Vogue 1777 - Rachel Comey Tempo dress

I had one month to make a wedding guest dress for my high school best friend’s wedding in Victoria. I love to do this; have a dress for just that friend’s occasion, even as I fully intend the garment to enter the larger pool of clothes later. In this case, I wanted to pick a pattern that structurally reminded me of my friend, who wore a cool dark grey jumpsuit to mine.

I gravitated to my Rachel Comey pattern collection, and ultimately to this grey wool gabardine (with “it’s not too close to white” approval!). I suspected, and was right that, the dress would work for Victoria summer - not too warm, not too lightweight.

The pattern is written as partially lined, and I chose a very lightweight silk that I’d previously acorn and iron dyed but then had no idea what to do with it because it was so light (I still have more to use later). Because the wool is just a tiny bit itchy, I made the dress fully-lined, drafting a simplified lining without the pleats. I briefly mourned that this meant that both on the bodice and the skirt, I was covering up the selvedge which I was able to cut along and keep in the design. I can still peek at it on the skirt though and that’s lovely.

I liked the instructions for this design, and felt it gave a very clean and satisfying finish. There is little visible stitching. The pockets are big and the right balance of structured and hidden. I love the way the pleats crossover a tiny bit at center front.

That is true EXCEPT the pattern markings for the welt pockets. These are very clearly well-designed, but the instructions and pattern markings made it very challenging to get right in terms of aligning the right side of the welt “box” aligned with the right part of the dress. Mine are both wrong and off-set. Thankfully the draft for the pockets is quite generous and with my lining, the wrong-ness is somewhat hidden. However one of my pockets is mis-placed and I find that rather annoying.

I also wish I had sized down. I didn’t really read blogs and reviews before making, and of course, would have realized that sizing down was advisable if I had! As it stands, I was unhappy with just how oversized the dress was as written. Staring in the mirror at my lined dress, thinking about the final look, I realized that ties could change everything, from over-over-sized to sorta 50s fit-and-flare. I unpicked just a small amount of the bodice above the waist, made long skinny ties, and handstitched them back in, being sure not to catch the lining. I’m delighted with the finish and overall effect.

Both the lining and the dress hems are hand-stitched, though to be honest I’ve only half-done the rolled hem on the lining…. I will finish it at some point, I’m sure. But this isn’t a super wash a lot dress so I’m not rushed about it. The outer hem could be a little less obvious, but that’s learning how to handle this kind of fabric next time.