Sew along with me as I make a cute summer dress using Vogue 1348! I’m cutting corners to eliminate bulk, and adding a twisted shoulder to this style.
I got this pattern because it looks cool, why else do you buy a pattern? But it turns out this dress has a rather intricate technical design, and the bodice calls for 3 layers of fabric plus interfacing! I really wanted a light weight, breezy summer dress, so I’m going to see how much of this I can cut out.
Right off the bat I know I want to eliminate the underlining layer. It looks like it’s main purpose is to hold up the pleats since there’s no waist seam. So instead I’m going to use a modified waist stay, which I’ll get into later on.
To pick what size to cut I always check the finished measurements on the pattern. The pattern card only shows what size it’s intended for, but most commercial patterns include a lot of ease, or roominess for comfort. I find that too much ease just makes me look like I’m swimming in the garment, and it’s not flattering.
I’m expecting a lot of alterations, so I’m going to transfer the pattern onto real pattern paper. I’m using a tracing wheel to trace out the pattern pieces I need. That’s all of the dress pieces and the lining pieces. The pocket bags and skirt lining pieces can be traced right onto fabric when I’m ready for them.
I usually cut the seam allowances down to 1/2”, but my fabric is going to fray like crazy so I’ll leave the longer seam allowance on there for now. Be sure to label the pieces as you go. I’m also marking what seam allowance is included, and what size I used.
Now I’m going to make half a fit sample. I’m marking just the bodice part of the dress on muslin, so just the tops of piece 3 and 6 from the original pattern. Because the skirt has pleats I’m not worried about the fit there.
I gave the shoulders an extra 3/8”, so there’s a total of 1” seam allowance there. And to make the fitting easier, I added a center front seam.
I cut out those pieces and then stitched them together at the princess seams, sides seams, and center back. Then I pressed the seams open.
I also marked where the sew line is at the shoulder (which is 1″ on my fit sample).
Now I’ll put it on a dress form to figure out the shoulder seam. I have a long torso and square shoulders, so I put shoulder pads on my dress form to get it closer to my real shape. I put the fit sample on the dress form and pin the front closed.
I also put a pin across the back neck, through the muslin of the dress form, to keep it from shifting.
The inch seam allowance is still not enough for the shoulder seams to meet, let alone twist, so I’ll have to improvise!
I cut little rectangles of muslin, finished two edges at the width of the shoulder, and marked a line for the shoulder seam.
I pinned one edge across the front dress shoulder, then twisted it once and pinned it to the back shoulder. I’m glad the shoulders were too short because this made it a lot easier to add the twist!
The two edges have to travel farther than the middle of the rectangle to make the twist, so there’s this little bubble of fabric here in the middle. I’m pulling it toward the back and I’ll pin a little V at the princess seam to control it.
I pinned the twist on the other shoulder, then tried it on myself to fit it. It’s very boxy at the top. See how the front and back neck both gape out? That’s gonna bug the shit out of me!
I could pin out at the neck shoulder area, but the bust is too large on me also, so I’m pinning the center front and trying to keep it in a straight line from the neck to the waist because there won’t be a seam here on the actual dress.
I’m pinning out the extra bust fullness and marking the apex for reference. I pinned through both sides of the princess seam, but I’ll take the fullness out of just the side front piece.
On the back I pinned two darts at the neck where it was gaping. Don’t be afraid to re-pin and re-fit as many times as you need until you like the way it fits, but also keep in mind it still might fit a little differently (and usually much better) when it’s made out of the fashion fabric.
Now I need to mark the pinned center front lines on both sides of the pins before I take it off.
At my table I’m marking the other alteration points on both sides of the pins. I cut one of the shoulder rectangles at the line that I marked for the shoulder seam to make it easier to work with.
Then transfer the all of the marks to the shell and lining pattern pieces. Everything that you do to the shell, go ahead and do to the lining and facings at the same time.
I mark out the seam allowance where I’m working because I want all of the adjustments to happen within the garment. I pinched out 3/4” at the back neck, so I marked that on my pattern and drew a line where I wanted to slash the pattern, following the direction that the garment was pinned. I cut just up to the stitch line, then continue the cut in the seam allowance, so that there’s a little bit of paper holding the pattern together at the pivot point.
Then I can close up that 3/4” that was gaping and tape it back together. Then blend the lines. Add paper if you need to fill in the seam allowance anywhere.
I taped paper onto the shoulder to extend it, then lined up the original shoulder seam that I marked on the fit sample and drew the fabric rectangle extension for the twist. True the lines, which means to draw them with straight edges, and measure to make sure it’s still the correct size at the shoulder seam.
Then add seam allowance and blend into the original pattern piece.
I marked the bubble in the twist that I had pinned, and slashing the pattern to reduce that amount. Then add seam allowances.
It makes a funny shaped pattern. That’s okay, but now I need to split the back facing into two pieces. Right now it doesn’t have a princess seam so it won’t be able to make this funny shape I need.
I’m drawing on the self pattern piece where the facing ends.
Then tracing those two areas onto new pattern paper and cutting just inside the line at the neck and armscye so it’s slightly smaller than the shell.
On the front I have to re-align the grain line. I pinched out 1” at the neck, so I’m making a new center front grain line from 1/2” at the neck to 0” at the hem.
Then I have to re-square the pleats so they don’t end up crooked and off-grain. And reposition the drill holes…
Now I can add the extra length to the front shoulders and make sure it’s the same width as the back shoulder pieces. Blend the lines anywhere that you’re extending or changing so it’s smooth.
Finally I can reduce the bust curve based on my pin marks. For this I only reduce the curve of the front side piece.
Don’t forget to alter your lining pieces too, and keep in mind if you change any seams, the adjoining piece may need to be adjusted as well.
You might end up with marks from the fitting pins that don’t fit with the others. I either take the average between them or just ignore the rogue marks altogether. Don’t feel like you have to exactly hit every pin mark, pinning isn’t always completely accurate, and you don’t usually want a squiggly seam (except in this case at the the shoulder for the twist!).
There were a lot of pattern pieces to keep track of! I’ll show you how to start sewing it together in the next tutorial 🙂
