Presenting the Spotty Dress!

Jorth sat in the counseller's office in a mood of utmost despair. Leaning forward on her chair she declared "It's just becoming ridiculous! I feel like it's taking over my life. I can't eat, I can't sleep - all I can do is think about... about... making more!", finishing the sentence in a rush before despondantly slouching in her chair.

The counsellor, after making a few notes in the ubiquitous notepad resting on his lap asked "And when did this obsession with Vogue 8184 begin?"

"I can trace it back to the first one I ever made", said Jorth. "It fitted so well, and even though it was only intended as a day dress, being made as it was out of patchwork cotton, it got compliments wherever I went. Fuelled by the buzz of admiration, I soon made a green one with a halter and straight skirt, then a red spotted one with a full skirt I gathered in random sections, then a bird one for a friend, and now this spotty number. And now all I want to make is Vogue Bloody Eight Bloody One Eight Four. I feel I can't even show my face out in public whilst wearing one, just in case people point their fingers at me and say "Look, there goes the 8184 girl!"

Sitting across from her in his chair, the counsellor stroked his chin thoughtfully before saying, "Well, there is something we can do this fix that particular problem..."

"Hmm", though Jorth. "Brilliant in theory, but I don't know how much longer I can get around like this. My arms are beginning to hurt!"

Project Details

Pattern: Vogue 8184, size 8, View D
Fabric: Japanese 100% Cotton from Tessuti Fabrics
Notions: One 35cm (14") zipper, covered boning

Like I explained above, I do have a wee obsession with this pattern. I just can't get enough of it. I had a couple of slight issues with this dress: first one was that I needed 1.3m of fabric, but only had a 1m remnant, so there was quite a bit of mucking around trying to get all of the pattern pieces to fit. I ended up having to cut the front skirt piece in two separate pieces, which means there is a seam in the middle. To be honest, I'm not exactly thrilled about that, but still love the dress nevertheless.

The second issue was getting the fit correct around the bust. I put boning in, as being strapless the dress needed that extra bit of structure, but then found that the bust was a tad gappy. Only by about 1cm either side, but just enough to bother me. The obvious solution would have been to unpick the bodice and take it in 1cm on the side seam near the bust line, but I knew if I did I wouldn't be able to breath as I rode my bike to work wearing it. Trust me, the boning made taking deep breaths hard enough.

So what's a less-than-well-endowed girl to do? Invest in a good strapless bra, that's what. That way I can fill out the dress properly yet still breath. Hoorah!