Butterick 6723

My first sewing make of the year is done. And, with a certain inevitability, it bears no relation to my plans for the year!

Just before Christmas, I (whisper it) bought a piece of clothing - a semi-fitted pinafore (jumper) dress in a pure wool check fabric. It's beautifully made, in a timeless style, and I know that I will get a lot of wear out of it. In fact, I have already worn it so much that I decided I wanted to make something similar, but this time in needlecord.

My first idea was to use this pattern.

Style 2188, 1968

But then I realised that apart from bust darts it has no shaping whatsoever, in either the front or the back.

Back view

This is not a style which suits me, as I know from making Butterick 4384. Fortunately, when going through the suitcase of vintage patterns that I blogged about recently, I found this, from 1972.

Princess seams front and back, much better

The pattern is for an unlined dress or tunic, with a neck facing. It is constructed by cutting out the facing pieces from sew-in interfacing, basting them to the constructed front and backs, stitching the shoulder seams, and then making up and attaching the facing.

1970s constuction methods

I wanted to make my version fully lined, and to use fusible intefacing. So I had to draft new facing pieces, based around the seamlines. I found a dark red needlecord remnant of the perfect length in my local fabric shop, and bought lining to match.

The lining, with separate interfacing pieces

I've had a lot of problems fitting bodices recently; since I changed from a B cup (the standard for dress patterns) to a C cup, my tried and trusted method of just shortening the bodice by 5cm/2" all round no longer works. So I decided to cut out the lining pieces as per the pattern, mark the waistline, shorten the pieces to fit me, and then apply these alterations when cutting out the needlecord. It means that there is extra fabric around the lining waist, but it's not a problem.

The adjusted lining

No matter how often I do it, I can never believe that the method of sewing the neckline and armholes right side together and then pulling the backs through is going to work, but it always does!

Magic!

The one thing which I kept from Style 2188 was the patch pockets. I lined them, and after consulting with Mum over the best position, placed them along the princess seamline. As ever, the back zip was hand-picked and the hem hand-sewn.

I'm really pleased with the end result.

A completed item!

I forgot to take a seated photo at the time, so here's one from my weekend catsitting for my friend. The semi-fitted shape makes it very comfortable to sit down in.

#sewnshownseated

Because I bought all the fabric, there's no reduction on the Stashometer.

No difference to the total, but recorded anyway

At least something has come in and gone straight out, rather than languishing in the stash for ages. Also, I'm hoping that this may coax my missing sewjo back into at least semi-regular appearances.

Vogue 8388 - part 2, success!

"The past is a foreign country; they do things differently there."

L.P. Hartley, The Go-Between

I found myself thinking about this quote as I worked on my last project of 2022, As was apparent in last week's round-up post, I finished my 1970s blouse before the year end. It wasn't especially difficult to make, but I did find the instructions strangely old-fashioned. I first started sewing for myself in 1978, a mere six years after this pattern was issued. Plus, as anyone who reads this blog regularly will know, I've used a lot of 1979 patterns. And yet, Vogue 8388 felt as though it had more in common with my 1940s and 1950s patterns than ones from later in the same decade.

I wonder if this is all down to interfacing. I can't remember a time when I didn't use iron-on interfacing, but this pattern assumes that the maker is using the sew-in variety, and some of the construction details may be connected to this.

For starters, the back facing is not interfaced on any view, only the front facing, cuffs, and collar for view A.

Cutting diagrams for interfacing

Instead of a separate piece, the blouse front and facing are cut as a single piece. The interfacing is then applied to the blouse part, and stay tape is added over that.

Instructions for view C

I chose to apply the interfacing to the facing section and stay-stitch the blouse edge, as I would with a modern pattern. I also interfaced the back facing and stay-stitched the blouse back.

The sleeves are attached by reinforcing the corners of the blouse front and back, snipping to the corner, and then sewing in the sleeve in a single line of stitching. The excess fabric at the corner of the sleeve is then trimmed away and the cut edges sewn together, so that the seam allowance lies flat under the sleeve.

Sleeve instructions

Because my fabric was quite fluid, I sewed small pieces of tear-away stabilizer onto the blouse when doing the reinforcing. The end result was four perfect joins with no puckers, so I was very happy.

Smooth join = happiness

The neck ruffle is long. Very long. And it took a lot of gathering. The instructions are to baste the ruffle to the blouse and then fold the facing over.

Ruffle instructions

However, because I had interfaced the facings, I sewed these together and then basted the ruffle onto the facing. Then I folded the blouse over, and stitched through all the layers. I was very glad that I had stay-stitched the section without interfacing, as that long V neck would almost certainly have stretched out of shape otherwise.

Attaching the super-gathered ruffle

For once, I found some perfect buttons. Even better, my local fabric shop was selling them off cheaply! With small gold beads set into clear resin, they add the perfect touch of seventies glam.

Buttons in all their sparkly glory

The final oddness in the instructions concerns the bottom of the blouse. Instead of a hem, it should be stitched ¼" from the edge, trimmed to ⅛", and then overcast. As the blouse is shorter below the waist than modern patterns, I just overlocked the raw edge to preserve what length there is.

When I tried the finished blouse on, I was delighted to find that my various pattern adjustments had worked, and it fits perfectly. Even better, despite the fact that it is black and frilly, two things I usually avoid, I absolutely love it! Everyone I've shown it to has loved it as well - there's just something about its sheer exuberance.

With this in mind, I decided that I needed to do it justice when I photographed it. For reference, here's the picture in the Autumn 1972 Vogue Pattern Book.

Inspiration - can I get my hair that big?

And here's my take on it.

Yes, I can!

My stash management in 2022 may have been woeful, but it was lovely to end my sewing year on a high. Onward and upward into 2023!

Vogue 8388 - part 1

From bad to worse. Even more issues this week, many connected to the severe cold snap we've had here in the UK, have reduced my sewing time to practically nil. On top of that, for various reasons, I was unable to go to the dinner after all. Sigh. At least I hadn't rushed to make a new dress.

After all this, I decided that I just wanted a silly, no-pressure-if-it-goes-wrong, project to perk me up a bit. Step forward Vogue 8388.

I posted about this the other week, and its general ridiculousness just stuck in my mind. Plus, I had a suspicion that I had some 'suitable' fabric in my stash.

Indeed yes, I did

I have absolutely no idea how, or why, I acquired this. Possibly it was part of a mixed lot of sewing stuff which I bought at an auction. Either way, the design and colours look quite 1972 to me. It's like a thick georgette, so far more drapey than the taffeta used in the Vogue Pattern Book examples.

The huuuge collar of view A was a bit much, even for me, so I decided to embrace the silliness and go with view C.

Frilled to bits

But before I could cut it out, there were alterations to consider. I needed to make the bodice both wider and shorter. The instructions on the pattern are to lengthen or shorten pieces 1 and 2 just above the waistline.

The pattern pieces

However, I would need to shorten the pattern so much that this would make the sleeves start pretty much at the waist. And because I sometimes have to narrow the shoulders on patterns these days, I didn't want to include all the extra width in the bodice pieces, either. So instead I made some of the changes on the main part of the bodice, and some where the sleeve fits into it. This meant that I had to alter the sleeve as well, but hopefully it will improve the overall look.

The narrowing at the top of the sleeve was tapered away to nothing lower down, because I wanted to keep the glorious seventies fullness at the cuff.

Blue lines - widening, red lines - shortening

It’s now all cut out and ready to go. I’ve got another busy week coming up, but hopefully I’ll manage to squeeze in a little sewing time somewhere.

Caught at last

It had to happen eventually. Last week I finally tested positive for Covid, for the first time.

I've had all my jabs and boosters and they did the trick, I got off very lightly. I've had far worse colds*. I'm almost recovered now, but I've done no sewing all week - which is probably my definition of 'seriously ill'! So instead, here's a picture-heavy post about another Vogue Pattern Book. Brace yourselves, we’re heading into the 1970s!

Last week's post about my 1980s top reminded me of another batwing-sleeved pattern in my collection. I found it in a charity shop some time ago, and bought it precisely because the sleeve design was so not of its time.

Vogue 8388 - batwing sleeves, but make it seventies

I knew that it was from 1972, so looked through my collection of Pattern Books to see if I could find any photographs of it made up, and that's how I came to be browsing the Autumn 1972 issue.

Found it in here

Being early 1970s, there's lots of browns and large checks.

Lots . . .

. . . and lots

. . . and lots

The effect is indeed total - and not in a good way

Even when colours other than brown do get a look-in, large checks are still very much in evidence. For example, in this feature on fabrics.

Blue and green (and checked)

There is no escape

At least they don't appear in this drawing.

A double-page spread on Vogue 2749

This is the pattern

Or on these clothes. I have Questions about the practicality of the Galitzine design, but there's no denying it's fabulous.

Searching for the Sugar Plum Fairy in Vogue 2765

I'd make it longer but I'd wear this, Vogue 8399

Halter culotte by Galitzine, Vogue 2731

But what about Vogue 8388? It appears in a feature on "Super Sensational Shirts", along with V8401, V8424, and some truly alarming fabric choices.

I have had migraines that looked like the fabric on the right!

Vogue 8388 made up

View A - that's some collar

View C

To me, the check patterns are so bold that they completely mask the sleeve design, which seems to rather defeat the point. Especially given that it's clear from the Patterns Guide section that this is the only garment in the issue with sleeves outside the norm.

8388 is bottom right

I do have some fabric in my stash which I think might work with this pattern, and I fear that curiosity may get the better of me at some point! If I do try it, at least I've now found this handy article on tackling the sleeves.

Tips for Dolman sleeves

* - The worst thing was one day when I just could not stop coughing, and ended up with very sore ribs and an aching diaphragm. Then I remembered that I'd once tried on a corset in a costume museum when I had a really bad cough, and it had been bizarrely helpful - just enough support to stop everything from hurting. So I dug out my Laughing Moon corset and put it on over my dress, and it worked perfectly!

Just as well that I was stuck in the house, though!

More blasts from the past

The skirt I was making is now on pause. The front looks fine, but the fit at the back is truly dreadful. As it's not the weather for a wool blend skirt, and I'm trying to lose some covid pounds anyway, which will affect the fit, it has been banished to the naughty corner in the back of the wardrobe for a couple of months. It's galling, and I must admit that I've put off starting a new project while I nurse my damaged pride for a bit. But at the same time, it's a useful reminder that - whatever stories of relentless success we may see or choose to portray on social media - we can all have sewing failures, even with years of experience to draw on.

In my case those years of experience number over 40, and this latest debacle prompted me to think about some of the things I've made in that time. The very first one was, unsurprisingly, from a Style pattern. I made view 3. The pattern dates from 1975, when I was 11, but I think that I made it a couple of years later than that. I have a memory of hearing Baker Street on the radio for the first time while I was cutting it out, which would place it in 1978, which seems right. That said, I have no idea why I was making a short-sleeved top in Scotland in February!

Not the obvious choice for a Scottish winter

The pattern is long gone from my collection, but when I found it online recently, I couldn't resist buying it. I could remember the fabric I'd used (both Mum and I suffer from the affliction that we can't remember what we went upstairs for, but have an encyclopedic memory of every item of clothing we've ever made), but have no photos of me wearing the top. Then remembered that I might have some of the fabric. . .

Some time in the mid-1970s I saw an article about English (paper piecing) patchwork in a magazine, and promptly decided to make a quilt - starting with something small and working up from there has never been my strong point! At that time, in Britain at least, patchwork was still very much about using up scraps of old fabric rather than buying new specifically for a project. It was perfect for someone like me, who enjoyed sewing but didn't have much cash. Dad made me a template for the fabric and paper hexagons, out of very thick plastic. He also provided a steady supply of thin card, in the form of old punched cards from the I.T. department where he worked. If you look closely at the photo below, you can just see where some of the numbers have been punched out.

The card pieces are still in place round the edges

I decided on a colour scheme of browns and other earth tones - hello, 1970s! A lot of the fabric was from old dresses, and there are some atrocious colour combinations in there as I had to work with what I could get. I bought the cream and terracotta fabrics as and when required; unfortunately, this meant that overall size of the quilt was determined by John Lewis suddenly stopping selling the terracotta! I never actually got round to backing the quilt top, which makes this by some margin my longest ever unfinished project.

The 'completed' quilt top

Initially, I didn't realise that I should sew the hexagons together with the right sides innermost, so there are a couple of motifs with very visible stitching.

Oops! I also used cream thread throughout

As time went on, and I ran out of old dresses, I haunted my local fabric shop for small remnants such as this brown striped cotton.

Almost pattern matched all round

The leftovers from new dressmaking projects were added to the mix, too. This was the fabric I had used for Style 1144.

The centre is a scrap of curtain lining!

Style 2580 is from 1979. It used an absurd amount of fabric, and the leftovers made it into the quilt.

I made view 1. So. Much. Fabric.

And this (the green) is the fabric I used

The next year, I acquired Simplicity 9773. This was a favourite pattern, which I made up several times - possibly because the end result took far less ironing than the Style 2580 blouse! One version was in this green check.

A very 1980 illustration

Apparently I liked green blouses?

It's nice to have the memory of these clothes preserved in the quilt, as I have no pictures of me wearing either of these blouses - a reminder of how few photos we took in the pre-digital age*. I lost a lot of photo albums in a house move years ago, but given some of the hairstyles I sported in the past, I had concluded that this was probably a blessing in disguise. Then last week my mum unearthed some old photos of me (erm, thanks Mum), including this one.

The hair!!!?! June 1984

I have no recollection of this picture being taken, but I remembered that I'd made the top I'm wearing in it, so of course I had to look the pattern up. And, courtesy of the wonder that is CoPA, I found it.

Simplicity 6277, 1983

It's a total change from the fitted blouse of 3 years earlier. I made views 2 and 3, and the neckline was so wide that I was able to just sew the buttons through both fronts and save myself hassle of sewing buttonholes. For old times' sake, a copy of this pattern is now winging its way to me from Canada. I very much doubt if I'll make it again, but at least I wouldn't have any fit issues with it if I did!


* - Recently, I was discussing with a friend things from our childhood which would seem incomprehensible to Young Persons Today. Not being able to see a photograph until you had taken 23, or even 35, more and sent them off to be developed was high on our list!