Vintage Vogue DVF wrap dress V1610

Do you ever have a sewing idea in your head and it comes out exactly as you imagined? I don't really plan my sewing very much, I see a pattern or a fabric and then I figure out what to make. I'm not really a wardrobe planner - that doesn't seem very fun to me, I just go where my mood takes me. But ever since I found this vintage Vogue pattern I knew just the look I wanted and it came out perfectly.

Once we get out of lockdown you might see me wearing this dress all the time! (actually probably not because by then I will have even more random and unnecessary new garments to wear :)




Here is the treasure that I found at a sewing guild stash sale. They often sell patterns for 25 cents so if I see any old Vogue designer patterns I snap them up, more for the fun of a vintage pattern than for any intention of sewing them. But this one I definitely knew I would sew up.




To me there is something delightful about these old Vogue American Designer patterns - they are just so casually chic and stylish. And look - this is a Very Easy Vogue, that's interesting that it was categorized as easy. According to the Vintage pattern Wiki its from Jan/Feb 1977. Vogue 1610 Diane Von Furstenberg wrap dress, for stretch knits only.  Do you ever look at that Vintage pattern Wiki? lots of interesting stuff there.

And this is not THE DVF wrap dress, which is Vogue 1549 but this is a slightly different design, with a gathered skirt and a neck band with no collar.




This fabric is from Girl Charlee, they still have some in stock. I used another of their pink/navy knits for a top which I wear a lot. 

Let's talk a little about fit, and knits now versus back in 1977. I think back then the knits were less stretchy, think of more like a cotton interlock and perhaps the fabrics were even only a single stretch direction (crossways grain) instead of the more common printed knits we find now which have 4 way stretch (and sometimes too much).

Check out the stretch guide at the bottom of the pattern envelope. It says the knit should stretch "to here only". I don't think I've seen that on a pattern recently but it explains the issue with this dress and using a 4-way stretch knit.



When I bought this pattern I wanted to make it up right away, and to try it out I bought some truly terrible knit fabric at Joann, on a super sale couple so the investment was minimal.




I sewed it up and you can see what happens on my dress form, the waist seam migrates downward due to the stretch of the fabric. It might not seem bad here but putting in on it was atrocious. Also this fabric had a weird fuzzy feel that made me dislike it even more. Out!

Flash forward to this year when I REALLY wanted the bright pink and navy fabric to work for this dress, and the answer as usual with knits is to line the bodice in a lightweight knit fabric with no lengthwise stretch. I've mentioned doing this before in other posts. The fabric I use to line knits is something I get at Joann's called Jet Set knit. I have no idea what it's for, I usually find it in the aisle with the dance wear knits. It comes in white, black, navy, beige although the stock is hit or miss. Also in purple as evidenced by my use of that color here. Which I found in my lining bin. Thank goodness for my lining bin which sometimes seems like Mary Poppins' travel bag as I seem to find all kind of magic in it which I have no recollection of putting in there. Note - when I go to fabric swaps or stash sales and I see some bargain which has lining potential I spend the $ 2 or $5 or whatever and stash it away. Look how useful these things are! (red coat with hot pink lining)

So the answer to the issue of too much length in the cotton jersey is to underline the front and back bodice with this stable lightweight knit fabric. Problem solved, the bodice now will not stretch from the weight of the skirt and the seam stays at the waist.



I treated the knit lining pieces and the bodice front and back as one, and only put the lining there, not in the sleeves.  The goal was to change the degree of vertical stretch for the bodice pieces. I could tell that the bodice length was OK, it was just the stretch that was the problem.



To double check that I overlaid a pattern piece from a different knit wrap dress and saw that the length was very similar. I like the fit of that Butterick pattern so I determined that the Vogue would be fine if I could reduce the vertical stretch. Note that a number of the modern Vogue designer patterns I've sewn have lining in knit dresses, probably to control the stretch although some are to add a framework for the twisty details on the outer fabric, such as this dress.




Why the glass of wine? I finished this dress on the first weekend of the lockdown and posted this on my Instagram on April 4, for #virtualfrocktails. Looking back now I see that we were fortunate in the SF bay area to have had our Frocktails event in the end of Feb - which I almost missed due to having that nasty flu bug. But I will take that instead of this current virus.

Back to sewing details. Unusual for me I made almost no changes to this pattern, I think I shortened it by maybe 2 inches? and then once I finished it I thought the sleeves were just a tiny bit too long so I turned them up another 1/2".



As you can see in the photo with the wine glass, this dress does have pockets. Which are probably useless for putting anything into, since a pocket in a knit dress is going to be a bit saggy. But they are perfect for putting your hands in. Although they are maybe the tiniest pocket pattern pieces I've ever seen.  For pockets in almost anything, if I'm going to use the fashion fabric for the back pocket piece I like to use some lining fabric for the front, so that as the pocket bag lays against the front skirt it is slippery and doesn't stick to the outer fabric. Not the cutest picture below but you get the idea.



Let's talk inside finishing. I am far from a stickler about how things look on the inside, and I find using the serger to finish seams on knits completely useless. The fabric is never going to unravel and to me it just adds bulk and more steps in the sewing.




Yep - that's how I leave it. After this I did trim the seam allowances of the sleeves at the underarm but otherwise nothing else.

In all these pictures I must confess that my eye goes straight to the hem, where the skirt under layer is sticking out a bit below the top layer. So I'll have to fix that before I wear it out and about. It was actually freezing when I ran outside to take these pictures - and fussing about perfection was not in the cards. Thankfully spring has arrives since then and the weather is glorious. On the down side, I've had to start watering the plants - no spring rain for us and I think it will be another terribly dry summer.



When it comes to hems on knits I don't have a coverstitch machine and I've never found the twin needle thing to work for me. My go-to method for hems on knits is to put a small strip of fusible knit interfacing in the hem allowance, so that the machine stitching is going through both the fashion fabric as well as one layer of interfacing. This gives the hem just the right amount of weight and avoids the ripply situation you can get on knit hems. Then I hand stitched the corner so that nothing was sticking out below the hem edge.



So that's the scoop on this vintage Vogue pattern. I might even sew it up again, the sleeveless version is calling my name as well. Liking the longer length is something that surprised me, I usually don't make my dresses much past mid-knee as I think the longer length makes me look short but perhaps this works. I'll have to see how I like it with flat sandals.

Item # 2 of my quarantine sewing completed and documented. Up next, I finished a silk top from a New Look pattern that I saw somewhere and had to have. And then my denim blazer, almost done except for the buttonholes however that reveal will have to wait until I complete the jeans and have the full pantsuit. (having doubts about the outfit potential but will make the whole suit just for the fun of it).




I hope everyone is well and doing OK with the current situation. Stay safe and keep sewing!

Beth

Today's garden photo is this fantastic tulip - it's so dark and saturated in color. A nice surprise among the mystery tulip bulbs that were planted last fall.

Girl Charlee knits: a Vogue dress and a new Burda pattern

Recently I've had a string of good luck at finding some great fabrics at garage and guild sales. I was just looking admiringly at the pile yesterday, a bright pink eyelet is calling out to be sewn up into something summery. But when it comes to knit fabrics I almost never find anything good at these kinds of sales, perhaps because people are delving into their "sort of vintage" stashes in order to donate/sell, and mostly that means wovens.

So when I am in the mood for some bright knit prints I can always find something at Girl Charlee. I know some people have had mixed results when ordering from them but I think about 90% of the fabrics I've ordered have been great. I stick to the cotton/lycra blend or the cotton jersey, and haven't tried any of the other fabrics. Looking through my old blog posts I've sewn quite a few things with their fabrics, this one might be my favorite  - and possibly get worn next week for 4th of July!

First up was a new to me knit t-shirt pattern that will surely become a pattern repeat. Burda 6329 envelope pattern.



I love this color combo. You can't really see the details of the knit top in this photo but here is a better look.



It has 4 pleats at the front neckline, the back neck is smooth. Plus raglan sleeves. I chose the flutter sleeve and cut it out as shown on the pattern envelope, but lopped off about 3 inches as I just prefer shorter short sleeves. I'm sure I'll make it again, particularly the long sleeved version in the fall. It would be so nice in silk jersey. The pattern envelope not very inspiring but the line drawings sold me.

     

For this one I tried a smaller size at the neckline and shoulders, so I cut a 10 there, then a 12 at the bust and a 14 at the hip. I think this might be my new way of doing Burda knits, as I often feel the necklines are too wide for me but this one felt great.
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And now for a knit dress. Navy blue and green is a combo that Heather really likes so I happened to see this fabric and ordered it on a whim. Turned out to be just her color combo so we decided to use it for another version of Vogue 8787 which I first made for her in 2015. I think this one is the 4th version, it's a great pattern.
With a soft jersey the neckline drapes really well. The front is self lined and I do line the rest of the dress with a knit lining, look at the post linked above to see details.



This fabric has a distinctly vertical print so having a pattern that changes due to the bias in the top could have been wonky but I think adds more visual interest to the front. It's not yet hemmed in this picture below but I like the way the print changes due to the bias cut. The skirt is cut on the fold on the straight grain. In a stripe this dress would also be interesting. I guess this fabric really is a stripe hiding among the dotty print.



Unfortunately I didn't get a photo of the dress on Heather.  This pattern was a bit tricky to fit but also had the advantage of being a knit, so there are no bust darts or seaming to deal with. Often you can find the right size for the circumference but the problem with pattern fit is needing more length over the bust. Here's a rough diagram of the changes I made to the pattern.



A couple of things to note, I often raise the armhole, while leaving the bodice length as is, or even adding length. Since patterns are made for a person 5'5" to 5'6", the full busted figure might take up some of the height differential over the bust, but the armhole depth is too much. And in a sleeveless dress that doesn't look good! I did add more length in the bodice front, and then since it is a knit I gathered just that section to make the side seam length match the back. It works well and I often add this bust shaping on knit items. The back length is reduced a good amount also, due to being shorter than the standard back waist length and very straight posture (admirable!).
Anyway - with some knit patterns you can get away with small tweaks that won't show in the final result.
Here's the pattern envelope.



And here's my latest sewing room tool. I can't believe I didn't have one of these already. Found it at the thrift store, there were 2 of them and they were $ 5 each. Now why didn't I buy the other one for a friend? who knows? Maybe I'll go back and see if it's still there.



So that's the latest on my knit sewing. Up next, I'm making a version of the Zadie jumpsuit so I can wear that when I teach that class in late July. Which is sold out so we've scheduled another one on Sept.22. In fact most all my classes in July and August are full - which is great. So much sewing enthusiasm!! There are a few spots still open in the Myosotis Dress class, and then in September we have the How to Copy a Garment. After that we are planning a jeans jacket class, plus a few other new ones.

But I have a few unselfish sewing projects to do in the meanwhile, including a new tunic top for my mom to wear to her birthday party. Plus there are a few dresses calling my name in the recent issues of Burda magazine (what else is new).



So onward with seasonal sewing, a bit of gardening and a lot of relaxing and enjoying the summer.

Happy Sewing, Beth

A perfect penstemon to match my pink top. I just had great success with making new plants from cuttings from my existing penstemon so my garden will be full of them. A lot of these are California natives that do really well in dry conditions. so my ideal plant, low water requirements and lots of pink flowers.

A skirt, a top, a dress, with a tropical theme

It is safe to say there are some tropical or novelty prints that I find irresistable. Particularly palm trees, or as demonstrated earlier this summer, pineapples. Also I really like Girl Charlee fabrics, they hit my sweet spot of colorful, not too pricey, lots of prints, stuff I don't see in local shops and all around cheerfulness in their array of fabrics. I do find their emails baffling, what is a Knit Fix? OK - please don't answer, I don't need to know. But I have adjusted my email preferences so that I don't get every one of their promos. I guess it is some type of sale where you get a big bundle of fabrics without choosing what is in it, and then people sell/trade for the ones they want.  I suppose it works well but I don't need to get any fabric suprises, the stuff I already have is enough of a suprise. Evidenced by me looking at my fabric closet and wondering when I ordered that and what the heck was I thinking of making?

To get to the point - I ordered a number of things from Girl Charlee over the summer and have sewn up about half. They are pretty much summer fabrics,(** see footnote) or at least not fabrics I would choose in winter. So the remainder is put away for next year and here are the results for the ones I did decide to cut into.



That photo appeared on my Instagram during the SewPhotoHop and got a lot of love. It is my beloved Vogue 1247 with a little modification to the hem because it seemed a little plain. As plain as a denim skirt covered with dancing pineapples could be.

This photo is a little bright and I did not wear my shirt tucked in but wanted to show the V1247 in all its  splendor, ha ha.




Here it is on is the dress form.  I did lengthen the pattern as I usually do, and then also made it with my "no waistband" modification. Just cut a facing using the top of the skirt. I like a clean finish at the top of a skirt with no waistband, also then it doesn't come up so high at the waist. Although in that photo above it does - I think because that top is kind of a bulky knit. another reason not to tuck in.
I have now made this pattern 4 times with no end in sight. Here is the link to my first "no waistband" version with all the details.  A key to that turning out well is stabilizing the waist, and I don't think a seam binding is enough, needs some interfacing.

As for the hem, bias binding was fine for that. To get the round edge I just played with drawing on paper until I had a curve that would look good. Cut out the skirt as normal. left the bottom of the side seam unsewn, chose where the hem would be and then trimmed the curve sections using my paper template. Easy peasy :)



By the way, I was out to dinner when in Hawaii and the hostess at a restaurant looked down at my skirt and squealed - OMG, your skirt is so cute - it has pineapples on it.  Yep it does :)

Second item in my summer of Girl Charlee is this tunic top I made for my mom. I saw these black and white palm tree prints all over this spring and summer in the fashion collections so I was really happy when I saw it on their website. This fabric is a rayon woven and I was pleasantly suprised at how nice it is. Sews beautifully. I did pre-shrink. Very light and floaty but not see-through.



The pattern is my trusty self-made pattern, which I started by copying an existing tunic top which is also my mom's. My first post was back in 2012 and then last summer I made one for myself, 
I also did a 2-part post on Craftsy which details exactly how to make a tunic top from a shirt pattern - which I think is good - if I do say so myself :)  So if you are interested in creating a tunic top pattern here are the links to part 1 and part 2.

I love a good black and white item but somehow needed the proverbial "pop of color" so I used bias tape to make the edging. And glad it did, it just needed an extra something. Also it was slightly too low cut so I added the horizontal piece in the center of the V, which we will call a design element!



Peek at inside because everyone likes to see that. I sew the sleeve edges on from the inside, flip to the right side and then topstitch down, which results in a nice clean finish on both sides. I think all that is described in the Craftsy posts.



Now last and perhaps least. I am not going to model this one - you will have to take my word that it fits and works well as a beach dress/swimsuit coverup. But maybe this fabric is just a little bit weird.  I'm showing you the side view because look how nicely I matched the stripes on this weird fabric.



and even thought it is a beach coverup I still made a neckline facing - using some recycled white t-shirt fabic. Because on a lot of knits using bias tape is too stiff and just gets misshappen. Plus facing is just as easy (easier to me).   and then lastly - a closeup shot. I looked at this fabric for quite a while before I cut it out and decided that it didn't have an up or down. THEN sitting on the beach watching the palm trees wave in the tradewinds I realized that yes - this fabric does have a vertical direction. and I got it wrong!


          

so now I feel like they look like spiders, not palm trees. Oh well............pass me another mai tai.

Mentioning Girl Charlee again, my previous dress was their fabric also. And thank you everyone who commented on that dress. I appreciate that you have my sewing satisfaction in your hearts. And will say that I don't feel as bad about the dress as I think was perceived. I do like it and I think it is one of those things that looks much better in person, the colors look better and the skirt moves nicely. The hem is a bit long and uneven but as I said, that will be dealt with come springtime. Quite a difference of opinion on the pockets - some said to get rid of them. Noooo! the pockets are maybe the best part, love a dress with interesting pockets.

** Footnote.  I called the stuff we sew Fabric. And always do a double take (auditorially) when I hear Tim Gunn say on Project Runway  "what are you planning to do with that Textile?"  Do they never say fabric in the academic side of the fashion world? It just sounds funny to me and I wondered if anyone else noticed it.

Speaking of TV - well I am speaking of it. I LOVE the British Baking Bee which is airing on PBS here now. I could have watched it on YouTube I suppose but it's just easier to watch weekly and then I can catch up with friends/family members who like to chat about it. NO spoilers please. and No idea which season it is. But WOW the stuff they have to make is so difficult, and in the time allotted. I am so nervous for them watching it. and hungry sometimes. anyway - a fun diversion.

Onward to new things grabbing my attention. I just taped together the pdf of a Burda jacket mentioned recently. And about to start on a dress for Heather using some of her Mood Fabrics. Using a Burda envelope pattern which I have never seen sewn up - for a wrap dress that has a difference and I can say Burda LOVE!   Highly recommend. Burda 6946.  Expect raves when I post. Great pattern.

Happy weekend sewing,  Beth

garden photo is from Hawaii.

Rainbow stripe knit dress: Lekala pattern and Girl Charlee fabric

Hello there. Or should I say Aloha? Another summer knit that made it into my suitcase for vacation.



And a rainy overcast day which is not good for a beach day but works out for taking some photos. Speaking of the weather - this has been the hottest temps I have ever experienced in Hawaii. Global warming is real, people!

At least that's what the newscasters are talking about here. Wow, it was hot and no trade winds which is out of the ordinary. Plus 3 hurricanes passing by the islands with plenty of moisture and humidity. Coming from drought stricken California it was such a change. And everything is so green. I have forgotten what that looks like! Plenty of hurricane warnings but fortunately nice weather most days so all was good. And evening thunderstorms with lots of lightening. Dramatic. Lightening storms are actually quite rare in my home state so a bit exciting for us although not notable for many of you.

Back to sewing - I posted a sneak peak of this dress on Instagram during the #sewphotohop for Day 3: Colorful and a few people loved the fabric, even knowing that it was from Girl Charlee. (You all know your fabrics!).

As for the pattern, it is a Lekala pattern #4271. With a few adjustments  - of course. I was looking at my fabric and decided I wanted an easy pull over the head dress with a racerback. And didn't have any pattern in my file that matched that description. So instant download to the rescue. Using my measurements I ordered from Lekala and the fit was quite good. I really didn't make any changes at all. What I think works out really well with the Lekala and Bootstrap patterns is that you do give your height, so the proportions tend to be nearer to what I want. For example, the darts were in the right place, and the waist was also. Typically since I am shorter than the standard fit I have to adjust things in the vertical dimension but didn't here. Also that was good since I was working with a stripe and I didn't want to mess up the pattern matching.





Dress on form. In retrospect I wish I had changed the angle of the strap portion, it is just a bit too much like a tank top in the front, and I would have preferred a more cut in shoulder look. But oh well, not a big deal.





Another change you can see in the back view on the technical drawing is that the center back portion between the shoulder blades was very narrow, to my eye a bit out of proportion so I did widen it quite a bit, maybe 1 inch on either side of the center? I just drew it with a pencil until I liked the shape and then folded the pattern piece to mirror on the other side.
This fabric is quite thin - way too thin for dress so I decided to line it with another light weight solid knit.
So I cut out the lining first, and marked the waist casing there. By using a lining I could create the casing for the elastic between the outer and inner layers which makes a nice finish. For some reason sewing a casing is one of those sewing tasks that I really dislike so I often try to figure out ways to make casings in another way.



You can see all my tailors tacks for the casing on the lining pieces. Then I put the lining pieces on the fabric and that way could match my stripes perfectly. A late night smart idea - instead of my usual late night stupid mistakes. Don't you always make sewing mistakes at night? I frequently have a spidey sense of "I should stop now" and more often than not if I don't - the big mistake happens. I should have a big loud buzzer that says "Step away from the scissors" when I have been sewing at night for more than a few hours. Hmm, invention idea there.

Onward - inside shot. Everyone always comments that they like to see insides of garments. I'm planning to discuss that next time I do a Random Threads post. Hint - not that important. at least to me.

Anyway - see the darts in the lining. The pattern has darts and I sewed them in the stripe fabric, they were fine but they just made the stripes do something really weird across the bust. Hated them.



So I took them out. And used my technique of gathering that section where the dart would have been. On my size pattern the difference between front and back is about 1.25 inches - so that is quite an easy amount to gather and ease onto the back. The stripes here make it more noticeable but since I don't walk around with my arms held over my head it is perfectly acceptable :)  And then the stripes match from the middle of that seam the rest of the way down.



Back view on me. Whew horizontal stripes across my backside. Not sure it is the best look but oh well I love the rainbow stripes (for wearing in the land of rainbows - so many in Hawaii, lots of double ones as well.)  I am quite obsesses with this blouson style lately, kind of a change of silhouette for me. I always feel like I need to try different shapes but rarely do. Contemplating something with a drop waist. We shall see......



The only other thing to mention on this dress is related to the thin fabric issue. I got it all turned and under stitched to create a crisp neckline and then saw that dominant purple stripe showing up there in the seam allowance. Not really able to trim it as I cleverly (ha ha ironic use of clever) ironed some stitch witchery in there so that the lining would stay nice and flat before I topstitched. So it is sealed in there. Probably a case of being too picky for a silly beachy little knit dress but there you go. I notice stuff. However I do love the colors.



And now a combination Garden photo and dress photo. West coasters - feast your eyes on all that green.



Happy sewing. Even though I am home I have one or two more vacation items to show and then I have to think about fall sewing. Wait, do I have to?  Our climate is such that we jump straight into our relatively mild winter. And I don't even want to think about sewing with wool yet. It's supposed to be 104˚C here at my house tomorrow. Whew!

Happy sewing, Beth

Plumerias from that tree next to me.