I'm going to name this dress My Mysterious Boobs.
Boobs of mystery! Boobs of intrigue!!! How is it you fit neither A, B, or C of this multi-sized Vogue pattern? WHAT SORT OF FANTASY LAND DO YOU COME FROM?!
This is Vogue 8814, the top half, at least. Comes in four cup sizes. As you can imagine, with three failed tracings I never got to D. No, I just kept throwing my hands up in defeat and screaming away from the swedish tracing paper tacked to my abused dress form. Every five days or so, I'd come back to the pattern pieces I'd shoved furiously behind my fabric shelf, thinking I'd found the answer. Lather rinse repeat.
I think it's safe to safe that I am not a multiple cup size girl.
I'm also SO not the girl for this pattern. Y'all. Y'all short waisted thangs out there. THIS IS NOT THE DROID FOR YOU. The bottom half of this jammie should have diagonal panels and a bias flounce, but those awesome seam lines mean that raising the waist is no bueno. And I tried. A lot.
Finally, I abandoned ship and draped a skirt with side godets and a CB zip. That ship was burning for DAYS before I jumped into the water. I'm surprised my hair wasn't on fire.
And yet... and yet... as I write this I'm remembering I had another idea... to take the pattern up diagonally rather than straight across.... I am 100% sure that this will work... and yet... and yet... I am also 100% sure that this will produce another flaming rage quit...
LOOK DAMMIT SOMEBODY TELL ME NOT TO F WITH THIS PATTERN ANYMORE!
I should have Ruggy make up a song for me. Sometimes when I'm going off and he's like ENOUGH ALREADY he'll make up a song out of whatever I'm saying. Just last week, when I tried to explain to him that "chill" is just a word and it's also a good practice this is what he came up with:
IT'S JUST A SONG THAT I MADE UP WITH WORDS:
JUST CHILL!
It's a catchy tune. I say "just chill!" a lot. He hates it. AND YET... HE HAS NOW WRITTEN MY THEME SONG FOR THE SUMMER. I'm not singing it here in this picture, but it looks like it! It's also the closet he got to a front bodice shot. Am I upset that we didn't get a close up? Hey man, no worries! JUST CHILL!
I'm also super relaxed about the pregnancy vibe capabilities of this dress. This is seconds into a little gust of wind-- breezes catch the side godets and plump the dress out riiiiight up the middle all the way to My Mysterious Boobs. If asked, I will tell people I'm having a fabric baby.
The wax fabric is certainly aiding in raising my chill factor. If I did have a closeup of the bodice, you might see two little darts at center front that Should Not Exist. Then again, you might not-- I'm trying, unsuccessfully, to find the side godet here. Thank Yoda Yaweh and little bouncing Baby Buddha for crazyface wax prints!
And thank Sarah! This beauty was part of a BHL tester's stash replenishment from Grey's Fabrics, back when the Holly was being put through her paces. (Print numero uno is here. I wish I could find a way to wear them both at the same time. Maybe this can happen on the Island of Mysterious Boobland.)
Well inspite of all your stress this dress looks fabulous on you: the fit and the fabric. I would never ever have looked at this pattern but you've made me see it in a new light.
ReplyDeleteremember, this is just the bodice! though if you're of regular waist length, the skirt per the pattern is gorgeous.
DeleteIt looks fantastic! Wax prints are so delicious, aren't they? "Fabric baby"; will have to remember that one. I love empire-waisted maxi dresses, but since about 99% of maternity clothes have empire waists, apparently ALL empire waist tops and dresses automatically read "maternity". Never mind it was THE style throughout the Western world for a good 20 years. Nope. Empire waist = pregnant. I'm not bitter.
ReplyDeleteRest assured there is not even a hint of fabric baby in any of these pics, even the breezy one.
I've never tried the multi-cup size patterns, but I know some folks have had success with them. So if it's not working for you, then probably back away from it slowly holding a chair between you and it. Some patterns just aren't meant to be.
i've got my chair at the ready. because i'm truly still thinking about it! so you like the empire waist style, eh? i've got my chair up for that too ;)))
DeleteI love the historical style, and have started proudly wearing it, paired with more modern things occasionally, aiming for more of it when I manage to make it. :-)
DeleteI love that dress! I guess all that hassle paid off in the end.
ReplyDeletethank you! it was the kind of sew where something HAD to turn out wearable or i would set fire to things.
DeleteI tell you I have a huge issue with these multi-cup patterns. I have asked experts and even the gals in my bra making group. No one has a straight definitive answer so I just sew the pattern. I try not to get into too many fit issues else it would definitely sway me from sewing more. I look at the measurements on the pattern then the finished measurements and take it from there. I have sewn D cups and they were off off off.. so I just sew the regular size according to the measurements on the pattern..
ReplyDeleteBTW I would not be able to tell you had any fit issues your dress looks marvelous and fits you well.. Thanks for being here for us!
i think for me there were too many choices--i don't mind altering a bodice to fit, but when there are four slightly different options for the same bodice i feel i have to try them all!!
DeleteGreat post -- and fabulous dress. It looks wonderful on you.
ReplyDeletethankya cynthia!
DeleteIt's gorgeous Oona.
ReplyDeletethank you faye!!
DeleteWell, for all of your struggles, I think the dress looks great on you. Bold prints hide such a multitude of sins. I'm just as boggled by the cup sizes on sewing patterns. I don't know if it's due to the enormous amount of ease added or some magical pattern making formula that exists in another dimension.
ReplyDeletei guess for those with a D cup, it might be helpful? mebbe? i guess i can say i tried it now!
DeleteFor all of the blood, sweat, and tears you poured into this dress, I think it's stunning!
ReplyDeletewww.StyleSewMe.com
thank you eryn! i like it now, though i needed to stop looking at it for a few weeks before i could like it enough to hem it ;)
DeleteThe mysteries of fitting. I don't think I understand half the mechanics of what you're deing; but I think what came out of all of that is a pretty good fit for the fabric. (I love how the crossing of the straps in the back creates a sort of caleidoscopic effect.)
ReplyDeleteoh, it does! i didn't notice that! okay, now the back straps are my favorite part of this dress :)
DeleteGorgeous fabric!!
ReplyDeleteall from sarah! good eye, that one. good gams, too.
DeleteIt's really quite wonderful - don't you wish though sometimes that you could forget all the stuff you know about a dress and feel about a dress and just see it? There must be some kind of chemical thing happens to a woman's body after childbirth so they look at the baby and fall in love, instead of hating it for putting them through all that pain. WE sewists sometimes need a bit of that, yeah?
ReplyDeleteHAHAHAHAHAAAAAA i swear you have such a way of putting things! i actually did put this on a hanger and walked away for a few weeks before i hemmed it (literally hemmed it 10 minutes before we took pictures). definitely had to forget the irritation of this one before i could wear it!
DeleteIt's a fabulous print, but I would expect no less from you by now! And, speaking as someone who's been attempting to rock the maternity wear for awhile now (seems like forever!!), this does not make you look pregnant at all!!
ReplyDeletehaha! yes, it's a very tiny pregnant look, but when a full breeze blows it gains on me. good for seven course meals!
DeleteLove your pattern placement! My head is spinning from the math involved. Plus, in the photos, it appears as if your lady lumps are being held aloft by butterfly wings!
ReplyDeleteIT TOTALLY DOES! all i could think was I didn't want dark blue star nipples ;)
DeleteRelax Marcie, it was to be expected that you would reach the point in your sewing mastery quest that "fit" would become your overlord ... for a while. Just passing another milestone. Dress is beautiful.
ReplyDeleteFitt has been an overlord for awhile now, he doesn't seem to want to leave. luckily, Ginmaster comes around to knock him down a peg or two nightly...
DeleteYou do know that if your boobs get chilled enough, they're no longer a mystery to anyone.
ReplyDeletei mean, hopefully no.
DeleteGirl, I got the mystery boobs that can't fit NATHAN! I just use a tried and true bodice for all my dresses. Lol. I love this print, but I also La la LOVE the spray can print! Where can I get both?!? I'm thinking maxi skirts for both!
ReplyDeletethey were both from grey's fabrics! i didn't see any online but you could always call and see if they have anything in store.
DeleteUm - there is no fabric baby happening. None! That dress is entirely elegant. BTW, cup sizing in dress patterns never translates to cup sizing in bras. It's totally irritating.
ReplyDeleteand i was so stoked to trace that c cup pattern! i went with B, really i could've gone with A. i'm sticking with one option patterns to mess with in the future. (*she said*)
DeleteThat is such a pretty dress, especially in that fabric.
ReplyDeletethank you sandra!
DeleteI cannot look away from that fabulous print! I would never have thought to use a wax print for that pattern, but then that's your magic touch :) I have this pattern in my stash waiting for the right fabric, and now I'm simultaneously energized by the thought that I don't have to use charmeuse and repulsed by the thought of the multi-cup size business.
ReplyDeletei really thought the multi cup would work out great, but it's too. many. choices. for me at least! i'd love to see what you do with this!
DeleteThat print is all kinds of awesome! But WTF is up with the Vogue cup sizes, pray tell? I end up somewhere between a B and D depending on the pattern and it is always hellacious trying to figure it out. You've earned a rad Pisco Sour for battling this pattern!
ReplyDeleteFOR REAL it was a battle! but, i don't count myself the victor, as i never made the skirt. i'm literally talking myself out of returning to the skirt pieces on the hour.
DeleteAMAZING!!!!
ReplyDeletethank you!
DeleteBeautiful dress and you look fantastic.
ReplyDeletethanks so much!!
DeleteGreat dress!
ReplyDeleteMy daughter has a "gift" for making up songs from what people are saying. Her most classic is the all bad words one when she was about four - every bad word she'd ever heard (with a potty-mouth dad and stepdad, it's a lot) strung together to music in her head. George Carlin would have loved it.
HAHA! that's awesome, i hope you've got it recorded.
DeleteLook, apart from the bit where it looks gorgeous, I'm just über impressed that you managed to match up the pattern flow from skirt to boobage. I'd call it seamless, but for the seams that I can actually see. You did a fab job on it.
ReplyDelete:)) thanks liz! after i abandoned ship on the skirt, i thought the least i could do was try and match the print. the sides, not so much, but sometimes sanity must win out!
Deletelooks pretty damn perfect to me :) also, i love maing up songs from whatever peeps around me are saying
ReplyDeletei totally want to rework the back to match your strappy dress now. am making up a strappy dress song.
DeleteI never would have looked twice at this pattern. But now I wants it! Even though it most definitely doesn't fit my lifestyle. Love the crazy face wax print!!
ReplyDeletetrust me... unless you are average waist height, stay awaaaayyyy!!!!!
DeleteThis is one of those prints that can so easily end up wearing you, but rest assured you are definitely wearing IT! Lovely, statement piece.
ReplyDeletei think that's why it sat in my stash so long! thank you kimmy ;)
DeleteAs a short waisted girl, I share your pain! I have been in your shoes so many times! OMG - it drives me crazy when I start on a project, only to discover there is NO way I can adjust for my Unique Waist Line. I have made and re-made so many dresses, trying to get the perfect fit. LOL. In your case though, your adjustments worked. The fabric is exquisite and it looks so great on you. enjoy!
ReplyDeletehaha, in this case i abandoned the pattern waist altogether! so my adjustments were basically of the white flag variety. ah well ;)
DeleteYou came out alive and looking fab! I totally hear you and your fitting woes, I recently came through such a frustrating experience myself it is taking me awhile to pick up the sicssors again. I should just CHILL! I like this song!
ReplyDeletewe're still singing it! it's catchy!!! hope you're back to sewing. sometimes it's nice to physically stomp on fabric that's making you mad.
DeleteThose "select your boob size" patterns never work for me either.
ReplyDeleteand i was so excited to try it! they must work for someone....
DeleteHey babe, so it's a good pattern for short waisted women? What about big boobed women? I LOVE the back of it... but can't do no bra.... I love chill for you and especially for summer! RIGHT
ReplyDelete***insert big red warning sign here*** NOT for short waisted!!!!!!
DeleteYeah, the whole boob thing. This is why I have avoided this kind of bodice for years. For. Years. Self- drafting - that's it. Not that I want or have ever wanted to go there. But there it is. Your work paid off. It looks great (darts, or no darts - I have a friend who calls herself "dart girl") Anywho, good job - and love the fabric.
ReplyDeletethanks nancy! self drafting, i admire that! i don't know why-- no wait, i do know why i don't do it, MATH. god, math and i have really deep arguments, and math is always right, but i'm very stubborn.
DeleteWow, what a head turner! Perfectly slinky in every way - what fabric baby?!
ReplyDelete:))) thank you!!
DeleteHow come your flaming rage projects still look awesome?! I don't understand!! This is FABULOUS!
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure I see the fabric baby but you can use the dress to steal melons from the market on windy days? It looks great and despite your woes you're giving off an aura like you two have settled your differences!
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure I see the fabric baby but you can use the dress to steal melons from the market on windy days? It looks great and despite your woes you're giving off an aura like you two have settled your differences!
ReplyDeleteHi, I love the dress and you look so cute. Wear it proudly, something you have created with your own hands. So much talent, I'm still trying. Love your blog.
ReplyDelete