Vogue 8789 - First attempt

Getting started

I bought Vogue 8789 on the Vogue sale this spring and finally got around to giving it a try. I bought it for view A and that's the one I decided to make. For material I used bedding from IKEA called NYPONROS in colorway grey/white. It's a fairly sturdy cotton, but soft. The stripes are woven into the fabric, not printed.

  Bad choice of size

I couldn't quite decide on which size to cut, since I fell into different sizes for all my measurements. Since the amount of easy was indicated to be pretty high, I decided on a size 16 (which turned out later to be a mistake) even though my measurements indicating size 18. I measure on the pattern and it seemed it might be ok.

Cutting the fabric and sewing up steps 1-7 was easy. I decided to substitute the armhole facing with bias tape so I did not do step 8.

When trying out the bodice I was dissappointed. The fit was not very good. Allthough the bodice fit my bust width, it was too big in the armscy and shoulders and also on the big side in the waist. It was also too short to go across my bust height and thus the center front at the waist is lifted up and the whole bodice tilts backwards. *sigh* I didn't get any picture of this stage.

Changing the skirt

For the skirt I decided that the bedding was to heave for the massive skirt of gathered rectangles. I recently made Tilly's picnic blanket skirt in a similar fabric and found that all that bulk at the waste was not to my liking. Instead I opted to use a skirt inspired by another pattern, New Look 6675, which I previously made. I used my previously trace size 16 center front piece and made all 6 pieces identical so the stripes would line up on all seams.
 
I cut 6 pieces of skirt and sewed then up, matching stripes at the seams with fairly little effort and used the walking foot when sewing (I have a Bernina 215). After trying it on with the bodice I decided that I wanted the gathered look of V8789 despite changing the skirts and cut off some 15-20 cm at the top of the skirt to make it bigger at the waist. In the end I also cut of 5 cm at the bottom of the skirt since it was too long (which is also was in New Look 6675, but I had forgotten about that). If I had thought of this beforehand I could have save some fabric.

A month later I got started again

 
I let the project rest for a while, since I was undecided about how to handle the bodice fitting issues and since it was vacation and I had other stuff to do. I really should trace a smaller size and do a FBA. However, I didn't feel very excited about that, and decided to just "make it work". The easieast way was to add extra bust darts going in the direction of the armscyes, as you can see in my picture. It's not the usual direction, but if you have a large bust it will usually give a nice result. I pinched and marked with needles with the top on inside out and then sewed them up. I'm not very pleased with the darts since they have sort of nipply ends. Perhaps I'll connect them into a princess seamed bodice instead... should be fairly easy.

Attaching the skirt, inside view

Since the bodice has so much ease I skipped the zipper and sewed the side seam.
 
Finally I gathered the skirt and  sewed it onto the bodice. Seam allowances pressed up on the inside and then a top stitch on the outside. The insides I didn't bother to keep super neat since this was a toille project. The picture shows how the front folds to become selflining. Clever! I pinked the fabric at the edge of that lining, but apart from that most edges are on the bias. I should prolly have pinked the top of the skirt though. I suspect it'll fray a bit when I wash it. Too late now though.

You probably notice by now that I stopped following the pattern instructions. Therefor there is no inner belt as instructed in the pattern. Since my skirt has so much less fabric, I don't think I'll need it though.

Hemming and bias tape

Finally I hemmed the skirt and lined the armscyes with bias tape (red) which I hand sewed to inside seam to make it close to invisable.

What did I think of it? I think I like it.

The dress was finished yesterday and today I wore it to work. I noticed that I must add pockets (always!) and that I kept pulling a bit at the front since it rides a high at the waist due to not enough fabric to reach across the bust. But those issues aside, it was comfortable and the fabric is on the neutral side and will therefor the dress will likely fill a hole in me closet and be used now and then.

I will likely sew this pattern again, and trace a smaller size and make a FBA and see where that takes me. In a lighter fabric I think that the gathered massive skirt might be ok too. I happen to have such a fabric in my stash...