Vogue 1228 - Vena Cava

I fell in love with this dress the minute I saw it. I'm a sucker for 1920's fashions and to me this has that vibe. However, that era was not designed for curvy girls. I still love it though.



I had planned on making it out of this yummy silk from FabricMart that I stashed away sometime last year.



However my concern was that despite the love I had for this design, it would be a travesty on my figure. So, I perused the Red Tag sale at Joann's which was 50% off this week and found this, surprisingly nice, floral rayon. I've been wanting to stretch myself in prints and florals definitely stretch me. Plus, they are "In" this season again. So I picked this up for a whopping $3 a yard and whipped it up. Seriously, this is a super quick, easy project.

There are only five pieces, two of which are the sleeve tabs and the neckline binding. I would say that a beginner could probably handle this dress. It teaches you how to do French Seams, which I had never done. It has some funky pleats in the front and back but they aren't hard. There is minimal marking for this. They want you to put in a zipper...puhlease...zipper??? Seriously??? Nothing cranks me more than erroneous zipper insertion. I'm super busty and did not in the least need a zipper to get this on.

I'm on the fence about whether I will make it in the silk or not. The silk wasn't very expensive, in fact, I don't think it was much more than my practice dress here. However, I do really like it and didn't want to waste it. I'll probably give this dress a run through and see how I like it after I wear it. That is one reason I don't do true muslins, I like to test it out. I'm not sure how to style this oh, and the neckline is VERY LOW!!! I read the one review and did remember to check it, but it is deceiving! I could easily take this up a full inch! There will definitely need to be a cami of some sort worn. I was considering some kind of a lace modesty panel...yeah, lace! Really, this is a stretch for me...I love my harder, biker chick look ;-)

All in all, I'm happily surprised by this dress. I really thought it was going to be a total downer. It has more shape than I thought and isn't a total box. It's not my ideal silouette for a dress but sometimes you just gotta say WTF and go for it.

Sorry you got me with no makeup after a day home alone with nowhere to go but up to my sewing room.



You can see the pleat just above the bust line. You fold it up from the bottom to get the interesting pleat for the sleeve. It's not pulling, that's the way it is supposed to be.





And this here is why I sometimes have a stupid look on my face while I'm taking pictures...the doofus Cattle Dog makes me laugh doing his silly little happy dance!