Pattern Review – Vogue 1174


Georgia arrived to teach her sewing class in this pretty white number made up from Vogue pattern 1174. As she went through the alterations to the pattern, I asked her to email me the details instead, didn’t want to leave anything out!

“Here are the adjustments I made to Vogue 1174:

I toiled the bodice of the dress first and found that it needed some minor adjustment through the bust. So starting at the top of the bodice on the side seams I graded it in by 1cm down to nothing at the bottom of the bodice middle. I used this great plaited trim that I had been wanting to do something with, so I decided to use it as a piping. I inserted it in all the horizontal seams, and into the shoulder straps that I added to the dress.

I really wanted to make this up as a day dress so I added straps. In designing the straps I slightly curved them to tie in with the top of the dress. The straps are 38cm long and the curve is graded from 5cm out to 6.5cm at the shoulder (including seam allowance).


I had read a few other blogs reviewing this pattern and all of them commented on how tight the fit was with the foundation pieces in, so I decided to simply self line and bone the bodice. This worked great as I still got a lovely fit and I can eat!!!!! And to flatter my figure best, I needed to reduce the bulk around the middle. So I instead, simply attached the skirt to the lower edge of the bodice instead of attaching the facings and having the pleats on the outside of the dress. Lastly I gave the skirt a nice 8cm wide hem.


My choice of fabric for this cute summer dress was a lovely heavy Italian cotton with a self pattern I bought up at Tessuti Chatswood”