The dress: Vogue V8358

Well, I finally managed to finish my dress and wore it at the weekend! Here’s a snapped shot of me in my finery (ha!) before we went down for dinner……and I must say that Mr f&f also looked very smart and dashing in his black-tie. It’s not often that we get to dress up!

So. where do I start with this dress?! I loved Vogue V8358 the moment I saw it – it seemed elegant and it was rated as very easy. Always a bonus! I spent quite a while looking for the right jersey fabric as I wanted something a bit slinky and with good weight so that it would hang well. I eventually happened across a shiny stretch jersey from a seller on eBay that cost a bargainous £14 for three metres of fabric!!!!

When it arrived I went into a bit of a panic mode about how to sew it: I’ve always sewn with quite ‘stable’ knits whereas this one made me think it would be like sewing with butter! I did lots of googling and came across lots of tips. If it’s of interest to you, I thought I could talk about my tips for sewing a slinky jersey in another post?

Because of the cut of the dress, I spent a while debating which size would ensure a good fit and making sure that the V wasn’t too deep at the front! I checked the pattern against an existing dress I have, like the fit of and is a similar material before chosing a size smaller than I would have done based on measurements alone.

For the facing, I used a black knit interfacing: I did adjust the facing slightly as I was worried that the fabric was a little thin and that one flash photograph might reveal a bit more than I wanted! So I traced the front and back pieces so that the length was mid thigh, and cut and applied the interfacing to the top sections as per the pattern.  So would you like to see it again?!

So tricky to photograph a black dress! The pattern itself was lovely to sew up and definitely deserves a rating of ‘easy’ – I would say that if I combined all my sewing time, it probably took around 8hrs to make. Although I made a muslin of the bodice, the weight of the full dress meant that I did need to make some adjustments to the side as it wasn’t very close fitting and there was a bit of side boob showing (which although I understand is fashionable in celebrity circles is not a look I really wanted to go for!!!)

And here’s the back…

I need to thank Mr f&f for helping me with the fixing of the straps, it’s definitely a two person job to make sure they get pinned in at the right length – I shortened them by 3″ but in truth could probably have taken off a 1/2″ more.

So, details;

• Pattern::: Vogue V8358
• Fabric::: 3m of black jersey
• Size::: 8
• Modifications::: lengthened facing; used a 3/8″ seam allowance around the top of the dress to reduce the depth of the ‘v’; increased the width of the dart by 1/2″; tapered the side seam by a further 1/4″ where the back joined the front; took about 3″ off the straps

Overall, I’m really pleased with how the dress came out and felt amazing in it! You do need to think about underwear with it, especially if you would like some support! The dress doesn’t go that far around the side so it was quite tricky to find a backless/strapless bra that I felt would support me, not show and wouldn’t fall out during the middle of dinner (and thankfully that didn’t happen!). I did get a solution in the end but could only get a nude colour and did feel a little self conscious that it was quite visible.  If I ever need to wear this dress again, I’ll be on the lookout for something black!!!

Sx  

Today’s sky ● a bit overcast but glorious sunshine this afternoon