced it will ever suit me well. This pattern is difficult to adjust for curvier figures. I thought I could deal with the pattern alterations but it's too difficult for me. Ann worked on this dress too and gave a comment on my previous post that she thought there were issues with the instructions. I'm not going to go through all the instructions in detail now. If you're going to attempt this pattern it might be good to know this too.

Hope your sewing has better results ;)

A puzzle

I fully agree with the comments on the dress that the front didn’t look balanced. Partly due to the unfinished state of it, partly because it was not yet fitting well. In the meantime I’ve finished the seam allowances of the front and took a good look at the fit. It indeed needs more space in the hip area and I wanted the center front higher. No easy task with this pattern with all the special shaped pattern pieces.

An example: there are no shoulder seams as they are on the back (decided to leave them as they are, there are changes enough). I have drawn a line from the shoulder point to the neckline to make a reference point for the neckline change. It took me quite a lot of time for all pattern changes and I’m not even sure yet that it’s correct. Still have to change the facing pieces. I’m debating making another muslin or taking my chances with a risk of complete failure and loss of fabric. Making this 3 times is not a fun idea either. Guess that I know what to do: another muslin.

Quick muslin

I’m not often impressed by Vogue patterns enough to justify the cost of buying them, even when they are on sale. But this time the Donna Karan dress that featured the e-mail announcing their new fall patterns immediately caught my attention. A beautiful dress in my opinion. Last weekend the patterns were on sale again. I ordered it on Friday and it arrived yesterday. Quite impressive as it had to cross an ocean. Once here I had to start working on it. Yesterday evening I traced the pattern and cut it from the one knit in my stash that had enough yardage, but perhaps not enough “body”.

The pattern piece with all the pleats in it has a lot of lines. Very good was that the different sizes were distributed over 2 sheets. Sizes 14 and 18 on one sheet, the other 3 sizes on another sheet. It made it clear which lines belonged to the sizes. If all 5 would have been on one sheet it would have been a mess.

As all of the pieces are cut from one layer of fabric, it is helpful to cut two sleeve pattern pieces. It makes it easier to place the pattern pieces correctly (only one pattern piece is on the tissue).

Tonight I sewed the body part, mainly to check the fit. The pattern pieces are as fascinating as the dress looks and it’s a bit difficult to define where to widen for the hip area (a must for me). Also there are no finished measurements on the pattern pieces, so impossible to know whether Vogue has designed this with wearing ease and how much. This would have been helpful information. I started with a size 14 and widenened the skirt after I had determined where about I had to change.

Sorry for the not so flattering photos, taken from a too short distance. I did not finish the collar part. Size 14 is a bit wide in the back (as usual) but I think it’s ok in the front. The neckline could be raised a bit, also on the Vogue photo it’s a bit low. It’s not hemmed yet, the length will be fine when it is. The opening in the front is not ok though, it’s too open when walking to  my liking and planned use of this dress. The pattern needs a bit of tweaking to fit me, which is no surprise. The result isn’t too bad though. Will this work?

What do you think?

And what do you think of the different left/right shoulder angle, which is on the back. I did not realise it until I saw the photo on me and noticed the different angle immediately. I’m inclined to either make it in the same angle or make the left shoulder straight like a normal shoulder seam instead of an angle.

 

 

Answers to questions in the comments: Marie,  unfortunately   I don’t know an online bra course. I’m glad to hear the tutorials are helpful.

Alison asked for a source for the interfacing. I buy it at Kantje boord and have bought it online from Wien2002. It’s an Austrian site in German only. The main think it’s thin and it doesn’t stretch. It’s called tule or non-stretch chameuse.