Vogue 1238 Miyake dress

I have made many Miyake patterns through the years. Some have been favorites (1476 coat I am still wearing after 25 years) and some have been worn once or never. I always love sewing these patterns as they are unique and often counterintuitive. Fun puzzles and I do love a puzzle. This dress has that Miyake quality although it is quite easy to construct. Nothing that puzzling. However, although it was fun to make, it may only be worn around the house in the hot days coming up. That is because it seems like a muumuu on me. Really full through the bust (no need for a FBA here) and of course wide at the sides. The wide sides don't bother me (see Vogue 1234 review) but the overall fullness through the bust does.

Have you noticed that Vogue's description have become minimalistic to the extreme? This one says "Pullover dress is very loose-fitting at the bust. No provision made for above waistline adjustment". No mention of color blocking, curved seams, bound edges. I used a Medium although my measurements are in the Large range. Obviously I could have cut the Small. Or maybe XS.
 

The envelope photo shows the shoulder pieces front and back cut out of the main fabric. The cutting layout also shows it this way. However the line drawing shows the shoulder pieces cut from the contrast. I did it with the contrast. Of course on the envelope photo you can barely see the difference between the fabrics anyway. I also turned the armhole binding toward the outside to have the contrast there also.

This is one of the easiest Miyake's I have sewn. I did not do the stay stitching called for in the instructions. I have found that often stay-stitching knits causing more stretching. Also I put it together on my serger which helped prevent the seams from stretching. It takes quite a while to sew all those long curves so eliminating the stay stitching (and second row of stitches inside) saved lots of time.

I love the curved, bound neckline. And I love the curved color blocking. Love the floaty coolness for hot weather. Dislike the excessive fullness. The back is pretty cute.

The black is rayon/lycra jersey with stretch in both directions. The black/white dots fabric is rayon/poly blend with no lengthwise stretch. I was concerned that the two different fabrics wouldn't work together but they did. In fact the contrast with less stretch helped keep the very stretchy black in check.

I shortened a few inches at the bottom. I would have like to shorten it further but then you loose the black at the bottom. To shorten further you could take deep seams on all the curved pieces. 

 I intended this as an experiment using remnants. It feels like a nightgown to me but perhaps that stems from my fabric choices.  I don't think I will make this again but it was a fun project.