Quick update

Petticoat is finished (bar needingg a bit of pretty ribbon to finish off the yoke). Will take pictures when I have daylight! I am quite pleased with it but I won't feel entirely happy until I've put it under its destined dress and seen that it does its job!

I have to sew the destined dress still, but my mojo is back and running so hope to bring more exciting updates and pics soon! :-)

What I found...

A thumbscrew YAY

A video tape of my dad taxiing a Lancashire bomber YAY

A little bit of my sewing mojo... I've had a depressing drought of not being able to face a pattern piece, fabric scissors or sewing machine, I've been busy with family stuff and I've been doing a costume design for Christmas panto which seems to have sated all my creative needs, but is it common to lose one's sewing mojo? 

Hopefully I will start to enjoy sewing again, and with that will come updates on the petticoat (Simplicity 5006), the Butterick 9265  dress and a Vogue inspired vintage repro. YAY!

Update on the Butterick 9265 Dress

 Ok, so two days before the wedding deadline, I brought out from my wardrobe a lovely homemade vintage 70s empire line dress in a cream and decided it needed an airing and the wedding would be perfect.  Last time I had worn was a year and a week before for a garden party.  I was around 35 weeks pregnant and had to deeply breath in to get the back zip done up but I was determined to wear it! It flowed over the bump beautifully anyway.

The following weekend, at another wedding I wore a modern 40s/50s look dress in a black lined cotton with purple, blue and white flowers.  I wouldn't normally wear black to a wedding but this dress just seemed to be right so I teamed it with purple tights and black shoes. When I got to the wedding I discovered it was themed with the same shade of purple! I shall add photos this week.

Any way, what has this got to do with the Butterick dress?  Well I supposed to be wearing it to the first wedding and, since I changed my mind, I didn't get on with finishing it.  To be honest I've made so many changes I've lost my impetus somewhat but I must must finish it.  My new deadline is 22nd August for Mango's first birthday!



The most adjusted bit is the bodice, here is the pattern view bodice:

Could I get it to look pretty like that?! The neckline came up too high and there just felt like there was too much fabric across my bust.




So I ended up reducing it pretty much to a deep V surplice although with enough fabric to preserve modesty! The tuck darts look pretty cute in the muslin too.

 

But I was still contemplating converting them to gathers to make like easier, I'd seen it on a few other patterns of the time and more modern.  These were my alternative inspiration pics for the surplice:

 

Then when I was fitting my lining before I cut out the outer dress layers I stumbled across a new alternative.  I tried on the lining inside to get a matt finish to  mimic the dress crepe and the neck flopped back into a satiny rever collar, "oooh pretty" I thought!  So here it is in its new design in lining and then with the actual crepe outer dress layer in place.  You can see I was toying with doing the midriff in the satin side too but decided it was overload.  The revers are interfaced now to give them structure and support as is the midriff because I wanted a super smooth stomach line to mimic the corsetted look.

  

It all needs sewing together now, its so close, just got to find my sewing mojo and get on with it.  The matching petticoat is also in mid-production, I wanted to try gathering the layers with my ruffling foot but that's proving to require so much thought and input it would probably be quicker to hand gather!  Since I intend to make more petticoats, I think its worth taking the time now to learn how to do the machine way and make the process quicker in future. That's the logic anyway haha.

Well I am just so chuffed and excited after a variable time the last couple of weeks with no blogging to come back and found I had won a very exciting little pattern in a giveaway! The lovely Debi at My Happy Sewing Place bravely gave away several of her patterns and my treat is from 1938. Just as lovely are the handmade cards to accompany our spoils! Thank you Debi!

If you've only visited in the past and are not following her blog, go check out the latest lovely items on there, I adore her snood and have added it to my shopping list!

Favourite Blogs: Sew Retro

Sew Retro gets my FB vote this week. I've been following it for a while, as mentioned previously its a daily visit for me. As I've just become a member of the blog, I thought it really deserved a post here. So what I like about Sew Retro

1. It makes me feel normal to own 300 vintage patterns, most of which are not in my size. In fact it makes me feel like I do not own enough.

2. It makes me drool into my cornflakes with envy over the patterns other people own and the fabric they use and the time they have to do all of these wonderful creations.

3. It is just so lovely to be in a place with like-minded sewers and vintage enthusiasts. There are so many tips, ideas, support, camaraderie and much inspiration to be found here. The only thing is, I found myself thinking, I want to be able to put out a plea for help on projects but that's really a forum think, et voila, a lovely Sew Retro member creates a sewing circle for Sew Retro. Star!

So visit, flow, join, share, post to Sew Retro and prepare to lose far more of your day as you follow people off to their various blog homes...

Awesomeness! The Simplicity Sewing Book

I love my vintage patterns, I do.  Among the gems on my vintage book shelf are The Singer Sewing Book and this one, the Simplicity Sewing Book.  It's a great reference for all things vintage pattern related including (very usefully) sizing, fitting and period clothing features such as collars and sleeves, as well as reference for hair and make-up and just for its vintageness - a reflection on history.

Even the front cover is thrilling, the beautiful housewife in her stripy apron bestowing her sewing know-how on to the next generation (who looks far too old to be her daughter!).

Then an encouraging foreword on making us "look our prettiest"

Look at the stapling in the side.  Now the real coup for vintage pattern junkies, a measuring and fitting guide from the same era.  For more excellent advice on choosing vintage pattern sizes go to Gertie's blog here.

Now, I hope you find that useful!  Here's some more tips for you...

I notice two things, firstly the ridiculously tiny waists and secondly that last dress is the same as the too-old-to-be-her-daughter girl is wearing on the front cover.  Now for more tips, don't forget your colour, presenting the grandmas of Colour Me Beautiful...

 

Aren't they a freaky looking bunch?! Here's another useful page for you.  I thought novelty fabric was something that snowmen or easter bunnies printed on it.  Apparently in 1953, this was novelty fabric:

I'm creating a page on my blog especially for this book and will be adding some more sections (collars, sleeves, etc) that you might find of interest.  Isn't it lovely :-)  I'll leave you with this:

Project: Butterick B4790 Retro 1952 - The Walk-away Dress

This dress has much fame which I did not know about when I commenced this project, I just though it was unusual and pretty and I love the way the straight skirt and full skirt are all part of one dress the goes over the head and wraps around the waist.

  

A few years ago I went to Ceilidh event in Scotland and we were instructed to dress in tartan.  Not owning anything appropriate and wanting something that would benice to dance in. I chose this Butterick pattern because I wanted a vintage style dress with a skirt that would twirl beautifully.  I liked the underskirt of this dress design thinking it might protect my modesty if the skirt twirled too high and as it doesn't have a seam at the back it doesn't restrict movement.  

I found some great linen in a cream and black plaid print which is very cool on the skin and easy to sew and teamed that up with a gorgeous black jersey crepe which swirled wonderfully (unfortunately it proved a little too heavy and I now have to do some repair work to the bias binding at some point).  If you want to read reviews of making up this pattern and see what others have done with it go here and here.  Pictures of the (almost) finished item:

Edit 26.06.10 I have just commented about about this dress here.  I thought I should copy it across but it is a critique of the pattern that I didn't put into my review at SPR, although I might change that now:

I gave this dress a pretty sharp review at Sewing Pattern Review then felt a bit guilty and softened it up since it had so many fans.  I made mine in a heavy jersey crepe for the full skirt and linen for the pencil skirt dress and despite putting all that weight into the full skirt do not have these probs but I have others!.  I am thinking why and I believe it is because:

a) the waist curves round and fastens exactly on my waist and there's a good 11 inches between that and my hips (I am hourglass) so its securely held in place.  Also I am only using a button and loop on the back so its not too tight around the hips which would cause it to rise up.  The under-dress fits me like a glove actually, I'm thinking of converting it into a dress of its own.

b) the front and bust darts are in line with my apex - a fluke due to being low-busted - and my full bust fills the bodice with no FBA done.  I can see why that would be a problem for someone who is small busted, masses amount of extra fabric. The problem I have with the bodice is above my bust there is excess fabric but that is a very simple fix, I just shorten it at the shoulder seams and voila, perfect fit.

The issues I had were:  While the underskirt fitted perfectly, the waistline of the full skirt appears to be slightly lower (shoulder seams fine).  This meant that when it is wrapped round front it is too low and awkward and the gathering at the waistband added a lot of unflattering bulk at my hips. To resolve this I pull the full skirt part up a bit but then that causes the armholes to gape.  This was already a slight problem because of the extra length in the bodice and the pattern might benefit from the bust darts being angled down from the lower armhole instead of where they are.

I had fabric related issues too. The weight of the crepe pulled the dress apart at the bias tape and the hooks and eyes on the front so I have to repair the bias tape trim and find a different fastening (I originally intended to do buttons and loops but ran out of time so probably will do that with black elastic loops and an inner ribbon for support).  

On the plus side, when I dance in it the full skirt swirled out beautifully with the underskirt protecting my modesty.  However I was concerned at times that the underskirt doesn't quite extend enough round the back an I might flash a bit more flesh than I'd like when the full skirt drops away...

In summary, if I remade the dress I would extend the front panel where it meets a little to prevent this strain and then trim it back as necessary and instead of bias tape loops I would use elastic to make loops.  I would extend the sides of the underskirt to provide more coverage at the back and if necessary add horsehair braid to the hem to keep it down and wrapped round.  I would also move the bust dart to the armhole and shorten the bodice at the shoulder seams.