Vogue 1329 - Mood Fabrics Geometric Stretch Woven

Summer is winding down here in the Midwest but occasionally it comes back with bursts of hot and humid.  I am not quite ready to move onto fall and winter sewing and knew I needed to sew up this gorgeous Mood Fabrics’ black and beige geometric squares stretch cotton woven (or you can go with the  cream and brown).  After all, this is wonderful fabric to feel and touch and I knew it needed to be a garment quickly.    I loved sewing it into this Vogue 1329 dress ( Kay Unger design).

Just look at the details in the waist pleats adding some curves where I really don’t have curves!  The fabric has the perfect amount of crispness to hold the pleats.

Before I get into the dress construction, I need to start with how I went with this pattern.  I have a relative small stash and was going through it looking for just something to go with this Mood Fabric and I found this cotton twill (purchased a couple of years ago from Joanns).  The twill was a perfect cream match and I knew my fabric combination was set.  I then started going through the patterns.  I found two, an OOP Simplicity tunic and Vogue 1382 (Anne Klein dress).  Being very indecisive, I put pictures on Instagram for help.  By the way, don’t you just love Instagram?  It was a really a toss up between the tunic and the dress until fellow Mood Sewing Network blogger, Sew Busy Lizzy, suggested Vogue 1329.  I knew I had that pattern somewhere and went looking though all my pattern drawers.  Oh, for a snow day this winter just to stay home and organize, but that is another story.  Let’s get back to the dress…..

I loved Sew Busy Lizzy’s idea, it seemed perfect for the fabrics.  I did a bit of research for the fit and found that Erica  had made this pattern.    I followed her advice and added inches to the length.  I went with 2 -1/2″ for the length and loved her advice of pegging the hem.  I cut a straight size 12 in the dress and then pegged the hem on the sides seams to the size 8 at the hemline.  The difference between the 12 and the 8 at the hem was about the 4 inches Erica suggested for the hem.

My fitting alterations:

• I took in 1/2″ at the side seams right at the hips 
• The dress was big at the center back, I reduced the side back seams by 1/2″
• Neckline was lowered by 3/8″, it was just too high for my liking
• I scooped out the armholes a bit, they were pretty high.

I did use the cream cotton twill for the lining on the upper pieces and used a  lining from Joann's for the remainder of the lining.  This dress was quick and easy to sew and the cotton woven was such a joy to stitch.  The pattern on this fabric is so fun, a bit wavy and the width of the cream plaid varies.  It really adds to the texture, dimension  and look of this fabric. The fabric has nice body  and works nicely with my Vogue pattern.  You might recognize this fabric, Sallieoh, created a beautiful summer dress from this same fabric.

Let me ask you all this, do you have some kind of sewing frustration occasionally on your projects?  I had a big frustration on this one and it all dealt with the invisible zipper.  I inserted the first one, pulled up the tab and the zipper pulled apart right at the seamline between the contrast and the print.  I went to my zippers and found another one that would work, did a bit of  unsewing to remove the first one.  Carefully stitched in the new zipper, pulled it up to close and check the placement of the two back pieces, holding my breath a bit.  Pop!!  Off came the zipper tab.  Oh my word, not again.  Into the zippers again I went  and found one last one that would work.  More unsewing to remove the second zipper and really, really holding my breath, I stitched the zipper in for the third time.   This one worked and went in perfectly and zipped perfectly.  What a releif!  The zipper looks good and I am so happy I put in a small strip of fusible interfacing in my seam line for the zipper.  I really needed that stabilization for this dress and all the sewing.

If you want some fabulous feeling stretch woven fabric, go grab this up before it is gone, you won’t regret it.   I think this dress will be in my suitcase for an upcoming business trip, provided the warm temperatures continue.

Disclosure - I receive a monthly fabric allowance from Mood Fabrics to make a garment.  This garment is blogged at Mood Sewing Network first and then I will blog here about this garment.