Angela's Vintage Pledge Project: Vogue Paris Original Designer by Patou

Angela of Mermaid's Purse loves couture fashion and fashion history - the perfect fit for Vintage Pledge! Today she is sharing a dress made with a vintage French couture pattern:

Pattern Details

One of my first forays into Vintage Couturier Patterns, I started this sewing project about a year ago. I sew multiple projects at once, sometimes I get loads sewn up, sometimes projects languish if I hit a road block, I find it helps me stay productive and challenged. I can act on inspiration and when I feel stuck I can get some positive happy sewing times from an easier project. This project brought with it some challenges and it has taken some time to complete, until now!

Pattern details

This is a Vintage Vogue 1195, Paris Original Model by Patou, printed in 1952. It has an asymmetrical button down front, a rolled collar, self fabric belt, eight bound buttonholes, plus two smaller ones on the cuffs, and voluminous two-piece bias cut sleeves. The neckline has a lovely shape with two small darts at the back of the neck, and, hidden by the belt are several small darts in the bodice along the back waist line, that create this lovely shape at the back.

Those sleeves, cut on the bias, used a lot of fabric, and have this great shape with a little pleat at the slightly dropped shoulder.

Bound button holes on the cuffs, and my vintage gold gloves!

Fabric and notions

The fabric is a lovely wool and polyester (10%) crepe that I bought new from a fabric store, rather special, on sale some time before... I chose self fabric buttons, spent ages trying to find decent ones around various sewing supply shops in town, tried a few different sizes, I even considered pretty purple vintage buttons from my mums stash.

Sewing it up

I made a toile, which was a smart move as I was able to practice the assembly and get my head around how that lovely front button up works. It was still a bit tricky and all the marking (thread and chalk) nearly did my head in...hence it taking so long. The instructions were adequate, and this was the first time I have made a collared dress where the facings shape the collar, rather than a shirt collar which is a separate piece, assembled and then inserted.

Attempting the pattern illustration pose!

My main regular adjustment is for a hollow bust, and I took a small amount out for this, and I think it's not quite right, I also needed to take some out of the bust and play around with the placement of the two under bust buttons and button holes - to try and get them to line up with the lower bust dart. As I had a bit of trouble with this on the toile, I left the bound buttonholes til the end, making a little more tricky.

Final verdict

I do really love this dress, it is still 'new to wear' for me, and I'm looking forward to getting it out now the cooler weather is upon us. This really was a steep learning curve, I have the toile pieces, and I would like to make it again, when, I don't know!

I would recommend the pattern, though perhaps not for a novice, and make sure you give yourself plenty of time to complete it, practice those bound button holes, and, as I reminded myself, several times, "Follow the instructions" !

Thanks Angela! What a luxurious dress and a beautiful piece of sewing. The details really make this dress - the covered buttons and belt and the bound buttonholes give it a real couture feel.

K x