This is a dress built on impulses. The fabric, the pattern, even the cutting and sewing was all done on impulse. I'm not sure if I bought the fabric first or the pattern first but I think they are lovely match. The fit and fabric remind me of a vintage dress I own that used to belong to my grandmother. The knit makes it comfortable to wear but the design makes it rather fancy, the kind of thing you'll wear to party, night on the town or even as I suggested yesterday to a wedding.
The pattern is Vogue V1327 designed by Anne Klein. The pattern calls for a woven fabric but I decided I'd give it a whirl with this knit. I had to make a few changes to get it work and for the most part it did work. I cut the pattern slightly smaller because I knew the fabric would stretch and eliminated the zipper from the center back. At the center front waist, I made gathers instead of pleats. The dress is supposed to be fully lined, but I decided to only line the front bodice. To finish the back seams, I used a facing as you can see in the photo above.
From the back skirt, I removed the darts and center seam so it would be less bulky. I would have removed the center back seam from the bodice but I forgot. After I first tried on the dress, the back was fitting quite loosely. So, to gather the back waist, I stitched 1/4 inch elastic to the seam allowance. Now I can easily pull it over my head but the fit is much more flattering. If you're wondering how to apply elastic to the waist of a dress, see my tutorial here.
The fabric is a tan colored double knit with gold designs printed on top that I bought from the Michael Levine Loft store. It's kind of conservative yet the gold printing makes it look special and a touch fancy. I love how the it pairs with my vintage black patent leather handbag and Nine West pumps.
Overall, I love the dress. The fit is not as close as I might like but without a zipper, I didn't want to cut it too trim. If you saw all my other pictures, you'd see a lot more wrinkles. I think the cut out detail and twist bodice are really cool design details. Not the kind you'd like to have a lot of copies of but I might consider trying this again in a woven fabric.
