First Make in the New House

I think it's been like 2 months since I've sewn, but I'M BACK!! I obviously need to practice on the mirror shots again, at least until I dig out the tripod and find a good spot for self-timer photos. Did you forget what I look like? ;-)

Here's the dress on Zillie, where you can see the print better. This is a thoroughly aged buttermilk from Emma One Sock.

It felt good to have a sewing day, even if it was interrupted by a visit to the dentist and then 5 hours of numb face. And I didn't unpack even one box today which felt great too! But holy cow on the numb this time. Not only was my mouth numb, but I couldn't feel my nose or my eyeballs. My appointment was at 1:30 PM and I could feel my face again around 6:00 PM.

So, back to the sewing stuff …

Overall, this was a good pattern to jumpstart me back to garment sewing but I'm not head over heels in love with it yet. It's OK, though, and it will probably get a good amount of weekend wear since it's comfortable and easy to throw on. And it will likely grow on me after some time in the new magic wardrobe. It's not completely finished either. Still need to hem it and it's going to lose the ties hanging down from the neckline (too twee) and gain a belt/sash. I'll take more pics when it's completely done.

I read many of the reviews for this pattern (Vogue 1224) on PR and most of them advised to add length to the bodice as well as noting that the skirt was very short out of the envelope. So, like a lemming — a lemming too lazy to make a muslin — I went ahead and added an inch to the bodice length. I wish I hadn't. I think I'd actually prefer this waistline to be more empire-ish.

I didn't add length to the skirt because I didn't use the actual skirt pattern pieces. Since my Magic Pencil skirt pattern was handy, I got it out to lay over the Vogue skirt pieces for comparison. When I saw that my MP was an exact match for the size 16 skirt pieces, I decided to use the MP instead since I already knew it was the length I wanted. I cut a mostly 16 for the bodice but morphed to a 14 at the shoulders. Or what I think a 14 would be since this pattern didn't include an actual 14 in the envelope. It was pretty easy to just wing it based on the outward grading for the bigger sizes.I do like that the skirt is snug since peasant-all-over is not the way to look slimmer.

If you're familiar with this dress, you know about the weird sew-in interior elastic casing at the waist. Uh, no thank you. I just used the bodice/skirt joining seam allowances for the casing, folded upward and stitched down. I also did not line it, as the pattern calls for. No need for that either. Finally, I initially used the neckline elastic length per the pattern but ended up cutting about 6-8" off of that after seeing it was not nearly snug enough. I'm glad I went with the 14 shoulders cuz anything wider and my bra straps would be on display.


Parting Shot: The view out of my new sewing room window. It's very green and tropical out there, with a cute concrete table and benches. Kind of like the old McDonald's style. Plus, I can keep an eye on the dogs and their lizard hunting.