Vogue 1339 Guy Laroche - A Valentine's Day Red Dress

This red dress is from a pattern I had purchased in 2013 (when it was released).  With draping and ruching back in fashion (honestly, for me it never went away!) I decided it was time to sew the dress. It only took me 10 years :-)

Let's talk about the pattern for a moment. This is Vogue 1339, a Guy Laroche design. 

The description reads "Pullover dress has loose-fitting, blouson bodice with right shoulder and waistline pleats, stay, close-fitting, gathered and pleated skirt, with no side seams, left side front seam, pleated, single-layer flounces (wrong side shows), and slit. Very narrow hem for neckline and armholes. French seam finish for shoulders. Raw edge finish for hemline and flounces." 

Oh how I miss those detailed descriptions on the patterns! How about you?

Fabric suggestions: Two-way stretch knits: rayon, spandex, cotton spandex.  The skirt portion is self-lined.

I always pictured this dress sewn in an ITY knit, but that's now what I used.  My fabric is a rayon knit that I purchased from Metro Textiles (looks like it's sold out).  It has a nice weight and drape and I think it worked well in this design. Especially in the blouson in the bodice. 

When you look at the line drawing, you'll see the shoulders are different.  Ten years ago those asymmetrical bodices were quite on trend. In my opinion, not so much today.  So I changed that design feature.

I simply folded the bodice pieces in half and cut on the fold.  Another benefit of doing so was I added an additional two pleats at the waistline.  That provided me with more than enough room in the bust area. 

The pattern is rated Average. In my overconfidence, I expected to be able to sew this fairly quickly. Ha!  It was a time consuming make.  Not difficult in terms of technique, just really time consuming. 

First of all, that skirt pattern piece is BIG! 

Pieces 4 and 4A are for the skirt, pieces 7 and 7A are for the lining. Both sections need to be be taped together to create one piece before altering or cutting.  

Pieces 5 and 6 are for the front flounce. 

As the description noted, there are no side seams on the skirt.  The flounces are sewn to the front edge of the skirt, then pleated.  Once pleated, you place the flounces wrong sides together and stitch through all layers. 

The flounce edges are not hemmed and the wrong side of the fabric will show.

The skirt is supposed to be self-lined, but I didn't have enough red fabric. Instead I used a light beige colored ITY knit I had in my stash.   It was a bit heavy. A light knit lining would have been ideal.

There is a slit in the lining that is sewn to the flounce.  With the same colored fabric the lining would not be noticeable. My lining peeks out a bit when I walk. 

The bodice is attached to the skirt before the skirt lining is added.

I eliminated the stay piece. It's supposed to be sewn to the lower edge of the bodice side seams, then tacked to the ruching on the skirt (as the last step).

I don't think that stay would have been able to hold up the skirt. There's quite a bit of fabric in that skirt, and the weight of it would have pulled the bodice down.

Instead I sewed a wider seam allowance when I attached the bodice to the skirt creating a casing. I then inserted 3/8" elastic into the casing.  The length of the elastic is just a bit smaller than my actual waist.   Not only does the elastic help keep the skirt up, it helps with the blouson of the bodice. 

After the lining is added, the side ruching is created.  Instructions have you use gathering stitches through both layers (skirt and lining) between two marked circles. Next you are to use the gathering guide (provided) to adjust the length of the gathers, and stitch in place. 

Nope.  I didn't do that.

Instead of gathering stitches, I used 1/4" elastic. I cut the elastic the length of the gathering guide, and stretched it as I stitched it in place with a small zigzag stitch. 

Unfortunately, I had to remove the elastic (and all those tiny zigzag stitches!) because I wanted the skirt to be gathered even more.  The second time I added the elastic, I began about two inches lower than small dot and ended the gathers about an inch higher than other dot.

And to make the sewing even more complicated for myself, I had marked the lines for the ruching using chalk, which mostly disappeared before I added the elastic.  Do you know how hard it is to accurately draw a line to the inside of this knit garment after the front flounces had already been pleated and stitched in place?  I'll answer that for you - not easy at all.

I wish I had used tailor tacks and hand basted stitches along the gathering lines as it would have made sewing this dress so much easier. Oh well, live and learn. 

As you can see, on me the dress is basically a maxi length. And that is AFTER I shortened it by four inches!  I think I could have ruched the sides even more and that may have helped with the length. 

The hem is left unfinished, like the flounces. I finished the neck and armhole openings with a narrow knit binding.  

I sewed a size 14 for the bodice, grading to a 16 at the waist and hip. That's pretty typical for me when using a Vogue pattern.  There was plenty of room in the bust area, with no need for my usual full bust adjustment (FBA).  However, I could have gone done to a 14 or even 12 in the hip area. This design needs to be really tight.  Look at how the back sags instead pulling tight over my rear - granted I have a pretty flat backside and that's part of the issue :-) 

The dress took much time than I anticipated, and at one point I was tempted to put it aside to work on later.  But, I have had too many "I'll finish it later" projects that never get completed.  So I soldiered on and completed the dress.

I'm glad I did, as I'm pleased with the end result.  Will it be worn often? Not at all, but I don't care. With heels and jewelry it's perfect for a dinner date with hubby, and with flat sandals it could work as a summer dress.

I sewed this using my BERNINA 770QE PLUS sewing machine and finished the seams using my BabyLock Evolution serger. 

Have a blessed day!