I think this has been the longest blogging break I’ve taken since I started Self Assembly Required two and a bit years ago! It felt so weird!

Well, I’m back and ready to get going again!

Every year I like to make myself a “birthday” dress and with the big 3-0 coming up tomorrow I wanted to make something special!

This year I decided to make the Vogue 9251 dress (it seems like I’m on a bit of a Vogue pattern kick right now!). It’s a wrap dress style and I really wanted to try this one out before writing off wrap dresses forever! (If you remember my last attempt at a wrap dress – see it here – you’ll understand why I’ve said that!). Instead of wrapping all the way around the body it has ties on the inside and outside of the dress to hold it together.

I decided to go all out on my first go and used one of my fancy fabrics for it. Perhaps not my wisest choice but I didn’t have the time to toile it!

I used a gorgeous pink print that I got from the Fabric Godmother pop up shop a couple of months ago (apparently it’s an ex-Valentino print).

I opted to make view A which was the midi length with the flutter sleeves.

The construction of this dress is really simple. There are small darts in the bodice and a dartless skirt. I opted to cut the back skirt piece on the fold instead of in two pieces since I had enough fabric.

Whilst I made and tried on the flutter sleeves, I hated how they looked on me so I ended up taking them off and leaving it sleeveless.

I finished bodice edges – neckline and sleeves – with a bias binding. I made my own out of the pink fabric and used the method of making a continuous strip by cutting up a rectangle (I used this tutorial here). It worked a treat!

Overall I’m pretty happy with it! Weirdly I love how it looks from the back and sides but less so from the front… Maybe it’s just these photos or maybe I should’ve done an FBA to give a little more cleavage coverage!

I kind of wish I’d gone for the full length version. I also wish I’d done a narrow shoulder adjustment. I always forget how broad Vogue patterns come up on me!

I think it was more successful than any other wrap styles I’ve tried so far though I’m not sure I like it enough to make more!

What do you think?