Celebrating Summer with a Vogue V9311 Maxi Dress

Well here I am again, swishing my way around summer in a me-made maxi dress! And this one has been a long time coming… I actually made this last summer but it’s taken a whole year for me to get around to blogging it. This is a true reflection of the amount of free time I get as a full-time working mum LOL!

Rarely do I ever really make many of ‘the big 4’ patterns. I guess I’m just an indie patterns kinda gal at heart. I just couldn’t resist the style of this one though – with its 70s hippy vibes. And the pattern? A Vogue V9311.

It was a pretty easy/straightforward pattern to sew – not too many tricky areas. I decided part-way through that I would leave the sleeves off. I think at the time it was a bit of a heatwave going on, so the thought of sleeves made me feel a bit sweaty! I was just trying the dress on before the sleeves part of the instructions and just thought it looked great without. Also there was a little bit of me that felt like it may have been too much pattern if I’d have added them.

The fabric I used was a polyester – not 100% sure on the type, but at a guess, it was maybe like a georgette. It was a little sheer, with this gorgeous floral print on a lilac background. So pretty! I bought this from Sew Essential and it was a total bargain. I think it was around £5 per metre!

I used a lining fabric to fully line the whole dress, just because the outer shell fabric was just that little bit too sheer to get away with. Unfortunately though, the combination of the slippery lining and shell fabric means that they sort of shift around as their own entities… so I feel as though I need to wiggle and shift it around as I’m wearing it. Which is a little annoying.

Although, I am super pleased with the hem and slit finishes as I spent hours blind slip stitching all of this by hand. It did take a long time, but it was a really therapeutic process. Sometimes I lack the patience for hand stitching, but more and more I’m finding a real sense of ‘zen’ from doing this… so I intend on biting the bullet and doing this more. After all, the finished look is so much nicer than a rushed machined topstitch – especially on a lightweight fabric like this.

Another part of this make which I gave my all to was French seaming the entire dress. Again, such a rewarding process! As a result of this, I wrote a tutorial blog post especially for the lovely people at Brother Sewing UK – so head on over to their blog to see all of the steps and photos in detail – http://brothersewinguk.blogspot.com/2019/07/getting-to-grips-with-french-seams-with.html.

Anyway, it sure does feel good to have this dress up on the blog! It’s been a long time coming 🙂

Pattern: Vogue V9311

Fabric: Sew Essential

Size made: 12

Alterations made: Finished without sleeves

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