V2787

It's not so bad after all, is it?
At least, it wouldn't be, if I weren't cheating... 

These things add about two cups sizes and I don't plan on wearing them.

This is what it looks like without.

And without trying to pose.

I made the dress a size smaller than I should according to the measurement chart (Anna Mae made this dress a while ago and posted about it on Burdastyle. She went down two sizes. I should have done the same but the 'finished garment measurements' on the pattern tissue suggested that would leave me with no ease at all at the waist. Judging from the end result, that wasn't quite right). I shortened the waist length by the tiny amount needed for me. I made it in an appropriate fabric (one which behaves appropriately, I'm not talking about the look of it right now). Of course, I know I'm small-busted but the measurement chart actually gave be reason to believe that my chest and wiast measurement were in proportion. I cut the hips a size larger to compensate for their disproportionate circumference. 
Oh, and I left out the shoulder pads. I'm not a big fan of shoulder pads and, in my experience, my shoulders are on the wide and square side in relation to my bust circumference (in Burda's sizing, I'm a 36 at the bust but the shoulders of a 38 usually fit me better). As a result, designs which are meant to be worn with small shoulder pads usually work best without. 

In case you were wondering, this is what the dress looks like with shoulder pads.

And with shoulder and bust pads.

And with just the bust pads.


Of course, I could try to take it in, but with a design like this, that would take a lot of time (re-doing the side zipper and the hems on the cut-on cap sleeves...). And because of those gathers, the side seams would start mis-matching pretty soon. I could also try some sort of small bust adjustment but, also because of the idiosyncracies of the design, that would be quite a challenge. 
And I don't think it's a challenge I'm willing to take on. Don't get me wrong, V2787 is a great design. It's wonderful Vogue made a genuine 1940's pattern available to all of us modern-day seamstresses and adjusted it to its current size range. It's not as difficult as it's 'advanced' rating suggests either. 
I had some trouble with the way they mark the connecting points for those gathers (all the small and large circles and squares which were place so far away from the edge of the pattern tissue it wasn't obvious those should be marked with notches) but that is also down to me not reading the instructions. It's just that I could draft something 40-ish with gathered bits, made to my size and proportion faster than I could adjust this pattern. And it has some, historically correct, design details which are just not that great on me. That high neckline for example. The chest-to-shoulder gathers help a bit but on the whole, wide cut-on cap sleeves combined with high neckline only work well on a figure with a well-defined bust. 

And this is one detail I like: I went with a side zipper but made loops and buttons at the back. I didn't crochet loops but made a very narrow tube of bias cut fabric which was a nightmare to turn. I didn't feel like wasting a cover-your-buttons kit on a dress I wasn't happy with, so I sewed on these transparant buttons instead. Which actually provides a rather nice look.