Vogue 1507 (Rachel Comey)

When Vogue 1507 was first released, I thought it looked kind of ugly.  Spotlight had a great sale on Vogue patterns recently, and I really took my time going through the pattern books, buying up any patterns I thought I might use (I think they worked out at $6 a pattern, which is really cheap for here.  Sadly, not all the designs I picked out were in store.)  I sometimes buy the designer patterns to read, even if I don't think I will make them, because often they have interesting construction or design details.  Vogue 1507 has a lot of great details and beautiful construction techniques, and I decided to give it a whirl.

I chose a cotton + steel rayon challis, which has a much softer drape than the fabric used for the pattern envelope, so the resulting garment has quite a different look.

My daughter has grown so much this year, that she has gone from being way too tiny for adult patterns to a size 8 in just a few months.  I cut the size 8.  I basted the under layer and back sections together and did a quick fitting.  I took up the shoulders to about the size 4 line, so I used the size 4 sleeves (I think that the back yoke pattern piece has the wrong sizes printed on it.  The main pattern pieces are sized 4 - 12, and the yoke 6 - 14).  The grading on this pattern looked a little odd, in that the front neckline width hardly changed from size 4 to size 12.  It gaped on her, so I took in the under-layer at the CF and the over-layer on the seams for the centre front panel.

I put a few stitches in the CB, so she can just pull the top on without having to tie the back knot.  The back knot is not sitting at its most prettiest in this photo.  

Here you can see the split sleeve.  I only had enough fabric for one layer in the sleeves.  Also, I shortened the sleeves by about 10 cm, so that they would not overwhelm her.

I used a contrast fabric for the front panel.  It took a lot of auditioning of scraps from my remnant pile to find something that worked here.  In the end, I have layered a cotton voile over the top of a peach rayon.

The pattern instructions give beautiful finishing techniques, but I did not use them because, well, sewing for teenagers.  The over-locker really sped things up, and I used a rolled hem instead of narrow hemming the edges.  I did not have the right colour thread for the rolled hems and used a pale blue for the upper looper, a pink for the lower looper and which for the needle thread, and it looks okay.

Now I am wondering if I should make a yellow floral version for myself, before I put the pattern away?