Vogue 7422 - part 2, completed

Well, that didn't pan out as intended. Not only did the 'last little jobs' to finish the dress take far longer than expected (when am I going to stop being surprised when this happens?!), but I also lost several days to a particularly persistent migraine. But Vogue 7422 is finally finished and photographed.

The weather here has been atrocious for several days, and while today was at least dry, it was also windy, so I did my photography indoors. This solved the potential problem of the dress blending into the yard wall and leaving only the collar, buttons, cuffs and belt visible! You also get a period appropriate sideboard in the background into the bargain.

Finished!

My constuction of the bodice diverged from the instructions a few times, but I also followed the instructions at one point to use a period technique which I'd never tried before. The main change was in making the button loops for the front. The instructions state to "Stitch and turn a bias strip of material so it is ⅛" wide finished". I've made rouleau before, but never as narrow as ⅛" / 3mm, and certainly not out of fabric as bulky as seersucker. I couldn't imagine this working at all, so instead I made the loops individually.

I eased out the puckers in the fabric to make it smooth, and then cut a series of pieces a scant ½" wide by 2" long (1.2cm by 5cm), on the bias. Then I folded these in half lengthways, and folded the sides in - 1. I secured the end with a couple of stitches - 2. (Apologies if these images look a little odd; I'm left-handed, so sew from left to right. Also, please ignore the terrible state of my nails!). Then I eased the strip into a loop shape, and overcast the folded edges together - 3 and 4. I found it was easier to shape the loop with the sewing on the outside curve rather than the inside, and shaping the loop as I sewed produced a flatter result than if I sewed it straight and then tried to shape it.

Making the button loops

I worked out the spacing for the loops down the bodice, and marked the positions onto a strip of Stitch-n-Tear, which I then pinned onto the bodice front. Then I pinned the loops in place, and basted them just inside the seam allowance.

Pinning the loops in place

The instructions don't call for anything to stabilise the seam when attaching the facing to the bodice front, but I was concerned that because both pieces are on the bias, the seam could stretch. I used a selvedge strip of a firm but fine woven cotton (something else which I keep in my 'will come in handy' stash, along with silk organze selvedge) as stay tape, basted onto the facing over what would become the sewing line.

Unlike a modern pattern, there is no back facing for this dress. In the past I have drafted my own pattern piece from the bodice back, but this time I decided to follow the instructions, which were to "Baste a strip of bias to back neck as facing". As there was no indication of how large this strip should be, I erred on the side of caution and made it 7.5cm / 3" wide, and a good 7.5cm / 3" longer than the back neck seam. I trimmed off the excess (there was a lot of excess!) once the bias strip was sewn in place, and turned the edges under. Because I had interfaced the collar, there was no need to stiffen the back facing in any way.

Showing the collar, front facings, and back bias strip (with the dress back underneath)

The skirt is attached to the bodice before the facings and underpanel are added. The two are joined by the period method of turning under the seam allowance of the bodice, laying it over the skirt, and sewing through all three layers. Although I found this technique odd when I first encountered it, now I prefer is as it gives a stronger seam. I omitted the buttons and loops on the skirt section, and fastened this with press studs (snaps) instead.

Showing the different fasteners, and the waist seam

None of the buckles I had were right for the belt, but I did have a metal fabric-covered buckle which I was able to prise apart, so I decided to remove the original fabric and recover it. This proved easier said than done. It was impossible to get the fabric to stay in place while I pushed the back of the buckle on, so I attempted to glue the fabric to the inside of the buckle. Then it proved impossible to get the fabric to stay in place while the glue dried. Eventually I managed to clamp it with several kirby grips (bobby pins) with the ends chopped off. I could only do one section at a time, however, so it was a long process.

My kirby grip clamps

The belt needs a retaining loop, but apart from that, it's done.

Did I mention it has pockets?

The pattern includes a piece for making shoulder pads, but as I had a pair of raglan pads anyway, I used those instead.

The cuffs have a curved detail at the top

It's hard to be too smug about using stash fabrics at present, as there aren't many alternatives, but nonetheless here is the Stashometer.

Almost 29 metres of stashed fabric used this year!

Coming soon . . .

. . . to a back yard near me.

There's something missing here

Vogue 7422 isn't quite finished. It's nearly there, so this week's post will be delayed by a day or so.

In the meantime, here's a closeup of the completed bodice fastening.

Stripe-matching goodness!

May dress (Vogue 7422) - part 1

This month for the Vintage Sew A Dress A Month I'm making up this 1951 pattern in a striped seersucker which I bought some years ago one of my trips to Goldhawk Road. It's one of my UseNine2020 fabrics.

The blue is for the collar and cuffs

I bought the fabric with the intention of using it for a 1950s Maudella pattern which also has the bodice cut on the bias. However on closer inspection of the pattern I realised that the bodice fastens with buttons and buttonholes, so the 'V' of the stripes meeting would not have been in the centre but slightly to the left, and I didn't want that. So into the stash the fabric went.

Vogue 7422 has an edge-to-edge front, fastening with buttons and loops, and a panel underneath to prevent any gapping. I'm not going to extend the buttons below the waist, however, as to me it looks a bit odd. Instead I'll fasten the skirt part with snaps.

Envelope detail showing how the dress fastens

The first thing I had to do was alter the pattern to fit me. Because of my recent body changes, it had to be both sized-up and shortened, which made redrafting the bodice darts quite an exercise. I made a toile, and to my astonishment it was pretty much right - woot!

When I moved on to my actual fabric, it struck my that I couldn't remember when I had last used seersucker. I think it was in school sewing lessons, which is a very long time ago indeed. I wasn't sure if there was anything particular I needed to know about working with such a textured fabric, and most of my sewing books didn't have any advice to offer. Eventually I found the information I needed in Dana Willard's The Fabric Selector. This also included a reference to Seersucker Thursday in the United States, which led me down the rabbit hole of seersucker suits, and just when and how they could be worn. . .

Anyway, dragging myself back to the job in hand - I had assumed that the stripes on the fabric were symmetrical, but when I looked at it closely I discovered that this is not actually the case. The orange and yellow parts are symmetrical, but in the grey sections the lighter grey is always on the left.

Fabric close-up

I already knew that I would have to cut out carefully, to match the stripes, but this added another layer of complexity. Fortunately, becase the pattern is woven in rather than printed, both sides of the fabric are the same. This meant that I could cut out one piece, then lay both it and the pattern on top of the fabric, align the stripes all round, pin through all three layers, and cut out the second piece. Once flipped over, it should be the perfect match. I had worried about whether I would have enough fabric, but because everything was cut from a single layer, there was very little wastage and I managed it with a little to spare.

Pattern piece cut out once, and laid on top of the fabric

When sewing together pieces where I want the stripes to match, I found it easiest to pin along the white stripes. They are easy to see, reasonably spaced, and narrow enough to pin through the centre and be sure that they will match properly.

Pinning along the white stripes

I sewed the bodice back first, and all the time and effort spent in cutting out and pinning proved worth it.

Matching stripes

Can we just take a minute to admire this in detail?

Yes, I am pleased with this!

Seersucker is tricky to press without flattening it altogether, but fortunately I have recently made myself a seam stick. It's just an offcut of thick dowel wrapped in several layers of felt, but it's perfect for pressing seams open without squashing the fabric on either side.

DIY seam stick

The skirt pieces are on the grain at the sides, and somewhere between grain and true bias at the centre front and back. Naturally, I added pockets in the side seams. I was worried about two extra layers of seersucker under the skirt adding extra fullness, so I decided to make the pocket bags out of plain fabric, with just a strip of the patterned fabric at the pocket opening. Then I discovered that it is possible to ease out the puckers created by the weaving process, so I did that on the pocket strips to reduce the bulk even further.

The pattern doesn't call for interfacing at all. I considered adding it to the facings, and experimented with an offcut. Ironing on interfacing flattens the fabric completely, which I didn't like.

Pocket piece, untreated seersucker (top), and with iron-on interfacing (bottom)

However because the bodice front openings and their facings are all cut on the bias, I do think I will need to stabilise them in some way. The underpanel is cut on the straight grain, and I have applied a fine iron-on interfacing to it as I'm quite happy for this piece to be flat. The underpanel is attached to the left side of the bodice, and will stop it from stretching. For the right side, I will add a stay tape when sewing the bodice and facing together. There is also the small matter of all those buttons and loops to add!