Vogue 1499 - White striped dress in embroidered cotton

Whew! I'm rushing to get this posted so that I have at least one entry on this blog for August. It has been a super crazy month with all three of my kids starting new schools. The baby is a wild child and is constantly into everything. I'm hoping for more sewing time this fall during his nap time. We shall see.

Anyway, here is my last garment for summer. It's Vogue 1499, an Anne Klein designer dress pattern that came out this past summer. I really liked the changing stripes on the bodice and thought the width of the skirt would make a good day dress. The fabric is a black and white striped floral cotton from MoodFabrics.com. Shortly after I bought the pattern they posted it to their website. I needed a thin stripe to show off the design and thought the embroidered flowers a fun textural element.

I washed and dried my fabric prior to cutting it out and the embroidery crinkled up a bit. It's kind of like a seersucker fabric now, which I quite like for a casual summer dress. Wrinkles do NOT show, and this white is totally opaque. Consequently I decided to forgo the lining.

I cut a straight size 12 - my typical Vogue size - and ended up taking the side seams in a little over an inch from the armpits tapering to nothing at the waist. Early on I knew I wanted to leave off the little cap sleeves. Something about the angle of how they connect to the bodice just bugged my eye. Instead I wanted to add a sporty cut-in sleeve element, so I raised the front and back neckline and used a RTW shirt to guide my scissors as I trimmed out new armholes.

I cut all the pieces out singly and matched the embroidery pattern across the center back bodice and skirt. I also took care that the side panels and skirt were stitched together so that the black lines were perfectly straight. The zipper was probably the most time consuming part of this project. After it was inserted and all the stripes lined up across it I took a gusty sigh of relief.

The neckline and armholes were finished with bias tape. All the inside raw edges were finished with my machine's overlocking foot. It's a nice weight of a dress - not too light to wrinkle or see through but not too heavy to be hot during the summer.  

Dressform pictures:

I have a ton more summer garments planned but of course never am able to sew it all up. Life is too busy. And now I'm tired of looking at my summer wardrobe and I'm ready for a change of color and of fabrics. Bring on the silks and the wools! I'm sewing for fall and winter from here on and already have a cardigan finished. Just have to get some pictures!

Note: This fabric was purchased with my Mood Fabrics monthly allowance, as part of my participation in the Mood Sewing Network.