Sunday, August 2, 2009

Vogue 1025 Metal and Moss

I had hoped to post about this dress before leaving for vacation the last week of July, but it didn't happen.

About the middle of the summer, when it becomes really hot and humid here in central VA, it is so much easier to throw on a lined sleeveless dress and sandals than mess with tops and bottom separates which I usually wear. Vogue 1025 has been in my "to sew" pattern pile for a while, since I saw Bloom's version. SewBlooms



This dress has "waistline" pleating that radiates out from a center point into the bodice and skirt. Waistline is in quotes because the horizontal seaming that joins the bodice and skirt is really located about 3 inches above the natural waist. This is not mentioned in the description on the back of the pattern envelope. It is clearly marked on the pattern pieces. Several reviewers ( at Patternreview.com) did not realize this and either made major alterations to lower the horizontal seam, or threw the dress away. A horizontal seam above the waist, where the body is smallest for many ladies, can be very flattering. Similar to an empire seam located just below the bust, it will emphasize the bust, while the skirt flows over potential problems areas like waist and hips. The fabric recommendations on the pattern all have the work "lightweight" in front of them. Using lightweight fabric for this dress is critical in forming the pleats and having them lay fairly flat to the body. The pleats all originate from a central point. There are a lot of layers of fabric to sew through at this point. Four pleats on the top plus the seam allowances from the center front seam and three on the bottom.


There is a lot of wearing ease in the pattern. Everywhere! I made it in a size smaller (14) than the size 16 I use for Vogue patterns. I always check the finished garment measurements printed on the pattern pieces and compare them to my own measurements and the amount of wearing ease I like in my clothing. The size 16 had way too much ease for me.

I made this dress in two different fabrics. Version 1 was to be a "little black dress". When I considered the fabric possibilities, I kept coming back to lightweight black foiled linen. "Foiled" was the description on the Jo Anne Fabrics sales slip, as in a thin layer of metallic foil applied to the surface of the fabric. A plain black linen is probably more wearable, but I wanted to see what the dress looked like in the foiled linen, and it was on sale. It is the same fabric that I used on the Badgley Mischa jacket and it was easy to work with. I love the metallic look, but I think it avoids the disco queen aura because of the dress style, and the linen fabric with its inherent texture and wrinkles. The belt is a vintage belt made of black elastic with a bronzy arrow head buckle design. With the fabric and belt I call the look "dusty warrior" as depicted in moves like Conan the Barbarian, and Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome. Apparel with lots of dull copper and bronze metals, leather, coarsely woven natural fabrics, and dust. This version is more a going out to dinner dress.

Version 2 was made of a light mossy green wool crepe from Hancock Fabrics. This fabric was very textured and surprising lightweight and ravelly. I used twill tape to stabilize the shoulder seams and waist seams. And fusible interfacing on the back seam where the zipper was inserted as well as the neckline edges and the sleeve edges.

Both dresses are lined with Bemberg rayon. On the pattern envelope, the dress is shown with a belt. I have a collection of belts, but most are from the 1980’s (sigh I don't know why I keep them), when they were big worn with pleated pants. I tried them on with my dresses. One positive was that belts that no longer fit at my waist did fit at the higher horizontal seam line of this dress. The negative was that the average belt does not work with this dress. After a lot of trying on, I came to the conclusion that the best belt for this dress was about 2" wide with a closure that serves as a focal point accessory. I have only one belt with a buckle/closure like this.
So I did some Internet shopping at Etsy and vintage jewelry sites for other belt buckles I could use for this dress. I found some really neat ones and most were priced under $10.00.


For the buckle at the top of the picture, I made a turned 1’ tube of distressed looking brown pleather (it took me an hour to turn the blasted thing), threaded 1” elastic through it and attached D rings at both ends. The D rings were needed because the buckle had two hooks underneath and it was the only way I could figure out how to attach it to a band. The elastic inside the band keeps it in place on the dress. Though the belt buckle looked fine with the dress, the 1" width band does not look as good as a wider 2" belt does. So someday, when I have a lot of time and patience, I will make a wider band to use with this buckle.

I am not sure what my next project will be. It's the classic late summer dilemma. Should I sew for summer or sew for fall??? My order of new Vogue fall patterns arrived last week, but the weather is still hot and humid and the stack of summer fabrics I had planned to make into clothes is still quite high.

22 comments:

  1. Dusty Warrior? To me, you look more like you are ready to take on James Bond in the black foiled linen dress. You look great! I like the green wool crepe version, too. The fit looks terrific!!

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  2. Both of these dresses are stunning! I love them on you!

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  3. Wow, these look great, I especially like the black one with your hair color. (I'm letting my hair come in gray also.) It's very flattering.

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  4. I'm one of the PR wadder creators. Your versions are beautiful. In fact, I pulled this out today and gave it another look before shoving it back in the bin - the horrors are still fresh in my mine. Yours look so nice I'm (almost) tempted to give it one more shot - I still have my belt makings.
    Funnily enough, I layed out the BWOF from your just prior post instead. Thanks for the gusset instructions, I'll be using them.

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  5. I love the way these turned out, and the blue one is beatiful! I have a niece getting married in Nov, and this pattern will go on the list of options for that dress. Thanks for the review!

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  6. The dresses look wonderful on you. The black one is so perfect with your hair. Nice job.

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  7. Good use of the pattern. Two very different (but both flattering) dresses!

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  8. These are great dresses. I like them better with the great belts you have.

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  9. Great dress for you. I particularly like the green.

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  10. Great dresses - good point about reading the info on the pattern pieces - it is always something to remember before cutting!

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  11. Both the dresses are fabulous! I have this pattern, but never made it up yet. You have inspired me to pull it out and take a second look!

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  12. Both dresses look wonderful on you...perfect fit and very flattering style.

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  13. Ooooh, I am so loving this! Audrey, you and the dress look great, and it looks like a fairly simple dress - right up my alley. I, too, haven't sewed near the amount of summer stuff I thought I would, and there is a rayon batik just simmering in my stash that might really work for this pattern. Thanks for posting - I'll check out this pattern.

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  14. I'm glad several others have said it first but...I LOVE YOUR HAIR!!!

    the dresses are nice too, of course but your hair is so great!

    Ok, bye now!

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  15. I love both dresses on you --- a simple style that is very flattering.

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  16. Very flattering style on you. You look elegant in both versions.

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  17. Both dresses look terrific and you look stunning in them!
    I love the style of this dress and it's very becoming on you

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  18. That foiled linen version is to die for. Thanks for your tips!

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