Snow Leopard Chica, OOP Vogue 1315

The snow from last weekend has all melted, with the exception of a bit outside of our building.  I thought it an ideal backdrop for a recent make, Vogue 1315, an OOP Rebecca Taylor Vogue pattern (as of this writing, it's still available on the OOP section of the Vogue Patterns website).

I completed this back in late September as part of my travel wardrobe for our 12 day Berlin vacation. If you're looking for a fast and simple sew, which works especially well for travel, this should be your next make.  The pattern is simple and the instructions are clear and straightforward.

It even comes with pockets!

I constructed this using my Janome, Jem Gold, which I purchased as a machine to take along with me on my frequent business trips.  However, I've been using it more and more at home as well.  I'll do a complete review of this little super sewer in another post.  For the seams on this dress, I used a "snake" shaped stitch, rather than a small zig zag stitch as I normally would, since the Jem Gold stretches the fabric with the small zig zag.  I even bought the walking foot, thinking this would help, but I still get a fair amount of stretch using it.  The wide wavy stitch works well, though, and I've used it on several other knit projects.

Besides the pockets, the other design element I like with this pattern is the neckline.

You cut two neck bands, one about a quarter of an inch wider than the other.  You then apply the two neckbands as one.  The bands end up curling down, but you have one curl on top of the other.  It's a fun little effect.

For sleeve finishing, I applied fusible hem tape.  I don't advise this on stretch makes, since the sleeve ends won't stretch anymore, however; I was in a hurry and knew that I'd always be able to fit my hand and wrist through the opening.  For the hem, I simply turned up and stitched with a tiny zig zag.

The fabric is a t-shirt weight leopard print that I picked up at Fabrix on a previous visit to San Francisco.  It's super comfy, and I can layer thermals underneath and/or sweaters on top.  I think I'd like to make this again in a thicker stretch knit in a solid color.  It's one of those dresses that you can wear pretty much anywhere!

Hasta pronto!