Category Archives: butterick
Butterick 7781 part 1
It is surprising what experience will do for you. One of the first patterns I bought was this one Butterick 7781, the first time I made it was a disaster, the test fabric which was a seersucker probably didn’t help, it was exactly my measurements so I did no alterations, this was the result.
At this point I screwed it up in a ball and left it in a drawer.
Fast forward 30 months and i decided to have a second attempt, I made a couple of changes one of which was to shorten the bodice 1 inch and the skirt 2 inches as per my proportional dress pattern. What I didn’t do was a 1/2 in small bust adjustment, I still haven’t worked out how to do this satisfactorily for a full length front piece.
This is what the new version looks like so far.
Because of the inch I took out of the bodice, it isn’t as baggy as the first version which just hung off me, It was still too big across the front so I also removed half an inch from the front seam, tapering down to nothing at the waist line.
If we get any sun while I’m not at work, I’ll try and take some pictures outside, I also have two more dresses basically finished, one you have already finished and one other.
Bye for now
Butterick 5920 pt2
by the time we started sewing this week, we had sewn all the bodice darts and were ready for the side and shoulder seams.
If you look closely at the blue top it has an extra dart, it has a side bust dart, when we did the full bust adjustment for Denise’s top it was easier to add an extra dart rather than move it to the bottom as the bottom dart was already quite big.
Although we aren’t going to have the pockets on the top and put them on the skirt I thought that it might be a good idea to get some practice in for the knotches before putting on the front facing.
the last bit of the evening was the underarm seam.
the next week is going to be spent putting in the sleeves and starting on the skirt.
updates next week
Butterick 5920
Denise and I have decided on our next sewing project, Butterick 5920, it is a Retro Butterick pattern apparently from 1951.
we have spent the last couple of weeks on fitting the top half of Denise’s dress, which we have managed to do quite satisfactorily (well we hope anyway)
we have had a look round on the web at other peoples versions of the dress mainly because we weren’t convinced about the boob pockets, as Denise pointed out what would you keep in them and I’m not sure that you would be able to keep them as flat as shown on the front of the packet.
so we have decided to put them on the skirt instead as per this post
http://mode-de-lis.blogspot.co.uk/2014/07/1950s-bbq-dress.html
last week we go all the pattern pieces cut out, Denise is using a lovely Blue Cotton with white stars and dots, bought locally at Kayes Textiles.
I am using a Paisley print bought at Olympia knitting and stitching show last year
should have an update on this later in the week.
Butterick 7556
This is another Sewing post, I am in the middle of sewing a second version of this dress, this one was done just before our holiday. It went together so easily and looked really good, I decided to make another one.
This one was made with a Lawn Cotton, I bought at the Knitting and Stitching Show at Olympia earlier in the year, the stall said it was LIberty, but I haven’t been able to track down the print, it was a good price and the fabric is nice and soft, also cool to the touch, it irons beautifully (which I haven’t done to take these photos).
I wasn’t really sure about the neckline but it does look better on.
After marking everything out, you stitch the four skirt bits together, then baste the pleats in, the skirt closure is different, the dress has a short zip in the bodice but because of the pleats the skirt has a placket, the last pleat on the left side front folds over on to the side of the left side back and is held in place by a hook and eye and two press studs.
The first time I made the dress I didn’t look at the instructions close enough and didn’t realise there was a hook and eye, as I didn’t fancy relying on two press stud to keep my dress closed I put in a waist stay and a skirt hook and bar.
It is a surprisingly comfortable dress to wear, especially if you get the zipper tab in just the right place, and I got a couple of compliments on it while in the States.
Butterick 6045
I’ve put the blue blouse together and it is hideous, it doesn’t look too bad on the Dress Form though it still doesn’t look much like the picture on the packet.
I really have to stay away from patterns that have extra fabric at the neck/bust line, I just don’t have the bustage for them.
Not only does this Blouse have the gathers at the neck line which means that the small collar doesn’t lay flat and there is a lot of fabric over the bust, it has open darts/pleats at the waist line which makes it very puffy, creating an excess of fabric under the bust.
There is a lot of fabric in the sleeves but I can live with them, and in fact they are probably the best thing about the Blouse.
In short it makes me look very blob like. To top it all I’m not sure that I like the colour very much.
I’m hoping that if I close the darts and change the neck line that it will be wearable, so watch this space, I have enough fabric so I could recut the front or the back but not both.
future projects
To get me in the mood for winter I have decided to make some skirts, but of course to go with the skirts I need to make some more blouses, so I have cut some out.
I thought I would use this fabric
I just couldn’t resist this pattern with this fabric 🙂
there was just enough fabric to do this top, the only problem was that I have do the collar pieces in two bits.
I have two skirts cut out:-
this fabric is going to be nice and warm.
I love this skirt pattern it is easy to make and versatile, this will be the third one of these skirts I made.
this fabric has a slight stretch to it so I’m not sure how it will sit.
New Blouse Patterns
Recently I decided I need some more blouses to go with my skirts, so I have bought a couple more new patterns
Butterick 6045
I’ve already tried this one out and I’m not impressed
Butterick 6223
Style 349
I do like Pintucks but I’m not sure about the tiny pointy collar on A, but the ‘Rosebud Transfer’ is still in the packet
and Vogue 8329
so watch this space for more sewing
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
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.
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
Musings of a Craft Enthusiast 