Tuesday, December 24, 2013

Pattern Review: Vogue 8766 aka The Sparkly Christmas Dress

My favourite dark pink colour? Check. Lots of sparkle? Check. Crooked hair do? Check. Supercute, glam yet oddly comfortable? Check checkity check! Folks, we've got a winning Christmas dress here!

Christmas Dress #5


Christmas Dress #3


Christmas Dress #1

I quite enjoyed making this dress, in a nerdy oh-look-how-I'm-sewing-this-part kind of way. I mean, underlining! That was awesome fun, yet so easy. I can't believe how easy it was - you just pop the pieces of fabric on top of each other, sew around the edges to create one single piece, then continue sewing the dress together as per usual. Looks so impressive, but was easy as pie. I'm an underlining fan now, guys!

The dress was made with a sheer sparkly Marc Jacobs lurex blend fabric, which I placed on top of a dark fuchsia medium weight silk. The dress is then fully lined, with boning in the bodice. I'm LOVING the Marc Jacobs sparkle - I feel like I have designer threads at a home made price. Yippee!

The only thing I would change is how the lining is constructed. Instead of doing the bodice lining separately, then attaching the lining and skirt together (which made putting in the zip a bit messy) I would have sewn the lining fully together, then attached it, doing a sly hand tack along the bodice/skirt seam to attach the lining to the dress. But that's just me.

I also put in an invisible zipper, rather than a dress zipper, as I think they look only about one billion times better. The hem was also lengthened, as the original dress came in pretty darn short. Surely the good folk over at Vogue Patterns know it's either bosoms or legs, not both? I've already had one pink slut sack disaster this year. I sure didn't need another!

One thing to keep in mind is that this dress does require a LOT of hand stitching. The hem is hand stitched, as is the bodice and skirt lining along the zip line, and then the bodice lining is hand stitched to the skirt. So even thought this dress was easy to put together, it was also quite time consuming. Not a dress to make in a hurry.

All in all, very pleased how this one turned out. I think I might need to restitch my hem lining, as it sits a bit funny when on (looks perfect on the hanger, though - always the way!), but apart from that it's ready to roll on Christmas Day. It was a fun dress to make - so fun that I might have treated myself to some green lace to make another one. Hey, gotta make sure there's one fabric-based present under the tree!

Speaking of all things yuletide, I'd like to wish all my readers a brilliant, happy and safe holiday/Christmas season. Thanks for reading and for not groaning too loudly at all my daft jokes, and I'll catch you all in 2014!

Project Details
Pattern: Vogue 8766, view A
Fabric: 1.2m sheer Marc Jacobs lurex blend fabric, 1.2m medium weight silk for underlining, 1.3m rayon for lining
Notions: 35cm invisible zipper, covered boning for bodice, hook and eye


13 comments:

  1. Haaaawwwttt! This dress is a total winner! It fits you like a glove and has just the right amount of attitude. Ps your hair and shoes look awesome! Xx

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  2. Super cute, and glam, definitely! wishing you a very Merry Christmas :)

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  3. Oh this is fabulous! Somehow the shape of the bodice is more risqué than v8184. Love it - this dress is really special!

    I cut another v8184 out back in August (I know. It was yonks ago). It was for a party but in the end I wore something else. Anyway, the fabric is black, hand painted silk and it's underlined with lilac silk taffeta. I've been feeling bad about it for months but you have inspired me to finish it. I love underlining too. My tartan wedding outfit is underlined in stiff dupion and it makes all the difference.

    I hope you have a wonderful Christmas and new year. You would have sparkled even without the dress but now you'll be knockout!

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  4. Oh that is fabulous! LOOOOVE the sparkly pink fabric for a holiday dress.... really I'd just wear that dress anytime! Thanks for sharing!

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  5. You look amazing. Gorgeous dress. Love the colour, love the Sparta, love everything.
    I wish you and your family a merry Christmas.

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  6. Wow. You look amaaaaazing. Can you fall asleep on the couch after lunch in that frock? Or do we have different ideas of what to do on Christmas day?!
    Merry Christmas to the three of you from the four of us!

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  7. You look absolutely fabulous, so bravo! I like underlining for things too but jeepers that does sound like a fair bit of hand sewing, I think I would go my own way when a pattern gets that crazy! ha ha
    p.s.
    Love the reference about bosom or legs and I couldn't agree more!

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  8. Anonymous6:49 am

    Gorgeous! Perfect for summer parties! I love the sparkles too. I'm such a magpie!

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  9. Anonymous4:39 am

    va va voom! you look amazing in this! I hope you had a wonderful holiday wearing this number :)

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  10. Love this dress! This colour looks amazing on you. No wonder it is your favourite pink.

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  11. Hot! Your dress is wonderful, you look gorgeous.

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  12. beautiful - but it is winter time isn't ???????

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  13. Anonymous2:12 am

    I love it and that colour looks AMAZING on you! :)

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