Review: Vogue 1546 | The Dress I Want to Wear All Summer!

I don't make dresses often. But every now and then, I make one that I want to wear everyday. And this is that dress.

This is Vogue Pattern 1546 by Australian designer Rebecca Vallance. I made the jumpsuit by her which is also from the same Spring 2016 collection.

This bodice type is a common style that Rebecca Vallance uses in a lot of her designs. The cut-in shoulder, open back is what draws me to her.

This dress is pretty straightforward if you think of it in the terms of a fit and flare dress. Unlike the jumpsuit, I didn't make a lot of fit modifications. I cut a size 12 in the bodice with the D cup and graded to a size 14 from the waist down. Even the midi length was perfect out of the envelope.

Even though I have an entire category on Underpinnings, and there's a specialty bra for every situation on the market. The one question I'm ALWAYS asked when I sew something like this is what kind of bra am I going to wear? 

Now I could've reached for a specialty bra, but I decided to go with bra cups.

The next question is: How do you know where to place them? Well, you obviously have to get to a point where you can try on the bodice and pin them in place. You simply can't guess or eyeball this.

My fabric, this gorgeous Blue Indigo and White Floral Print Linen from Mood Fabrics is thin, very lightweight with a stiff drape that's perfect for this design. But the fabric was so thin that the bra cups shown through. After attaching the bra cups to the lining fabric, I added an underlining on top of that so that there would be another layer of fabric in between.

The halter neckline is secured with grosgrain ribbon and it is such a cute, delicate and feminine detail.

The back band has an exposed zipper closure.

The skirt is four pieces: the front and back upper pieces are interfaced and it's where the pleats are created and joined to the front and back lower pieces. I did have a small amount of gaping on the sides where the bodice joined the skirt. That was an easy fix by shortening the bodice on the sides by half an inch.

And it has pockets! Nice, deep pockets! My iPhone 7 Plus fits in there perfectly.

So if you're look for a dress for this summer with a lot of interesting details, then this is it!