Peak pattern perfection, 2nd time with Vogue 8904, the shingle dress

Prepare for Stripe-a-palooza! I just made that up. I have stripe-itis this summer. For some reason I have acquired a bunch of striped fabrics and and am sewing up a stripe-y storm. Which is so weird, as I don't think I had anything striped before I made this outfit. That one was kind of a tour de force of stripe-ishness and won't be repeated. Although I told myself to make the skirt again, as it was very fun. Uh, wait. My first stripe item precedes the bias stripe one, and it is this very pattern we are discussing today. Vogue 8904.
Wow, I am rambling this morning. I got 8.5 hours of sleep last night so ENERGY! And it is Saturday morning! woo hoo!  Slight aside, I usually write my blog posts throughout the week, finish them up and hit post on Friday but today you have Saturday morning stream of consciousness blog post. We'll see how that goes :)
Back to the topic at hand, Vogue 8904, a.k.a The Shingle Dress. which I think was coined by my friend Shams. This pattern is a couple of years old now, and there were a flurry of versions that first year but I finally got around to it last year. And was barely satisfied with that one, which was kind of a test version in my mind.
And now the latest version.




Pattern Love !  This one is a winner and maybe I should retire it as I finally found the exact fabric and color way that I had envisioned. I guess this is a ponte knit? Or something like that. I rarely sew with ponte knits so I am not that familiar. In any case a beefier knit that rayon jersey or cotton interlock. Which is really perfect for this dress, it gives it a little more shape and body than a thin knit.
I bought it at Stone Mountain a couple of months ago so I am sure it is long gone. Not sure if you can tell but it is navy blue with emerald green. A very Kate Spade combo.

Sewing details, not that many. If you are interested in sewing this pattern I have details in the first version post. Including how to adjust the shingles so that in the back they don't crumple across your back or bottom (which if you have a substantial backside and are on the short side as I am is quite likely) a genius solution which I didn't come up with. Read that post and see how it is helpful to have sewing friends examine your rear view :)

Yes, I am so hot I have to wear shades. Ha ha,  more like it is 100˚F and time to change into my swimsuit for a dip. Now I know why dusk is the magic time for blog photos. less sweating and glare :)



Back view. My slim-hipped form does not fill out a dress like I do. Annoying.




I was quite stumped when I first used this pattern how to get the stripes to match on the side but Shams to the rescue, in one of our conversations she said the trick was to put the bottom cutting edge of the shingle on the same spot on every pattern piece. And that works perfectly. Although see top back shingle here - I evidently didn't finish cutting that piece so could not figure out why it didn't match up correctly on the other side. Duh! fixed now. But I could not see the problem looking at it closely for a couple of days. Example of "can't see the forest for the trees".



I love how the binding turned out on this version. I plotted, planned and carefully pressed to have that green stripe on the edge everywhere. I think it ties the whole look together.  Also on the previous version of this dress, I made the stripe binding at right angles to the dress body. While it looks great it was terrible to sew and proved why knit bindings need to be on the cross grain.




Not sure why this is, perhaps by pattern alterations  - grading between sizes from top to bottom on both versions of this dress I have some triangle-y stick out bits on the edge of the shingles. which I just chop off and it seems to work perfectly. After this version I have concluded that it is the difference in stretch factor between the inner knit lining and the outer fabric. Whatever, even with that little adjustment the stripes still match and that is all that matters.



Here is the pattern for this dress. I think the envelope versions are awful, and they look like they belong in a stylish vampire movie. If I had not seen this pattern sewn up by others I would not have given it a chance. thank you internet!



A look at my dress in the slightly better lighting. This is one of the most comfortable dresses in my wardrobe. A great twist on the classic sheath dress. Plus a chance to wear my green sandals. Too matchy? too bad I like them :)



So that's the latest stripe update. More bulletins to come. I posted another stripe item on my Instagram a few days ago for the #sewphotohop,  day 3: Colorful. and the fabric was a winner. So that one will be coming up soon.
I am enjoying the #sewphotohop - typically I am not much for blog tours or hops or whatever but it is a fun way to find out what is going on and hopefully discover some new to me blogs (a few weeks in and I still wish people blogged more instead of just instagrammed but that's probably just me. Reading long form sewing posts - I like to get the details!)

Ok, off to savor the weekend. Happy sewing, Beth

and today's SunnyGal garden photo. This is a really interesting Salvia I bought at the local junior college horticultural department's plant sale. I have gotten some great stuff there, such a good resource. The tag says "salvia darcyi" and it has curly stalks and stems so I have not quite decided on a spot for it. Still in the pot but it needs a sunny spot.