Butterick 6020

The pattern:



Front view of the finished dress:



And the back:



The fabric is a cotton with a little bit of stretch. I can't really say for sure as it was thrifted.

This was my first time matching stripes like this. Fortunately, the process is often described in especially older sewing books, so I had come across it previously. I do, however, owe some thanks to a friend of mine who helped refresh my memory. She also said it was a good idea to write on the pattern which colour each stripe was, seeing as I was dealing with three different colours of stripes. Here's a picture of how it looks on the pattern piece (note: the placement of the pattern on the fabric in the picture below is completely random, the fabric merely serves as a background):



It's pretty simple to do and I was very pleased with the result. What you do is you place the pattern piece on the fabric according to what the piece dictates with regard to the straight grain of the fabric. Then you take a ruler and draw lines on the pattern piece that are a couple of inches long, or whatever you find best, representing each stripe. Then you turn the pattern piece to make sure you get a mirrored piece, making sure the stripes match each other in colour. I had to turn the piece around by 180 degrees, because the fabric had three different colour stripes.

The pockets are the really special thing about this dress. I decided to sew them on by hand because the fabric had a tendency to crawl together when I used a sewing machine, so it took a while, but it was pretty straight forward. If i make the dress again in a fabric that is easier to work with, I will probably use a sewing maching to attach the pockets. Here's a close-up of them:



All in all, this pattern was a positive experience, albeit demanding due to the stripes. I often use size 14 Butterick patterns from the early 1950s and I usually have to take them in a little. This one, however, seemed to run a bit small, but fortunately it all worked out.

Thank you for reading :)

Simplicity 1412

Things have been very busy lately with exams taking a much bigger toll than I expected, so all my sewing projects have been delayed by about a week, but at least I finally have time to post the results of my attempt at Simplicity 1412.

Here's the pattern:



Front view of the finished product:



Back view of the finished product:



I treated this as a sort of wearable muslin, seeing as I made no major alterations to the pattern, except for making a slit instead of the suggested kick pleat, because the fabric was too thick for the kick pleat to look good. I also omitted the welts as the thickness of the fabric wouldn't make them look good either. I found the fabric on sale, dramatically reduced, and I didn't use a zipper as the fabric is quite stretchy. It's a rather thick cotton, the type of cotton you use for sweat-shirts. As for the colour, it unfortunately looks somewhat grey in the pictures, but it is a green pastel colour flecked with silver thread.
I had heard many good things about this pattern beforehand and working with it was definately a positive experience. It came together quickly and the darts and soft pleats were all in the right places. Particularly the soft pleats at the front of the skirt are really flattering:



Although I like wearing foundation garments, many times I simply do not bother because I'm in a hurry or it's too hot, and then it is nice if the garment is constructed in a way that flatters the tummy area and the soft pleats of this pattern ceratainly do that. I have used a similar pattern that also had soft pleats in the front part of the skirt, namely Simplicity 2144:



The fabric I used for this pattern was boiled wool, which is also rather thick. The soft pleats ended up looking like this:



They're not as flattering for my figure as the ones Simplicity 1412 presented, so I think I'll stick to Simplicity 1412 from now on. I already have some leopard print fabric lined up for my next version of it. The only alterations I intend to make to the patterns is taking it in by a little less than an inch down the center front and the same down the center back and I 'll probably leave the welts out again.
I also intend to make the jacket included with Simplicity 1412, as I have heard many good things about that part of the pattern as well.

Lastly, here's a sneak peak of my current project, Butterick 6020:



I'm going to wear it to a dance I'm attending on Saturday the 29th, so at least I have a deadline for it. The results will probably be posted around the same time, maybe before, it all depends on how demanding my next exam is :)

"New" sewing machine

I've been so busy lately that I haven't had time to post anything on my blog. Not that I haven't been sewing, I made a kind of wearable muslin for this pattern:



I made view 2, but I omitted the welts. I couldn't really figure them out and the fabric I used was just too thick for them to look good anyway, so I decided that I wouldn't bother. Unfortunately, I haven't got any pictures of the dress yet, I'll need to persuade my boyfriend to take some.

Last week, I went to my parents' place for the weekend. As usual, I went through all the thrift stores in town and I found this beauty:



It is a Japanese brand called Koyo, which I know nothing about and doing a Google search on it didn't improve on my knowledge. I do however know that I'm utterly in love with it. I saw a similar machine at a flea market in the same local area last summer, and although they demanded a little too much for it, I was so frustrated that I didn't buy it. Then I found the Koyo and it isn't only similar in looks and age, it also works perfectly. There's even a foot for doing blind hems, which I'm looking very forward to trying out. My mother told me that in the late 50s, she had a Lada sewing machine in the same colors and the same kind of design, so she was certain that the Koyo is also from the 50s. This only added to my fondness for my "new" sewing machine, of course.

In other sewing news, I'm making this dress from the fabric the envelope's placed on:



I intend to finish it this week, so stay tuned :)