Vogue 8684 Paisley Dress - Completed

I finished my dress today! Vogue 8684 is a simple pattern and easy to put together. The dress is very comfortable to wear.

The fabric was just so lovely to work with. This was my first time working with silk shantung and I found it much easier to handle than silk charmeuse or chiffon. Only difficulty I had with this fabric was a pattern placement. I decided not to match the print, however, the paisley motifs at the waist and the skirt on the right in the picture almost match unintentionally! It looks like I tried to match the matif and failed it! Well, except that, I love what I made.

You can read pattern and fabric detail here.


 



Inside view:

What did I do after finishing this dress? I ate doughnuts! Rhonda from Rhonda's Creative Life posted this wonderful recipe on her blog recently. I knew I was going to try it because I love simple cake doughnuts. It was easy to make and  fun to watch every doughnut puffed up really good. The sweetness was just right for me. You can find her recipe here.

Until next time, cheers to you all!

Vogue 8684 Paisley Dress

Since I have tremendous amount of fabric love, a starting point of my sewing project is often a fabric rather than a purpose. This project is no exception. The fabric is silk shantung from Elliott Berman Textiles. I bought two yards of this beautiful paisley silk few seasons ago.

Draped over the dress form

Pattern: Vogue 8684

I have been wanting to try this pattern because of the diagonal darts in the front bodice and the raglan sleeve. I thought it could be a charming day dress.

Vogue 8684

Pre-muslin Alteraion:

1. The length of the bodice was shortened by 1".

2. The center-back cutting line was redrawn straight. This is a must alteration for my thin back. Without this alteration I always have an air porket in the upper back regardless of which company's pattern I choose.

Back adjustment

3. Two pieces of sleeve pattern were merged into one piece. It is just my personal preference.

4. Misprinted circles on the bodice front piece were corrected. The small circle should be 3/8" away  from the cutting line yet it is printed 5/8" away. I moved both circles to the correct places.

Correcting the misprinted dots

I made a muslin out of $1/yard fabric from Walmart. The picture was taken after lowering the neckline.

Vogue 8684 muslin

Post-muslin alteration:

1. The neckline was too high for me. I made it 1" lower in the center front. This change made the neckline look more like a pattern envelope picture.

Lowering the neckline

2. I chose not to alter the skirt length. It hits my knee at the perfect place. This also means that the skirt will be short for the tall ladies. (I am 158cm/5'2" tall.)

3. I added lining. This was easily done by joining both fabric and lining together at the neck opening.

Adding the lining



Understitching

The bodice after adding the lining

The dress could be done last night but it did not happen due to an emergency - well, it was a very happy emergency. My friend called me just after midnight and told me that her water broke! I drove to her house in my PJ to babysit her two-year-old daughter. After eight hours later, she gave a birth to a beautiful boy! How exciting!!!

You will see my next post with pictures of my completed dress pretty soon since I only need to hem up the sleeve to finish it.

Until then, cheers to you all!