Butterick 5919

With much delay, I'm finally able to post my latest interpretation of a vintage sewing pattern. I must admit that three exams in three days takes it toll, but all in all it went well. I passed both my interpretation exams, so now I'm done with the interpretation part of my education - yay! I won't know the results of my financial translation exam until late November, so I have my fingers crossed.

I've been watching all episodes of the latest take on Agatha Christie's classic stories about Miss Marple, starring Geraldine McEwan (and later Julia MacKenzie) as the crime-solving spinster, and I must admit the costumes are fantastic. Most of the feature-lentgh episodes take place between 1950 and 1952, which are some of my favuorite years for fashion.
One day, I was watching the new interpretation of 'Sleeping Murder' and I completely fell for the pink shirtwaist dress with white polka dots that the character Gwenda Halliday wore at one point:


Sophia Myles as Gwenda Halliday in 'Sleeping Murder'.
No copyright infringement intended.

The series have had a lot of criticism because the plots of the stories have been changed quite a lot, so if you'd rather not see Agatha Christie's stories altered, you should steer clear of this series. If you don't mind the alterations, however, you're in for hours of classic 'who dunnit'-fun and great costumes :)

Anywho, here's the pattern I found in this shop on eBay:



And here's my interpretation:





Unfortunately, the pictures don't show the gorgeous bubblegum pink colour of this cotton fabric, but if you want to know what the colour looks like, it is actually the same shade as the fabulous vintage prom dress that was sacrificed in the 1980s film 'Pretty in Pink'. There's a picture of it in the post Gertie did about the sewing scene in the film over at Gertie's New Blog for Better Sewing.
The pattern was very straightforward to use. I didn't do any major alterations to the pattern, except my usual shortening of the hem by 2", and I also ended up using five buttons instead of the three suggested by the pattern. The reason why I increased the number of buttons was because I had some vintage 1980s white enamel snap buttons that were roughly the same size as the polka dots on the fabric, so I thought it would be a great idea to 'hide' them by placing them on the polka dots :P

I was a bit worried how the scalloped pockets would turn out, but I think they ended up looking great. Here's a closer view of one of the pockets:



I had previously heard of how tricky scalloped edges were to do, so seeing as I was hoping mine would turn out well, I decided to document the process.

Firstly, I ironed on some fusible interfacing on one of the two pieces required to make a pocket and I drew the scallops on with a pencil:



The original pattern piece for the pockets had had its seam allowance trimmed off around the scallops, so it didn't have its original rectangular shape, but I reconstructed the seam allowance when I re-traced the pattern.

After I had sewn the pocket pieces together, I did the slashes between the scallops as shown in the pattern instructions:



I don't know if it makes any difference, but I always use an old fashioned razorblade when I have to slash fabric.

The next step was to trim the seam allowance. A friend had advised me to do multiple clips around the scalloped edges at this stage, but my pinking shears managed to achive the same effect:



Here's how the pocket looked after I pressed it:



Maybe I was just lucky with how my pockets turned out. I do, however, think that the combination of using a stiff fabric with fusible interfacing was a big help to get them to look good.

Thank you for reading :)

Vintage Sewing Giveaway - Vote for me!

Hi everyone! Turns out I'm one of the five finalists in the Vintage Sewing Giveaway over at the Vintage Patterns Wikia. My entry is Butterick 6710:



I'd really appreciate it if you'd vote for me here.
Thank you :)

Butterick 6710

Long time, no see! School started again, so I'm a very busy little bee. I have much less time to sew and to top it off summer's definately over; it was literally like summer one day, fall the next day. This left me feeling quite autumnal and I ended up postponing some more summery projects indefinately. Not only would these garments not get used, but the fabric and the colors were completely off for this time of year. I started looking through my pattern collection, as well as shopping for more vintage beauties, and I've found quite a few things to keep me occupied in the coming months.

Here's the pattern for my first fall project this year:



Here's how my interpretation looks:





I only made my usual adjustement of shortening the hem by two inches. The pattern was very straightforward and I highly recommend it. Here's a close-up of the tab:



The fabric is a chocolate cotton with a turquoise print called Lillies. As you can see, the texture is quite coarse. The fabric is also quite stiff, so I didn't have to wear a crinoline for the above pictures, but I think it would look lovely with a crinoline underneath. The skirt has six gores and is quite full. The buttons are faceted turquoise plastic shank buttons. If I can find some wide turquoise elastic, I'm considering making a cinch belt to match.

I've already got a new project in the works. Here's a little sneak peek:



My camera didn't capture the cute pink color of the fabric very well. Hopefully the pictures of the finished garment will be much better :)

Butterick 7245 (Dress)

I've always thought this pattern looked like it would make for a nice outfit that could be worn for many occasions, but I never got round to buying it until about two months ago, when I found it in a vintage size 14 in Historically Patterns' shop on Etsy. Here's the pattern envelope:



Seeing as I'm quite happy with the fit of size 14 patterns issued before 1956, I didn't make any alterations to the pattern except for shortening the skirt by about 2 inches. The dress does not have a slit or kick pleat, so I was a bit worried that it would be too restrictive, but it was fine even before I hemmed it. I did a lapped back zipper and I think it turned out okay. It adds a nice finish to the garment, so I'm happy to have learned that technique. Anywho, here's my interpretation of this pattern:





The fabric is a tomato red cotton twill, a fabric I've grown quite fond of. I'm very pleased with this dress and I really love the fit. It's a wee bit blousey in the back, but I think it would be difficult to put on if it was tighter. The cotton twill is very stiff and thick and it therefore has a cinching effect in itself, so the belt only functions as an accessory. I also noticed the dress looked it's best when I wore my pointiest bullet underneath (if you're curious as to how pointy it is, it's available here). Depending on your bust, you should probably keep that in mind if you opt to make this dress in a fabric of similar thickness and stiffness.
I've bought some classic plaid fabric to make the jacket from this pattern. I don't know when I'll get round to making it, though, but hopefully it'll be sometime during September :)

If you like this pattern, it's quite easy to find. There's links to several sellers on the pattern's Vintage Patterns Wikia page. The listings are for vintage sizes 16 (bust 34) and 18 (bust 36) and they're quite cheap too :)

Hollywood 1341

I found this early 1940s pattern on eBay back in January:



Here's the front view:



And the back view:



You may recognise the printed cotton fabric from this dress. I simply adore the combination of light green and pink, not to mention floral fabrics, so I just had to buy several yards :)

This was the first time I worked with an unprinted pattern. I was a bit worried that the perforations would be confusing, but the instructions had a neat little layout explaining the functions of the perforations:



When I picked the pattern for the 'Poolside Pretties' category of the Summer Essentials Sew-Along, I initially thought that the mini sarong was a separate piece, however, it is attached to the bikini bottoms:



The bottoms provide a lot of control of the sarong and they actually have a much more flattering fit than I thought at first.


The alterations I made using this pattern were very minor. They are as follows:

Graded it up from a vintage size 12 to a vintage size 14.

Used snaps instead of buttons.

Did a pink top-stitch instead of applying the suggested rick rack trim.

Did not line the bikini top.


The outfit came together quite easily and I'm very happy with it. It is a very wearable set and I've worn it plenty since I finished it :)

Butterick 8149

I bought this pattern ages ago from Vintage Jubilee on Etsy:



I used a light-weight half panama weave with a citrus fruit print as well as some plain white cotton. Here's the front view:



And the back view (including awkward posture due to boyfriend cracking jokes):



This dress is one of my entries for the Summer Essentials Sew-Along. It was pretty straightforward to put together, but I did have to adjust the sizing; vintage size 14 Butterick patterns with a 32" inch bust fit my measurements very well without adjustments, but seeing as Butterick 8149 was made after Butterick changed the bust size of a size 14 pattern from 32" to 34", I ended up spending a lot of time fitting the bodice. I made a muslin of the bodice from the same white cotton used for the band, straps and bow. The citrus fabric is somewhat see-through, so I decided to use the bodice muslin as lining. The skirt isn't lined as I figured I'd wear a simple pencil half-slip with it.
Other than the bodice adjustment, I took about three inches off the skirt length.

Following Gertie's lapped side zipper tutorial, I did my very first lapped side zipper. Wonky stitches aside, I'm pretty happy with the results:



With regard to the Summer Essentials Sew-Along, I'm going to have to admit defeat. The description of the sew-along set the deadline as 'August-ish' and I think one week into August is as far as I'll push it. I had made a schedule for all five projects, but even when I'm not studying, I still don't have enough time. The halter top and pedal pushers will be finished later this month. The pajamas are still on my to-do list and will not be postponed indefinately, but I have not set a deadline for them yet. The 1940s bikini will, however, be revealed later today :)

Summer Essentials Sew-Along - Update

As July comes to an end, I thought it would be a good idea to let you know how my projects for the Summer Essentials Sew-Along is progressing. I still have a fair bit to do to get the items done, seeing as I've had some health problems the past two weeks. Nothing serious, just enough to keep me from sewing as much as I'd like. However, the sew-along description does say that you need 'to sew five(-ish) warm-weather friendly pieces by August(-ish)', so I'm going to take advantage of the wording and upload them to the Flickr group as well as blog about them as a part of that sew-along, despite of finishing in early August ;)

Hope everyone is enjoying summer :)