16. Inspired - DKNY Vogue 1407 | #sew16in2016

This post has been a LOOOONNNGGG time coming. I first posted a picture of this pattern and fabric match on my instagram May2015. It wasn't until Sept2015 that I posted a picture of me actually CUTTING the fabric. And here we are, over a year later finally getting to the actual sewing of the dress! I think what took me so long was that I didn't want to cut out the lining pieces because my tricot is so shifty. But I'll get to that in a minute.

This dress is Vogue 1407, a DKNY designer pattern. I love the silhouette of the pattern and if you've been reading for a while,  you know I love wrap and v-necklines. I was also drawn to this pattern because I am always looking for multi-purpose garments. Things I can wear to work, church, or even dressier events. This one definitely fit the bill.

I got these fabric on sale at Fabric Mart Fabrics. The contrast is a Maggy London Houndstooth Jacquard Double Knit. Doesn't that sound fancy?! lol The plain black fabric is just that, a black solid knit. It's not completely opaque but it does have a little weight to it. Both fabrics handled extremely well. Stitching and pressing was delightful. The lining on the other hand is a tricot that I got from a Spandex warehouse in Cali April2015. I bought multiple yards of black tricot and multiple yards of a "nude" colored tricot. It is quite shifty and stretchy and has been quite frustrating for me to handle.

The invisible zipper was one I already had in my stash. I shortened it by stitching over the teeth near the top so I could have the visibility of the zipper stop at the bottom. For the zipper area, I interfaced both the main fabric AND the lining fabric with 1inch strips on each side. The interfaced area made for a very smooth install. I used Wonder Tape to "baste" the zipper in place for both the main fabric and lining and then I machine-stitched it in place from the right side of the garment. Doing that really helped take away some of the burden of handling the lining and the finish looks amazing.

Looking at the zipper area, though, you can see where I didn't do a swayback adjustment. I cut this dress out wayyyyyy before I realized that I needed one so I don't blame myself. It looks wayyy worse in these pics than it does in real life though so it does not bother me much.



For the bindings around the neck and across the waist, I hand-stitched them all down. The instructions say to machine stitch them down but I was having trouble stitching in the ditch JUST SO, so I went ahead and did it old school. I am definitely happy with the result. I actually stitched the bindings and the lining at the neck at one time so that actually cut DOWN on time. Plus I was able to manipulate everything better.

I had to tack down the front wrap so that the pattern would stay lined up. My cup size is larger than a B so the wrap fronts want to separate, which would make the patterns look a little slanted lol. I am very happy with how the pattern matches up even though I had a little trouble in the beginning to make it happen. I didn't transfer all of the markings so when it was time to lay pieces on top of each other, I was really just guessing lol I figured it all out in the end though!

My ONLY complaint about this dress is that the lining keeps twisting while I'm wearing it which is causing the dress to bunch up where it is tacked down at. It was WORSE when I had the thread chains because the lining had even more free range to move around. Right now I have it tacked at the center back a few inches under the zip, and at the two side seams. I am going to have to adjust it on one side because I think I stretched the lining too much, and that is causing the bunching now.



I only hemmed the dress 5/8", because I'm tall, and it hits at the perfect spot. I love this dress. The instructions were easy to understand. It fits almost perfectly. I'm happy :-)

I'm using this dress as the "Inspired" post for the Sew '16 Challenge because it reminds me of Gina Torres as "Jessica" in the show Suits! Isn't she FLY!

I'll leave  you with a picture of my friend's son, a.k.a. my newphew Eli, showing me how to pose like a superhero. See, this dress even stands up to super powers. It's awesome!

xoxo, Tasha

p.s. Shoutout to Gabby for these pics!!