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Tuesday, August 14, 2012

Pattern review: Vogue 8742

Well, it started off on a seemingly good foot. Orange dress pressed and ready to go? Check! Heels relatively clean and unscuffed? Check! Slick of neutral lippie? Check! Hooray, let's go take some photos!

I really should have checked with the wind in regard to the hair, because the wind totally did not want to play ball. I lasted about 2 minutes, and then gave up and shoved the tresses back into the usual bun. So excuse the coiff (I try to, on a daily basis) and let's talk DRESS!
Orange Dress Finished #6

Orange Dress Finished #5

Is this dress me, or is it me? (Correct answer: it's very me!) It's bright! It's comfy! It needs to be worn with a statement necklace! I'm in love!

It was really very easy to sew up - the hardest part was doing the gathering, and even that was fairly simple as far as these things go. I quite like how slim the sleeves are, which is a very good thing - so often on a knit dress pattern you end up with quite wide sleeves that seem to do nothing but flap around in the wind, and since I was having enough wind issues as was, I was happy that my nice slight sleeves were behaving themselves when I braved the elements for the photo shoot.

The fabric used is a merino wool knit from The Fabric Store. It really is the perfect weight for a dress like this - not quite as thick as a ponti, but heavier than a t-shirt jersey weight. It sewed up like a dream, pressed up well and is the most awesome sort of orange around!

The really fun thing about this pattern was using bias binding tape to finish the neck edge. It was a simple, quick and easy way to give a neckline a lovely finish. I'd never put bias tape onto a jersey knit before, but this is one little trick that I'll be using again!

All the hems have been double stitched to give the appearance of a coverstitch finish. I used my knit stitch on all seams, but not for the hems. Instead, I increased my stitch length, and that gave it enough 'give' to handle a bit of fabric stretching without snapping. I much prefer a straight stitch hem finish to the knit stitch one - I find that the knit stitch can look messy, even when sewn in a perfectly straight line.

All in all, this is a terrific pattern that has resulted in a great looking, easy to wear dress. I might even make a sleeveless version out of cotton jersey for summer!

Project Details
Pattern: Vogue 8742, view B, size 8
Fabric: 1.3m of merino wool jersey knit (medium weight) from The Fabric Store.
Notions: Hook and eye for back closure, bias binding tape.

Note: Because there is a lot of long seams in this garment, I went through two reels of cotton making it, so if you decide you are going to make one yourself, grab that extra reel!

20 comments:

  1. Anonymous2:30 pm

    Brilliant job!!!!! a sleeveless version will look fabulous too :)

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  2. Way totally spunkalicious. You are definitely the poster girl for orange!

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  3. I love your dress - its delicious and looks fabulous on you. I made a cardigan from the same orange merino, be sure to drip dry and it needs more than a 'courtesy iron'.

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  4. Thanks for the advice, Gail!

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  5. Anonymous5:03 pm

    Fabulous dress! Are you planning to get it dry cleaned or will your fabric stand washing?

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  6. Hiya Janessewandtell,

    The fabric stood up well to the original wash on a gentle cycle in our front loader, so I'll keep washing it at home (although I might play it safe and do a hand wash from now on...)

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  7. Love! So bright, so stylish. It's a winner!

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  8. Not many people could look that good in an orange dress with side gathers.
    ...I know that I wouldn't.

    Stunning!

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  9. You've done it to me again! I have so many things I'm excited about, in a long queue, but now I want to make this instead. Pattern on order!

    You've done a great job of this dress, as always. It looks so well made and really suits you!

    I like bias edges too. Facings = yuk!

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  10. this is awesome. i never would have picked this pattern, but the orange makes it so young and hip.

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  11. Great dress and I love the color. I can see you wearing this a lot in the fall weather. Also, thanks for explaining more about merino wool. I'll have to pick some up. You described it so well! Wonderful job =)

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  12. So lovely! What a fantastic color!

    strugglesewsastraightseam.wordpress.com

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  13. LOVE LOVE LOVE! You and this dress look sensational.

    This is everything I love in a dress! Bright colour, covers everything up but shows off the figure. I wore a dress in almost this exact shade on Monday and it certainly gets noticed.

    I might have to get this pattern! And thanks for the link for Merino Wool I have been wondering where to get some from. FYI, their website does not seem to be working at the moment. or is that me?

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  14. Thanks Roxy!

    I have no idea what is going on with their website. Fingers crossed that it comes back soon!

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  15. Beautiful! And the statement necklace is THE perfect adornment! You are right this is your dress.

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  16. Wow! The dress looks awesome, and gorgeous on you! A sleeveless version would be great.

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  17. This dress is amazing! Bravo! It's so beautiful...you're making me want to try that pattern. :)

    -Ash P
    http://distractedashley.blogspot.com

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  18. Instead of two rows of stitching on the hems use a 1/4 inch spaced twin needle and do the job in one pass.

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  19. Great dress! Fab color that suits you very well

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  20. I admire your talent so much! I must admit am totally envious everytime I see what you have made yourself. How do you find the time? I only have myself to look after and can't seem to get it together! Love your style!

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