Righting the Wrap

You may recall that I recently sewed up the newly re-released Vogue V2000 wrap dress pattern, an original by Diane von Furstenburg. As promised, here is some info on the fit adjustments I needed to make to the pattern to ensure that it was just right for me.

Petite: I shortened the waist by 1", and the sleeves by 1 1/4", using the lengthen shorten lines on the pattern.

FBA: I did a 1/2" FBA through the existing bust dart.

Waist adjustment: I needed an additional 2" of waist girth. I achieved this on the bodice between doing the FBA in the front and omitting the pleats in the back. The skirt was simply adjusted to correspond with these changes.

Protruding shoulder blades: I increased the shoulder dart volume on the back pattern piece to add around 3/16" of each height and width in the across back area where I needed it.

Shoulder Slope: I brought the entire shoulder seam forward by 1/4", and then the shoulder point only, by 1/4" too. I also changed the sleeve cap to reflect these changes.

Square Shoulder: I didn't do my usual 3/8" square shoulder adjustment (but should have), however I did do a small adjustment to the collar at the shoulder point, so that it would lay flatter on my shoulders. Next time I will definitely do the square shoulder adjustment to the bodice, and also make a greater change to the collar piece.

Sustainability: When I went to cut the dress out, I found that even the longest piece of fabric that I had in my stash was not long enough for the voluminous skirt pieces, so I took out a little of the skirt flare. I also shortened the skirt by 2", which means I could only do a 1" hem. Now that I've made it up, I find that I actually like having less flare in the skirt (being only 5'3" [160cm] tall, less volume is better for me), so I've decided to retain these adjusted skirt pieces. This also means, of course, that I now only need three meters of fabric for this dress.

My verdict: I absolutely love the way this pattern turned out and am particularly pleased with the very "dee-vee-effy" fabric I was able to use for it. I'm sure I'll be making quite a few more of these versatile dresses for myself and others.

Have you managed to sew one up as yet? I'm really enjoying seeing all the versions that are popping up online, and I'd love to see how yours turns out too.

And, of course, you're welcome to complete the contact form if you'd like any more info on the adjustments I made.

Until next time,

Caroline