Category Archives: 1950
Butterick 6214
this is the second time i have written this post the first time i posted it, i received txt congratulating me on my post then it disappeared into the posting black hole.
I was a bit concerned about the scalloped neckline as the pattern was a size too large, although i knew i could slash the pattern the scallops would be a challenge.
I decided to use my printer scanner, i worked out the ratio i needed to reduce it by, and hey presto.
the only change i made between this top and the one the actual dress is that i lengthened it by 1/2 inch.
this dress looks beautiful but it is an impractical dress to wear as you will see in the last photo
here are some detail shots
and here is the shot you’ve been waiting for
purchases this week
I have bought some fabric this week, I had an email from Kaye’s Textiles this week saying that they had some new cotton fabric and it will be on sale for a week.
The fabric i bought in the end was not on sale and i had already see it but here it is
i also have a few new patterns
i’m not sure which one i’m going to make first but it will probably be the last one, Vogue 8781, as you can see I am on a bit of a Vogue kick at the moment but I am trying to cut down on my spending but it doesn’t appear to be happening.
I’m hoping this week to have my rose border print dress finished and the dress with the shoulder pleats so watch this space.
border print dress
I though you might like to see some photos of my border print dress, the pattern I’m using is the Vogue 9040 pattern, I have taken about half an inch from each side under the arm
in this photo if you look carefully you can see all the markings used to make the photo above
if you think there are too many dots for the pin tucks, that’s because you put in the darts first then the pin tucks using half of the of the dart markings.
here’s roughly what it will look like, I am going to use pink buttons and part of the border print for the belt
Butterick 6833
I’m going to try to do a slightly more in depth post on this dress.
Pattern envelope
If you look closely at the pattern you should just be able to make out the pattern detail on the shoulders and hip. I thought that the print might have been a bit mistake but from a distance it isn’t too bad. It is just as well it is so busy as I folded the fabric in half which meant that some of the pattern ended up upside down.
The first photo is the front pieces, you need to enforce the front with two sets of stitching round what will become the slash point which you can’t see on this photo, but what you can see is the placket which is used to reinforce what will become a seam.
You then slash up to the dot.
Fold the placket up, then put in the pleats
stitch the placket over the top of the pleats using topstitching, unfortunately the top stitching hasn’t come out well in this photo.
roughly the same process is copied for the front of the skirt.
Border pattern dresses
I’ve just bought some fabric with a large border pattern
I’m hoping to have bought enough fabric to make vogue 9040 with it so I can get a look similar to this
Fabric from ebay, dress photo from etsy.
vogue 9040 part 2
here we have another finish red and white dress, this is the first dress that i have made that looks like the actual picture on the envelope.
I also thought that as the sun was shining I would take the photos outside, of course by the time i had put the dress on and moved the camera downstairs the sun had gone in. Also my shoes weren’t quite up to the muddy grass either.
This is the first vogue dress pattern i had put together and i was surprise at how easy it went together. I wasn’t sure about the buttons but seeing them on now i’m quite happy with them.
![IMG_2910[1]](https://farm3.staticflickr.com/2884/13353637393_01dc97fae8.jpg)
Here’s a not such a good shot but it has the shoes in it.
i’ll definitely be making this dress again.
Half Way Through March
We are half way through march and I have had quite a productive Sunday.
close up of inside collar
My red dress with the white flowers has every thing done but the hand stitching and button, I’ll admit that I cheated a bit, I did the hem on my sewing machine, I started off hand stitching but the fabric is so heavy and so wide that I decided against it.
Pinstripe Skirt, I finished unpicking the zip, put the zip back in attached the lining and waistband. I am now waiting for the inch grosgrain Ribbon to complete the waistband.
Close up of Waistband
skirt
I have also practically finished my second version of New York Gold 444 that just need the buttons and finishing off the hand stitching.
close up of cuff and sleeve
Vogue 9040
I was very bad at the weekend I started a new dress Vogue 9040, continuing my love of Pintucks this dress has four large pintucks down each side of the bodice, the front also has darts that are incorporated in to the pintucks.
If you look closely you can see the Pintucks
I think this the first pattern I have put together that does actually look exactly like the drawing on the envelope.
I’m not sure what the fabric is, it was billed as a seersucker type fabric on ebay, which it isn’t. It has a grid like design on it and the flowers feel like they have been painted on with a rubberised tipex brush.
The dress went together quite easily but will always be known as the dress with ‘all those darts’ it has 8 panels and two outside darts in each, I was lucky to get the end without putting at least one dart on the inside instead of the outside, I think the fit is quite good.
I hope to find some nice buttons for it at Olympia on Friday.
Butterick 6079
This is the story of three dresses all made from the same pattern (sort of)
First we have mauve dress, I’ve used this fabric a couple of times in different colourways. I love this dress, it is the third pattern I actually finished, however you can see by the front I wimped out. It should have 20 buttons and the corresponding button loops, it hasn’t it has a side zip instead. I discussed it with Ann we couldn’t decide what size buttons to use, we knew what they should look like, but not what they were called. We thought it should have those little pearl/mushroom type buttons but not where to get them from and as I said not the size also have you any idea how hard it is to match buttons to this fabric.
I liked this dress so much that I decided to make it again, this time with the button loops.
The Green Dress I found the buttons first, in a shop called Gina’s along the London Road, Gina has loads of buttons in boxes various prices and these small dark green buttons caught my eye I think they were 5p each bargain it took me about 5 minutes to find 21 of them (I like to get a spare). I when home straight on to eBay and found the fabric Cotton vintage type pattern very reasonable.
If you follow the instructions it goes together very easily, it is slightly too big up the sides but you can fix that by taking in the side seams 1/4 inch. The button loops were a nightmare it took me ages to get them turned in the right way, then working out how long to make them and the best way to attach them to the dress so they were equal distance apart before putting on the facing. it was worth it, I think this is one of my favourite dresses.
Technically the blue dress isn’t this pattern, the skirt is from a totally different pattern, the dress didn’t work in this fabric, it had a lightly gathered neck line which wouldn’t lie flat and sagged most awkwardly. I gave it up as a bad job and looked around for something else to do with the fabric, as most of my other pattern at this time were kimono sleeves I didn’t have the fabric for it. I think the end result looks good and I am pleased with the red buttons.
As you can see on the blue dress I still didn’t manage to get the button completely right, and where you can see a button missing at the waistline that is to accommodated the belt (not shown in this picture)
Also this dress is the second finish for March. It also looks a lot better on than it does pinned to my dressmakers dummy
Butterick 8097 Blouse
Well, what I thought would be an easy first finish for March turned out to be slightly more complicated. I’d already taken the cuff buttons off as I couldn’t get the sleeve done up and all the way up my arm!!
I had already worked out what was wrong, the button should surely have been put on the funny little sticky out bit but I thought I had better check the pattern instructions. I was right the button did go on the sticky out bit, unfortunately I’d also put the button hole on the wrong part of the cuff, doh!!
button hole in wrong place
So after unpicking the cuff, cutting out a new pair and stitching them to the sleeves what started off as a 5 minute job took me about an hour.
front
cuff close up
back, not sure about the gathering on the yoke
close up of folded cuff
cuff open all the way
Now just off to take the zip out of the pinstripe skirt I didn’t leave enough space to attached the waist band, another Doh!!
Musings of a Craft Enthusiast 