A couple of days ago, I posted a picture of some of the patterns I’ll be working up over the next month or two, one of which is Vogue 9668.

My interest in this pattern was first kindled by Tasia’s stunning Las Margaritas dress. The illustration on the envelope had never done much for me, but seeing an actual dress sewn out of actual fabric and modeled by such a cute gal made me sit up and take notice. Obviously, my imagination needs more exercising, since I needed someone else to demonstrate how nice a pattern this was before I was even interested in trying it.

I’m copying Tasia and making the version with sleeves. I know myself and I’m far more likely to wear a dress with sleeves than one without. Someday, I’m sure I’ll consider making one of the sleeveless versions. The black sleeveless version doesn’t appeal to me as much as the halter version. Halter tops are supposed to make shoulders look broader and I can use all the help in that department that I can get. I’m not sure what I’d do about a bra in that case. Do any of you have a suggestions for supportive undergarments to wear with tops cut like that?

Here are the pieces loosely pinned to my dress form. I didn’t do a very good job in hanging the skirt pieces…they won’t be that uneven when I sew them together.

I am using a Bemberg rayon for the lining and a crinkly apple print rayon for the dress itself. I had to be extra careful about pattern placement, since I didn’t want red or yellow apples to end up centered over my breasts. That would have instantly rendered this a joke, which could have only been made worse if the fruit were melons instead of apples. My concern about this has provided a lot of fodder for my husband’s sense of humor.

Now that I’m looking at this photo, I think I may have failed at getting those apples in a good spot. Well, this may turn out into a joke of a dress after all, lol

I ended up with two questions after reading through the instructions. First, I’m supposed to interface the entire bodice. I was surprised by this. For similar designs, I’ve interfaced the midriff pieces, but not the remaining bodice pieces. Is this common? I’m using a lightweight fusible. The interfaced fabric still seems supple and not cardboard-y, so I hope it will turn out ok.

The second thing that had me scratching my head in perplexity, was the instruction to sew seam binding to the skirt back to stay the opening edge. It’s unclear whether I’m supposed to sew this to both the right and left skirt backs along the opening edges or to just one skirt back. Since the skirt pieces are cut on the bias, I assume I need to apply the stay to both pieces to prevent stretching. Can I use stay tape instead of seam binding?

I’ve lost track of how many times I’ve started a sewing project with great hopes, which were ultimately dashed by stupid mistakes and questionable decisions. It’s rare to have something turn out better than I hoped, despite stupid mistakes and questionable decisions, but that’s what happened with my little black dress.

I love, love, love how it turned out! Look:

It’s the first dress I’ve made in ages that I’m excited to wear. A lot of today’s styles just don’t look right on me. They emphasize all the wrong things, i.e. my short upper torso, narrow sloping shoulders and wide hips. This dress shifts attention away from those features and highlights my better ones.

I especially like the double cap sleeves. They might look odd on someone with broad shoulders, but they help balance out my figure.

The wide neckline is flattering too, but is a tad wider than optimal, since my bra straps end up on display. I’m wearing a strapless bra here.

Instead of the fabric band called for by the instructions, I bound the center of the empire belt with a piece of sequined trim. It looks classy in person–I just can’t get a good photo of it.

I suspect one panel was cut off grain, since there’s a bit of rippling in it, but it’s not a significant enough problem to trouble me.

The instructions didn’t call for it, but I created a slit in the back seam to allow me to maintain my usual long stride when walking. No mincing steps required!

It was pretty easy to do. I sewed the back seam of both the shell and lining to the point where I wanted the slit to start–about eight inches from the unhemmed bottom of the skirt. I then hemmed the skirt and the lining. The lining ended up about 3/4″ shorter than the outer skirt. With right sides together, I sewed the lining to the outer skirt at the slit opening. A little understitching keeps the lining in place on the inside of the slit.

Speaking of stupid mistakes, remember how upset I was over the hole I snipped into the lining?

Many of you suggested I fix it with a fusible patch. That sounds like a great way to handle that. Thank you for the ideas and support. Unfortunately, I didn’t have any black fusible on hand, so I created a patch out of the lining fabric. It looks neat enough and there’s no show-through on the outside of the dress. *phew*

Now, I just need to find the right necklace to wear with it. A dress like this deserves some fancy jewelry.

I adore my new dress.

The styling, the fit…it makes me feel good–and ridiculously proud that I made it myself. I have learned so much since I started sewing clothing a couple of years ago. When I started, hardly anything I made fit right and I wouldn’t be caught dead wearing those awful pieces outside the home. This, then, is a testimony for sticking to something and working hard at it–and not letting discouragement get in my way.

Even though I have learned a lot, I still feel like I’m a complete novice. When I consider the vast subject of clothing construction, I feel daunted by all that I don’t yet know. Daunted–yes–but also excited.

I learned one important lesson from making this dress: linings aren’t just there for show. I tried leaving out the waistband lining, because I thought it might be better to reduce bulk there. Wrong! The exposed seams kept catching on my undergarments and were just plain irritating. See all those wrinkles in the picture below? They are mostly gone now, thanks to the lining I added recently.

It’s too warm to wear this dress much now, but my friends and family will be seeing a lot of it in the fall. It’s as comfortable as pajamas (gotta love the knit fabric), looks cute under a jacket or over a cami and leggings, and the color makes me feel happy. I need mood enhancing jolts of color when the weather turns gloomy

If you’re interested in construction details, you can read my review on Pattern Review.