70s Glam Dream Dress

The Vali Dress has been on my list for ages – Anything that says “70s glam” always has a permanent place on my sewing mood board, and this design is a dream. I like how the fitted yoke balances out the gathered skirt and sleeves, and the shape gives it a glamorous easy-breezy wearability that can be dressed up or down depending on the occasion and your fabric choice!

I wanted to pick a fabric that would really let the yoke and drop neck design details sing, so I opted for a hot pink cotton voile that is so bright it makes all other colours pale in comparison! This fabric is lightweight, so I ended up lining the yoke for a bit more opacity instead of using the facing pieces. If you’re wanting to to try this as well, the steps I followed are:

• Cut 2 of each bodice yoke piece (so you’ll have 2 backs and 4 fronts in total). Decide which pieces are going to be your lining, and stay stitch and fold up 1/4” at the bottom of the two front yoke lining pieces only.
• Assemble each yoke so that you have 2 yokes in total – your outer yoke, and your lining yoke. Attach the tie straps to the right side of each front yoke (lining our outer, it doesnt matter) 3/8” down from the neckline edge (instead of dealing with unpicking!)
• Pin the outer yoke and lining right sides together and sew down vertical neckline yoke seam (NOT around the neckline yet), then understitch. Then sew around the neckline and do the same. I do this in two steps to make it easier to understitch vs trying to take the full neckline and dealing with the curves.

After that, you can continue to construct the dress following the instructions. If you make the drop neck version, attach the drop neck facing to the lining per the instructions, and then fold the lining under and slipstitch it to the seam where the front skirt attaches to the front yoke.

It’s worth noting that many sewists who’ve made this pattern before have mentioned that the instructions can be a bit tricky. I found this in places as well, and there are some great YouTube tutorials online from YourSaraK and HouseofMissSew that break each step down as part of a video sew-along that I found really helpful to fill in any gaps. All that said though, it was entirely worth taking the time to get the construction right, as I do really love the finished dress and design, and it’ll be perfect for any scorching summer days ahead! ☀️