Tiered Dress & Tunic V1750 + Soft & Narrow Pants V9374
Just right for travel or staying home, and perfect for warm weather, are dress and tunic, Vogue 1750, which continues the Core Wardrobe Theme.
A-Line Layered Dress with Sleeves and Sleeveless A-Line Tunic, have slit front opening with loop closures, open neck standup collar, optional ribbon or fabric trim, faced hem on garment, self hem on under layer, loose ¾ sleeve with faced turn back hem, stitched down pockets in the side seams. Tiered version has an attached under layer. Has a loose fit, lightly fitted through the bust, collar sets away from the neck skims the figure.
Suggested Fabrics: Woven Fabrics like cotton, linen, viscose/rayon challis, shirting fabric, light weight denim, quilting cottons.
The pattern envelope features a sprigged blue Japanese cotton for the tiered dress version, and a polka dot acid green line for the sleeveless tunic.
The blue dress uses the selvedge (which featured printing), and self fabric loops
The polka dot tunic uses ribbon for the trim and loops. (I love my ribbon stash which I’ve cultivated for many years….)
I’ve done two versions - one in a gray/black Japanese linen stripe as a prototype to test the pattern, For my ‘travel core wardobe’ version, I used a Japanese cotton in an over-printed plaid. For each version, I spent a happy hour rummaging in my ribbon collection to find just the right combination!
Prototype Dress in Japanese Linen
Travel/Core Wardrobe Version in Japanese Shirting Cotton
I designed both dress and tunic to wear with pant pattern, Vogue 9374 .
The narrow pant is designed for knits and is almost, but not quite, a legging, while the soft pant is designed for either woven or knits in either ankle length or cropped.
As always, the line drawing shows the seaming and details.
In the photo below, we used a shirting weight metallic linen for the ankle length pant worn with the tunic.
For the pattern envelope, we used, a black rayon crepe, a shirting weight metallic linen and a bamboo/spandex stripe as shown below, left to right.
Adapt both the pants and the dress/tunic to your figure, lifestyle and fabric choices, they make a standout warm weather ‘uniform’.
I made the soft pant in a Japanese cotton, and the narrow pant in a bamboo/spandex stripe, shown below with the Tiered Tunic and Tunic V9329.
Because I was on a roll, I whipped up two more pieces, an underlayer - designed to wear under and peek out at the neck and hem, this in an acetate lining fabric from my stash, using V9057.
I wanted a patterned pant, so used favorite pant pattern, V9303 .
While all this sewing was happening, Gwen Spencer and I have also been working on prototypes for a shirt/jacket pattern for Spring 2020. Can’t show the entire garment, but shown below are details from garments that are part of the travel wardrobe; one in cotton, the other in linen.
Whew! this has been a fun and satisfying project, got me back in the sewing studio and sewing mood. As I write this I am leaving tomorrow for Paris with a grouping of pieces I can’t wait to wear.
Preparing for a trip is a creative process. I start by having a Sunday morning try-on session with Katherine where we put all the possible pieces on a rack, try things on - sometimes swapping pieces with each other. I figure out what to wear on the plane and take one change of clothes + PJ’s in the carry-on, and always feel a sense of completion when that is settled!
The picks from this first session go on a rack, and I keep editing until things go in the suitcase. Pants go flat into packing units, while tops and jackets are layered on hangers, zipped into a thin garment bag and folded into the top of the suitcase so they can be hung up on arrival, and I’ve got a stash of hangers. Photo below shows the final cut…I have yet to master the art of traveling light!
A-Line Layered Dress with Sleeves and Sleeveless A-Line Tunic, have slit front opening with loop closures, open neck standup collar, optional ribbon or fabric trim, faced hem on garment, self hem on under layer, loose ¾ sleeve with faced turn back hem, stitched down pockets in the side seams. Tiered version has an attached under layer. Has a loose fit, lightly fitted through the bust, collar sets away from the neck skims the figure.
Suggested Fabrics: Woven Fabrics like cotton, linen, viscose/rayon challis, shirting fabric, light weight denim, quilting cottons.
The pattern envelope features a sprigged blue Japanese cotton for the tiered dress version, and a polka dot acid green line for the sleeveless tunic.
The blue dress uses the selvedge (which featured printing), and self fabric loops
The polka dot tunic uses ribbon for the trim and loops. (I love my ribbon stash which I’ve cultivated for many years….)
Sewing Tips for Bias Loops
- Cut a length of true bias from fabric.
- I sew the loops using the serger as this allows the loops to stretch, and it is simple to sew with an even width.
- Sew the width of the loop just a bit bigger than the width of the bias.
- Turn, using a bodkin or safety pin.
- Dampen the bias tube slightly.
- Pin one end to the ironing board and stretch the loop, pinning the other end to the ironing board so the tube is stretched as narrow as you want - or as narrow as the fabric will allow. Steam well with the iron and let it dry.
- Make a sample for the size of the button, then cut the loops.
- To insure that all the loops are the same size, we basted them together, then trimmed the ends to an even length. - do the same if using ribbon or trim.
Sewing Tips
- Stitch along V on garment front
- Slash center of V cutting up to but not beyond the bottom stitches
- Pin, then baste the loops in place.
- Place facing on front, aligning V mark on facing with front
- Work from the garment side on top - pin or baste to secure the facing to the garment front, matching the V markings precisely
- Stitch along and just outside the stitching line, making 2 small stitches across at the bottom of the V
- Slash facing, cutting up to but not through or beyond the bottom V stitches
- Press flat as sewn
- Press seams toward facing
- Understitch
- Press, turning facing to the inside
- Clean finish facing edge - I stitched this by hand for a softer finish
Ribbon Trim
- Use a strip of fabric or ribbon, approx ½” - ⅝” wide, with enough length to turn under at the top and to finish 1” longer than the V. Adjust the length and width of this trim to work with your design. We made a quick sample to test out the trim.
- Stitch one short edge of the ribbon to the neck, right side of ribbon to wrong side of fabric to finish off the neck edge. Press.
- Pin/baste the strip, extending ½” - 1” beyond the bottom opening, so the edge of the ribbon is right along the edge of the facing.
- Hand basting is the secret to holding the ribbon in place to machine stitch.
- Edge stitch in place
- Finish bottom edge with a scrap of ribbon or fabric, edge stitch in place
Marcy’s Versions
I’ve done two versions - one in a gray/black Japanese linen stripe as a prototype to test the pattern, For my ‘travel core wardobe’ version, I used a Japanese cotton in an over-printed plaid. For each version, I spent a happy hour rummaging in my ribbon collection to find just the right combination!Prototype Dress in Japanese Linen
Travel/Core Wardrobe Version in Japanese Shirting Cotton
I designed both dress and tunic to wear with pant pattern, Vogue 9374 .
The narrow pant is designed for knits and is almost, but not quite, a legging, while the soft pant is designed for either woven or knits in either ankle length or cropped.
As always, the line drawing shows the seaming and details.
In the photo below, we used a shirting weight metallic linen for the ankle length pant worn with the tunic.
For the pattern envelope, we used, a black rayon crepe, a shirting weight metallic linen and a bamboo/spandex stripe as shown below, left to right.
Adapt both the pants and the dress/tunic to your figure, lifestyle and fabric choices, they make a standout warm weather ‘uniform’.
Marcy’s Travel Wardrobe Versions
I made the soft pant in a Japanese cotton, and the narrow pant in a bamboo/spandex stripe, shown below with the Tiered Tunic and Tunic V9329.Because I was on a roll, I whipped up two more pieces, an underlayer - designed to wear under and peek out at the neck and hem, this in an acetate lining fabric from my stash, using V9057.
I wanted a patterned pant, so used favorite pant pattern, V9303 .
While all this sewing was happening, Gwen Spencer and I have also been working on prototypes for a shirt/jacket pattern for Spring 2020. Can’t show the entire garment, but shown below are details from garments that are part of the travel wardrobe; one in cotton, the other in linen.
Whew! this has been a fun and satisfying project, got me back in the sewing studio and sewing mood. As I write this I am leaving tomorrow for Paris with a grouping of pieces I can’t wait to wear.
Preparing for a trip is a creative process. I start by having a Sunday morning try-on session with Katherine where we put all the possible pieces on a rack, try things on - sometimes swapping pieces with each other. I figure out what to wear on the plane and take one change of clothes + PJ’s in the carry-on, and always feel a sense of completion when that is settled!
The picks from this first session go on a rack, and I keep editing until things go in the suitcase. Pants go flat into packing units, while tops and jackets are layered on hangers, zipped into a thin garment bag and folded into the top of the suitcase so they can be hung up on arrival, and I’ve got a stash of hangers. Photo below shows the final cut…I have yet to master the art of traveling light!
|
Posted on April 20 2021