TL;DR I found a picture of Vogue 2444 on a blog and I have become obsessed with making this dress. This is going to be the most difficult thing I've ever attempted and I'm going to blog about it.
I stumbled across the liusends blog while just reading about vintage patterns in general and down at the bottom there’s a link out to the closetcorepatterns blog. This second blog includes a pictured list of some very cool patterns from the couture vogue patterns and once I saw vogue 2444 I was obsessed. I had to know as much as I could about that pattern and I needed to find that pattern. During my obsessive dive trying to find more information about Vogue 2444.
PatternVault was exactly what I was looking for!! This blog includes write up on multiple designers and I really feel like now I have a more well rounded understanding of these types of patterns I couldn't find Vogue 2444 specifically but I was able to reach out to person who runs the blog and she was able to find some more information about the dress and send it to me.
I tried to find more information about Guy Laroche specifically but I could only find a few little write ups about him. I can find other designers that worked for and with him but not much about Guy. If anyone knows of any books about him please let me know. I was only able to find some articles and like wikipedia entries.
I was able to find a copy of the pattern on ebay at this shop. The pattern envelope was mangled but the pattern itself was totally usable. The instruction section does have a large watermark printed over it but I reached out the the seller and they just emailed me a copy of the instructions without the watermark. So I don't have any complaints. 10/10 boops.
I've read through the pattern instructions and it turns out that I'm not completely out of my depth. There are techniques that I've never heard of but not a lot. So I'm less hesitant to attempt this. Still spooked though. I have decided that I'm going to to just make it without grading or editing the pattern first. It's not going to even come close to fitting my boobs but if the dress turns out well then I'm going to find a friend to give it too.
The Vogue Sewing Book has been the only book that I've used specifically for Vogue 2044. Reading this pattern was the fist time that I've seen the term 'French Whipped Seam' and I have been unable to find instructions on how to do it online. The seam comes up on some blogs talking about making christening clothes. I'm sure that I could have just used another seam finish but it's really cool to be able to look up specifically what the pattern is calling for.
I did decide against trying to slash and spread the pattern to fit me thanks to the book The Perfect Fit. I've realized that the difference in sizes is too great and that spreading it that far would likely change the fit too much. I wonder if maybe I can draft the pattern pieces in the right size? I don't know enough about drafting to know that for sure but I will be looking into it.
I also really appreciate having the Sewing Specialty Fabrics book. It has mostly demystified expensive fabrics that I've been afraid of. It also contains a really clear guide on needle sizes, thread, and sewing techniques for all kinds of fabrics. the Singer Sewing Reference Library is so good ohmygod. I really would love to own all the books I currently have 13 of them and I think there's 30.
This is easily the heaviest book I owned. I can't call it the most beautiful because I have a fantastic Thierry Mugler book with a bunch of full color photos of his work but the Fashion Designers book is an incredible resource. It contains small essays about the designers that are held within the Museum of Fashion Institute of Technology. There are also HUGE full color photos on glossy paper. Just a series of works of art tbh. I was able to look up some of the designers I came across during my search.
That's all for now. I am very excited abut this project and I will be learning a lot over the course of it.