Vogue 8975

the Imalittleteapot pose

Vogue 8975 is that new little French house dress from Marcy Tilton. I love almost everything about it. Well, no, I love everything about it.

• the close fit through the shoulders on down through the bust.
• the genius pockets
• the drape that skims high hip fluff and a multitude of other sins
• the fact that the pattern is a puzzle

I love puzzle patterns. Sometimes I think I'm happier puzzling them out than I am actually wearing the finished garment. That may be why I am such a collector of patterns. It's fun to fully exploit one pattern, using it in many different forms, but sewing up a new pattern can be exhilarating. 

There were two items that threw me - one instruction-related and one fabric-related. 

Fabric: it always throws me when they require two-way stretch. I know that lots and lots of people read that phrase and know exactly what it means. Not me. I read it and say to myself, "Now is that two-way as opposed to one-way, or two-way as opposed to four-way?"  I really like that Jalie describes their knit fabric recommendations as "horizontal stretch" and "both horizontal and vertical stretch." In this case, it requires horizontal and vertical stretch. I think.

The one step that threw me was step 11 (side seams):

"Pin front to back at sides, matching notches and small circles. Stitch, breaking stitching at small circles. Stitch again 1/4 " away in seam allowance. Trim. Press seam allowances toward back."

I sewed the side seams from the arm hole down to the small circles and tied off my threads. This left about 5/8" of fabric on the back, and 2.5" fabric on the front. I could not determine what to do with the extra 2.5". There seemed to be two possibilities - wrap the excess fabric back around the side seam, creating a fold in the front hem and restitch the side seam, or turn the corner and stitch the excess front side seam to the back hem. I did the latter. And it worked, I'm pretty sure. It seems to have created the hem-cupping that is illustrated in the cover photos. 

excess fabric front piece, side seam

Side seam finished (front hem is almost parallel to side seam in pic

Actually I sent Marcy a note asking for help with step 11. She confirmed that I completed this step correctly. And she told me that this and her wonderful new jacket pattern are the number 1 and 2 sellers at Vogue. And we're not surprised, right? These are just great designs. And the designer is lovely and generous.

I did make a couple of other changes based on my body and my preferences. I raised the neckline and widened the sleeves.

With this wild fabric, it's hard to see the fabulous design lines, so I'm posting inside-out pix. I hope to make this in contrasting fabrics, like Marcy, next time.

Front is longer than back, And I'll wear leggings or tights with this.

Such clever pockets that are part of the genius front drape

As soon as I saw Vogue 8975 published on clubbmv I knew I had to make it. I was (almost) prepared to spend near-full price for it. I am very impatient. But clubbmv came through with one of their wonderful sales and I ordered it (and a few more). 

Katherine Tilton has published another puzzler for Butterick. Just saw Ann's write-up at Stitch Me Up and I know it will be fun to sew too. And have you seen her new pants pattern (also Butterick)? I think it has TNT potential.

Just realized that I am wearing Tilton designs head-to-toe on this cold Saturday morning. Yep, I'm a big fan.

Pants: Vogue 8929 (stretch woven)

Tee: Vogue 8793 (rayon knit)

Vest: Butterick 5891 (double side ponte)