2018 Dress a Month Sewalong #1 Lynn Mizono Vogue 1410 Dress/Tunic

Vogue 1410 photos from the Vogue website:

Description: Very loose-fitting, pullover dress is sleeveless and has very narrow hem finish on scoop neckline and armholes, front and back pleats, inside button/buttonholes forming drape and three adjustable lengths, French seams, and narrow hem. Purchased lock and elastic cord forms front drape.

I've wanted to make this tunic dress for a while and went stash diving for a menswear fabric that would be suitable. I wanted stripes just like the Vogue model garment, because I thought a striped fabric would emphasize the interesting lines as the front was gathered.

I landed upon a really lovely Italian lightweight wool, grey with powder blue stripes. I had originally purchased it for slacks, but it was my fav choice at my fabric auditions for this pattern, so off I went.

I made a couple of changes from the pattern instructions:

1. I sewed all seams with a 5/8" seam allowance rather than the French seams called for in the directions. I felt the fabric was too thick to allow for smooth seamlines using French seams.
    
2. I reinforced the shoulder seams with straight fusible seam tape.
    
3.  For the narrow sleeve and shoulder seams, I used bias fusible seam tape. 
   (Both straight and bias fusible tapes were purchased from The Sewing Place.)
4. I made a narrow self-fabric bias tube tie for the front instead of the elastic cording and cord stopper called for in the pattern.

Making the Narrow Hems on Neckline and Armhole:

Narrow hems in necklines and armholes can be a real challenge in woven fabrics. They can pucker or stretch out of shape if the delicate curved areas are not handled carefully. To get around this problem, I used a bias fusible stay tape to help stabilize the seams before turning and topstitching.  Here are the steps I took. I used a sample piece for my test and took photos as I went along:

My Sample Piece (not the real neckline) shown with contrast thread.

1. Place the bias fusible stay tape, wrong (adhesive) side up, on top of the wrong side of the fabric's neckline or armhole edge, 2/8 inch from the edge of the seam allowance. Stitch as close to the upper edge of the tape as possible. 
   
   Question: Did I stitch over the pins? Yes. They are extra-fine (0.4mm diameter) quilting pins and although I seldom stitch over pins, it was necessary in this instance. Hand-basting the bias fusible tape in place onto neckline edge was another option, but I feared handling the fabric so much might stretch the neckline out of shape and put undue stress on the very thin fusible tape.
   
2. Serge, with the serger's knife placed just at the very edge of the bias fusible tape. This trims off  2/8" of the 5/8 inch seam allowance. resulting in a 3/8 inch narrow hem allowance. Remember the adhesive side of the fusible tape is facing us in this photo (right side of tape to wrong side of fabric).
   
3. Turn the narrow hem toward the wrong side along the lower edge of the bias tape so that the fusible side of the bias stay tape reinforces the 3/8 inch narrow hem. Press in place.
   
4. Topstitch from the right side
   
   view from the wrong side:
   

I was really pleased the way the narrow hems worked out for both the neckline and the armholes using this method. 

I sewed the neckline hem in the round and the armhole hem flat to within 1 inch of the edge of the side seam allowance. Then I finished the side seam at the armhole and completed the narrow hem topstitching at the lower armhole at the side seam. 

What's with the hem? 
The narrow hem is finished with a topstitch. When I tried the dress on, the hem raised significantly in the front and dipped in the back. Or perhaps the back was stable but the front raised up due to the amount required to go over the bust (there are no side seam darts). So even though I cut the hems evenly according to the pattern pieces, I had to take almost 3 inches off the back hem and taper to nothing within about 6 inches of the center front on either side of the CF.  Here's the piece I cut off (widest part at Center Back) so that the hem would hang even. Word to the wise: make the hem a little longer and be prepared to do a weird trim on it:

A comment about sizing:
 I looked at all of the reviews to date on Patternreview (www.patternreview.com) on this dress, and many people remarked that, for this pattern, the armholes are too low and the neckline is too big. Indeed, many of the photos there showed a neckline with folds forming all the way to the shoulders as the dress was cinched closed. I didn't have this problem. I think this is because I never choose a pattern size based on my bust size or even upper bust size. I choose one that fits my narrow shoulders (usually size 6 or 8 in the Big Four) and then grade out for the bust (size 14) and waist/hips (size 12-14). So my dress fits smoothly through the neckline and the armholes are not too deep at all. They're right where they should be. So, at least in my experience, the pattern does not run large in the neckline and armholes as long as the appropriate pattern size is used to fit in those areas first. Everything hangs from the shoulder in this design. Fitting the shoulder, neckline, and upper armhole areas perfectly by choosing the correct pattern size to start with is the key for a good fit in those areas.


Other views: There are three views for this dress, and I can make a bubble hem tunic and short dress simply by cinching up the hem to ties placed inside the dress, but I knew I'd never wear it that way. Those shorter bubble hems are cute, but maybe not for me.

The back flange thingies:

The back tucks in the dress are sewed reversed (wrong sides together), creating flanges at the back of the dress:

You can see them if you look at the back view of the Vogue pattern.

For some reason,  when I first looked at the pattern, I didn't realize that the design gave me fins. I made them as directed anyway. I think they're an enlarging feature to the silhouette, but they're different and I guess I like them. They may make an aerodynamic contribution when I walk. Who knows.

My opinion: Do I like the dress?
 Hmmmm. I haven't made up my mind. There is a lot of volume in the front; more than I expected. It looks better when I wear it with heels. I guess I could have chosen a thinner fabric, although this lightweight wool is pretty thin.

I think that it looks a bit drab. Maybe it's because we're in the depths of winter and the grey in the dress matches the sky on a lot of days. Plus the neckline could be more interesting, with cap sleeves, or something. I don't know. It looks a bit Plain Jane to me.