Peace on Earth….

December Sewing…. Part 2 (or, did people really have bodies like this in 1969?)

Girly requested a dress like the Nancy Drew movie for Xmas this year.  And of course, I agreed….

We scoured my pattern stash, and found the following pattern that I received from Pattern Rescue over the last year:

This pattern is a circa 1969, misses size 10, princess cut flared pattern with a 2 piece flared sleeve.  She wanted the green dress in the center. She wanted that EXACT dress.  I couldn’t find a decent green polka dot, so I got her a reversed olive green dot on an ivory background from the Amy Butler Lotus collection.

Note the two ladies on your left – and their dog-ear collars.  I’ve been trying to find photos of people actually WEARING this style, and have had no luck. I’d love to see these on a real person.

I made a muslin of the dress, as is.  I am sooooo glad I made a muslin of this dress.  I had to take 3.5″ from the bust line, raise the neckline 2″, add 2″ to the hips, and shorten the whole thing 3″.  At this point, I began to ask myself why I was even using a pattern and not hand drafting it!  This little blog was a big help in adjusting the bust line, as I couldn’t find instructions on adjusting a princess cut anywhere else…  Also, do you see any puffiness to those sleeves on the pattern?   There was ALOT of ease in the sleeve cap, and I still ended up with a bit of puffy sleeve – I’m not certain what the artist was thinking, but the sleeve on the cover is not the same as the sleeve in the pattern.

The adjustments made me envision what the woman who could use this pattern right out of the envelope looked like, and I envisioned Barbie…  with short arms.   Admittedly, I was adjusting a pattern to fit a 12 year old, but still, I’d have thought that arm adjustments would have been necessary as well.

Photo of the cutout, and the fun matching of polka dots that ensued.

But, the matching paid off:

 

I made her the scarf out of a cream chiffon (excess dots were really too hard on the eyes, and this gives it a little holiday flair).

 

And the final result is this:

She was totally thrilled with the dress, and she totally looks like she belongs on the cover of a Nancy Drew book.

December Sewing…. Part 1

Sewing this month has been stop and go.

I originally planned to make me a lovely dress out of burgundy stretch velvet, and this pattern.  I finished the dress with no fabric to spare, and then realized that it was much too low cut.  Though, it looks good on my dress form, as long as I don’t take off her cover.  Without her cover it resembles a hoochy mama ren-faire dress (excessive bra showing is not my idea of holiday cheer).

Forgive the graininess of the photo.  Given that I had no fabric left to rework the front, and the use of a different fabric to fill in the issue seemed fruitless, this dress was scrapped. (If I make this again, I will be raising the front neckline approx. 3 inches – yes, friends, it was “that” bad.)

I then turned my sights to this dress pattern, and began anew with some purple rayon lycra.  This was the first time I used the pattern, and made no modifications.  Here is the result:

Next on the sewing table is a purse pattern from Square Rose.  But, next on the blog is my foray into sewing with vintage patterns.