Vogue Pattern 8894...Makes me want to dance

Oh I have been wanting to sew a light, airy, summer dress for work; however, it needed to look professional too. So I started on a fabric hunt, and found a beautiful Maggie London cotton voile on sale from FabricMartFabrics.com .  Next, was the pattern, and Vogue 8894 (view A) was it. 

Here are the details:  Shell fabric: Maggie London cotton voile.  Inside fabric:  cotton lawn underlined bodice and cotton lawn lined skirt. French Seams and self bound seams for zipper.

Check out the photos:  

 

Inside front of dress

Inside: Underlined bodice and lined skirt in cotton lawn

 

Inside: back of dress

 

Adjustments:  lowered torso 1"  (which brings the dress waistline 1" above natural waistline), and shortened sleeves 1".  (Although, if I make another dress using this pattern, I will shortened the sleeves 1 1/2" ).  Rolled hem instead of narrow hem for skirt.  (The fabric I purchased was a little shy of the 60" required, so I didn't want it to be too short.  Although now that I have worn the dress, I could have made a narrow hem...oh well) I could have taken in the bodice slightly, but when I started the dress it was not as loose as when it was finished. Also, the zipper could have been shorter...definitely did not need the 22" .  Lastly, I did not raise the neckline.  I feel the lower neckline balances the abundant fabric in the skirt.


Yeah, I wore this dress to work on Saturday and received lots of compliments.  I told a pair of ladies that I feel like dancing in the dress, cause it feels so good. I think they thought "nutty sales person".........but seriously I do feel like dancing the tango or flamenco in it.  Check out my dance moves in the dress:

 

"Love the skirt"

 

 

 

3 Tops 1 Hot Pattern(s)

Since the start of summer I decided I needed some lightweight tops... I am really not a big fan of t-shirts for going out in public.  Anyway, I was cruising Fabric.com's website in search for some cotton voile and cotton lawn. (Truth be told, even in the mountains, it gets pretty hot and steamy, especially in July.)  Anyway, while on their site I found this wonderful free download pattern, called the Gypsophelia Peasant Top from Hot Patterns and the suggested fabrics were cotton voile and wovens.  Finding a cute cotton voile print, I decided I had to use the peasant top pattern for the fabric.  Eventually, I ended up making three tops. Here are the details:

Fabrics used:  Cotton print voile, cotton gauze and rayon challis.  Adjustments:  Initially I cut the pattern for a "big 4" pattern size.....however, it ended up being 2 sizes too large. (Alas, I did make a muslin first so it was no big deal.) This pattern is sized for ready to wear.  So if you are a size 12 usually in tops then that is what size you should cut for this pattern. Oh, I do love that french seams are used to sew this pattern.  Although, I wasn't happy about the 3/8" seam allowance.  Also, I did lower the keyhole shape in the neckline....I felt it was too close to my neck and was choking me. 

 My favorite top out of the three I made from this pattern is the white cotton voile in a kimono print from Fabric.com.  This was the third time sewing the top, so I knew all my adjustments.

Cotton Voile Print

Here is the first top I made using the pattern.....a black cotton gauze from my stash.  I believe I picked this fabric from Hancock Fabrics when it was in the "everyday deal section."  Fortunately the fabric was 60" wide; which is what the pattern calls for.

Cotton Gauze

Here is a detail shot of the cotton gauze top with a beautiful glass necklace by Jennifer Kelting.  Jennifer is a local Asheville glass artist.  Her work is uber cute, feminine and we sell her work at Bella Vista Art Gallery ........so I get to wear her jewelry whenever I want!

Flower Glass Necklace

Finally, I made this cute top from a border print rayon challis.  I am not a huge fan of rayon but I love the border.  Also, I am completely aware of how cheesy this photo is.....really I was trying to show off the border.




Cheesy Photo Trying to Show Border Print