Vogue V9252

 

Confession: I’ve always been intimidated by paper patterns. That is until I decided to make myself a dress for a wedding we recently attended. One thing that is seriously missing from PDF patterns, but abundant in paper patterns, is good special occasion wear.

So I decided to conquer my fear and have a go at Vogue’s V9252, a princess seamed dress with a high-low hem and of course…pockets!

Very Easy Vogue V9252

I picked this pattern because it seemed simple enough and had multiple cup sizes built into the pattern which I am always a fan of.

And I’m a sucker for a high-low hem.

And pockets.

I made the dress  with this super pretty blue floral shantung satin and lined with a matching blue satin, both from the wonderfully helpful Cali Fabrics.

Maker:S,Date:2017-3-15,Ver:6,Lens:Kan03,Act:Lar02,E-Y

Unfortunately I fell between a 14 and a 16 in sizing which meant I fell between the available pattern ranges. So I did a little hand grading and made LOTS of small adjustments and muslins but in the end I felt like I got a pretty great fit. The only other major change I made was to bring the armscye up just a bit. It was very low as drafted and I’ve seen other people who made this dress complain about the same thing.

The construction was pretty straight forward and all the pieces fit together with no problems. I ended up hand stitching the lining which, while time consuming, gave a nice finished look to the whole garment. The pockets are generously sized so I was able to keep my phone in there and not need carry a purse.

The hem was a little tricky since this amounted to a full circle skirt and the shantung frayed like crazy. I serged the hem, folded it over and stitched it in place, and then folded and stitched again to hide the serger stitches.

There are only two things I’d change if I were to do it again:

1. A swayback adjustment. I didn’t get good pictures of the back but thats ok, it had a bit of a ripple. Some of it was probably caused by my zipper technique that still needs work but I think a swayback adjustment would have fixed most of it.
2. Boning in the side. The skirt is quite heavy and pulls the bodice down more than I’d like, especially in the back. I think boning would have added some much needed support.

I’ve come a long way in my garment making and I’m really proud of how it turned out.

P.S. My husband is looking pretty good too. Love you babe!