a blog about sewing, refashioning, op shopping by kristy idle

Friday, 18 July 2008

Vogue 8280: the maternity version of the galaxy dress

I love the Vogue knockoff of the Roland Mouret 'galaxy' dress - I have made 2.5 versions so far. One is a grey glenplaid short sleeve version, the other is a black sleeveless version, and the o.5 version? Well that is a muslin intended to be wearable that I lost interest in and forged ahead with the final version! Anyway they all worked out, so no harm.

I thought it would be easy to adapt to a maternity version given that the bodice and skirt join at natural waistline, all I did was raise that join line to just under the side dart to create more of an empire line, added about 20cm extra width to the front and created box pleats instead of figure hugging darts. I mostly love the square neckline and unusual curved arm "flanges" (well that's what Vogue calls 'em), and my modifications kept those features whilst still allowing me to become a whale in it!


My version will probably horrify the likes of Victoria Beckham and the others who rocked the original version, given that it is designed to be a second skin and requires at least one layer of Spanx underneath to make it work but as a sewists we are at liberty to knock off and alter what we like, which is our revenge on overpriced designer wear I say....

I made this in a light grey cotton slub material, which has blue and orange threads running through it, so to highlight the subtle blue lines in it I used a thin blue ribbon as embellishment around the waist, arms and neckline.
Next up is a jacket to go with it that is half finished, and to hand sew the hem - after seeing this photo I realised the machine sewed hem looked terrible and I unpicked it. Sounds like something to do while watching the usual Friday night tv crap....

15 comments:

Adrienne said...

How cute! I love how you made this into a maternity dress!

Carolyn (cmarie12) said...

I am so loving your maternity wardrobe! You have the best ideas on how to reuse or reinvent a pattern for this "special time in your life!" Keep 'em coming!

Myra said...

wow, a very neat maternity dress. Some of these afterwards can be be refashioned by slimming the skirt down, too, later.

Rachelle said...

Oh, that's awesome! I mean, AWESOME! Lovely work!

Daisy said...

What a great idea to use styles you know work for you. Well done!

The Mad Tatter said...

"as a sewists we are at liberty to knock off and alter what we like, which is our revenge on overpriced designer wear "

AMEN, sister!

Another stunner! You are really raising the bar for maternity wear and I must say, the bar needed raising!

Anonymous said...

That is all kinds of awesome. You look great!
-Sandra

Sharon said...

So stylish. You keep amazing me how you adapt your patterns to suit. You are going to be the best dressed "Mum to be" in Australia or beyond.

MaryJ said...

Very beautiful dress! You are amazing!! This pattern will be great for spring/summer too. Keep an eye on the hemline as your bump gets bigger, as you will need to add a bit more length at the cf.

Sew and So said...

Your building a very stylish maternity wardrobe. Beautiful!

Karen said...

Could you look any cuter? That is a fabulous dress. You are the most stylish pregnant woman around.

Anonymous said...

Your maternity wear is fabulous. You are definitely the best dressed mom to be ever I think. mssewcrazy

katherine h said...

Now that is fabulous! You have great vision when assessing patterns.

mooimadeit said...

I am loving your outfits - so chic. And spooky I was just noting down details of this very dress last night too as my next project! Must be something in the southern hemisphere atmosphere at the moment.

mscleaverchronicles said...

I actually like the dress better this way! Thank you for the link, btw.