Finished Project: Vogue 8766 Hacked!

If I learned one thing from Me Made May, it's that I need more easy summer sundresses in my DIY wardrobe. And though it's my opinion that any dress that must be worn with a strapless bra does not actually qualify as "easy to wear," I do think my Vogue 8766 hack will gets lots of love from me this summer:  

I made quite a few changes: I smocked shirred the back bodice piece and created a button placket down the front; I added spaghetti straps and thread belt loops, plus side pockets. Here's Vogue's line drawing of 8766 to give you an idea of the original look. I used the strapless bodice variation with the circle skirt (bottom right):

And here's my finished look, which happily matches perfectly with my summer hat:

For the smocking shirring, I cut a large piece of my fabric and used my ruler to draw lines 1/2-inch apart. In my experience, smocking shirring can quickly get crooked without the help of a nice pencil line to keep you, er, in line:

It's a simple (if slightly tedious) task to shir your lines (elastic thread goes on the bobbin and that is all that is to it):

Then I cut my back bodice piece, which I reduced by a few inches to account for all the stretchiness (I also folded out the darts). I love the classic shirred sundress look from the back:

I used my serger to finish the top of the back bodice with a rolled hem stitch:

To create the front button placket, I simply added two inches to the center front of the bodice pattern piece. Then fold over twice and topstitch down — voila! Insta-placket:

At one point I seriously questioned how smart I was to willingly sew a dress that required me to sew 18 buttonholes. (My machine is TERRIBLE at buttonholes). But I love the look:

To keep my belt in place I added thread belt loops:

As for fit alterations to the pattern, I didn't do much. I shortened the bodice on the "petite" lines, though I think I would have liked a little extra length.

I plan on using the same pattern (and pattern mods, buttonholes be damned!) to make an Oona-fied version of this dress for Oonapalooza.  I may drop the front neckline into a slight sweetheart shape and sew a gathered skirt instead of this circle one (hemming this dress took nearly as long as sewing the entire rest of it — not for the faint of heart!). I think a gathered skirt would make this slightly more casual for day-to-day summer wear. (Of course, thicker straps would make wearing a normal bra possible, which would be awesome).

What's your favorite summer sundress pattern?