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