Vogue 1177 Anna Sui Dress & Slip

This really is fun. When I finished my Loes Hinse duster, I realized I wanted more - more detail sewing that is!   It is so enjoyable to work with many pieces and finishes and to see a garment come together. Even better, to modify a pattern and see one's own ideas come forward. 

Anna Sui designs do not always suit me, sometimes they seem a little unpurposed (ok, young, clubby, girly...) but that is surely not a deterrent. I like the basics of some of her designs, and I'm perfectly happy to modify a bit. And her Vogue patterns work very very well.

This dress (or tunic as I made it) has sooo many elements. Reading the pattern is like shopping a candy store. And that is just the dress. I did not even unfold the included slip pattern (a classic slip, cut on the bias. Totally icing on the cake for me, as I did not have this pattern in my inventory).

My fabric is a 55/45 linen/rayon blend from Fashion Fabrics Club. In the online description, the picture, and actually the fabric itself when it arrived, it was dusty purple! After three prewashes of the fabric - definitely blue! But very nice, slubby, and soft, without any sheen from the rayon content.

Elements I modified:

• The pattern uses 1/4" pleats to gather the fabric in the upper sleeve, and in the front and back bodice below the yoke. I pinned these pleats on one bodice front and formed a square with two rulers around my bust apex. Voila! A perfect cupping of my breast. Not. 

• Simple fix. I replaced the pleats with gathers spread across a greater width. Here you can see the gathers on the bodice front and upper sleeve...

• The waist casing and drawstring tie definitely would not work in my fabric, it would be too heavy. I made the casing into a waistband by working with my hip measurement plus some ease. And took 3" out of the back casing, and 1 1/2" out of each front casing.

• The original skirt was too full for the reduced waistband. I narrowed the skirt pieces so that they were  about  1 1/2  times the width of the band. Just enough to achieve a soft gather that would not flounce out too much.
  
  Isn't this double fold detail above the hem beautiful?

• Since I wanted a long tunic, not a dress, I shortened the skirt by 2". I am 5"7" - this dress was short before I lopped it :-)
• And I made a simple closed band for the sleeve cuff. The pattern comes with a lapped and buttoned cuff.  

On Emile, the inside of the tunic. The pattern has really pretty construction details. And I had a bit of fun here. The waistband facing and hem binding are Tonga Batik City Abstract.

Curiosity led me to a search on the web for this dress in Anna Sui pret-a-porter. Found it, 2010, in silk for $571!!

Perfect Florida winter-wear. Loving this. 

Bye! Coco