Friday, December 4, 2009

Vogue 1056, Triple Keyhole Knit Dress

Vogue 1056 Thumbnail

This was a stashbusting project; I felt like I needed to sew something from stash to balance out sewing exclusively with new fabrics, which is always a problem with me! I bought this about a year and a half ago from G Street's $2.97 table. At the time I was seduced by the turquoise in the print, as this is my favorite color. However, I got it home and realized that it was a stealth stripe fabric. For some reason, I often just don't like stripes that much. I like them sometimes, but they are not my favorite. I find stealth stripe prints to be such a nuisance because then you have to think about directionality and which way is more flattering and it is all too much trouble. So this sat in stash and I fell more and more out of love with it, to the point where I thought I might have given it away. But there it was, at the back of the shelf.

I was iffy on the pattern, Vogue 1056, as well. I don't normally wear anything with a high neckline as I have a very low choking feeling threshold, and plus I like my collarbones. But I was really intrigued by the design and it is something a little new and different for a knit. I figured I'd combine the so-so fabric with the so-so pattern and wouldn't be too sad if either turned out to be the wrong decision, and I'd finally get the blasted fabric out of stash.

In the end, I am very happy with the dress! It was quick and easy to put together (I omitted the zipper because it's a knit for crying out loud) and the woven lining (ditto). The neckline is not stretchy because of the facing, but it slips over the head. I did it over my *crazy* I-haven't-sewn-in-forever-so-I-must-do-nothing-but-obsessively-sit-at-my-machine weekend and it took around 4 hours. The only remotely tricky part is the neckline facing, and it's really not that tricky and the pattern directions and illustrations are good.

Keyhole CloseupAlthough it's evident in the line drawing and should be a logical conclusion based on the design, I was somehow surprised when this turned out to be a triple keyhole. I was focusing on the center keyhole, which the model photo emphasizes, and you can't even see the side keyholes in the pattern photo. When I first put it on, I thought I had done something wrong! The side keyholes were very prominent and the center keyhole completely disappeared. I ended up inelegantly just bunching a couple layers of fabric together on either side of the center keyhole and tacking it down to make sure that it stayed open.

FrontBecause of my "striped" fabric, I couldn't follow the cutting layout. The front is kind of crazy as the two halves are cut as one at the neck, and then has a center seam below the keyhole (so the final cut out front is sort of a butterfly-shape variant; I feel like I'm not explaining this well) so you have to cut it out single layer and it's on the bias. This would have made my stripes all kinds of crazy, so I put a seam at the center neck joining spot and laid the front out on grain. This knit is thin (not to say cheap) and I used serger construction so that front seam neck isn't *too* bulky, but I would not recommend adding that seam rather than cutting as one in anything but a thin, drapey knit.

I ended up loving the way the stripes fall on the front--their subtle curve makes my bust look big and my waist look skinny! Perhaps I should give stripes more credit in the future.

BackAs with the Butterick 5130 Muse dress I was a little too enthusiastic about how much I needed to shorten the skirt in cutting. Oops. So, as I did for that dress, I added a band at the hem. Here I actually thought this was a very fortuitous accident, because the horizontal striped band at the hem I felt really added something to the design (and helped balance the play of stripes at the back neck yoke) and made the dress look more finished than it had with just a normal hem rather than just being necessary to cover a mistake! Wearing this yesterday, however, I still felt like this dress was a skootch too short for work. But since it's for Fall/Winter I'll always be wearing it with tights, so I guess it's ok.

I clearly felt I needed to review this soon because I took pictures of it both times I've worn it. I totally forgot I'd done the first set of photos! So you can see it with different legwear in the photos. The review is here.

43 comments:

Lauren said...

I think this is one of my favorite things you've made. To say it is flattering on you is a massive understatement, I wish I had something that looked knock-out awesome on me!

senaSews said...

It's like in math: Multiplying two negatice numbers result in a positive. The so-so fabric and the so-so pattern result in a great-looking dress. I love it! The neckline is so beautiful!

Unknown said...

Ha! I read your post title and then looked at the dress, and was like, "I only see one keyhole?" It looks great though...the colors look great on you!

Angela said...

How cute! You are looking super cute... love the turquoise tights!

Little Hunting Creek said...

at first I thought you had some new wild and crazy tights that were black on one side and turquouise on another. I love the dress! very cute and that band at the bottom is a perfect finishing touch. You meant to do that, right? :)

Pam said...

Super cute!! I love how slimming the dress is and how it makes your figure look fantastic. Congrats!!

KID, MD said...

Fabulous dress! When I saw it I immediately thought how cute that hem band was. This is a great pattern, but I would have never noticed it if you hadn't made it up. Yours is so much more interesting than the Vogue model!

McVal said...

So cute! I love those little holes! Wondering how to keep my bra straps from showing in something like that...
And keeping my waistline from appearing large... Maybe this is more a dress for my daughter...
Adorable!

porrothecat said...

This is so cute! And flattering! I love it!

Gigi said...

OMG, that's adorable! I have that pattern in my stash and have had "what was I thinking?" thoughts about it because of the high neck. Now that I've seen yours I will definitely give it a try.

Myra said...

Wonderful on you! I don't have this one, where have I seen it sewn before? The stripes work well with it.

Karin said...

This really suits you. It's super cute and very flattering. You make me want to run out and buy the pattern!

Claudine said...

Wow! The band at the hem is the best part.

Adelaide B said...

Yeah, the hem band really does add a lot to the dress. I love fortuitous accidents.

amber said...

Cute! I agree that the band at the bottom gives it a really polished look.

Miasews said...

That's my top favorite. The colors and style look great on you. I think you should make another of that pattern. I'll bet it would look fabulous in a solid turquoise or black.

Anonymous said...

I really like the added contrast band, and the design works really well with your print. I had no idea either that it had 3 keyholes, I would have thought I was doing something wrong too! You look adorable!

Sigrid said...

Agree with the others, this is so fabulous good on you. Good you haven't given away the fabric.

connie B said...

Gol Darn you... You keep making and reviewing these fantabulous outfits, and I get lulled into thinking they will look as good on clunky ole me...not so!
Gorgeous as always!

Sherril said...

You're a knock-out in that dress. I agree that the "stripes" give your shape an advantage. With all the neckline detail and the hem band, it looks really high end designer. That may be accidental, but don't tell anyone, shhh!

judy said...

This looks great on you and I love the triple keyhole design, it adds visual interest breaking up the design. Great job!

Faye Lewis said...

Your dress is cute and classy at the same time.

Ann Brodsky said...

This is a great dress on you! I would not have known about the triple keyhole without your review. Can't wait to try this pattern now!

Laura Lee said...

Great look!

Jen M said...

This dress is really a great shape on you, and I agree that the bottom band was a fortuitous accident - it looks totally on purpose and great! I know what you mean about low choking tolerance, and it really can limit a person's neckline choices, so good for you for branching out. I am stuck with deep v necks for now ;)

AllisonC said...

A perfect fall/winter dress, I really love the sleeves. I think putting together the neckline would give me brainache and take me 4 hours alone!

kbenco said...

Extremely cute dress. The neckline is really interesting.

meli88a said...

I love that neckline. When I saw the pattern online, I thought - !!another twist front dress/top!! - yawn. Without your post I wouldn't have known that there are THREE keyholes involved in that twist... makes it far more interesting and unique and not yawn deserving at all. :)

Anonymous said...

Gorgeous! It is great to see that pattern made up as I've been admiring it for ages and wondering how it would go.
You look lovely.

Dana said...

You need to make more of these... 'cause this pattern looks great on you!

Trudy said...

Very cute. And shall I also add, smashing?

Anonymous said...

Love, love, love this!
Karen in Paris

gwensews said...

The bottom band is a terrific touch. Nice dress! And good sewing.

Linda L said...

This is a great looking dress on you. Very flattering. Glad to read you left off the zipper and lining. I put this dress pattern aside for those reasons, glad you made it work without both.

melissa said...

ooh this was my favourite knit from the "pile o knits" photo a few posts back and I LOVE it as the finished dress! You're so right, the horizontal hem band is perfect for balancing the neckline, and those stripes are really flattering on you!!

Kitty Couture said...

Wow Trena, you've outdone yourself! My jaw dropped when the pics appeared on my feedsreader. This dress is among your most outstanding creations, IMO!

I have this pattern and have never gone around to making it because none of the versions I saw were quite my thing. Not anymore!

This is just fabulous - gosh, YOU look just fabulous!

Uta said...

Great dress! It has a real vintage vibe, in the best possible way. Love the keyholes!

Carol said...

That dress is too cute. Funny, I would never have bought that fabric, but seeing it made up into that dress, I love it. I agree about the band at the bottom, it adds something that just makes it. I love it with the blue tights and boots. Thank you for writing such great notes about the Toni Gard dress last year, I've been referring to them all weekend as I'm making my own version.

Cennetta said...

I absolutely love this dress! It's perfect!

Anonymous said...

Trena you look fabulous!!! What size dress did you make since it's a woven pattern and you used knit fabric? Did you use a smaller size than you usually do?

Vicki said...

Wow, fantastic. How do you decide to wear each day when you have so many cute outfits!?

Anonymous said...

That dress is so foxy! Looove the hem band and neck detailing--I can't match fabric stripes to save my life. I don't like the pattern as it looks on the envelope, but the end result? Great eye.

Anonymous said...

Wow! It's amazing. What a beautiful dress on you. It's really flattering.