Dressmaking With Vogue 8766

I haven’t made myself a dress in quite some time. I always realize what I want to wear (and what I don’t have) when I need it. I’m trying to change that. I’m sure many of you have noticed as I have that many sewists are taking to creating their own collections. I’m currently participating in the Seamwork Magazine “Design Your Wardrobe” course which has really made me think about this more and more. This has been four weeks of information and inspiration and is designed specifically for sewers. So, I consider this dress the first piece in my mini-collection.

Vogue 8766

I used stretch cotton sateen for this (I’ve had this material for about 2 years now). I’m not sure if the pattern is still available because I’ve had that for a while too.

In fact, when I was looking for a pattern to use, I realized that I had bought this one twice! I made View F for may dress (without the ribbon tie).

Although I had more than enough fabric, I did have an issue getting the skirt cut out correctly and I basically had to make some changes so it would fit the fabric.

But I’m really happy with the way it came out. I’m currently making a black knit jacket to go with the dress as part of my “collection”.

If you have this pattern I would certainly recommend making it. There are a lot of options including many for warmer weather. I hope to have my other pieces ready to share with you soon. I think that thinking in terms of “collection” sewing will solve my problem of having several pieces, but not necessarily having things that go together, at least not initially. My goal is to have a more cohesive look with pieces that I can mix and match.

Quick and Easy Vogue 8750 Skirt

I recently had to attend a memorial service and I needed something to wear. Fortunately, I tried on some clothes the day before the event and realized that what I had just wouldn’t do. The dress and skirt were too small. Luckily, I had a piece of black fabric in my stash and this pattern:

I decided on View A because I had just enough fabric to make it (less than a yard). I used a polyester crepe material for this. The lines in this pattern make a simple fitted skirt much more interesting.

The back yoke makes fitting the skirt much easier. While this pattern looks complicated, I assure you it’s not. I finished this is about 4 hours. The skirt is unlined and I think that the next time, I will draft a lining pattern for it.

I didn’t add any design changes or alterations to this since I was in a time crunch. I also don’t think it needs anything (except the lining). The skirt fit perfectly just making it out of the envelope.

Simple, easy, comfortable and quick are the keys to this Vogue Options pattern!

Work in progress… Vogue 8758

This is a different kind of post for me. Normally, I don’t tell you what I’m working on. It’s not that I don’t want anyone to know or that it’s some kind of secret. It’s because I’m always thinking “what if I mess this up” or “what if I get bored with this and don’t finish it?”. So I’m taking a chance – LOL! I started making this dress about a week ago, and honestly wanted it finished last weekend, but I didn’t quite make my self-imposed timeline. Anyway, I’m almost done.

My version will have 3/4 sleeves. I am determined to use some of my massive stash of fabric. So I had the black fabric (polyester gabardine), but I didn’t have enough of the burgundy/black (poly wool blend) to make long sleeves, so I had to shorten them. So far, so good. I’m trying to finish this sooner than later so I can move on to other things. Maybe by the time I’m done, I can think of some place to go so I can wear it (my anniversary is coming up next month…)!