Had to take these pics before a potential rainstorm!
Pattern: Vogue 1224
Fabric: Rayon Jersey from Metro Textile in NYC
Size: 10 graded out to a 12 at the waistline
Shoes: Target (Merona brand)
Bangle: H&M
I knew as soon as I saw Erika B’s Tracy Reese dress posted on her blog, that pattern would be at the top of my sewing queue. So cute, flattering, and simple to sew: three elements that equal “yes” in my book!
I was lucky enough to be sent to NYC last month for a business trip and squeaked in some quick shopping in the garment district. Usually when I go to New York it’s on the weekends, so I don’t get to frequent a whole lot of places since they’re closed; usually I hit up Mood and Paron’s. I did do some damage at Mood this trip (found some turquoise eylet for a knock-off CK top and a pretty orange gauze), but I also had the opportunity to visit Metro Textile. It’s my favorite place to buy jersey – the selection is amazing, the quality is great, and it’s a source that Ann at Gorgeous Fabrics uses for her business (I can always spot fabrics on her site there). Plus, the service is great and prices can’t be beat. I could go on and on about how great Metro Textile is, but let’s get to the review of the dress!
One of the quickest sewing projects I made…I literally cut this dress out one night after work and stitched it up the next night to wear to a party the following day. I’m glad that I read some reviews on this dress before I made it – seriously, what did we do before the internet? Trial and error I guess!
1) The Length
Boy is this dress short! I’m pretty leggy so dresses and skirts seem shorter on me, so I lengthened the dress two inches and put in a very narrow 5/8″ hem. I think the original length would have hit on me at mid-thigh, totally not my style.
2) The Skirt
The pattern envelope shows the skirt being pretty tight on the model. That’s fine for her, not for me. I probably could have gotten away with the whole dress being a 10 taking into account the stretch properties of the fabric I was working with, but I knew I wouldn’t be comfortable in a tight skirt. I graded it out from the waist to a 12, as I usually do with dresses, and it worked well.
3) The Neckline
The neckline is pretty cool: it’s elasticized, and the elastic is joined to decorative drawstring ties. Me, being always impatient and not wanting to deal with the tediousness of turning the ties inside out (really need a tube-turner), opted to not use the ties. Plus, I didn’t want to make a buttonhole on a knit – I didn’t have any Sulky tear-away stabilizer to reinforce the buttonhole. I think my neckline resulted in being more gathered since I used a shorter piece of elastic, but I like it that way.
4) The Lining and Waistline
I really didn’t think it was necessary to line my skirt, like the pattern suggests, since my fabric had enough body to it. I used the technique I used with my jumpsuit to join the bodice and skirt together: the seam allowances created a casing for the elastic to go through. This created less bulk at the waistline and was a time saver.
Blurry photo, whoops…trying to show the print detail
I’m absolutely planning on making this dress again…I bought another knit at Metro Textile that’s really funky and has a lot of pattern and colors going on in the print. The design of this dress is simple enough that it’s a great pattern to showcase large or busy prints.
This settles it. I'm making this dress. I positively love your version. Thanks for your helpful review.
Doesn't Metro rock? I just posted today about a Milly sailboat print fabric that I got there last month. Milly's offices are on the same floor as Metro, so I think he gets her remnants.
Metro is awesome! I wish I lived closer, I would buy my fabric there all the time. I'm going back to NYC in September, going to try to hit him up again…
Cute dress!
Cute dress!