Vogue 1287 DKNY Dress - Second Time Around

I've made this dress before and when I went back to check if I'd written anything helpful the first time (no!) I saw my closing sentence was "I think I like it enough to try it in a plain solid fabric rather than a crazy print".

Well of course that didn't happen and in fact I have used a very similar print although in neutral colours.  This fabric was quite lightweight so I added a lining in the skirt.  This was just a simple rectangle which I stitched into the skirt after basting all the pleats and finishing the pockets, after that I just treated them as one layer and followed the instructions for attaching the waistband and bodice.

As I did with version 1, I inserted the elastic in the whole waistband, not just the back which helps support the skirt front better, especially with my double layered skirt.

I went to Chiang Mai in Thailand for Easter which was lovely and I made sure to pack this dress so I could get some photos of me wearing it there.  The weather in Hong Kong has been so miserable lately that although I have been sewing a lot, taking photos where you can see anything has been difficult.

That said while I have been sitting here typing this on Saturday afternoon the sun has come out (Mari - I hope you are still in Hong Kong!) so I'd better get on with taking some more photos for future posts while I can!

Cowl top duo

Thanks for all the encouraging comments on my last post, I think you are right that I just need a bit of time away from it and to pep it up with some interesting accessories.  I tend to prefer wearing dresses because I recognise that I really am no good at putting separates together and I don't have a lot of skill with accessories either.

I also came to my senses and decided that rushing to make something new for the wedding I am attending would probably end in disaster.  In July, Erica B came to a similar conclusion for an upcoming event and grabbed a DKNY dress from her closet.  I have decided to do the same and hope some of her fabulousness wears off on me!  I even commented at the time which is why I can remember it.........

"AllisonC said...

You know whenever I have made something last minute I have not been truly happy with it. I generally adore DK patterns and this one looks fantastic on you."

I'm going to wear Donna Karan, Vogue 1159 a very similar dress to Erica's.  I'll try and get some decent photos at the wedding.

But, I still had to make something new to take so I have made two simple knit cowl tops using up some remnants in my stash.  I'm sure I could keep my stash much tidier without all these small half cut raggedy pieces.  Both needed a bit of creative piecing of the fabric scraps, but I managed it.

This one is a silk jersey, made using the famous Vogue 1250 Donna Karan (again!) dress, shortened to a top.  The jersey, which feels divine to wear is very drapy so I found I needed to stitch the neckline together a bit to control it.  To get it out of my small piece of fabric I added a centre back seam and a band at the hem, the busy print means you can hardly see these extra seams.

This grey top with metallic silver stripes was made using Burdastyle magazine 05/2012 - 110.  I started out with my usual size 38 and found it to be huge, I had to take it in at the side seams by a good 2 sizes to get the fit I wanted.  The short on fabric solution for this one is a back hem panel with the stripes going in the opposite direction.  Excuse the wrinkles!

Vogue 1221 DKNY dress

I generally enjoy making DKNY patterns that typically have unusually shaped pattern pieces and are fun to put together but this one annoyed me no end and it took an age to get the motivation to finish it.

Things that annoyed me making this;

• Until the front seam is sewn there is a lot of fabric in the front pieces with bits sticking out which seemed to get twisted up just by looking at them.
• The back has a full facing but the front just has an armscye facing which has a tendency to flip out.
• As is typical with these designs you can't really get a sense of how it is going to fit until late in the process.  Of course that is what muslins are for so I shouldn't complain.
• I really wish Vogue instructions would tell you when to finish a seam, it's hard to work out the order myself in unique patterns like this.  As it is I have 2 small seams on the inside of the front bodice which I've had to leave unfinished.  I don't think the fabric will fray and I suppose I could go back and cover them with ribbon or something, but it's still annoying.
• Getting the front drape and skirt pleats to sit nicely takes a bit of fiddling around - I don't know yet how the dress will fare in a real life outing that lasts longer than 5 minutes and involves moving around.  I think I will roadtest it this weekend.
• Hand hemming stretch cotton is no fun!

Anyway enough complaining,  here is the dress, it was impossible to get it to look right on my dressform which leads me to conclude that you need hips to wear this dress.  No shortage of those on me!

Other than my gripes above the dress was actually quite straightforward to make.  I made my usual size 12, 14 at the hips.  I needed to raise the neckline about an inch.  I didn't alter the length at all but clearly my legs are considerably shorter than those of the model.

(And for Daudau, there is no email in your profile to contact you directly, but yes I do live in HK, the pics from my birthday were taken at Pacific Place).

Vogue 1287 DKNY dress

This was one of my favourite patterns in the last lot of Vogue patterns, but there have been hardly any reviews of it which always makes me nervous!  One of the criticisms at the time was that the dress on the pattern photo was made in such a busy print that it was impossible to see the details and I'm afraid I have done the same thing with my version.

I wanted to get some of my older Vogue patterns made up before the new ones arrive so I just worked with the fabrics I had in my stash.  This needs a fabric with stretch and as my stretch fabric stash is quite precious to me I used a very loud, some would rightly say gaudy, jersey that I bought because I loved the colours but then didn't know what on earth to do with.  It has brown, teal, tan, coral, marbling and animal print on it and if that sounds like too much that is because it probably is!

I always enjoy making Donna Karan designs, the pattern pieces are generally unusually shaped and the details are always interesting - this was no exception although it wasn't particularly difficult.  I was a bit confused by the pocket facings and had to do quite a bit of pinning together before I understood the instructions, but it worked in the end.

I made a few small changes;

• I put elastic in the whole of the waistband instead of just the back.  In my jersey fabric, which I didn't interface anywhere, this helped give the waistband a bit more support and keep it in place.
• I didn't make the slip to go underneath the dress, but I did add a few invisible stitches just to keep the front wrap in place.
• I was short on fabric so I couldn't do a faced hem, I just did a narrow hem instead.

Back view

I'm still on the fence with how I feel about this dress, like the Vena Cava dress I made last year, the pleats and pockets draw attention to the hips so it is a little challenging to wear, but I think I like it enough to try it in a plain solid fabric rather than a crazy print.  At least this stuff is out of my stash now, I'll give it a test outing and see if people cross the street and run away shielding their eyes.

Vogue 1120 DKNY Dress, version 2

The dress is finished, it should have been done days ago but it was left hanging on my dressform waiting to be hemmed. I always seem to run out of steam at the end of projects and the hem in this slippery silk was fiddly so I kept putting it off. Of course it actually only took about 20 minutes to do once I got around to it, I will learn one day....

I only had 2.5 yards of 45" fabric and the pattern called for 3.25, but I was determined that I wanted to make this dress in this fabric so I had to do a bit of jiggery pokery (technical term) to do to make this work as follows;

• left off the pockets
• made the ties narrower and pieced them
• left off the hem facings
• left sleeves unlined

I don't recommend always buying less fabric but it is interesting how much you can save with a few changes that don't compromise the overall design.

One annoying thing about this design is that the front facing wants to flip out so I handstitched it to the front with invisible stitches underneath the pleats. If you are confident of doing a perfectly neat job, narrow binding might be a better option. That said, the pattern is now out of print, but there are plenty of patterns with similar necklines around and the rest is just a basic shift.


This dress is so comfortable to wear, here I have dressed it up with gold tone heels and clutch bag, but I will wear this a bit more simply for everyday wear (yes I do wear silk dresses quite often, they are perfect for our hot summers).

In sewing room news, I did do the promised tidy up and all I managed to find was that in addition to losing the Cynthia Steffe dress pattern I wanted to make next, I have also misplaced my February Burda and 2 yards of orange cotton fabric. They must all be together somewhere weird, I will probably find them in a kitchen cupboard or something in a few years time.

Vogue 1250 DKNY dress (times two)

I may be almost the last person in the universe to make this pattern and it seemed like the perfect project to get me back in the sewing room.

My knit stash is a bit limited and this is one fabric it seems hard to get out here for some reason, so I only had prints to choose from. After much procrastination, I picked a risky print, quite a large scale geometric border print, took a deep breath and ploughed in.

While I was making the dress I still had reservations but figured I could always turn it into a top, besides the dress is so quick to make I didn't have time to talk myself out of it. It's a very easy pattern but similar to other DKNY patterns has unusual shaped pieces that make it difficult to alter. I just used a straight size 12 which luckily worked out fine.


I took time to centre the print on the centre front of the pattern, completely forgetting about the centre back seam so I had to fudge it a bit there but it's OK. As soon as I tried the dress on I loved it and knew I had to have another one (at least!). I think the cowl drape has the perfect amount of drapiness and depth and the cut on sleeves are just right too.


Of course I had to then try and track down some solid jersey and went to Western Market in Hong Kong, a reliable but expensive place to shop. While there were plenty of lovely printed silk jerseys, cotton jerseys and very lightweight silk/cotton blends they weren't quite what I was looking for and in the end the best I found was a plain black blend. (Needless to say I couldn't stop at just one piece of fabric but thats a story for another day). Still, I am always saying "this would make a great LBD.." and never get around to it so for once I did. I know this will be a staple in my wardrobe and will probably get worn till it falls apart. As always it is difficult to take good photos of black dresses so I have tried lightening these.




If you haven't tried this pattern yet then I really recommend giving it a try. It only takes a few hours and 1.25- 2 yards of wide knit fabric. Are 2 versions of this enough for me, we will see........

For those of you interested in my trip, I'm working on putting some of the photos up online (I have hundreds as you might imagine) so in the meantime I'll just stick a few random ones on my sewing posts! Galapagos wildlife today!

Vogue 1236 DKNY dress

Remember me?? Like the UK we have had a bumper crop of public holidays here in Hong Kong recently and we still have another one next Tuesday. You might think this would mean I get more sewing and blogging done but the opposite seems to be true, I get thrown out of my usual routine. Not that I'm complaining! Besides I can't sew all the time, not least because my closet is sadly too small.

I have made a dress - not the one I was planning to make of course, but another DKNY from the recent batch of Vogue patterns - V1236.

I almost didn't buy this because it is a pretty basic dress and I am sure I have something similar somewhere, but I'm glad I did. It is, like all DKNY patterns I have tried, cut really well and as a bonus it is incredibly easy to sew. I just made a straight size 12, no alterations based on the finished measurements printed on the pattern and this turned out fine.

I used a semi sheer dot large spotted cotton fabric - it's sheer between the spots so I interlined with a taupe/gold china silk. The effect is very subtle - I did experiment with brighter colours but it looked like cheap tacky lingerie!

The original pattern is unlined and has combined neck/sleeve facings so I changed the construction a bit due to my fabric. I attached the lining at the neck and sleeves and then made bias strips for these edges, turned to the inside and topstitched. I left off the beltloops and pockets as usual though I do think they are rather cute - maybe next time.

I've had to lighten these photos so you can see the fabric so ignore the fact I look like a blurry pale ghost.

Despite its simplicity I think this is a very versatile pattern, this version can work for day or night, but I can see some more summery ones in my (too small) closet in the future.