Oh Vogue 1314, how doth I love thee? Let me count the ways… I love thee more than the first version that I made last week. I love thy print. I love thy feel. I love that thou art nearly in my wardrobe.
Dear readers, welcome to my second rendition of this great pattern. Made from Tessuti’s Tile Print fabric (92% viscose, 8 % elastane with a weight of 250 gsm) from the Melbourne store and underlined with a Gorman silk jersey, this dress is a dream! I did make some adjustments to this version. Firstly, I reduced the spread of the gathers. The top gathering point was lowered to the first notch and the bottom gathering point was raised 8 inches. I am much happier with the result. The second alternation was minor and involved setting in the sleeve at 1 cm instead of the printed 1.5 cm. I did this to accommodate by broadish shoulders.
Now to a brief teaching session… A la a previous post, I have a definite preference for pin basting to set in sleeves instead of the gathering between notches and drawing up alternative. I thought I would share with you how the process works on stretch fabric. Firstly, I always work with the larger piece on top as this allows me to clearly see any puckers as they arise.
I then work my way around the sleeve, pinning closely together. This sleeve required 67 pins!
And then off I go. I do sew over my pins, particularly the ones that are close together.
Usually, my pinning creates a path for my 5/8″ seam allowance but as I narrowed it for this project I was sewing above my path. Overall, this process works as beautifully on stretch as it does on woven fabrics and continues to be my method of choice for sleeve insertion.
Now, this dress is not quite finished but I thought I would show you what it looks like. FYI: I have already turned under the sleeve length in this shot.
Just some hemming to do: skirt, sleeves, and neck binding. The sleeves and overall length are too long for me so ignore the unflattering leg shot! I also have a preference for hand stitching all my hems and I will certainly be doing that with this dress as I don’t want to spoil the print with an unattractive line.
Until next time, keep chatting quietly amongst yourselves.
Feature Zip 
I’m so tempted to get this pattern… but I already have so many!! LOL
Well, I think the dress would look gorgeous on you so I think you should get it!
Thank you – just the encouragement I need 🙂
i dont think you have used enough pins, im sure you could have squeezed in a few more!
I could have but didn’t want to look like an overachiever!
Just love to follow your sewing projects. It inspires me to get out the machine.
Get it out, dust it off, and let’s get sewing! Glad to be of some inspiration!
Winner! You did a fine job readjusting those gathers – it looks really fabulous. I’m going to give pin-basting a try, though I don’t think I’m brave enough to sew over them.
I only use Clover Silk Pins for 99% of my sewing and they are fine to sew over. I also do slow down! However, if you read over my other pin basting post you can see that I didn’t sew over pins; rather, I basted on either side of the seam allowance instead. Give it a go as it does work beautifully. Good luck and thanks for commenting!
Nicely done. I sew over pins too XD