Happy Birthday! Vogue 1353/2, an abbreviated version.

Somehow or other this beautiful linen jumped into my shopping bag when I went fabric shopping with a friend. It was insistent on being turned into a big skirt, but all of my skirt patterns–even the pleated ones–have curved hems. A curved hem would not have looked right with this lovely poppy print, so I used the skirt part of the V1353 dress pattern, with wonderfully flat hems perfect for border and linear prints, and added a narrow waistband.

 

And then added a narrow band of matching bright pink cotton voile to the hem to finish it off. Just something a bit different. I cut two 2 1/2″-wide strips of the voile, sewed them together, matched the width of the skirt hem, folded it in half, and sewed it to the bottom edge of the skirt. It was serged to join, the seam pressed up, and then edgestitched to keep it in place.

The Side. You can’t really tell that the pattern is askew from front to back.

This is my fourth time using this pattern, as I’ve made this as a dress three times before:

Test

Rainbow

Birds

You can read those for full details on sizing and construction on the whole dress, which as per usual with Big 4 pattern runs a bit large. For the skirt, I make up a 12/14 in the waist and a 16 in the hips, which is what I normally do for the dress; even though I should be a 16/18 going by body measurements, this is quite comfortable and not snug at all. This is a mid-weight linen, and I used a white cotton voile to line it. The seam allowances were serged before sewing them together; the hem on the lining is just serged, to keep it light and floaty. It was a very quick project.

The Back.

The pattern repeat wasn’t quite tall enough, and I didn’t have quite enough of the fabric, to line up the pattern perfectly between the front and back. Thus everything is about 2 1/2 inches higher on the back. But I don’t think it’s visible to a casual observer.

The zipper goes right through the waistband. There are no other closures.

I Need A Nap

It just so happens that it perfectly matches a coral voile blouse I made earlier this summer and a pink t-shirt I already have, plus a pink voile that I plan on making into a top–fate, right?