My von Trapp dress

This dress reminds me of the dresses that Maria made the von Trapp children from curtains in the Sound of Music...I know the fabric is not that similar, but it certainly has the same vibe. The pattern is Vogue 8185.

Now before you think your eyes are going funny...the photo is blurry because I don't have enough light to take a better photo.

The pattern has the option of being strapless, but although my dress is a snug fit, when I breathe out it falls down, so straps it was.

I thought about omitting the bottom frill, but after drawing my croquis, I decided that the frill emphasised the A-line a little more.

The ribbon I used around the empire line is a groovy train of elephants. I am also very proud of myself for cutting the front bodice with a motif in the centre...that is the sort of detail I usually only remember later.


This project was my first experience with boning. I tried to find out a little about boning beforehand, but did not come across too much information. Then I found out that our local store only stocks rigilene anyway. Rigilene is a sew-in synthetic boning, but because I was using the bodice lining as my muslin, I made casings for the bonings so that the length would be easy to adjust.

I made the casings from silk organza, which turned out to be a lot less hassle than I was expecting. I did save some left-overs for a photograph, but goodness only knows where they are after my tidy-up. The sewing magazines seem to use silk organza for all sorts of applications, but the organza that they sell in my local store is frightfully expensive, so I can only assume that a different quality product is available somewhere else??? I used a scrap that I found in my mother-in-law's cupboard one holiday.

I had quite a few fit issues with this dress, which I will detail in my pattern review.