The fabric was thrifted and I only had 1.5 meters of it, so I decided to use the pencil skirt pattern from Simplicity 1412 instead:
I must say I'm really pleased with how the fusion of these two patterns turned out. While the blue spinlon fabric is quite thick, it is nowhere near as thick as the cotton I used for my first attempt at Simplicity 1412, so I decided to do the kick pleat originally suggested for the pencil skirt:
You might notice that there's a couple of dark horizontal stripes across the back of the skirt. They fit with how the fabric was folded when I found it and I suspect them to be related to age (the fabric is most likely from the 1960s) as well as poor storage conditions, such as too much exposure to sunlight and/or uneven temperatures. I don't mind them much as they are only on the back of the skirt, but I would still be happy to get rid of them. Anybody have any suggestions? :)
All in all, Butterick 6063 was a pretty straightforward pattern to make and I'm really pleased with the results. Seeing as the size is a vintage size 12, I had to add 2 inches in the body to bring it up to a vintage size 14; this was achieved by adding an inch down the middle of the back and a half an inch to each of the side seams of the front bodice. Sewing wise, the only really tricky bit was attaching the collar to the lapel, which I decided to do by hand for the most part.
This past weekend me and my boyfriend went to the Bedrock Weekend, an annual rockabilly event in Denmark. I got some very flattering compliments about the dress from some gals who were surprised that it was homemade. It even caused a few wolf whistles, too!
While the bodice pattern calls for buttonholes, I cheated and went with snaps instead, because I haven't done bound buttonholes for like 6 years and I didn't want to risk ruining the fabric with my clumsiness. I did, however, sew on these fabulous vintage 1950s plastic buttons from rakubuttons on Etsy for detail:
The exam season is coming to an end for me and supposing all goes well, I'll be able to sew more frequently and thus present you with more frequent blog posts. I've signed up for the Summer Essentials Sew-Along and I already have several summery projects lined up :)
