Vogue 9124

Right on the heels of my last less-than-perfect dress, I have this Vogue 9124 that I have had in my closet (and been wearing) for about 6 months!  The thing is, I can't decide how I feel about it.  This is the elusive dress that seems to look better in pictures than in real life.

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Let me back up.  Here is the pattern envelope photo.

Hahaha yeah, not my personal style, but it was the top drawing below, View A, that pulled me in.  I mean, look at those cute little puffed sleeves, the subtle flounce at the hem, and the tailored placket.  What's not to love?  The fabric is a linen/rayon blend with a little texture, from JoAnn Fabrics.

Here it is unadorned with a belt, and I think you can pick out my problem with the dress right away, right in the middle.  The placket has so many layers, plus some light interfacing, and it does not drape with the rest of the dress.  It stands away from the body in an unattractive, beer-gut kind of way.  Now, I think that this might be in part that it is a half inch or so too long-waisted for me, like these two recent projects, but I am happy with the blouse-iness overall, just not what the placket does.

It looks a little better in this photo, but you can still see the center front sticking out.  The other thing I am not crazy about is that there is so much gathering on the skirt that the elastic is not enough to hold it in.  Maybe a wider elastic would have been better.  I wouldn't wear this without a belt, and the easy, cool (no belt) aspect is what drew me to this pattern in the first place.

 With those complaints out of the way, I have to admit that I do wear this dress fairly frequently... with a belt.  Usually, I wear the belt I have on in the first photo because it covers the elastic waist area well, but it is too thick and warm for the hot weather coming up, so I decided to play around with a couple other belts in my closet.  Here is the first photo again, for reference:

Here it is with a skinny navy belt.  Maybe you can see that it just doesn't cover the elastic waist area very well.

And this is the only side view that I got.  You can see the upper body issue, but with a belt on, I think it is ok.

This is the last belt I tried on.  It's one of my favorites, but I don't think it works with this dress.  I would be fiddling with it constantly, trying to make sure it covered the waistline.

So, two half-duds in a row.  Hopefully the next one will knock it out of the park. I am about to start testing another pattern for Itch to Stitch, and her patterns seem to fit me with very minimal changes, so crossed fingers here.