Ah, yes . . . Vogue 9253, otherwise know as Vogue 1735 - which is perhaps one of the most popular patterns that Vogue has produced in the last decade. It feels as though just about everyone has made this pattern at this point. Well, I finally joined the club.
I missed out on the pattern the first time around, but I kept seeing fabulous versions pop up online. Eventually, I picked up a copy of the re-released Vogue 1735. I even left the pattern out on my sewing table as a constant reminder to try this pattern in a timely fashion.
And then we come to the unfortunate part of this pattern . . . the necessary yardage. Because it requires a massive amount of fabric! And that goes double for the full length version, which is, of course, the one that I wanted to make. I tend to choose yardage heavy designs (hello, circle skirts) but this dress needs over 6 yards of 45" wide fabric. That's a whole lot of fabric for a non-historical style dress.
But then I remembered a set of cotton sheets that I picked up at an estate sale. A queen set of sheets contains a whole lot of fabric because of all of that extra width. And I just love the ornithological print!
These particular sheets are a very tightly woven poplin like weave. It's lovely and crisp, but a bear to hand stitch. This pattern suggests topstitching, and normally I would hand stitch instead, but this was essentially a wearable muslin, and I didn't want to fight through that tight weave. Pinning through it was difficult enough!
There isn't a whole lot more to say. It's a great pattern, as so many before me have proven.
I do wish that I could have done a bit more pattern matching. But even with massively wide pieces of fabric to work with, the oversized print repeat did not make that possible.
But other than that, which the tie belt actually manages to disguise slightly, I am very pleased with this project.
And yes, the pattern is a keeper! (But I suspect everyone in the sewing community already knows that.) But for anyone who might need a reminder that this pattern exists, here it is. I think a tea length version would also be fabulous, and save a bit on those pesky fabric requirements. And yes, if the right fabric comes along, I would absolutely make this again.
Sheets!?!? From someone else's sheets? You live a charmed life in a charmed area (they weren't sleeping on sheets lifted from the door-slammer-special on Route 36).
ReplyDeleteI would not want to even guess what sheets in my area would look like, let alone purchase them and then wear them.
You on the other hand, find a print for the ages, and turn a popular pattern into a one-off masterpiece, and will in all likelihood, have a photomontage of a particularly successful outing.
Dockside brunching, and you rule to the pier. That was always the plan, now wasn't it?
If second looks were direct directly deposited into an account, you alone would be the top 1% (just sayin', never a jealous bone in my body).
I'm with Testosterone on this one. omg finding a sheet set like that and in that condition??? WOW!!!!!!!!!
DeleteI'm in the same boat as Testosterone though for perhaps a different reason. I'm in the tropics and fabrics, especially sheets, don't last long here. So they're all old and faded or close to ripping in our op shops here.
I have learnt to look for second hand or deadstock on e bay or E tsy.
But you don't have the luxury of feeling them and inspecting them beforehand, and hey, more $ and more expensive. So yeah... much envy.
Now, to the dress. It's just gorgeous! how does the skirt feel in the crisp fabric? I thought it was for flowing fabric? But it looks like it works really well anyway.
Also pattern matching, eh, didn't notice anything amiss. I won't tell if you don't :-D
Can't wait to see you in this. Another lovely piece of workmanship!
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