Skip to main content

Vogue 1234 Sandra Betzina Dress


Hola amigos!  I've not posted anything for a while, and one reason was because I was out of the country, in beautiful Cancun, Mexico.  Before I left, I made a few things for the trip, including this dress, Vogue 1234.  This is a pattern by Sandra Betzina for the Today's Fit series.  It came out in 2011, and is still in print, which says something about it's popularity.  There have been numerous reviews for it on Patternreview.com, and they all looked wonderful.  But, I never felt that I had the right fabric to make my version until now.


I used an ITY knit from Fabric Mart Fabrics that had a distinct stripe pattern.  I had to be careful in cutting this out, as the stretch of the fabric went across the stripes, which meant if I wanted it to stretch around my body, I had to place the fitted parts of the pattern with the stripes going vertically. 





Here's the cover of the pattern, where they used a stripe too.  What is deceiving about this photo, is the length.  I had read in the multiple reviews of this pattern that it ran very, very long, so I knew ahead of time to adjust it before I cut it out.  To get my version to hit as the same length as the model on the cover, I removed 5" from the length.  I am 5'9", so either this model is over 6 foot, or some shortening of the pattern was done.


Shortening isn't as easy as a traditional dress might be, as you can see from the line drawing that there are multiple sections that go out, and then narrow at the bottom.  So, to keep that shape, I removed 2-1/2" at about waist level, and then another 2-1/2" at the thigh level.  I had to do this to each pattern piece that would be affected at those levels, and then redraw the cutting lines to blend them together.



My print is pretty busy, so I'll show you some close-ups of the seams in a couple of areas. It's actually pretty easy to sew- the directions are very helpful, and if you like puzzles, you'll like putting it together.  I was a little concerned that the shape might be a little too avant-garde for my part of the world, but my family members universally gave it a big thumbs up.



Here's the back view.  Aren't the beaches in Cancun amazing?


Even with the shortening, I ran short of fabric, and had to do some fancy footwork in piecing the back together.  If you make this with a stripe, give yourself a yard or so extra to give yourself some room to play with.


If you like this shape, and don't already have this pattern, I'd get it soon! Five years is a long time for a pattern to stay in print, and you never know when it might be replaced.  Check out the other versions on Patternreview.com, and you can see lots of creative variations.  I really love mine and hope to make more, now that I've got the alterations figured out.

Now, back to winter in Illinois....

Happy sewing!
Ann

Comments

  1. A beautiful dress in a lovely print!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Love love love your dress! And yes, the beaches are beautiful. Looks like you had a great time!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you, Coco. Yes, we did. Cancun is such a great vacation destination- I recommend it to everyone.

      Delete
  3. Wow! This pattern certainly has some interesting design lines. Love your dress, and the colour of the water at that beach is amazing.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Oh my goodness! Where to start? I love this on you Ann. The fabric is perfect for this pattern which I just bought so I'm so glad you made it before me because I'm only 5'4 so I would have had one long dress if you hadn't warned about the length. I'm scared to think how many inches I'll have to shorten it by !!! So thank you so much ! Oh and that beach looks heavenly even though Our winter up here isn't very harsh so far. That horrible snow storm didn't travel to Canada thank goodness.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Oh my goodness! Where to start? I love this on you Ann. The fabric is perfect for this pattern which I just bought so I'm so glad you made it before me because I'm only 5'4 so I would have had one long dress if you hadn't warned about the length. I'm scared to think how many inches I'll have to shorten it by !!! So thank you so much ! Oh and that beach looks heavenly even though Our winter up here isn't very harsh so far. That horrible snow storm didn't travel to Canada thank goodness.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks so much, Diana! Good to hear that you missed the snowstorm. I can't wait to see your version of this pattern- I know it will be awesome!

      Delete
  6. The dress is gorgeous and that print is just BEAUTIFUL on you! What an amazing beach-dress!!!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Ooooh...this is so beautiful! The fabric is perfect for the pattern! Don't you just love it when things come together like this!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks, Sue! Yes, sometimes you just have to wait for the perfect pairing.

      Delete

Post a Comment

Thanks for visiting my blog! I would love to hear your opinions! Please share your comments here.

Popular posts from this blog

What to Wear in Madagascar

To be honest, I have no idea what to wear in Madagascar, and this title may need to be changed to "what NOT to wear in Madagascar" in a few months.  We will have to wait and see.  My 22 year old daughter, Alyssa, left for the Peace Corps this week, and she will be stationed in Madagascar for the next 2 years and 3 months.  Yes, you read that right- TWO YEARS and three months!!! We are very proud of her for wanting to help make the world a better place, and for being fearless in doing so, but it will be a looooong time for Mama and Papa back home. Not knowing anything about Madagascar, the first step in figuring out what to pack was to figure out the weather and the cultural norms.  Madagascar is a very large island off the southeastern coast of Africa.  It's very, very unique in it's ecosystem, and has many species that are not found anywhere else in the world- most famously lemurs. Right now, it is experiencing it's rainy season, as you can see by the

Vogue 9305 Asymmetrical Tunics

It's April and we're expecting snow tonight.  Have we switched hemispheres?  Nevertheless, I am sewing with visions of warm sunny days.  And for those warm sunny days to come, I imagine sitting in the shade with a light breeze flowing through the air, enjoying a light beverage with friends.  Just close your eyes and you can imagine too.  What would you be wearing?  Well,  I love a dramatic asymmetrical tunic made of the softest linen.  As luck would have it, I found just the fabric in the "As Is" section in Fabric Mart's sales category.  With just some irregular dye marks on the selvage, it was marked down, but still completely usable.  It started out as a solid color, but I did an ombre dip dye process to get this look- more on that later! For my pattern, I chose Vogue 9305 , a tunic with a shaped hemline, and two styles of pants (I didn't make the pants).   This pattern must be the biggest bang for your time possible.  The tunic went tog

Grey Cashmere Coat Simplicity 3672

For the past few months, Fabric Mart has had the most gorgeous array of Michael Kors Wool Blend Coatings that I have ever seen!  During COVID stay at home time, I've been letting my gray grow out, and I thought that even though some of the delicious sounding shades like apricot and apple green would be beautiful, the heathered gray shade would be the most flattering to my gray hair and the most versatile for a winter coat.  And it was one of the coatings that listed Cashmere as one of the fiber components, so I was curious as to how that would feel.