It's Cocktail Hour!

Today I'm sharing the dress I made as part of the Vogue Patterns Cocktail Hour Sewalong.

The sewalong was launched in March by McCall's to raise money for The Eve Appeal - a charity that funds research into gynaecological cancers. 26 sewing bloggers have been taking part in the blog tour since then, sewing up their choice of 20 specially selected Vogue evening wear patterns. Money raised from the sale of each pattern will go to the Eve Appeal, so anybody who buys one will be directly supporting the charity. You can check out what everybody else has been making by using the hashtag #sipandsew on Instagram and Twitter.

When it came to choosing my pattern, I was looking for a simple design that wouldn't require much brain power to sew. Vogue 1536 seemed to fit the bill perfectly - an elegant princess-seamed cocktail dress by American designers Tom and Linda Platt.

The pattern also comes with a strange Mel and Kim-style cropped bolero jacket, which you'll be pleased to hear I disregarded. I was only ever interested in the dress.

She's spoiling for a fight...

With such a simple design I knew that fabric choice would be key and spent a looong time making my mind up. I finally decided on an Italian wool crepe from Til the Sun goes Down for the main dress and a shantung satin from ClothSpot for the lining.

The navy colourway I used is no longer in stock unfortunately, but here's the link to another blue. The lining fabric is also sold out - sorry! The crepe by itself is quite lightweight but takes on a completely different feel with the lining added. The shantung satin adds structure and weight to the dress and it feels very luxurious to wear - exactly what you want from a cocktail dress. The wool crepe is expensive (£32 a metre) but reasonably wide, and with a bit of clever pattern placement I was able to get away with using just one metre for my dress. You'll be relieved to hear that I did actually make a muslin before cutting into such posh fabric!

I'd read in a few reviews that the dress ran large, so cut a size 12 which was one size smaller than my measurements. I used the petite shortening lines at the waist only (you can also shorten for petite sizes at the hips) as the finished length is already quite short. The only other adjustment I made was a 5/8" tuck across the back piece as the V back gaped slightly on the muslin.

There wasn't anything untoward about the pattern and the construction was relatively straight forward. The only thing that leapt out at me was the lack of instruction to stay stitch the V front and back necklines. Yes, it's an obvious step, but I really think it should have been included - these areas are both cut on the bias and the last thing you want is a stretched out neckline. I also ditched the instructions when it came to adding the lining as there was far too much hand sewing for my liking. I attached the entire lining by machine, apart from the area around the back split which I hand stitched. I also hand stitched the dress hem.

For such a simple dress I did have to spend an enormous amount of time with a steam iron and a clapper pressing the curved princess seams flat. Luckily for me, the wool crepe was a dream to manipulate and I'm really happy with how well the seams pressed. I think they're worth the extra effort.

I have to say, this is a gorgeous dress: simple, classy and a great fit. It isn't super fitted, but the subtle shaping of the princess seams really shows off your curves, which I like. It's very me and I'm glad I kept it simple when it came to choosing the pattern. Cheers!

Two seconds after this photo was taken I spilt the entire cocktail down my arm...

The pattern and a fabric allowance were kindly provided by McCall's. All views my own. 

Oooh, who’s the swinging blonde?

…it’s me, in my swing dress!!!

Of the four sewalongs I’ve participated in, this one, run by Casey, has taught me the most about dressmaking. To be honest, I’d had my fill of sewalongs, but when Casey announced she was running one for the Swing Dress, I couldn’t resist. Having admired her three previous versions of the dress from afar, I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to make my own.  The way it worked was that Casey chipped in with posts on the tricky areas and then left us to get on with the everyday/boring bits on our own.  This is much more my way of working and I learnt so much, both in terms of dressmaking techniques and invaluable and fascinating snippets about  1940’s fashion.

So, what did I think of the pattern?  Sense and Sensibility, who produce the pattern, also print  patterns for Regency style gowns so they're good on authentic period detail.  I think that’s what I liked about this pattern.  What I didn't like was the instruction for sewing the gathered shoulder.  Talk about confusing, it was a nightmare - but that’s when making a practice muslin (along with Casey’s expert instructions) came into its own.  I’d never have managed to work them out for myself, and having practiced on the muslin first, it all made much more sense when I came to sew the real thing.

Much to my surprise, the fit was unexpectedly good (I was expecting the worst after my Crepe dress fitting debacle).  The bodice is designed to accommodate long-waisted ladies (not me)  so I knew I’d have to shorten it.  I also shortened the back, as well as reducing the back width.  On Casey’s advice, I also reduced the amount of ease in the sleeves which worked like magic when it came to attaching them.  Apart from shortening the skirt pieces, I didn’t have to make any other adjustments.  

So what did I learn from Casey during the process? 

1. How to fit a gathered shoulder to a bodice.

2. How to reduce sleeve ease on a 1940’s style. 

3. How to insert a lapped zip, 1940’s style*

*I abandoned my effort at inserting an invisible zip after I inserted one pretty well and then discovered I’d put it in UPSIDE DOWN. That was one of the few times in my life I wish I smoked.  I had to make do with a few deep breaths instead, having briefly contemplated taking to the bottle. 

4. How to topstitch a midriff piece so it looks perfect. 
5. How to set in sleeves correctly

The sleeves are probably the feature I’m most proud of. I chose the three quarter length sleeves and they’re so flattering, they've even got little elbow darts. 

I can see why the top fabric recommendation on the pattern was crepe, it’s absolutely perfect for this type of dress, very drapey and swingy.  It’s not bad to sew with either, if you can grit your teeth against the fibres that go EVERYWHERE once you cut into it.  The wool crepe behaved itself beautifully, despite my early misgivings. I’m still a little nervous about wearing it to my brother’s wedding – as long as I’m on my guard against rain, hot sun, a hot iron and spilling a drink down myself, Airplane-style, I should be fine.

And the other big plus?  The fabric was £7 a metre.  I bought three metres and there’s still enough left to make an A-line skirt, hoorah. x

PS. Apologies for the rubbish, shaky photos, it was too cold to get undressed and re-do them!

I’m famous!! ….plus a sewing update

Ooooh, I’m famous (well, sort of).  Those who’ve been reading my blog a while will know I’m a huge admirer of Tilly of Tilly and the Buttons fame. Hers was the first sewing blog I ever discovered and I LOVE the clothes she makes and her quirky style. My exciting news of the century is that she’s just interviewed me for her Stash Amnesty! series.  

Here's the excited interviewee

So, if you want to know the ins and outs of why I took up sewing, what’s in my stash box and where I get my fabric from, head over there now and have a read. 

In other news – all my pattern pieces for my Swing Dress sewalong are now cut out, yippee. I didn’t have to make too many adjustments, which was a relief.  I cut out a size 14 and it fitted pretty well.  I just had to shorten the bodice front and bodice back by a small amount and shorten the skirt, all made easy peasy by the lengthen/shorten lines on the pattern.  I also reduced the amount of ease on the sleeves as advised by Casey, which again, was pretty simple.

So, pattern duly adjusted, I washed my fabric ready to cut it all out.  A simple task, I smugly thought – or not as it turned out …. My fabric is a red wool crepe, which I washed on a wool wash as I’d heard it was prone to shrinkage.  I put it out to dry, made a cup of tea, and was suddenly overcome by the most hideous smell.  It was revolting – a cross between mothballs and wet, mangy dogs.  Some quick detective work later and I realized it was coming from my fabric… OH NO!!!!!  It absolutely stank the place out.

The culprit - red wool crepe - looking pretty ashamed of itself

Panic stricken, I was straight on the computer googling the problem.  Apparently that’s what happens with wool crepe, it’s the wool content that exudes the delightful perfume.  The advice was wait until it’s completely and utterly dry and as if by magic, the smell should disappear.  As you know, I’m not the world’s most patient girl, so every twenty minutes I was upstairs, sniffing the fabric.  I’m pleased to report though, that a few DAYS later, the smell had gone.

Having had my doubts about wool crepe, I’m now perversely really desperate to make this dress with it, so I’ve cut the pattern from the fabric ready to start sewing tomorrow, but I’m slightly nervous.  If the dress turns out well, I’d planned to wear it to my brother’s wedding in July.  That’s why I chose wool crepe as it had more of a luxurious feel to it and could hold its own as befits a posh wedding outfit.  But what if it rains?!!  My brother is twelve years younger than me, and I’m already worried I’m going to be mistaken for ‘mother of the groom’ by some of his hip young gun-slinging friends, I don’t want to smell like an old dog to boot. I’ll just have to keep an eye on the weather forecast….