Vintage Peplum Dress

Pattern Review: Simplicity 1460

I have been wanting a jean dress in my wardrobe for a while now and I decided to try it out using Simplicity 1460. I have to admit I don't tend to go for vintage styles, but the scalloped neckline caught my eye. I chose to pair the bodice from view C with the peplum from view B. I wore this to work last week and this is how I styled it. 

I am going to hold my hands up and admit that I should have done a muslin for this dress, especially as it has minimal options for fitting as I sew. I did have major fitting problems with the bodice. There was too much excess fabric in the top of the bodice and the sleeves extended too far. I removed the excess by adding in a 2" dart from the armhole to the bust and in the back from the armhole to the top of the back waist darts and reshaped the sleeves. I traced a new bodice pattern piece and was lucky enough to be able to cut them out of my already cut bodice fabric. 

I cut a 16 all over, I decided to size this up reviews read that the waist for this runs small. And it is very true. I could have gotten away with a 14 as my fabric has a bit of stretch but it would have been snug. I added 4" to the peplum to make it a decent length skirt.  Although it is still a bit big in the bodice the fit is much better than it was, and I am happy that I have ended up with something wearable. 

I snapped up 3 metres of this medium weight stretch denim from my recent fabric binge in Paris, I was a steal at €10. It was really easy to sew with and I treated myself and purchased some jean needles for my sewing machine. I still have a fair bit of the fabric left so I have plans to turn it into a skirt 

This pattern is unlined, but uses facings for the neckline. I decided against using the denim as it would be too bulky and picked out some blue polycotton from my stash, purchased from Brixton market for £1.20 per metre. There is a cute family owned shop called Wools and Crafts down the road from my house and I found some basic buttons for 15 pence each. I am definitely going to re-tweak the pattern and make this again, especially as I like the overall silhouette and it would work in a variety of fabrics. I would also like to make this as a skirt. It's essentially a circle skirt with buttons which is cool. 

As I mentioned in my last post this dress was going to be my November Garment of the Month, but I managed to crack on with this dress on a 'use it or lose it' day off last Monday. I will reassess my stash and see what will satisfy my sewing mojo next. 

You can see my Pattern Review for this dress here. 

Has anyone else been kicking themselves for not making a muslin recently? 

Happy Sewing!