I walked past my local branch of Hobbs yesterday, and spotted this lovely pink dress in the window.
Then I came home and looked in my wardrobe at my pink party dress, which has a very similar keyhole-and-knot detail on the back. Now I don’t need to covet the Hobbs dress, and have thereby saved myself £169. Bargain!
This is Vogue 1170, another Rachel Comey pattern. I actually made this one first, and it inspired me to try the pink party dress.
You might recognise the design of the back – it’s pretty much identical to the dress, including the not-invisible zip! (This one wasn’t supposed to be invisible, but it should still be less visible than this.) I didn’t bother with the hem facing on this one – because the velvet has a slight stretch to it, I exaggerated the flared hem by simply stretching the fabric as I ran it through the overlocker.
You can’t really see the details on the front, but the skirt has the same angled seams as the dress. It also has tiny little pockets, hidden in the seam of the waistband. I don’t know that I’d bother with those next time. Normally I’m all in favour of pockets, but they were fiddly to make and they’re too small to hold anything useful!
You’ll just have to trust me that this one looks much better on a real person with a real bottom, than it does on my dress form.
This is Vogue 1161, a Rachel Comey designer pattern.
I think this ranks as the most technically complicated thing I’ve ever made (look at those right-angled seams on the front!), and I have to say that I’m rather proud of it.
Yes, there are things I’d change (mostly in the fit of the bodice), and things I’m not too pleased with (the hem facing and the not-very-invisible zip), but overall I’m very pleased with how this came out. Plus it does actually fit, which is always a bonus when you’ve spent two days making a dress!
My favourite part of this dress is the back. The knot makes the construction rather complicated, as it affects the order in which you have to assemble all the parts. But it looks so pretty! The keyhole back is just high enough that you can wear an ordinary bra underneath. This is always good, because any dress that requires specialist underwear almost invariably never gets worn. I also love the little flare at the back of the skirt. So pretty and so flattering, although a bit of a tricky one to hem.
The centre back seam isn’t as wonky as it looks, honest. I had to take a couple of inches out of the back of the bodice. This made a curved seam which fits me really well, but my dress form less so. I’m also fairly happy with the zip. It’s not as invisible as I’d have liked, but this was the first time I’d used an invisible zip (in 14 years of sewing!), so I think allowances can be made. I was very glad that I managed to line up the seams at the waist so neatly though.
I wore this out to a friend’s birthday party the day I finished it, and it coped well with the rigours of dancing and eating cake. It’s a little shorter than I’d normally wear, but this one will definitely be coming out of the wardrobe on special occasions!
