Oh the foolishness of youth!

It’s youth’s perogative to be over-optimistic and foolhardy. So there goes 20 – 30 or so Vogue patterns, several expensive designer ones amongst them. All cut out to a youthful size 8. Now at least two sizes too small – and counting! Many weren’t even ever made. Sigh.

Let that be a lesson to any beginners – always, always, I repeat – ALWAYS- make and work on a copy. Keep the original. Maybe one day they’d be vintage and you can flog on eBay for a princely sum!

So, amongst the carnage were these gems:

Vogue Pattern 1479 Bellville Sassoon dress

Never made. Looks so pretty & feminine. But maybe a tad too much with the lace – almost bedroom naughty! If I can salvage the pattern I might make it with lined chiffon for the main part & unlined chiffon border instead of the lace.

Vogue Pattern 1390 Genny wrap top & skirt

Adapted the top to copy a Romeo Gigli wrap top. But the fabric color doesn’t really suit my skin tone. So now in the TBA pile. Shame. I might attempt again with a more flattering color, though I better check it’d fit still.

Vogue Pattern 1891 Oscar de la Renta evening dress

Never made. No occasion. But a girl can still fantasize! Maybe it can be shortened, made with menswear fabric minus the bows for a more wearable version?

Vogue Pattern 1793 Marc Jacob dresses

Made the one on the left. Again fabric color wasn’t the best. (I seem to have a whole pile of them – so lovely by themselves, not so lovely next to my skin }:-) Had to give it away to charity shop when I grew sideways and could no longer breathe in it 🙁

Vogue Pattern 1639 Badgley Mischka dress & jacket

Vogue Pattern 1633 Karl Lagerfeld jacket & pants

Never made. interesting details, but not really sure about the overall silhouette.

Vogue Pattern 1638 Oscar de la Renta jacket & skirt

Vogue Pattern 1224 Karl Lagerfeld jacket & skirt

Made the skirt on the left, and the jacket on the left.

1638 looked like a clipping I liked which I still have somewhere. The skirt was a dark brown boucle and got lots of wear. So much so that it got a bit thread-bare in places and had to be chucked.

1224 jacket was my first tailoring attempt. It turned out well…except the silhouette didn’t really suit me: Too wide at the shoulder, too short in the bodice, big lapel that make my upper body look rather stumpy.

Vogue Pattern 1918 Michael Kors jacket, top, & pants

Never made. Am still thinking of making the jacket. Normally they’re quite spacious aren’t they. So hopefully I can just make the cut out size 8 and it’d still fit right?



Vogue Pattern 1608 Isabel Toledo top, shirt, skirt, & pants

Made the sleeveless top in some leftover baby blue satin. Another one that turned out well, but had to be given away because I got fatter. Bummer.

The shirt and skirt I’m not so sure about. The detailing’s interesting, but it look like a potential figure puffer. Leave it for the tall girls I think.

Vogue Pattern 1415 DKNY jacket, dress, & shorts
+ unkown DKYN shirt pattern

Never made. Sorry, I lied. I kind of adapted the dress for a satin skirt, which didn’t work out so well until I chopped the length. It’s kind of a cute silhouette – the jacket & short combo.

The shirt I never got, and can’t figure out the pattern number anymore. Shame as I kind of like it now.

Vogue Pattern 9015 jacket, skirt, & pants

Made the jacket in a stiff ribbed silk blend. Got a few wears out of it, so not so bad. But the one in the picture looks much nicer. Love the rich red, softer fabric. Mine didn’t drape so well when worn open.

Vogue Pattern 9000 dress

Made and failed. Love the pictures, but mine didn’t come out right. It was tugging at the wrong places and just looked dowdy. I might have thrown the pattern out after that – I can’t find the pattern in my stash anymore.

So there you go, live and learn. Maybe once I’m back in full swing I can pick up some grading skills and salvage these.

In the meanwhile, they’ll be safely locked away in the PSV (Pattern Stash Vault).