Friday, September 27, 2013

Vogue 1241 - Turquoise + yellow floral dress w/ side gathers

Wow! It's been over a month since I last updated this poor blog. August and September have been soooo busy. We went on vacation to Colorado, started all of the boys' fall activities, enrolled one son in school while continuing to homeschool the other, and I'm slowly getting use to homework/preparing for tests/uniforms/emailing the teacher with various questions/etc. I have been sewing but just haven't found much time to get things photographed and written up. I'm so behind!

Here's my last dress for summer, started at the beginning of August and completed towards the end of it.


This is a Vogue designer pattern by Kay Unger. I have several of her patterns in my stash but this is the first one I've gotten around to. I love the gathers along the front and back waistline, the cross over fronts with pleats at the neckline, and the squared off front panel. I chose a beautiful lightweight cotton sateen from my stash. I'm pretty sure I bought it online somewhere several years ago. You know how I feel about the color yellow...


The real work of this dress was the muslin. Straight out of the envelope this dress really did not fit me well. I started by lengthening the waist by an inch, a common alteration for me. The bust area was disastrous and definitely designed for someone with bigger girls. I didn't like that the back gathers were spaced out a shorter distance then the front ones. After all the fitting issues had been resolved, I carefully laid out my pattern pieces to try to balance the colors across the dress.


Here is a close-up of the neckline. I'm super proud of the fit and love the pleating. There is a small thread tack at center front to avoid possible wardrobe malfunctions.


Dressform pictures:


I used a white invisible zipper at the back and a new-to-me notion - a white hook and eye. This is probably something many of you already know about, but I was really excited to discover it.


For the lining I used a high thread-count white cotton sheeting from Hancock's. I've used this fabric to line previous items, and I really love the way it feels against my skin, especially on hot summer days. I wouldn't use it to line a jacket or a winter dress, but for a summer cotton dress it's perfect. And FYI, the front bodice lining pieces did not match up at all along the bust seam with the outer bodice piece. The lining piece was rather blousy and would have been lumpy looking under my dress without the trimming I gave it.


I like to write all my alterations on the envelope back during the muslin/pattern manipulation phase. Instead of writing out that very lengthy list, you can look at them here if interested:


This was my last summer garment and now I'm on to fall stuff. More soon!

69 comments:

  1. Beautiful! I agree about the gathers and the neckline, they're really nice touches.

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  2. I love this pattern. Thanks for all of your notes on fitting.

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  3. Gorgeous dress on you -- I love it and the fabric! Congratulations on a successful result. I too bought this pattern but haven't made it up. Thanks for sharing your fitting issues with us!

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  4. Lovely dress and fabulous fit. The fabric is gorgeous too.

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  5. This fabric is GORGEOUS. My gosh, I'm seriously obsessed, such a pretty print! This dress also looks soo well made, you can tell you did a really good job on the pressing and pleating and everything. Great job Amanda!

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  6. that is so pretty. I confess I tried that pattern and it defeated me, could not get the bodice to fit nicely so congrats and I am envious. Side note, I ordered a ton of that yardage and luckily a bride-to-be saw it so I made 5 bridesmaids dresses for her summer wedding. I thought she was brave to choose a print but they looked so vibrant and happy.

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    1. Thanks Beth! I'll bet those bridesmaid dresses were gorgeous!

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  7. Great dress. I love how it looks in that fabric. Very pretty. Beautiful work. You should be very proud of the neckline!!

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  8. Lots of work by the sounds of it, but what a great result - another beautiful dress, and I love how you placed the print and how the invisible zipper disappears.

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  9. I also have a collection of Kay Unger patterns that I have not yet tried. I have this one and only hope that I can make it up as nicely as you have made yours. Great dress!~

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  10. What a beautiful dress. Great fabric, great pattern, but most of all, great work (as always)!

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  11. It's nice to see a Kay Unger pattern made up - I think they look beautiful - nice to see one made in "daytime" fabric.

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  12. Gorgeous! I've had the same sort of issues with a Kay Unger Pattern, the pieces not matching up. Always gotta make a muslin with those. Yours turned out great, love the yellow blue and white.

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  13. Beautiful dress! I always love your fabric selections. Such a pretty floral print.

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  14. Love, love, love the neckline. Thanks for sharing, I learn so much from you.

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  15. What a gorgeous dress! You are smart to write the changes on the pattern envelope. I'm kind of relying on my blog posts to help me remember what I did, but like you, there is often a time gap between sewing and posting:) It sounds like you have been very busy -- I hope you have a great autumn!

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  16. Wow. The inside of your dress is as gorgeous as the outside! I am in awe...

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  17. Gorgeous dress amanda. Fab colours and great fit. Very jealous you are still getting to wear lovely summer dresses!

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    1. Thanks Manju! I did wear this the first Sunday in September, but it is now tucked away in the back of my closet waiting for next summer.

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  18. Love the dress - pretty print and worth the efforts. Nice idea about putting the alterations on the back of the envelope - I'll have to tuck that away.

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  19. Gorgeous dress. Love the print and your fit is excellent. Looks amazing on you.

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  20. Oh wow! I have been eyeing this pattern off for a while and this has tipped me over the edge! Those gathers are fabulous and the fabric wonderful! Such epic work :D

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    1. Thanks Amanda! You should definitely give it a try!

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  21. This is awesome. I was just wondering if u can still wear it. But just read that you put it away.
    I like a dress,but I don't dare to make one for myself. May try one..
    Love, Wilma

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  22. Oh my goodness, what a dress! I need this pattern - never mind that I just cut out a different Kay Unger dress this afternoon, I want to make one of these as well! It's super pretty!

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    1. Thanks Juliet! Happy sewing on the dress you just cut out!

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  23. This is very pretty. The bodice on this particular dress seems to present endless fitting challenges, and you've nailed it for yourself. Love this dress pattern. Love the fabric.

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  24. I could probably spend a couple hours just looking at your patterns and the notes on the back :)
    Beautiful dress Amanda - the print with the bright yellow is fabulous on you.

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  25. This is lovely! It's so flattering and sweet!

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  26. This is really a beautiful dress and you must think it was worth all the" muslining" to get it to look this goog. Bravo!

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  27. SO beautiful and flattering on you! I just love that neckline pleating - what a pretty detail! All the hard work in the muslin stage definitely paid off - this looks spectacular!

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  28. It turned out so nice and crisp and cool looking. Well, at least you will be ready for
    next Summer...
    Well, I say that because our weather has already turned to Fall weather... would
    you believe even a tad bit of snow in the mountains! Hope that your vacation
    in Colorado was good and that if you visited any family they were not affected
    by the flooding. Such a shame...

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    1. Thanks Jean! No family in Colorado, just a visit to the mountains. It was beautiful there, to be sure, but I'm so grateful for the warmish winters we have here in south Texas.

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  29. You are wearing the perfect summer dress....and you look wonderful wearing it. Bravo.

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  30. Lovely dress, you have placed the print perfectly. I have this pattern, but have been wary of making it up because of the gaping neckline issue so it's interesting you think it's designed for larger busts, I was thinking just the opposite.

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    1. Well, larger then what I've got anyway, lol! The center front panel was sitting really low on me, but wasn't like that on the pattern envelope, so I thought maybe because her bust is bigger? You'd better muslin it, hopefully it won't be too gapping. Thanks for your comment!

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  31. What a pretty summery dress! I love the overlapped neckline, very different.

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  32. Gorgeous! You did a great job balancing the colors in the print, and fit is perfect of course. The perfect summer sheath.

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