Black DVF Inspired Wrap Dress

Overall: Hey there! Well, I have soooo much to say about this Frankenstein dress!! I am okay with is overall look, but boy, did I learn a lot in the process--from interfacing, to positioning, to placement, to sizing, to altering! Whew! Here we go.

Patterns: Well, I wanted this amazing Diane Von Furstenburg pattern that cost a minimum of $100.00 from what I have found. I did not want to pay that much, so I said, "let me see if I can replicate this little number. So, I looked online and in my stash for wrap dress patterns that would fit my inspiration. I found two Vogue patterns that I could probably make work. V8379 and V8784. I used V8379 for the bodice and V8784 for the collar, skirt as a guide for the hip and sleeve.

I added a Vogue glove pattern that had cuffs to use as the cuff that I wanted. I interfaced the cuffs with a black fusible interfacing that I got from JoAnn's. I don't know what went wrong here still. These cuffs just did not work. They were stable enough, but the fabric rolled and I don't understand why. It really gives the look a homemade look. I did some edge stitching to make it look better. That helped, but the rolling on the ends just took away. I probably should have used sew-in interfacing. Ooohhh! I did go back and add buttons to the cuffs so that they would be secure and not falling all over the place. This helped tremendously.

For the collar, IT IS WAY OFF in terms of positioning. I am going to go back and move the collar to be positioned correctly and then I am going to edge stitching and see if it does not look better. The ends of the collar do not roll like the cuffs.

I did a blind hem at the end of the dress. I also did some blind hand stitching to secure the folds of the wrap portion of the dress. I did not want to top-stitch. I just didn't like that look that much.

Alterations: I did not want ANY pleats anywhere. So, scaled the shoulders to match the back shoulders of the bodice. I did some measurements of my natural shoulder slope and length as well. I did not want the gathering in the shoulders. I also took the gathering out of the bottom of the front bodice--I probably should have left it in. Anyhow, I can't remember what I did to do this, but I did it. Finally, on the skirt guide, I took the pleats out and used it as a guide. I made these pieces entirely too little. I wanted the wrap of the skirt to come all the way to the other side of my body and not angle. I know this is because of all of the love God gave me in my hips. I made some adjustments, but I just did not have enough fabric to do this again.

Fabric: I am out of order of section posts, but I used a Donna Karen Matte Jersey from #MoodFabrics. It really is a wonderful fabric. I think I just need to learn how to work with it. It may be the viscose! The matte jersey that I used before did not roll at the ends like this one did.

#V8379 #V8784 #WrapDress