Allison.C Sewing Gallery

I made this simple Kay Unger dress recently and I have to say I am totally uninspired by it and I'm not sure why.  I like the fabric and I like the pattern, but the combination together is just very...blah.  If it wasn't for the hot pink lining I might even have dozed off while making it.  I'm thinking (hoping) it's just wrong for the summer and I'll like it better in the cooler weather with boots and a jacket.  Anyway a reminder of the pattern.....
I used a grey jacquard rose printed fabric and as I started working with it I knew I had to make a few changes as it became very soft and stretched like mad on the bias.  That middle pleated section is cut on the bias with a straight of grain stay underneath it - I had to cut off a lot of excess to get the bias piece to fit the stay.  At this point I hurriedly added fusible stay tape to the neckline and armscyes and decided not to make the little v in the front neckline.  I also had to take it in quite a bit at the side seams, but that may have been due to my growing fabric rather than an inconsistency with usual Vogue sizing.

This is the inside front on it's side, you can see the darker printed fabric at the bottom of the photo that I had to trim off the bias pleated front part - a good 3 inches!

I did like that this pattern has no facings, it's just lined to the edges.  I decided to add little cap sleeves, but if you make it sleeveless do make sure you ignore the instructions and instead keep the side and back seam open until after the lining is attached at the neck and armholes.  It's a much cleaner and easier finish, if you're not familiar with this method (like the Big 4 instruction writers apparently!) see Slapdash Sewist's excellent tutorial here.

Hot pink silk lining - aka dressmaking caffeine in this case

Here is the finished dress, it really doesn't help the boring-ness factor that you can hardly even see the only detail on the dress!