Vogue 9076

There is so much I love about this dress! Where do I even begin?

Let's start with the 1940s shirt dress vibe. I'm totally crushing into this style - you should see how many 1940s vintage shirt dresses I have pinned on Pinterest! This pattern captures that style perfectly - feminine, sweet, yet practical enough to do a days work in it and then look fancy for cocktails afterwards. That's my kinda dress! I'm a busy lady - my dresses need to keep up!

I was a little trepidatious when it came to the gathered sections on the bust. Would they pouf out and make me suddenly look like a size 36DD instead of my usual minuscule bust size? Fears were allayed - the fit on this is perfection! Phew! Likewise with the gathers on the back - they sit out perfectly, giving texture without adding any inches.






Also, this project taught me a new skill - making my own covered buttons. It was so much fun... I almost began to cover everything I owned in buttons, but managed to restrain my buttony impulses. But seriously, they look perfect on this dress, so I'm really glad I did them. Plus I used up cord left over from my Frocktails 2017 dress for the button loops - recycle for the win!




My only quibble with this dress is that my machine did NOT like the embroidered dots on the fabric. It quietly groaned at me every time I sewed over one, and it did make it a bit tricky to get perfect square corners with the swiss dots in the way. My overlocker, however, threw an absolute hissy fit over going over those dots, and in the end I gave it up as a bad job and zig zagged my edges instead. Total princesses, both my machines! That aside, the cotton is lovely. And the perfect fit for this style of dress.

So my friends, I LOVE LOVE LOVE this dress so much! It was a lot of work, but totally worth it in the end. I feel so sophisticated and elegant in it, and feel it work perfectly not only as a work dress, but also as a wedding guest outfit, or as an extra in a fancy post war movie (HINT HINT MOVIE PRODUCERS! I COME WITH MY OWN WARDROBE!)

Pattern: Vogue 9076, View C
Fabric: Cotton Swiss dot from The Cloth Shop, about 2 years ago
Notions: Interfacing, 13 covered buttons, cord for button loops.