19 June 2009

149. Vogue 2975 (finally!): Modern Muumuu Done Right

Wish I'd kept better count of all the summer dresses I've sewn so far.  Maybe I'll re-cap at the end of summer.

I bought Vogue 2975 to make a summer dress from 2 years ago!  Never quite found the right fabric for it, or maybe I didn't have a very clear vision of what I wanted mine to look like.  No vision problems this year:  Summer 2009 is obvz going to be the summer of barely-shaped muumuus!  In Las Vegas, I got my hands on a gauzy, bright floral-printed cotton and saw the muumuu potential.  

Side note: last summer I tried my hand at McCall's 5654 and it was a total, complete muumuu.  Don't feel comfortable wearing it and I may need to refashion it into something else.  It taught me that I need some shaping in my muumuus, at least fitting at the bust and definition at the waist, even if there is tons of ease at the waist and hips.

Back to Vogue 2975... 

It met the new muumuu requirements for fitted bust and definition at waist.  Well, this dress in size 6 is fitted at the bust if you have a 33" bust.  I don't, so after I made my usual petite alterations of taking an inch from the bodice in the waist and another inch in the hip, I put the dress together and tried it on, and it gaped at the bust.  After exploring a number of options for reducing the excess fabric (pinching an inch from the front and an inch from the back, taking in the princess seams, taking a fraction of an inch from every vertical seam all around), it became clear that the excess fabric was all in the front, and, surprisingly, taking two inches from center front was the best way to go.  So, at least for this dress, I've added an extra pleat at center front.  I don't particularly like it when I stand back and look at it, but the floral is so busy that it isn't distracting or obviously bad in any way:

Funny, too, I omitted the zipper.  It still slips on over my head.  Taking it off requires a little negotiation, but not much.  Worth it to me to skip the zipper.  Also had to add some pockets.  This dress is so full that some fluffy, puffy, rounded, elasticized pockets called out to me.

I like the shape of this dress, I like wearing it, and I'd highly recommend this pattern even to beginners.  It's marked Average but that's probably a rating for the jacket.  The dress has only 5 pattern pieces but looks much more complicated.  I made this at my mom's house and she doesn't use tracing paper, so marking out the pleats took a long time -- I marked and sewed some of them incorrectly, had to unpick them, and start over.  

If I can find the right cotton I would like to make this again in a LBD version, with a pattern modification to reduce the front by 2 inches.  Hopefully this doesn't mess up the pleat placement too much.  I'll keep you posted if and when I get to that point.  :)

20 comments:

  1. Love it! The material is perfect and the touch you added at the front definitely makes this modern version "done right"

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  2. The pleats are fantastic - not distracting at all with the extra one. But then, I'm a big fan of volume... plus the pockets were a brilliant touch. I would love to see this in black linen!

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  3. My hubby always says - it's a feature, not a bug! The pleat is definitely a feature.

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  4. Love, love it!! Perfect summer dress on a hot day.

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  5. Oh my. this is WAY too cute! GREAT job. Love the fabric, love the style, love the execution.

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  6. Looks great!! I've had my share of muu-muu mishaps!:)

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  7. So cute! That fabric is very pretty. I am getting ready to make some summer dresses. Thanks for the inspiration. It is in the 90's here in Hot-lanta.

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  8. I like the pleats and I don't think anyone who wasn't very familiar with the pattern would even notice the extra one.

    Here's a question since you brought up resizing this dress pattern -- I accidentally bought the large children's size pattern for something but when I was looking at the measurements I noticed that I'm in between the largest size on the typical child's pattern and the smallest size on the typical adult's. Ignoring the style limitations; which is usually easier - sizing up or sizing down a pattern?

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  9. I love the print!
    Funny that you say you had to take in the dress at the centre front, as that's exactly what I had to do when I was making up my princess line shell top. It was the only way to get the lines to sit over my boobs, rather than about 1 1/2" to the side.

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  10. You make some very nice things. This dress is so summer...I say with a sigh as we approach winter solstice. Cold, wet, dark. I think I'm going to take another look look at your flowers to make me smile!

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  11. i love the way you talk about knocking out a dress or whatever the way I say "I flushed the toilet today." or "i ran the dishwasher. will probably empty in a day or two"! You are so talented. Thank you for sharing your work.

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  12. I love the dress and I love the fabric. I've got to get busy on some summer dresses.

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  13. this is adorable!! Well done, as always....

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  14. Eek, I'm such a noob, what does "LBD version" mean?

    How long does it take you to finish a project? Do you do marathon sewing sessions?

    I've only made sleep boxers and jammie pants so far, but even with that, I took days because I went slow, cutting fabric one day, doing one leg, then the other leg, then the casing and hemming the pants up on another day.

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  15. I think this would look striking in a LBD version. Not saying that it's not striking in a flowery print because it is.

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  16. That fabric is FANTASTIC! So lovely.

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  17. Love that pleating detail at the neckline. & the fabric you used is *so* perfect for summer.

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  18. cute, cute! I started to learn to sew last Summer and fell off the bandwagon. Need to get back on...you've inspired me. :)

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  19. What a great muumuu! Your fabric pick makes this dress really desirably. I have seen the yellow version in the Vogue catalog and that didn't make me tick at all, but your's is very joie de vivre, with much more personality.

    As for a zipper in a muumuu, that sounds very superfluous, good you omitted it. Those pattern companies want to put a zipper into everything, I've seen it on loose fitting tunics as well. I don't get that.

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  20. cutest print choice for that dress! So spring-y. I love the pockets, too.

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