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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!!
March – Month of the UFO (UnFinished Object)
As well as making something new (to me) I am hoping to get some of my dressmaking projects finished.
We have, in no particular order:-
slip pattern (McCalls 8521)
This needs the second part of the bodice stitching in and a zip up the side, it also needs hemming, you have probably already seen photos of it without realising, as the dress makers dummy is wearing it at the moment.
Two piece dress (Butterick 7664)
This is a beautiful straight skirt which is nearly finished, in fact it might just need hemming and a button put on it, the top half of the dress needs some of the overstitching taken off the bottom and the collar attaching, to be honest I can see myself wearing the skirt but not the top. Although I love the fabric to look at I’m not gone on it in this suit, but it should look lovely in a dress.
1960s spotty Trousers (Style 3193)
You’ve seen the trousers, as I have never fitted trousers before I’m not quite sure what to do with them, but I suppose I should put the waist band on and start from there.
I think that the waist band is going to be too high for comfort and also too high to actually look good for one thing I haven’t got a big stomach but the way the fit comes up and over it doesn’t look good. So may be bringing the waist down a little bit would be good.
Rayon Dress (New York 1478)
You’ve seen pictures of the dress already here, it still need buttons, button holes and general finishing off, hemming, slip stitching and so on.
Blouse (Butterick 8097)
The Blouse is sort of a cheat all I have to do with it is put the buttons back on the cuffs, looking at it the other day I think the buttons were in the wrong place, I couldn’t get them done up over my fat arms.
Slim dress (Butterick 7781)
this dress looks good on the front of the packet, but I think that it is not as fitted as some of the other dresses I have made, and so when I tried it on it looked a little big, also it was made from seersucker fabric so that might have added to the bigness factor.
Buttoned fronted dress (Butterick 6079)
I need to redo the belt, I have made the belt and done the buckle, now I want to put the two together I can’t find the belt part. This dress will make it easier to see the button detail than the previous version blogged about.
Pinstriped skirt
This is finished apart from the fact I’m not sure how the waist band is attached I need to sit down with the instructions and the waistband and just get on with it.
Blue skirt (Vogue ???)
I think this has the same issue as the pinstriped skirt no waist band, I don’t think it has a zip either.
Another skirt
I think this is the same pattern as one of the other skirts, the fabric isn’t right for it, the fabric is actually Blazer material so it is a bit heavy and doesn’t take creases very well, I might just give this one up as a bad job, but the fabric, of which I have a lot of would probably be suitable for a summer coat/jacket.
Walkaway dress (Butterick 6472
)
My new one, there is no way I am getting this finished in February, I still have all the hemming, belt and buttons/button holes to do.
Pintucked dress (New York Gold 444)
Same as the walkaway dress, buttons/buttonholes hemming and a belt.
There will be more pictures and more detailed descriptions to come as I finish these items.
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.
walkaway dress butterick 6472
I’m in love, I have it half finished and it is still beautiful.
the pattern I bought was a size smaller than I usually buy, I decided not to try and make it any bigger. A lot of the posts on walk away dresses say that they come up big across the bust and I usually have to take dresses in at the waist and because of the style I thought it probably wouldn’t matter about the hips.
This is the front view with everything pinned in place.
front view without the back.
back view not pinned in place, unfortunately I forgot to take photos of the back while it was all pinned up.
back view of just the front piece, I didn’t realise that it would be held in place just by a strip of elastic and a couple of hooks and eyes.
The fabric is an old sheet picked up from the Sue Ryder Charity shop, I was just going to stick to blouses and such like from it, I thought it would be good for my test run.
At this time I definitely want to make more of these but we will see how I feel after it is finish and I’ve worn it outside, of course I might have to wait for summer first.
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.
Musings of a Craft Enthusiast 