V1174 = Bright & Summery
The other weekend I had an urge to make something straight from a pattern. No extreme adjustments, no fraken-pattern, just cutting & sewing. I’d been wanting to make Vogue V1174 from Cynthia Steffe for quite some time. So I did. I decided to use this brightly printed cotton sateen that I got on sale at the end of last summer. I lined it with a silk cotton blend I’ve had in my stash for about a year or so.
This pattern really was pleasant to sew. The instructions & figures were clear and they didn’t make too many ‘big leaps’ between instructions. It was really relaxing to just sit & sew according to a pattern.
Now before you start to think that I actually made a dress from a pattern without being at all tempted to stray off on my own little path, I must confess to making two alterations. Both were fit related. The first was to take the waist in by about 10mm either side (I normally have to sew a size 10 bust, 8 waist & 12 hips), the second was a little weirder. I modified the bodice foundation to add some more ‘curves’.
Similar to Tasia, I found that the bodice of the dress tended to ‘flatten’. She solved the problem by adding in a little extra padding. Given that I’m a 10DD, I was pretty sure I didn’t need any extra padding. So I decided to modify the internal bodice foundation. The original pattern had essentially a straight seam over the bust, which didn’t make sense to me at all. I adjusted it to curve around & under my bust (similar to a corset overbust seam) & felt that it fit a lot better. I didn’t change any of the front facing pieces of the dress, but changing the foundation definitely looked better & it no longer felt like the dress was pushing my boobs down to my belly button. The picture below shows the original ‘flat’ seam & my curvy seam.
All in all I’m really happy with the dress. It was nice, easy & relaxing to sew. I can definitely see me getting a lot of wear out of this dress this summer.
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That looks brilliant with your jacket that you recently made!
It’s gorgeous and goes perfectly with the jacket
What a cool drink of water you are in that dress! Perfectly Summer-y
You’ve done it once again! Also, I think the curved seam is extremely flattering (bonus points!) hehe
Gorgeous! So vibrant and lovely!
Love it! Where do you live? Because you mentioned summer coming up
Thanks for the detailed review, I am looking for a good strapless dress pattern… I am a beginner and I think this may involve to many adjustments for me
Thank you for the post
No problems. I’ve also made Simplicity 2639 which I found to be a really good strapless dress pattern. It has a sweetheart neckline like V1174 but the seamlines through the bust are (in my opinion) better. It is an evening dress, but you could shorten it as I did, here’s the link:http://orchidsinmay.com/2010/05/23/blue-green-dress/.
I also uploaded some instructions for how boning can be added here: http://orchidsinmay.com/2010/05/20/blue-green-lining-with-internal-corset-complete/
If you’re feeling like a little more of a challenge you could shorten it to the waist & then attach an a-line or gathered skirt from another pattern. These alterations would be easier than spending lots of time tweaking V1174.
Hello, My grandaughter started this dress and has everything cut out and ready when her sewing machine hit the bucket. I got her a new one for christmas but the directions to the dress has disapared in the mean time. Does anyone have a copy of the directions? Could I please beg you for a copy. My email address is redwine4545@yahoo.com. Thank you Mary