Vogue 8353

I am making this dress for a pre-wedding party in May. Right now it's still in progress, so a full review is forthcoming. Right now, here are some photos of the construction process.

Design view:

There is a LOT of hand basting involved to get the palid to line up reliably:

But it really helps stabilize the tucks during machine sewing:

This really pays off, even up close:

Here is the back pinned to my dress form:
The first fitting:

At the May Party:

we were having a great time. The party was sort of carnival themed (actually, we had a medicine show). My handsome fiance is standing on the strong man game. I had just won a fabulous fake mustache for performing very poorly at the strong man game.

I have reviewed the pattern fully on PatternReview.com. My biggest complaint is that you lose a LOT of width in the area of the tucks. I made the pattern for a 28" waist and measured when I was done: 27.5" Beware! Definitely go a size or two up in this. There are so few seams that it's not too terrible to adjust after the tucks if you have some room. This was a totally fun project and absolutely fit our party to a "T" .

BWOF 10-2008-114 Silk Jersey Knit top

This is a much-reviewed and widely loved pattern from the October 2008 Burda World of Fashion Magazine. I was really excited to work with this lovely silk jersey knit that I found in the silk bargain bin at G Street Fabrics in Rockville, MD. Viva la Bargain Bin!

For full details, see my PatternReview.com review, for now. More here when I get a chance.

My delicious fabric... that came in a tube. D'oh!


I needed one piece on a different fold... there was nothing for it but to cut the tube.


On the advice of other PR reviewers, I left off the seam allowance on the underbust seam to compensate for my short waistedness. I also narrowed the underarm bat wing a little bit. I also left off the seam allowances on the side seams. In the end, I probably could have used them. I blended down to a 1/4" seam at the sides.


And... I'm quite happy with the finished product.