Vogue V1183

I went on sewcation last weekend! I made Vogue pattern V1183 designed by Kay Unger. I used my Bernina My Label princess dress pattern to help me fit a mock-up. I did a post about it here. My dress is not quite finished, but I am wearing it anyway.

I still want to custom fit the skirt. I think the darts are unnecessary, but it's too late to take them out, so, I will lengthen them instead. Also, the hip curve needs tweaking. I did not use the Bernina pattern to fit this portion of the dress. I only used it to make sure I would have enough fabric to cover my body. I think the hip curve on a fitted garment needs to be custom fit for each garment. I may decide to use my French curve to record my changes, but I am sure each new garment will require its own tweaking to adjust for fabric drape.
Most of my sewcation was spent doing hand work. I used tricot to line the bodice and finish the neckline and armscyes. I used machine stitching to thread mark the lining pieces along the front and back princess seam lines. Then I assembled the lining in three pieces, leaving the princess seams unstitched. I machine sewed the three pieces into the dress right-sides-together along the armscyes and the neckline. I pressed, graded and clipped the seam allowances and turned the three lining pieces to the inside. Next, I understitched the lining in place at the neck and armscyes using hand backstitches to tack the lining to just the seam allowances. Then I slipstitched the tricot lining together on the inside along the princess seams. I did this by folding one side under and butting the fold against the other seamline. The machine stitching made this easy since the fabric wants to fold around those threads. I left the bottom unattached for now. I will finish it with a ribbon and secure it with thread chains to the midriff seam allowances after my final alterations.
Next up is a matching jacket! I have done the mock up already. You can read about it here. I decided to use two fabrics for the trim, both of which I will have pants made from. One is a sand colored Italian tropical wool, and the other is the olive colored wool fabric used for these pants. I cut bias strips of the olive wool to use as flat piping, and I cut wider strips of the tropical wool to use as binding. I have already sewn the overarm seam on the sleeves. I inserted strips of the tropical wool in the seam. I am psyched that this jacket will match a dress and two pairs of pants when it is finished. I can't wait to post pictures! I really like what is happening to my sewing now that I have pattern drafting software that is working for me.

ETA (December 07, 2010): Click here for updated picture of the back view after alterations.