Category Archives: vintage dress making
Walkaway dress
The walkaway dress is finished as far as I am going with it, I know I need to take about half and inch out of the bodice.
The first pictures were taken before I took the half inch out of the bodice.
The next show that maybe the dress wasn’t made for twirling
You can also see that my dress is having some interfacing problems, the only parts on the pattern that are interfaced was the neckline, looking at my prototype I also need to interface the front where the buttonholes go.
The only thing different on the second pictures is that I have taken half an inch out of the bodice, this should stop the wrinkling accords the back and help the front piece stay in place.
For strictly come dancing fans I like call this one my paso pose.
Obviously the bottom button is now in the wrong place but once that is is moved the top of the dress should lay flatter.
Vintage Patterns
Even though I have tried very hard not to buy any more vintage patterns this weekend I have failed miserably I have bought 6, 3 from ebay and 3 from etsy I am going to have to stay off both of these websites the rest of the month.
From ebay I have Butterick 6472, 2535 and 5376
From etsy I have Butterick 5636, 8039 and 8096
I’ve come to the conclusion I really like Butterick patterns.
I’m really excited about the Walkaway dress 6472, I like the idea of a walkaway dress, I wasn’t all that keen on the pattern reissue especially as there have been a lot of comments on how hard it is to fit but I also wasn’t sure about the neckline and all that binding. Out of the pictures I prefer the Saturday Morning dress have a look at Gertie’s blog post on it I have a lot more luck with the original vintage patterns on fitting than I do with the modern reissue patterns. So watch this space.
New York 1478 part 4
Ok, I’ve ironed the dress I’ve put in the interfacing (probably should have done that before I put it in the dress, but I just wasn’t sure about it, the interfacing I have is very stiff until washed and I didn’t know if it was going to make it worse.
I’m glad to report back that the iron and interfacing gave the dress a much needed structure.
I decided to take the photos with my ‘good’ camera to see if it makes any difference
I’m not sure that the camera makes a difference, but I’m going to get a cheap tripod to play about with it.
Here are some closeup shots of some of the details
The pockets, Simon doesn’t like the pockets he thinks it makes the dress look frumpy, not sure that I get that vibe.
I noticed in the first photo the neckline was off a bit so I’ve straightened it up.
You should be able to see that I have pinned the back, I need to take some fabric out of the side seams.
I still need to make the cuffs and decide on some buttons but it might get warn after all.
New York 1478 part 3
Have you ever loved a pattern, loved the feel/look of the fabric then once they are together you hate them? that is this dress.
It might just be that the fabric is giving me a lot of problems and that once it is finished it will look lovely.
The bound button holes didn’t come out as good as they have done on other fabric
They aren’t as clean cut as the others that I have done and won’t lie flat I put two rows of stitching round them to help with the fraying problem I’m assuming that that didn’t help.
I have now got the whole dress together and the facing has been stitched on, the pockets look uneven but I have measured them and they are the same distance from the shoulder so apparently it is an optical illusion.
I’m hoping that after a good press and all the finishing touches have been put on it will look good and i’ll be able to wear it.
New York Gold 444
Wearing this to work for the first time one thing that immediately strikes me it that it needs more buttons, preferable smaller than the ones I have on it. Although the bodice stays together nicely below the belt seems to be having a problem sitting nicely.
One thing I do have to remember next time I make this dress is that I needed to take two inches out of the waist, I know it isn’t totally fitted but by the time I had put the belt on it I had lots of nasty gathers and it didn’t lay right.
The pintucked bodice was easier than I thought to do, there is a handy marker on my sewing foot at 1/8 inch which is the size of the pintuck, I will be the first to admit that they aren’t as equal as they could be, but they were good enough.
I ironed them in first which then becomes a decision on whether to put the markings on the front or the back of the fabric (I have just come to the realisation that I should have used tailors tacks doh!)
The skirt is slightly shorter than I thought it would be, but still a nice length, I might try making it in a drapier fabric instead of the cotton.
I had another ‘Doh’ after looking down the dress while wearing it, that I didn’t realise while ironing it or looking at it on my dummy the pintucks aren’t as uneven as I thought they were, they are in three sets of two.
New York 1478 part 2
last night I finished the pockets.
I decided to reinforce the pockets as I did not want them to stretch as you can see by the black ribbon I have carefully reinforced the seam with, the lower part of the top part of the dress forms the back of the pocket.
I then attached one side to the front, I decided against reinforcing this seam, I hope it was the right choice.
this evening I finished the back of the dress which now looks like this
tomorrow I am going to attempt the bound button holes so wish me luck.
New York 1478 and viscose/rayon
I’m going to be making the short sleeved version with the square neckline, I find that I have a problem with the three quarter length sleeve as in they get caught at the elbow and then proceed to cut the circulation off to my hands, it freaks me out when they start going a funny colour and feel funny. 
this will be the second time I have made this dress previous adventures with it can be found here this time I might actually decide I want to wear it.
I haven’t been brave enough to try the bound button holes yet but I can’t find my fray check and the test one frayed quite badly.
I have however discovered that viscose is a slippery little bugger, usually I don’t pin any thing and just hold it as I stitch, this time even though I was only sewing about 6 inches I used three pins and it still slid about a bit.
Butterick 6079
This is my favourite dress so far and I have made it three times, this is the second one I made, I decided to go the whole thing and put the buttons on, the first time I made it, I stitched up the front and put in a zip on the side.
The reason I didn’t put the buttons on the first one is that I couldn’t face the 20 button loops, 8 under the belt and 12 above it. I tried to get a close up on it unfortunately because the fabric is so dark it is hard to see the button loops.
Of the many details on the dress I think that the buttons are my favourite, though they aren’t equal space even after spending an hour measuring the darned things.
You have the gathers on the sleeves and the gathering on the side panels under the bust, I did have to take it in slightly across the bust but that was just taking a bit off up the side seams.
Kimono Sleeves
I’m not sure about kimono sleeves, they are easy to stitch together but I always seem to have far too much fabric under my arm. The question is though, is it because I don’t have enough bust to take up some of the loose fabric? or less likely the fabric I am using is just not drapey enough.
For instance the dress I’m working on at the moment it’s a New York pattern no. 1478 it looks great on the envelope.
I even like 90% of it stitched up, the fabric is hideous it didn’t look that colour when I bought it but that’s the problem with buying on ebay, the other two pieces of fabric I bought at the same time were great. Back to the dress, the fit isn’t bad, I probably need to take about half an inch out of the length on the bodice, but that’s why I used the ugly fabric, but and this is a big but, if I were to go out in a strong wind in it I would probably take off with the amount of loose fabric under my arms
This isn’t a problem with just this dress, out of the five different dress patterns made with kimono sleeves only one of them didn’t have to have 2 inches out of the side seams on either side. I don’t know if this is a common problem, I haven’t been able to find anyone else complaining, maybe I should just get some extra padded bras to wear under these dresses or extra drapey fabric or I’ll just keep taking them in under the arm.
I am going to have to set up a better photo studio as the light in here is terrible.
Despite the fabric, I do like this dress, I like the pockets which don’t lay totally flat, I like the pocket flaps and I like the shape, I’m very proud of my first attempt at bound button holes, and thanks to Gertie’s guide to better sewing I now know what I’m supposed to do to the facing behind the button holes.
Tracy
Musings of a Craft Enthusiast 