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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.
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
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.
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.
Musings of a Craft Enthusiast 