Vogue 8416 - Navy penstripe dress w/ sleeve ties

As promised, here's the new dress I finished right before the black & green knit.

I really love the design. It's pretty simple, but the sleeve details and interesting neckline caught my eye. Vogue had this made up in a black pinstripe in their catalog, and I thought it was totally chic. So when I found this navy pinstripe, I knew just what I wanted it made into. My aunt gave me those pearls for college graduation, and now I finally have something to wear them with! Here's the back:

Does this look a little retro to you? The next picture is a neckline and sleeve close-up.

The neckline on this dress was very ornery. It looks like there's a little cleavage showing on the pattern envelope. I decided to cut it 1" higher because I don't especially love making muslins, and I thought I can always lower a neckline if it's too high. If it was too low I would have to cut out the entire front, and I didn't have that much fabric. So I get it stitched up, and since the patten doesn't call for interfacing, the front neckline drooped forward and the lining was visible. I folded down the top to see if it would look okay 1" lower, where the pattern was drawn. It looked fine, so I cut it at the lower level and added interfacing. I get it sewn up again and the neckline is so wide that I'm showing all the goods if I make a slight movement. I made it 1/2" smaller at the very top of each front princess seam, removing a total of 1" from the neckline. Then I thought I was done, tried it on so hubby could shoot my picture, and noticed the piece that goes from the top bust line to my shoulder is a little droopy. Again I go in and have to rip a few seams out. This time I had to do some inside construction stitching by hand, since the dress had been completely finished and I couldn't get the machine in there. After all that work it finally fit and I'm not showing anything I don't want to be.

Here's the neckline before I removed that 1/2" at each front princess seam. A little exposed, right? I know I'm slouching, but I have the bad habit of doing that and have to make clothing that fits despite my bad posture.

Here's that front piece that goes from the top bust line to the shoulder. I matched the pinstripes here to give it a continuous look. I had to spend one whole evening cutting out just the outside fabric. I wanted it to be symmetrical on both sides and cut each piece out separately.

Here's the inside where the sleeve meets the bodice. I used bias tape to cover the exposed seam.

Here's the pattern. I made the shorter dress. I love it, but it sure was a lot of work.


My husband took our two boys to his parents ranch last weekend and I got to stay home. That is why I've got two dresses to show you when I typically can't sew that quickly. I had this huge ambitious pile of things I wanted to get finished, but reality set in and I had some fit issues. Plus I got a little tired of sewing after the first two days at the machine. *Gasp!*

Up next is a cute little jacket, Butterick 5187, in a brown linen with polka dots. I'm making view D, and altering the pattern so it's not so blousy. Hopefully it will be cute and not go in my wadder pile.