Vogue 8829 - plaid shirt dress for SWAP 2014

As I said in my post about my Sewing With a Plan collection, I never really considered plaids for myself - I thought they looked great on others, but did not really know how to incorporate them into my style. Then I saw this D&G dress and was instantly converted. I did not want to copy this dress, or this style even, but I was inspired for a dress I can use for work and for hanging out at the weekend. My starting point is an out of print Vogue pattern; 8829, that I have made before with the full skirt option.

This is my first time patching plaids. Was I intimidated? Strangely, no, not very. Befuddled? Slightly. However, I  chose an easy plaid: Non-directional (meaning that the pattern does not have a direction and pieces can be cut "upside down" if need be) and simple (no multiple layers of squares and lines) with only an 8 cm or so repetition.

I´ve also had a look at a couple of Craftsy classes that talk about plaid matching as part of the projects they are teaching; the couture dress (as always) and the little French jacket class. I invested in a box of Clover Fork Pins - these are just brilliant! They are so steady and so easy to use, that even I as a matching novice managed to do a decent job.

I cut everything in one layer. I took the notches on the bodice front as a starting point, also bearing in mind that the button band would be where the pieces actually needed to match. As luck would have it, the width of the button band almost exactly covered one lengthwise row of squares in my fabric.

I then realised that I had to start choosing where to match and where to not match, as not all seams would add up, for instance because of the bust darts, that throw off the "rythm" in the side seams. I also considered where I wanted the cross-wise stripes to hit the bodice. I found myself actually enjoying the process of paying that much attention to detail!

Then I went on to the sleeves. Here I also realised that I could not match the sleeves to the bodice at each point, so I went for the point that I thought would be the most conspicuous, in the high bust.

I decided to sew the bodice before I proceeded to cut and match the skirt parts - I had not completely decided what I would do with the skirt. I think there may be a misprint in this pattern, though I can´t be 100% certain. I cut it out a long time ago, and now I could not find the skirt pieces for view D. I did, however, find doubles for the full skirt in views A, B and C, which leads me to think that something went awry somewhere.

I had a look at the line drawings and decided that it did not look too complicated - three almost rectangular squares (one back and two front pieces) with two box pleats on each side (four pleats in total).

Based on this, I drew a pattern for the skirt, taking as a starting point how much hip ease I wanted, and muslined it. Not a good look for me. I think for slimmer figures and perhaps a drapier fabric, this could look great. On me - the pleats fanned out and created a weird balloony effect.

I redrew the pattern, adding four darts in the back, and three simple pleats on each front piece. Much better. I got a more fitted look in the back, and the necessary room to fit across my tummy in the front, without much extra volume. And lo and behold, when I transferred this to the actual fabric, it turned out  that the front pleats were the exact width of the vertical stripes in the pattern! Things like that make me disproportionately happy.

And here is the final result - I am immodestly pleased!

Due to the nature of the fabric, I have lined the skirt part. I did a test run with wooly tights, and the skirt stuck quite badly. I used a thin china silk I had in my stash, and hand felled the lining to the skirt:

 

I put tiny running stitches along the side seams (catching the seam allowance only). The lining is very flimsy and I want it to stay put. At the same time, I don't want a thicker lining, to keep a little lightness in the dress. I also used the silk for the inside of the back yoke  - the instructions say to use self-fabric, but with my cotton it would be way to bulky.


I am very happy with this dress - it has already been on several outings, and I know I will get a lot of wear out of it.