Vintage Pattern Pledge 2016

This year I'm once again joining the Vintage Pattern Pledge hosted by Marie and Kerry - I love vintage patterns and I have quite a few, but I need a gentle prod to actually sew from them rather than just drooling over them.

Last year my pledge was to sew up at least 4 of my vintage or reproduction sewing patterns, but 3 is all I managed - a 1940s dress, a 60s cape, and an 80s top:

It doesn't sound like much, does it!

However, there were two more "half" garments; vintage dresses I started and didn't complete.  So this year my first priority is to finish these two off before they become proper UFOs (unfinished objects):

Vogue 8974

McCall 6581

I've already sewn up an 80s midi skirt for our continuing summer weather, so that's going on my list too:

Vogue 1387 (John Anthony)

And my daughter has put in a request for me to sew her this next dress - I downsized a size 12 copy of this pattern for a dress for her a couple of years ago, and she still loves the style:

Judging by my efforts last year that's probably going to be plenty, but I want to add an extra challenge for myself, should I find myself with loads of time and energy on my hands.


I have two small boxes of very special vintage patterns, patterns from anywhere from the 1920s to the 1960s, that I really should think about sewing.  Here are a few of my favourites:

Simplicity 2647

Simplicity 2844

McCall 7023

McCall 7260

Vogue 100 Ronald Peterson

Vogue 1556 Yves Saint Laurent

Putting it all together, here's my pledge:


I, Gabrielle of UpSewLate, pledge to sew at least one more vintage midi skirt from an 80s pattern, to finish sewing the two vintage dresses I started last year, and to sew my daughter the 1970s dress she's requested. And as an extra challenge, I'll aim to sew at least one of the vintage patterns I normally just drool over.  

And I'll be back soon with a modern bit of sewing that my son graciously photographed for me today.



Happy sewing



- Gabrielle xx

Rustling Dress (V8811)

A new dress which I love.... if only, if only it wasn't so tight!



The fabric is a "poly" (that's what the label said; I guess that's poyester!) which I bought as a 2m remnant from Tessuti Fabrics a while back. It feels like paper taffeta... it's lightweight but quite crisp and structured. When it moves it rustles (love, love, love that) and it holds this sort of big skirt shape really well. There are some fold lines on the fabric but when you crumple it up then smooth it out again, no creases - yay! it's just the sort of fabric you shouldn't even bother TRYING to iron! 

I used Vogue 8811 for the dress, a reissue of a 1940 original design - advertised as looking like this:

Once I'd sewn the dress together it was obvious the high neck was going to annoy - it was even too high for my dress dummy! I also felt that the dress needed something dramatic at the neckline to balance out the pouf of the skirt. So I took out my bodice pattern pieces and traced them onto some tissue paper, and then I just drew a nice dramatic wide colllar with a much lower neckline. Because my collar is based on the original flat pattern pieces it fits the bodice well, but I also made it up initially just as facings to review the proportions on the dress. It seemed to look how I wanted, so then I cut it out another couple of times to make the collar - and hooray, it's just the dramatic look I wanted. Oh, if only the dress wasn't so tight!

 

My side zip is wonky looking - late night hand stitching, after the discovery that the dress was too tight:

My bust darts end way too high:

But I love the look and sound of this dress - the colour, the shape, the rustle - here's the full length view (easier to stand on the sofa to get a full length view than to work out a different place to put the camera):

Seriously, if it didn't FEEL way too tight and uncomfortable I would be drinking champagne right now. From the good glasses!

I'm not going to chuck it out. Who knows, the fabric may grow as it ages or something...

Sewing Stats:
I think this cost me around $47 all up.  I wish it fitted.


$28 for 2 metres of fabric.  About $5 for the pattern + part postage in one of those Vogue patterns sales.  Say $2 for the zipper, bought ages ago for something else.  About $4 for sewing needles. $0 for sewing machine thread (an already used reel), and  about $8 for overlocker threads.

If you've made this dress yourself or have sharp eyes you may have noticed I didn't quite finish it. I didn't make the belt (does it need a belt? wouldn't that accentuate the tightness?) and I've just overlocked the hem for now (I want a nice invisible hem finish but this fabric takes on puncture marks from needles so I need to think some more before hemming). And I made a couple of changes - the new collar as described earlier, which also meant I didn't need the back neck slit and somehow amazingly also didn't need the shoulder pads.

This is not a hard pattern - the cutting out and sewing were straightforward - but the total elapsed time for me to make this was around 2 weeks: 15 minutes here, 30 minutes there... mind you, we did have a party to organise last weekend too (happy birthday Master UpSewLate xxx), and I did seem to spend a lot of time thinking about this dress when I should have been making it. 

Hmm. There are many other patterns and fabrics tempting me, but I could always make this again in a larger size with my identical remnant of the same fabric.... (who buys two identical remnants??? you too?)

A little Liberty

This is one of the *other* little tops from Simplicity 1403, well and truly OOP but widely available on ebay and everywhere else. Wish I'd realised that when I bought it - I might have gotten the right size for myself!

Late at night, so as usual, excuse everything including my closed and weary eyes. And nearly inside out neckline.

proof that the neckline is alright

The fabric is a small remnant of Liberty Tana Lawn - Fairford it's called, and I think it might also be OOP as it seems hard to find. The pattern only needs about 0.6m of wide fabric for this little top - I had 0.7m and I was able to lengthen the top by a couple of centimetres as well as cutting out generous facings for the neckline. Very useful to have a stashbuster in your pattern repertoire, n'est-ce pas?

I haven't sewn with Tana Lawn before but I think this will be a perfect weight for our sultry summer days. 

As with that jersey top from the same pattern I had to make this pattern larger. I think I should have made it larger still.... overall it has worked out as I wanted though.

Thanks to Sherry's tutorial, my invisible zip which is contained down one side is my best yet!  I still have a ways to go before I can be relied upon with a zip though :-(

I guess I will have to practise, so I will just have to keep sewing.
  It's my duty!








I don't know what it's like in your house - maybe there are no little monsters, or maybe there are some but they know about going to bed at a reasonable hour and then staying in bed all night! If mine get up tonight I will see if this picture can send them back to bed:

go to bed!

PS Is there a really exhausting (shouting, arguing, crying) 4 year old version of "terrible twos"??? If so, when can we expect it to end?

Simplicity 1403 (OOP): 1940s jersey blouse

Finally, finally I tried my hand at sewing one of my properly vintage patterns, a pattern which dates back to about the 1940s... back when zips were "non-separable slide fasteners".


The pattern envelope shows a couple of little cap-sleeved numbers that I really felt like sacrificing a little something special for.

Restraint! It also includes a 3/4 sleeved jersey variant in the top LH corner (did you know they had jersey in the 1940s? maybe it was different to today's jersey though).

Since the pattern looked to be a few sizes too small (this is a picture of the size I should have bought - now that I have it I see this pattern everywhere!) I made the jersey version as a tester - testing whether my usual slapdash bodice adjustment method* would work in vintage world. 

Et voila:

* Basically I added a triangular wedge of extra width down the centre front and centre back - just about nothing in extra width at the neckline but about 2cm extra at the hips. I know that's not the right way to do it but I'm lazy! 

Rear view, vintage hooks & eyes on the collar

I do realise that I must come across as optimistic in my assessment of patterns, but for now this one counts as a win. It takes me quite a while (and several wears) to work out which garments are fails, to be honest!  Looking at these photos my only disappointment is that my tummy is too evident - the fault of lots of home made brownies and choc chip biccies.

You say life without chocolate?

Look I promise I'll try!

Can you see any darts? I think I sewed 16 darts and tucks on this little thing, and it felt like even more. You should be able to see 6 of them below: 2 darts going down from the shoulders towards the bust, 4 tucks providing shaping from hips to waist... There are also 2 more bust darts working alongside the gussets, 2 darts from the shoulders going down along the sleeves, 2 darts from the shoulders down towards shoulder blades at the back, and 4 more tucks for waist definition at the back.

The biggest challenge for me was the gussets. Gussets! I don't believe I've ever sewn them before. My gussets are not perfect, but they work. I tried the sleeves basted to the bodice without the gussets and there was some very unflattering pulling going on, both front and back - having gussets makes the fit much more comfortable.

OK, it's true, gussets are great

sunbeam highlighting The Mighty Gusset

So... I'm glad I waited before sewing a vintage pattern. The instructions on this pattern (well, I really mean the gussets) would have been quite beyond me a year ago. Hopefully this means I am now capable of sewing up some of my other nice vintage patterns too!