Vogue 8027 progresses slowly but surely

As I noted earlier, I decided to use another fabric for the dress. I am glad I did. This is sewing up well and is sturdy enough to allow removing stitches and resewing. I had hoped that I would not have to do this but adjustments were necessary.

Here is a view of the front of the dress. Note that the side seams are not sewn, casually pinned on Alma Marie.

The front of the dress has ruching/gathers that start right below the bust line and continue to below waist line. When I made a FBA, it required adjusting both front pieces. I used Sandra Betzina's method for increasing bust for princess seams. An issue here was that on the right front piece, I cut and spread between dots that are for marking where to start and stop the gathering stitches. On the left front piece, the adjustment was made above the dots and at the curve of the bust area. Because I did not relocate the dots on the right front, I gathered way to much material between dots causing fitting issues above bust and down. I had to remove the stitching and adjust the gathered area. This improved the fit through this area. I had to shorten the back darts, which normally I never do but because of other back adjustments I made, the darts made the dress a little too snug in the upper back area. Here is a close up view of the front ruching:

The gathers look better when I have the dress on that they are looking in this photo.


I ended up having to reduce the side seam allowance from 5/8 to 3/8 as the dress is really snug. I am surprised by this somewhat though I have been using size 18 from underarm to hip line in several garments. Depending on style I have had to take deeper seams when using size 18. This pattern's largest size was 16, adding two inches at bust line was okay but probably could have used a 2.5 inches adjustment.

I have to sew the side seams after basting and determining the narrower seam allowance needed. Left to complete: attaching facings, inserting sleeves and hemming.