Drat, drat and double drat

I recently had a run of not so fab sewing adventures and surprising to me they have involved vintage patterns. The first drat was this vintage Butterick dress pattern. I thought an interesting high waist dress, nothing too complicated. And something different with the side ties.  

The material I used was a really nice silky type rayon blend perfect for a flowy dress. I got started on the bodice and after putting in the darts I then looked at the instructions for the facing I got mightily confused. I’d already cut out 4 pieces of the facing thinking, right the outer facing attached to the bodice and the inner facing.  However, there were supposedly 2 more facing pieces to come. The outer facing was supposed to be a border attached to the outside with facing then attached and folded to the inside.  

My main complaint was the fabric for the facing pieces were too small for the pattern. The length and width were out by at least 2cm or more. I held up the pattern pieces to the main bodice pattern and they didn’t match at all.  So I made a seams in both the front and back bodice sections to take them in the desired width as the bodice was pretty loose. Then I tried to put the facing pieces on the outside as instructed but because my fabric was a bit slippery I knew even as I was pinning it that it was going to look totally poohouse.  So I threw away the outer facing and decided just to face the darn thing like you normally would.  However, the bodice pieces were still a bit too small and some puckers formed around the front. Not so noticeable because of the pattern but still really annoying.  The end result is a nice dress but so not worth the trouble. 

I love the flutter sleeves, they worked out really well I think.  Plus I finally got to try out my tube turner kit when I made the ties. 

And to the double drat.

So I was thinking of making a nice shirt to wear with jeans and thought I’d use a 60’s dress pattern and just make a shorter version. Also wasn’t going to bother with the zip as the fabric I chose had a bit of stretch in it.  Well this was all lickety-split coming together. The pattern pieces include the sleeves already attached to the bodice.  So that’s one extra thing not to think about.  The V bit at the front didn’t really work out too well. You are supposed to break the stitch at the centre and voila when you turn the facing to the inside it should sit smooth, but it didn’t, at all. I re-did the stitches and pressed the buggery out of it and it looked passable.  I did the side seams and started to turn up the hem on the sleeves when I thankfully decided to try the top on.  Firstly it was a little snug and given that I wanted to wear it with jeans, this did not bode well.  Secondly one of the corners of the neckline kept flopping forward, even though it is interfaced.  So that was that. Fair thee well funky 60’s top.  Relegated to cupboard of disappointments. 

Vintage shift dress strikes again

I think I've made myself a challenge to find the perfect style of shift dress. I've thus far tried quite a few different vintage patterns, most with success I'm pleased to say.  This latest one is slightly different.  The first thing I noticed was that the neckline didn't look it was going to be suffocating me like a lot of the 60's patterns seem to do.  Surely neck sizes weren't that different back in the 1960's.  

The main difference with this dress was the sleeves which were in 2 pieces so you actually have seams running under the arm as well as the upper arm.  And see nice wide neckline for a change. 

It's only in recent years, from using vintage patterns, that I discovered the brilliant instruction of inserting the zip in the back first before attaching the front and back sections together.  I think this technique would work in most straight style dresses, but mostly works well with shifts because they only have one back section, not a bodice and skirt section. Anyways I love how quick and easy it is. Though still haven't tried an invisible zip. One day, one day.

I bought this psychedelic cotton sateen from Spotlight with a shift dress in mind.  I even managed to find some lovely lavender tights on line to match the whole ensemble.  But very annoyance I can't for the life of me find a nice lavender coloured lipstick.  In fact most colours from the family purple are hard to find. 

All in all very enjoyable and easy to make.  The neckline doesn't sit as flat as I would like but it doesn't bother me too much.  Just loving winter and getting to wearing tights.

Simplicity 2472

This is my second time around with the Simplicity 2472.  I was having a bit of a bad sewing weekend recently and after getting the grumps with 3 things in a row I decided I wanted to make up something quick and easy, and that I knew would actually work.  It's the best medicine for a sewing horribilous. There is nothing too fancy about this design. Simply 2 pieces front and back with bias for the neckline and sleeve bands.  You can make it up in a few hours. Easy to make comfy to wear, need I say more. 

The fabric is a 100% cotton from Spotlight.  I don't seem to have a lot of grey in my wardrobe so I was happy to branch out with a nice sublte floral style pattern.  Because the style is so plain, I think I need to make up a nice red necklace to wear. I have some large wooden beads which would be perfect. I'll just add that to my craft projects "things to do".