I have very few dresses in my wardrobe and even fewer that I actually wear. Not sure why. But the thing is, over the past two or three years I’ve been wanting to wear dresses and skirts more often, especially in the summer when it’s hot and humid out. So I made a dress, a winter dress ironically, and there just might be enough cold weather left hanging around to be able to take this dress out for a nice dinner somewhere.

The Pattern

The pattern is V1821, a Rachel Comey design. I loved it the first time I saw it in the Vogue book. And I love corduroy, so I made it in a nice burgundy shade.

Before deciding on what size to cut out I read what others had to say about the dress and then settled on a size small. Everyone said that this dress fits on the larger size and to size down. I probably could have sized down almost to an extra small and it would have still fit. I don’t have a large bust so with a size small there is plenty of room to move around in.

I left the hem raw, just as on the pattern envelope and love the effect. Plus, a folded hem with the corduroy would have been far too bulky.

One modification that I made was to not add pockets. I’m not a huge pocket person, especially for dresses, so I skipped this step. For some this is unfathomable. However, for me, I’m a purse or cross-body bag kinda person, so the pockets seemed useless.

Thoughts About The Pattern

Corduroy is an excellent choice for this pattern but the fabric is a bit heavy. This would be the major complaint about the dress. The amount of fabric at the back of the dress pulls the front of the dress to the back. In order to lessen this, I will be adding a loop that will slip under my bra strap on each shoulder, to try to keep the dress in place. I got this idea from @wzrdreams who made a process video of her make, which I watched before starting the dress. I also would have preferred if the dress was about one or two inches longer, but I think that is more to do with not ever wearing a dress with a hemline this short. I’m just not used to it.

The sewing process was fairly straight forward. But …. I tried to be too quick with the sleeves and made a bit of a mess. I sewed the sleeves on correctly the first time, tried it on very quickly and for some reason, I thought the sleeves were sewn on backwards so I grabbed my seam ripper and removed the zigzag and two rows of stitching, then I switched the sleeves. This time I only basted the sleeves and stitched one sleeve with one row of stitching before trying it on. Backwards for real this time. So picked the stitches and switched the sleeves again and this time I pinned, tried it on and then stitched the sleeves.

It was super frustrating but I learned a good lesson. Even if it’s not a difficult sew, take your time. Be mindful. This would have saved me a lot of time and effort and frustration. But mistakes are lessons learned for future sewing is what I tell myself.

  • Pattern is V1821
  • Fabric purchased @fabricland
  • Lesson learned: take your time!

I love the end result. I think this dress would also be lovely as a summer dress in a light weight linen or cotton. It would be so airy and would sit away from your skin, which is perfect for those hot, humid summer days.

My next garment in the queue, of which I have already made a toile, is the Merchant and Mills Miller waistcoat in a black medium weight linen.

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