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Vogue 8379 Knit Wrap Dress

I’ve worn this dress lots! As with my other versions of this pattern, this is a very practical yet fun addition to my wardrobe. It’s great for work or for special occasions, depending on how it’s styled or what kind of fabric you use. I’ve also worn this particular dress in the colder months by pairing it with tights and a cardigan.

This dress has received some nice compliments, perhaps the best one being “That looks expensive!” from the cheery cashier at Pret A Manger. I’ll take it! I want to make a dozen more versions of this pattern…

Nicola Dress by Victory Patterns

I wish I could say that I wore this dress more, but I didn’t! I did manage to bring it out a couple of times, including a sewing meetup happy hour a few months ago.

My biggest challenge with wearing this dress was the way the front overlaps would slip off in either direction (all the way up) as I sat down. I also noticed you could see my entire leg as I stepped forward! I just can’t pull that off without being super self-conscious. To make it wearable, I sewed in some snaps at the skirt and that helped a lot.

The armholes are also a little tight so I would lower them if I made another version. Even with its issues I do love the pattern. I wonder if going for a wider waist size (or adding an interior waist tie) would help overlap the pieces even more. I could even use V8379 above as a guide.

Sorbetto Top by Colette Patterns

I definitely wore this last summer, though it’s a little more loose fitting/boxy than I’m used to wearing (even tucked in). I didn’t like the white bias tape trim along the edges so I turned it to the inside and top-stitched it down. This lets the Liberty fabric shine, I think. If I made this top again I’d go down in size to make it slightly less boxy.

If you’ve made these patterns up, do you find yourself wearing them a lot? Do you have any questions about these makes?

I’ve been trying to take photos of myself wearing my handmade outfits out and about so I can use them in these posts, so I’ll try to incorporate those moving forward if possible! Have a great Fourth of July for those here in the U.S. :)

This is the Nicola Dress by Victory Patterns, my first pattern made from this indie company. I used rayon fabric that I had bought three years ago at Sew L.A. and the print is called “Van Gogh” (also used in the blue colorway for my 1920s kimono). This fabric was destined for a few other dress patterns before it finally made the cut with this one, no pun intended. :-D The skirt is lined with Bemberg rayon and the dress closes with two buttons at the waist, one interior button and one exterior.

Size-wise, I cut a size 2 at the bust and hips and a size 4 at the waist. I almost thought I didn’t need to be so precise and could’ve gone with a straight size 2 since this is a wrap dress, but I’m glad I went with the usual measurements.

I really love the tulip skirt and sleeves! And I’m so glad I waited to use this Van Gogh print because I think it shows really well with the Nicola dress. It was made specifically for a work event in mind – a cocktail reception at an art gallery – and I believe this one fit the bill! Though some people weren’t sure what was so “Van Gogh” about this print. I defer to others on that one. :)

Revelations Aplenty
I fixed the revealing skirt issue I mentioned in my previous post by simply moving the buttons at the waist to make it more fitted. Apparently I didn’t do this the first time around! I looked again at the model on the Victory Patterns’ website and realized the fabric of my dress just wasn’t overlapping enough, hence the revealing-leg-as-I-stepped-forward issue. Phew! Glad to have that one fixed, let me tell ya.

On other blogs, I’ve seen some people ask how revealing the skirt is when sitting down, so I thought I would include a photo of me doing just that. Honestly? The skirt does want to fall to the sides up to what feels like a pretty revealing point! It’s not bad here (I think the tulip design makes it feel a bit more risqué), but I’m still not 100% comfortable. I basically have to push the skirt fabric towards the front before I sit, pile the fabric on my lap, and cross one foot over the other ever so ladylike. I’m not posing that way here, but I couldn’t time it all correctly with the self-timer, d’oh! I imagine the Bemberg lining is adding to the slippery factor. Seems like a lot of fuss, huh?

Adding snaps would help, but I had a few failed attempts at this and I was getting fed up and called it a day. I didn’t end up adding snaps to the bodice since I didn’t have a gaping issue, but they might help keep the neckline from shifting ever so slightly to reveal my underthings when I’m not monitoring. And, really, who needs that level of worrying when wearing a dress?? The other simple solution is to wear a camisole, which is likely what I’ll end up doing.

Some Changes to the Pattern / Missing Instructions?
I hesitate to be so frank, but I think the pattern instructions could have benefited from another round of proofreading. There were a number of typos and (I believe) some illustrations that weren’t colored correctly. I was surprised by this! I don’t think I’ve read other people having an issue with this regarding Victory Patterns so maybe it was just a fluke with this pattern? You can’t imagine how often I was convinced I wasn’t getting it; I still wonder if it’s me and not the pattern instructions! This pattern is labeled for beginners so I thought I would share my fixes below.

“Think, think” how I can fix this vs. “Aaugh!” I can’t fix this! Pretty much sums up this project for me. :)

I didn’t see this in other reviews, but the armholes were much too small for the sleeves. There was a considerable amount of the sleeve that had no where to go – did I miss something? The pattern instructions didn’t call for it, but I added two rows of ease stitching at 3/8″ and 5/8″ so that I could ease the sleeves into the armholes. I did this after basting the front and back portions of the sleeves together. It worked! Again, I was surprised how off this was – my pattern pieces didn’t stretch and I double checked that I cut a size 2 sleeve for a size 2 bodice – so my only thought is the ease stitching step was left out of the instructions?

Speaking of the armholes, I would lower it in a second version. They’re a bit small, even for my chicken arms! In any case, the sleeves are fun to wear.

I mentioned earlier that some of the illustrations didn’t appear to be colored correctly. In the “Sleeve” section, the second illustration (PDF pattern) looks like the wrong sides of the sleeve and sleeve binding have been sewn together even though the instructions say to sew them right sides together (which is correct). As is, the illustration would cause you to have the wrong side of the sleeve binding on the right (outer) side of the sleeve – so you’d be walking around with the wrong side of the sleeve binding on the outside of your sleeve? Actually, the second and third illustrations down from that show this exactly, which doesn’t make sense! That’s not how the model is wearing it.

I’ve included two photos above of how I did it. The first photo shows the pressed sleeve binding just before I’m going to sew it 3/8″ from the edge. The instructions say to trim it to 1/4″ after that, but I trimmed it to 1/8″ since it was easier to turn to the inside this way. The second photo shows the finished dress with the sleeve binding on the inside – different from what the (incorrect) pattern illustration shows you. Yikes, I feel a bit severe here, but I’m just trying to save you a headache. :)

Another thing that I felt was missing from the instructions was how to finish the neckline facings once attached to the bodice. I’ve been taught to trim and grade the seam allowances and then understitch in order to keep the facings from flipping over so I went ahead and did this (see photo above). Basically, just follow the trimming and understitching instructions provided for the hem. You’ll want to press the seams towards the facing before understitching to also help get a nice crisp edge.

I also tacked the facings every so often. In another version I’d skip the facings and go with bias binding instead.

Oh, and this may be obvious, but when you create the thread loop for the inside button, cut four pieces of thread 10 inches long, not 10 feet as the pattern instructions say. That’s clearly a typo, but I just thought I’d mention it. :)

And In the End
Despite the issues, I do like this dress. It’ll be interesting to see how often I actually wear it. There seems to be a lot of fuss involved and that’s not very enticing. A shame, really. If patience prevails one day, adding snaps is the way to go, methinks.

Wow, such a complainer in this post. :) Leaving on a happy note, this dress received a number of compliments at the work event I attended so that was nice! I’d love to make the wrap top version of this pattern – it’d be perfect to wear over my Parfait dress, for example.

I hope you’ve had a nice Memorial Day weekend here in the US! And, for everyone else, happy Monday! Thanks for reading along.

From the Victory Patterns site.

In other news, I finished the Nicola Dress from Victory Patterns and wore it yesterday. I had grand plans to photograph it today, but my cold got in the way! Oh well. I will work on that soon and write up my review. Also, since this is labeled a beginner pattern, I thought I’d add some extra tips that I felt were missing from the instructions that might help beginners sew up this pattern.

Before then, however, I’m going to try to add some snaps to the bodice AND the skirt – maybe I’m just very modest, but having practically my whole right leg show when I took a step forward isn’t exactly what I had in mind!! And, oh boy, this skirt is quite revealing when sitting down. Thank goodness for safety pins. :)

Despite these concerns, it’s a beautiful pattern and I received a number of compliments. It’ll be nice not having to rely on a safety pin, which popped open a couple of times during the night when I stood up from where I was sitting. Yikes and a half!

Here’s a quick shot of the bodice of my latest work in progress, the Nicola Dress by Victory Patterns. I was originally going to use another fabric for this dress, but since I’m on a tight deadline and the sheer fabric was going to require underlining, I decided to go with this rayon instead. The print is called “Van Gogh” – perfect because the event I’m going to will be in an art gallery!

I made a muslin of the top and it fit well enough for me to say, “Just go for it, kiddo.” I cut a size 2 at the bodice and transitioned up to a size 4 at the waist, which is what I usually do. There are a lot of darts on this baby! Three on each bodice piece and two in the back (so eight total). The rayon wasn’t liking my chalk pen so I thread traced the darts instead. Took some time but they came out nice.

One thing I noticed is that I probably should have done an FBA. I’ve only seen a few other finished versions of Nicola online and I could sense that this neckline might be a bit revealing on me – turns out I was right! I mean, it’s nice for a date or something…but not a work event. :) It all works out though because I happen to have a matching camisole that will pair nicely with this dress.

Learning at Mood
In other news, I attended my very first seminar at Mood: “Sewing with Silk,” which was lead by Sarai of Colette Patterns (you can see a photo of the class on the Colette blog, the Coletterie). Definitely a very interesting class and discussion – I even wore my new purple/blue wrap dress to mark the occasion! The card stock with silk swatches was a really nice souvenir everyone took away from the class. Each swatch comes with handy information on how to work with that type of silk. Yay! Wouldn’t it be neat to have a binder of these for different kinds of fabrics? Especially for those who rely heavily on buying fabrics online…

Colette Spring Party
I also attended the Colette Patterns Spring Party at Brooklyn General! If you wore a Colette design you received 20% off fabric, so my Oolong dress gave me a discount on one yard of this pretty Liberty Tana Lawn. My first Liberty purchase. :-D I was banking on the fact that I could make a simple blouse out of this; when I returned home I successfully fit the Colette Sencha pieces on it – woohoo! A $28 blouse made of some high quality fabric – not too shabby, not too shabby at all, I say.

The party was good fun. It was nice to see Wanette and Shelley as well as other new faces! I also had a chance to chat with Sarai and her husband, Kenn, at the end of the party. Oh, and it was cool enough that evening for me to wear my coat, too. Fun times with the sewing crowd, fun times, indeed. :) The event was also covered over at the Coletterie where you can see me in my dress!