Pattern: Vogue 1183, a Kay Unger design

Fabric: Olive green doubleknit from fashionista fabrics

Notes: I bought this pattern when it came out, but then promptly forgot that it existed.  It’s a bit more tailored and office-like than I generally go for.  But… I had this olive green doubleknit to use up, and I only had enough to make a slim fitting dress.  I remembered this pattern, so I gave it a go!

This is not, in general, my favorite color.  I love green, but I really prefer emerald to olive – too much yellow and I start to develop a bit of a sickly pallor.  Having said this, I think this color works pretty well on me – it has enough intensity to make me happy, and it works with red hair.  I can wear more warm colors when my hair is red.  Speaking of which, I am not going bald – I just have blonde roots that are showing when I pull my hair back!  Time to get to the salon.

The dress was easy enough to make, but a bit time consuming with all the topstitching.  I did not run 2 lines per seam – I just topstitched the seam allowance down 1/4″ away from the seam.  I omitted the lining, and opted to turn and sew under all the edges, so I didn’t really want even more stitching showing.

I am very pleased with the fit in the back.   There is no zipper – it goes over my head easily!

I had one major fitting problem with the dress, which I have seen touched on in other reviews.  It was too long from shoulder to the top of the midriff, causing the bust to gape open.  I removed 1.5″ total from each shoulder, which fixed the issue.  I have no gaping on the neckline now!  I also removed about 1 inch total at the sides from the underarm to midriff, because it was big otherwise (meaning I had to use 2 sizes smaller on top than bottom… but I think this pattern runs big in the bust.)

If I made the skirt again I would remove the darts – they aren’t necessary in a doubleknit fabric, and just added a strange wrinkle.  I had a really hard time photographing this dress – the color is intense, and I have yet to get a lens I like better from my camera.  I did, however, get a new phone (the HTC EVO 4G) which has a pretty decent camera – it took the photo below!

I couldn’t get the color to turn out, so I just used one of the downloaded camera filters

I enjoyed this pattern, and I think it’s a nice basic.  I will certainly get some wear out of it – I picked up a leopard print cardigan yesterday that goes with it really well (though I will not wear the leopard shoes at the same time… even my animal print love has limits!)  I recommend the pattern – just watch out for the upper chest/ shoulder issue!