Vogue 8020 - I finished it in time!

Hi all

Well I've been Mrs S for a eight days now and finally the last person staying with us left this afternoon. It's been a hectic few weeks. First my new brother-in-law and his girlfriend arrived from China to stay for a few days. Then after a couple of days of just us, we had my husband's children arrive with their friends, then two days later, my Mum arrived. There was seven of us in a house with four bedrooms and one bathroom!! Mum flew all the way from the UK on her own, having hardly ever flown before and certainly not long haul. I am dead proud of her and so pleased she came. She's now on her way back via Auckland and Singapore. It's a long way from Wellington to Worcestershire, UK!

So to the matter in hand... I finished it! Vogue 8020 was finished just in time for the party. I was sat on the floor in the lounge on the night before we got married finishing the hem off. I even had my new step daughter, who is a knitter and had never sewn before to stitch some of the hem. I showed her how to hem stitch and she made a great job.

The dress (the Vogue dress, not my wedding dress!) worked out really well. I lengthened the bodice by  one inch and also added two inches to the bottom of the skirt. I didn't think I was long in the waist, but it seems to be a standard adjustment for me now. To save problems with the sleeve facings and also the placement of the pleats on the skirt, I graduated the bust seams slightly, so I started with a 5/8th seam and then graduated to 1/2inch around the bust area and back to 5/8ths as I sewed the rest of the way down the bodice.

I had fun with the pleats on the skirt. I don't seem to have much success with pleats on patterns. For some reason they never work out as the pattern intends and I end up doing them all myself from scratch. Apart from the hundreds of threads from my tailors tacks getting in the way, I have to say these actually worked out reasonably well. A couple I had to move slightly to line up where the pattern intended, but all in all, I was pleased how the pleats worked.

Tailors tacks galore getting in the way!

As for the pattern as a whole, it's an easy pattern, no strange tricks to confuse you.I'd certainly make it again. I even managed to line the bodice. I did intend to line the skirt too, but time pressures prevented that one. Another time! That's going to be an after job. I didn't make the tie as suggested by the pattern. Instead I just used a thin black belt that I had. The skirt has gone a bit fru-fru, but with stiff silk taffeta that's to be expected. Perhaps I ought to have a net petticoat underneath!

I had loads of nice compliments at our wedding party. Everyone was really impressed. Unfortunately, few photos were taken and so I ended up getting one of my new family to take one that evening once everyone had gone. So not lots of posing in the final item I'm afraid and not many of the final item - I've been busy organising a wedding!

I know you're wanting to see photos of the wedding dress and day, sorry, patience!! I'm so unkind to you all! Truth is, we've had little time to get some of these together. I will do a post at a later stage for you all. We did have a fantastic day and our guests also had a great time.