Next up - Vogue 8553

Over the weekend I realized that I have not made a new dress for Easter in a couple of years. Well, seeing as how I am on vacation, I have no excuse not to this year. I bought this pattern and fabric a couple of years ago and just have never put it together.

The first thing I did was to go onto Pattern Review and check out the reviews. Most of the reviewers said that the pattern is not as easy as the envelope states and that there is a lot of gathering, handsewing, and fussiness in piecing the neckline pieces. Well, so far, I have done a lot of gathering and handsewing, but I'm not in a rush, so that is OK. You don't normally expect patterns for knits to be this fussy, but there is a lot of gathering and all of the neck and front bands are faced and handsewn into place. I still need to sew on the rest of the neck band, but here is where I'm at so far:


I also decided to use my coverstitch machine to finish the armhole edges and will also use it to hem the dress. I am still below a novice with the coverstitch, but I will never get better if I don't use it! No matter how many tutorials I have looked up or watched on You Tube, I still can't get the thread to end right without releasing the tension arm inside the bottom of the machine. Oh well, that's working for me for now, so I'll live with it.






I have no idea how this is going to fit. Usually I have to cut a 10 in the shoulders, taper to a 12-14 at the waist, do a FBA and go out to a 16 in the hips. This has a full skirt, and after measuring the pattern, I decided to just cut a 10, but on the front I went out to a 12 at the underarm and added 1" in length for the full bust. I think the pattern is pretty forgiving on size since there is so much gathering and the skirt has pleats. I figure I can "make it work!"