Vogue 1499: the dress to wear when the road is melting

Apologies to those people in the northern hemisphere who are suffering through extreme cold and heavy snowfall, but we here in Australia are equally suffering albeit through extremely hot days and nights. So hot......

A linen sundress is the perfect thing to wear in these conditions, and I just happened to pick up some stripe linen from Pitt Trading only a few weeks ago - a new dress and using fabric before it hit the stash is a double win.

This is Vogue 1499 which has been around for a few years but is still available because it seems to be a very popular dress judging by how many photos come up in a simple google search.

Thanks to all those blog posts and pattern reviews I found that it was possible the pattern would run a little large and be too wide across the back neckline so I cut a smaller size for the bodice and I folded out a dart in the back neckline which seems to help, although I still ended up taking it in a few extra centimetres down the centre back before putting the zipper in - thanks to my custom body form I was able to pin it close to my rounded poor posture shoulder shape:

That makes the back panel a little narrower than intended, but it doesn't look out of proportion:

One of the main things I love about Vogue patterns aside from their designer connections is their superior drafting - I love little details like how the bodice side panel is lined up with the skirt pleat where they meet at the waistline. I don't anyone else will notice this detail, but I love the symmetry of it all:

So obviously I didn't stray too far from the original version on this dress on the pattern envelope, but black and white stripes are fairly classic and show off the pattern lines of this design really well. I took extra care to make sure the stripes matched at the side and back (not that you can really tell thanks to this wind blown photo below!):

The only other change I need to make for future versions is to lower the bust darts by about 2cm - obviously as time has gone on things are in the same place as they used to be! Either that or I need to buy a super push up bra...... I might also make those cap sleeves a little wider because while they feel fine when standing with my arms down they felt a little tight while driving.

But overall I really recommend this pattern - it's quite simple despite looking complicated and was really quick to sew up. Perfect for hot summer days. Although ironically I wore this to work yesterday when it was a bit cooler but my office had the air conditioner set to arctic so I had to pop out at lunchtime and track down a cardigan to buy so that I didn't freeze all afternoon!