Vogue 1176- Wearable Muslin & Pattern Review
Vogue 1176, a discontinued Michael Kors pattern, is one that I’ve wanted to make ever since I first set eyes on it. It was already discontinued when I learned about it, but I sought it out on eBay and found a copy in my size range.
I was really intimidated of this dress! The bodice is asymmetrical, which is always a pain to make any significant fit adjustments to, I was convinced I’d need to size it up a bit from the largest size (more on that later), and the folds over the bust that form the bow were really hard for me to wrap my head around.
When I heard that Resort-O-Rama, a vintage convention in the San Francisco Bay Area was happening, I knew that (a) I had to attend and (b) I needed to make a few outfits for it! So I bought tickets to some of the events and put my nose to the grindstone.
Because I was so worried about making Vogue V1176, I committed to making both unwearable fit-test muslins, and a full dry-run wearable muslin once I thought I had the fit where I wanted it. I’m really glad I did this, even though (gasp) it wound up being a lot easier to fit than I thought!
My first concern with fitting the dress was that I’d have to size it up, which was compounded by the fact that I could not find finished garment measurements for the waist and bust on the pattern pieces, only for the hip. Based on the hip’s finished garment measurement, and the body measurement it was designed for, I assumed the garment ease was pretty minimal and that I’d need to enlarge all of my pieces. I should have measured the pieces, but I’m really awful at that, so I just winged it and sized them up a bit. Turned out, that was unnecessary on the bodice! While I needed a bit of extra room in the hip, my first muslin of the bodice turned out really large. My second muslin was a lot closer, and with that, I went ahead and made my wearable muslin out of this polka dot fabric.
The bodice construction isn’t intuitive, and the directions leave a bit to be desired, but it does come together nicely, the pattern pieces fit together properly, etc… If you just take it slow, you’ll be able to figure it out, bearing in mind that you’re creating a little “pocket” opening hidden under the diagonal bodice fold to slip your bow into. Once I made the dress up, I felt a lot more confident making it in my “good” fabric, and I also identified a couple more tweaks to the fit and design I wanted to make, like taking in the bodice further, enlarging the bow, and lengthening the skirt a little to give it a more “retro” silhouette.
I wouldn’t recommend this pattern for a beginning sewist, but if you have some atypical garment construction under your belt and/or are especially good at spacial reasoning (I am NOT), then go for it! The pattern is well-drafted, and creates a really unique and beautiful result. I plan on using this bodice pattern many more times with a variety of skirts to mix up the look.
-Dress Pattern is Vogue V1176 (a Michael Kors pattern): https://amzn.to/3VF9rGJ
-Fabric is a cotton from Marshall Dry Goods
-Earrings, necklace, and bangles are Splendette
-Brooch is from Erstwilder
-Hair flower is from Shazam Vintage Pin Up Hair Flowers
-Shoes are from Amazon: https://amzn.to/3YWiTWd
-Purse is Betsey Johnson :https://amzn.to/3JQ5CJl
