A sewing miss: Vogue 8685

Sunday 5 September 2021

You can't win 'em all. A wadder every now and then is inevitable, especially if you don't make a fitting toile! This dress definitely falls within the category of a not so great outcome, but hey it's only fabric and a bit of time that's been lost and right now I have lots of both.


a white woman posing in a maroon dress

Actually this dress took quite a lot of time to finish and it's only because of refusal to make any new UFOs that I finished this at all. And looking at these photos of the finished dress I'm probably going to refashion into a skirt when I get over the frustration of this pattern.


So this pattern is Vogue 8685 which is now OOP but has 34 positive reviews over on Pattern Review. Being a pear shaped, my waist is relatively narrow compared to my hips so I liked the focus of this pattern on the midriff.

a picture of a sewing pattern cover

However, the midriff band and the curved yoke was just too much for my figure - it was too tight around the hip and too loose on the top which just looked terrible. Here is the first iteration of the dress made according to the pattern:

a photo of a badly fitting dress

a photo of a badly fitting dress

a photo of a badly fitting dress

So out came the unpicker and I adjusted the pattern pieces by letting out and taking in the seam where needed to make it fit. But then the curved yoke just looked droopy and the seam line finished at my widest part which just emphasised my saddlebag thighs. No photos of this stage because I was really annoyed with it.

In a last ditch effort to prevent this becoming a UFO, I decided to take off the curved yoke and just have the midriff waistband piece. I had to fuss around a bit with the skirt to make it fit by adding some pleats to the front and cutting out some excess from the back and then re-sew the invisible zip matching the seam lines again. So now it's finished.....but it's not great.

a photo of a white woman posing in a maroon dress

a photo of a white woman posing in a maroon dress

The proportions are all off because that waistband sits too high, there is too much fabric under my bust which makes it look floofy and those pleats I added to the skirt just emphasise a round tummy. And those sleeves! Those sleeves are way too big and way too long but I could face more re-sewing on this project, so instead I added elastic to the cuff to make it look a bit like a bell sleeve. But actually they just look too big.

a photo of a woman posing in a maroon dress

This fabric is a really lovely deep plum crepe that I picked up for a bargain from the Sewing Basket, a charity run fabric and craft store selling donated items. I am deeply sad that I used this lovely fabric on this catastrophe, but hopefully I can still give it a life as a skirt eventually.

Given the glowing reviews on Pattern Review, I think this wadder is all about me and not the pattern so if you have this pattern and were thinking of using don't be put off by my awful outcome. But I do recommend making a muslin and possibly using a stretch fabric. And if it doesn't work out, well it's all experience for life's rich tapestry isn't it? 

 

9 comments:

  1. How annoying! Really frustrating out of the box. You did your best to save it and it doesn’t look bad from the pictures. Yet we know pictures sometimes don’t manage to fully show the reality. If you have extra fabric you could create a top and skirt.

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  2. How annoying! Really frustrating out of the box. You did your best to save it and it doesn’t look bad from the pictures. Yet we know pictures sometimes don’t manage to fully show the reality. If you have extra fabric you could create a top and skirt.

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  3. Oh, the color is to die for. I think the dress deserves to be worn if only because of the gorgeous fabric and after your last modifications it actually looks quite good on you on the photos. i like it!

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  4. I can see why you're not loving this, since you made it especially for you. But if I saw you out and about I'd probably think this was a nice off-the-rack work dress. It's a shame it doesn't work for you as a dress because the colour is so lovely next to your hair!

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  5. How frustrating but can see why this hasn’t worked and why you aren’t loving it. Look forward to seeing how you work it out when you can face it again.

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  6. It is encouraging to know that even you have some mistakes sometimes (I am still at the often mistake stage). The colour does really look nice on you so I hope you can make it into something worthy.

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  7. It's a fabulous colour that really suits you so I can see why you're disappointed. I had lots of fitting issues with a Vogue dress pattern I made and decided they're just not designed for my body shape!

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  8. You made a valiant effort to save this dress. I suggest you set it aside for a couple months, and then take another look at it. It is now SO CLOSE to looking really good. May I suggest you create a bust dart under the bust to take in some of the excess fabric. Also, you could add a seam down the center of your arm to take in the excess fullness in the sleeves. The midriff section sits just a tad too low on your body and bunches just a bit. If you could sew the skirt just a bit higher on the midriff to make it shorter, your proportions and fit would be better I feel This dress is too wonderful to not go the extra mile to make it a winner. Best of luck.

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  9. I have that pattern! It has been in storage for a long time but after reading your blog post I think I will pass on it. I am already tall/long-waisted, I think I would have a horrid time getting it to fit. You did a good job of trying to make it work, what a hassle!

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