vogue 1174 "cynthia steffe" dress

[shesxautomatic]

i've been working on this pattern for about a week now... as of last sunday night, i decided that i wanted to wear THIS dress to my best friend's wedding in pittsburgh that upcoming saturday. i started cutting the pieces out that night and slugged through the thing for the rest of the week. i'm not really sure who cynthia steffe is, but i liked the design and the detailing and hey the RTW version costs $345 so i feel pretty cool now haha! this dress is pretty fancy because it has a built-in foundation with boning and a waist stay... lots of pleating and piping and all kinds of detailing. i expected it to be fairly difficult, but the instructions were very clear and precise. i am very happy with the result!


this is the pattern i used - vogue 1174, by cynthia steffe.

the only change i made to the pattern was to redraft the front bodice (the triangular section under the bust). it was shaped really weird and stood out several inches from my waistline  made me look SQUARE. also, the bust is a little big... which is stupid, considering the size i cut was 34" and my bust is 36" and man i have no idea. i put some elastic around it, but then it stopped stretching so we're back to square one. at the wedding, i pinched a good 1" off each side and handsewed some janky lil darts to keep the thing up. when i have a chance to buy real elastic, i will fix it. until then, i deal.


i am sorry it is so wrinkly! i pulled it out of my suitcase after i got back to nashville and didn't have time to press it before taking pictures.






inside - the foundation, boning, and waist stay. isn't the piping along the facing cute? i love little details like that.

i don't want to kill this post, so there are many many more pictures + pattern review @ http://lladybird.wordpress.com/2010/06/22/vogue-1174-complete/

thanks for looking! please let me know what you think 

[MrSandwichWoman]

Gorgeous!  You did an amazing job.  I also really love the colour. 

[Addie Marie]

Oh!! I saw this pattern and wanted to try it, but vogue patterns are so darn expensive! Yours turned out wonderfully--I really like your color choice! And your insides are always finished so beautifully, I like that you don't cut corners with that.

[graverobbergirl]

Love the piping and execution of the bodice. Very well done!

And too cute overall!

Nice work!

[krileymil]

I think this is soooooo cute.... I love it... I bought the pattern and haven't tried it out... I'm more inspired now to do it thanks to you!!!

[skaborsk]

ohhh, i absolutely love this! i have two weddings to go to this month and i sure wish i had your sewing skills....  you did a great job!

[lidehtium]

awe thats really nice, I love the color of it ^^

[CarrottessSparklepaws]

So cute!  And I love your septum piercing.  I always wanted one of those.

[Strangefeldt]

I bought this pattern last week when Vogue was on major sale. I've been saving it for when I feel less intimidated by all the schmancy details. Your dress looks really great, and it's nice to know that the pattern isn't too hard. Good work!

[Aprilio]

Love thisssss! It reminds me that I need to learn to read and sew using patterns! It'll be years before I'll be able to do something like this though so yes, very good job!