Oh, I do love a Tilton pattern.  Fascinating design lines, in styles that work for my body shape.

I sewed this one up at the end of October when I was at Sewjourn. It felt a little weird to be sewing a wintery dress as we were rapidly heading toward summer, but as it happens I’ve already worn it to work.

The pattern is Vogue 9254, and it’s one of Marcy Tilton’s more recent patterns.  I decided to sew size 14 after checking the finished measurements on the pattern tissue.  According to Vogue’s size chart I measure around size 18 bust, size 22 waist and  size 16 hips.  Um, no.  The moral of that story is always check the measurements on the pattern tissue, taking your ease preferences into consideration.  I also find that if I buy a pattern in roughly my Australian shop size – which is a 12 or 14 – it usually works out okay.

I didn’t make any alterations to the pattern. This is typically Tilton-esque, with some raw edges (the hemline and on the offset front seam) and unconventionally shaped pattern pieces to add dimension along the seamlines.

The pattern description from the website is as follows: Fitted pullover dresses have asymmetrical neckline, front seam and hem and sleeve variations. FABRICS: For Two-way Stretch Knits (50% Cross Grain): Ponte, Cotton/Lycra, Rayon Lycra, Lightweight Scuba Knits, Sweatshirt Knits.

I chose to sew the dress in one fabric (rather than combining fabrics as suggested in the sleeveless view).  The fabric is a stretchy, spongy knit stripe from Darn Cheap Fabrics, bought when I bumped into Anne Whalley there one day and noticed the bolt of fabric under her arm.  I think that Anne was even faster than I was to turn her length of fabric into a finished garment.  It was easy to work with, and has produced a dress that I’m very pleased to wear.

I didn’t make any alterations to the pattern, so this is the length as designed. I’m 158cm tall (just under 5’3″) so it’s definitely much longer on me than on the model. I’m still pretty happy with the proportions though.

And how about that fit through the back! I’m very happy with how this pattern has worked on my middle-aged, round shouldered and rounded back shape. Hooray!  I would like to give the sleeveless version a try for summer, but will need to identify the best fabrics from stash.  I don’t want anything that will cling, but I definitely don’t want anything that is winter-weight either.  Maybe I should do as the pattern suggests and combine some fabrics together.  We’ll see!