Autumn Wrap - Vogue 8379

Greetings from ever dramatically-changing weather on the East coast. I swear it was JUST summer two weeks ago and now it's feeling like borderline winter. I guess it is October... but geesh. Can we have a transition period??! lol.

Anyway, I've already started switching the style up. In the ThRed&Needles sewing group on Facebook, the September sew-a-long was wrap dresses. Perfect! because I LOVE me a wrap dress and they look great in every season. Throw on a blazer or a scarf and that makes it all the better. For this dress very autumn-colored dress, I decided to rock some boots.

This dress is Vogue 8379. I discovered this pattern when McCall's blog was hosting the wrap dress sewalong. I didn't have it then, but I'm so glad I found it recently. It's such a simple design but really stunning and can stand alone. I decided to go collar-less just because I'm not big on them. I chose to do the short sleeves so that it could be any-weather and so that I wouldn't have trouble putting on close fit cardigans if I wanted.

I cut a size 14 in the dress and was EXTREMELY surprised after doing flat measurements that I wouldn't have to add length and that I potentially wouldn't have to do a swayback adjustment! It's crazy because for every other company, I have to do a swayback adjustment but never when I do a Vogue pattern. <3

The fabric I used was a Rust Orange ITY knit from Fabric Mart Fabrics. Unfortunately I don't see any more of it on the website but they definitely have other Fall-ish colors to choose from.

There is one adjustment that I wanted to try for the first time though. The bust measurement for the size 14 was 36.5". Right now I sit at 39. I knew that the fabric would help me out a little, but from my experience with the other wrap dresses I've done (one & two), I would still be more exposed than I'm generally comfortable with. I hate being self-conscious wearing my clothes. Noone wants to always have to look down to make sure they're covered or have to keep adjusting themselves throughout the day. When you're not fully comfortable with what you're wearing it takes a bit of confidence away and doesn't really benefit in any way. So I decided to bite the bullet and attempt my first full-bust adjustment (FBA). On a wrap dress, no less lol smh. As you can see from the picture below, it was successful!

I used THIS tutorial from Maria Denmark that she made for the Rachel wrap dress. I decided to do 3/4" so that  I would end up with 38" bust measurement to finish.  I followed the instructions (plus the ones about removing the side dart) and stopped right before "The special method for the wrap dress FBA".

I was really walking on faith here because I had completely forgot to measure the length of the bottom edge of the bodice to be able to check it after the adjustment. And didn't check AFTER either. I went on ahead and cut all my fabric out before I realized it lol.  I'm telling you that everything I did was successful because of GRACE because it all went together perfectly

The only thing that I really missed was that I forgot to add length to the bodice facing pattern piece so it was a bit short. But honestly it wasn't a detrimental error and I took a note for next time! As for finishes, most of the insides are serged and the sleeve hems are hand-sewn. I think next time, i'll just go for the coverstitch on that.

After I had finished the dress, I thought is was really pretty but I also thought it was a bit plain. There wasn't anything to say it was MINE, ya know? So I went back to the sewing machine and decided that my wrap bodice needed some decorative stitching! I have a Brother Project Runway 80 stitch machine. I used #53. It ended up looking great except that on one side I was able to sew top to bottom but on the other side I had to sew bottom to top for the stitching to face the inside. Working from bottom to top left me with a bunch up of fabric at the shoulder seam that has nowhere to hide. So that's another lesson learned for me. If I want to add some stitching, it will probably be more efficient to add it before assembling the pieces.

It was so cute, I decided I needed the decorative stitch for the hem too, to bring it all together. Cohesiveness :-) lol I also did it on the hem because THIS GIRL was NOT about to hand sew that long behind, ITY knit hem. uh uh. I ended up ironing up the hem, basting it in place, adding the decorative stitch close to the fold, and cutting off the excess fabric close to the stitching. If I don't do a decorative stitch next time (because there will be a next time) I will have to hit it with the coverstitch.

I also decided to accept the homework from Gillian and her Better Pictures Project to get some action shots this month. I don't take my own photos but I don't think that makes getting action shots any easier. lol Behold the twirl! This is the only decent one out of maybe 20+ lol

Definitely loving this dress and how fast it was to put together. The instructions were excellent and very fuss free. I am more than in love with the way the skirt drapes. I feel so beautiful! The only thing I think I'll do different construction-wise is to install the sleeves flat. It was weird putting in knit sleeves in the round. I'll pass on that. But everything else was awesome. This was a pleasure to sew. I'll try not to use all the rest of my ITY knits on it lol

Me walking back into the real world to sew up some more dresses lol

Have you started your switch to Fall fashion?