I’ve put away the swing dress for now… I wasn’t feeling up to altering the bodice at the moment.  And, to be honest, I think it might fail the “would you buy it” test I’m supposed to be having.  It has a crossover bodice, something which doesn’t work great on me since I never fill them out well and they look hollow.   But I may come back to it later.  In the meantime I’m working on the above.  The red is a linen look suiting for the main fabric, the pink is cotton batiste for a full underlining, and the zebra is for the pocket lining as well as a scarf I’m making to go with the dress.  What am I making?

This is Vogue 1219, a Christian Dior design from 1975.  I bought it because I thought it was a nice basic a-line with a few designer touches.  Very classic – you see how this sort of design ages well, and it suits my personal style.  I like classic lines.  This is sort of a trial run – I’m making version B, with the short sleeves and without the detachable collar.  I didn’t have enough fabric to cut long sleeves, and the collar scared me a little with how huge it was, so I’m planning to leave it off for now.   If it goes well, I may make it again with long sleeves in a navy linen.  A-line dresses are supposed to be good for my shape, but I am so picky about length and the amount of A-line that I don’t usually get them… this time I am in control of those issues!

It took me 2 days to complete the underlining – I used a technique where you cut the underlining 5/8″ larger on vertical edges, and then sort of wrap it around the fashion fabric, enclosing the edges for really pretty seam finishes.  I’ve also been using my serger on some edges to stop the fraying of this fabric (it’s cheap fabric, but it was so pretty that I had to get it!)  Then I hand basted on the rest of the underlining.  It took a long time, but it looks really great!  I removed the back shoulder darts and made my “erect posture” alteration before cutting.  I tried on the body pieces, and decided to take in the bust and waist by an inch, which I divided between the seams (makes sense since I am an inch smaller than this 32.5″ pattern… good to know that 70s Vogue wasn’t adding crazy amounts of ease yet.)  I also shortened the skirt by 3 inches before cutting, bringing it up to mid knee.  I have short legs, and the just below the knee look is not good on me.

I hope to finish the dress this weekend… right now it needs the button band, sleeves, and the pockets.  I’m taking my time!  Since the dress has short sleeves I’m not going to be wearing it yet anyway (Come on warm weather!)

I’m still considering my options for the sweater yarn… I’m probably going to have to order yarn, and I am slow as molasses when it comes to making a purchase.  I literally have to consider my options a week before I can click the “buy” button, lest it cause anxiety.  As you can imagine, I don’t hop on many “one day only” sales… does anyone else have this sort of issue?  Everyone I know says that it’s too easy to buy things with credit cards, so they only carry cash, but I am the opposite.  I will spend cash quickly, but am loathe to ever take out the card.

Amongst vintage devotees, there is a fair amount of discussion as to what era defines you.  Do you love the flapper styles of the 20s?  The mod 60s?  The nipped in waist of the New Look 1950s?  Every time I go to answer this question I find myself totally unable to answer it.  The answer for me would be “All of them, and none of them.”  There are certain styles from each era that I love, and others that I could do without.  It all depends on the look I want, and what I’m in the mood for.

I love the elegance of the 30s, the tailored looks of the 40s, the extreme silhouette of the 50s, the cute mod dresses of the 60s, and even the peasant styles of the 70s and even the more elegant 80s styles.  My wardrobe is a mishmash of all those, although I probably am more likely to dress in a 1940s fashion than anything else.  I like being able to mix items from (and inspired by) different decades to create different looks.

Lately I’ve found myself strangely attracted to the 70s, rewatching my dvds of Mary Tyler Moore and The Bob Newhart show (I love Bob and Emily’s marriage… they remind me of my husband and I.  One of my favorite TV couples ever!)  Anyway, in one episode Emily is wearing this fabulous plaid maxi skirt (I think they called them “Hostess skirts,) with this crazy ruffled blouse.  It was very similar to this pattern:

That’s a whole lot of look (says Tim Gunn.)  I like it, but I’m not really sure I want to wear a ruff.   Right now I want a skirt inspired by Emily’s skirt on the show – bias cut in a plaid that has red but isn’t Christmassy.  I’m using the pattern I showed the other day:

I am only making the skirt.  It’s long (that model must be tall) but not quite to maxi length.  I’m going to be using a red/black/gray suiting fabric that I got from Denver Fabrics.

It’s a poly/rayon blend.  It feels quite nice – not too synthetic.  I think it’s mostly rayon. I like that it doesn’t wrinkle easily, as past experience tells me that I will not iron skirts very often.  The skirt itself is easy to make – 2 main pieces and a waistband.  It is bias cut, so that will be a new thing for me.  I love long bias skirts because the drape is so nice.  I’m not a fan of bias cuts in general, as I find shorter or silky bias cut skirts to be really unflattering on me, but it a long skirt it’s great!  I have been reading up on working with bias cut fabric, as that’s my way – before I do anything I read as much as possible about the new skill online and in books.  When I put in that invisible zipper earlier in the week I spent a solid hour watching people do them on Youtube before I felt confident enough to try it myself (I have a hard time learning from diagrams or still photos.)

I’m not making a muslin of this (shocking I know!) because literally the only thing to fit is the waistband.  I want it to fit at the natural waist (and I plan to wear it with a belt) but I have a fear of tight things for some reason… I have to constantly fight against my urge to make things too big.  I’ll probably make the size 10 – if it doesn’t fit then a waistband is easy to take in.  The skirt itself is just full, and there is very little difference between sizes.  I love that the skirt is long enough that you have to tape the pieces together since it wouldn’t fit on one piece of tissue.

And what does one wear with a skirt like this?  A black turtleneck like the modern pattern, or a ruffled blouse like the 70s pattern?  I’m not allowed to cut it unless I can figure out what I will wear with it.  I have a problem of buying separates without considering that they match nothing else in my wardrobe, so I must have a plan for such a distinctive skirt.  I mentioned that I plan to use a belt – that’s a big step for me, since I’ve actively avoided belts since the mid 1990s.  One of my favorite style blogs, Almost Pretty, has a great primer on belts for the belt-phobic today.  I’ve discovered that I really like wide belts, and I love the stretchy ones too – they always fit, and I never have to make extra holes.  I may be making a trip to the thriftstore soon, with looking at belts specifically on the agenda!

Pattern: Rooibos from Colette Patterns

Size: 2 for the bodice, 0 for the skirt

Fabric used: Wool crepe from Gorgeous Fabrics for the dress, black rayon crepe for the facings

Notes: Love how this dress came out!  The color is still not right – it’s emerald green, you’ll just have to trust me on that one.  This is the first dress I have made, and the second pattern from Colette patterns.  I would completely recommend this pattern, it turned out adorable.  This is not necessarily a style that I wear easily, but as it turned out the slightly empire waist made it flattering!   There were a few minor errors in my copy of the pattern.  The pattern itself was fine, but there were several places in the instructions where pieces are misidentified in the text.  The diagrams are all correct, and they were easy to spot.  I did do a small bust adjustment, as the cups on the bodice were too large for me (I am a B cup.)   I lapped the pattern 1/2″, and that made it fit perfectly.  I also did an alteration to the back for upright posture.  The idea (as I understand it) is that most patterns assume a slightly rounded back, whereas I stand all the time like I’m balancing a book on my head.  This effectively removed 1/2″ in the back, making it even with the front.

(Sorry for the wrinkles… I was sitting today!) I think my back is somewhat narrow as well, though my shoulders are not.   The shoulders are quite wide on this pattern – I sewed snaps into them to attach my bra straps to, because otherwise they do show, and I think on the second try of this pattern I will narrow them a bit.

If I make this dress again (and I plan to, after all that work on the fit – I can imagine it several ways!)  I will do a full lining.  The pattern calls for facings that extend partway down the bodice.  The facing shows through slightly – you can see the ghost of it in the first photo above.  The wool crepe is thick, so I’d imagine under a thin fabric it would show even more.  It’s also a little uncomfortable to me to have the facing end where it does.  The rayon crepe that I used for the facing ravels like crazy – I had to be very careful with my seam finishes, and even so there are a few places that I’m worried about.  The wool also ravels a bit.  This dress made me decide I needed a serger, so I am purchasing one off of Craigslist – I got a good deal!

I am still searching for a better way to preshrink wool fabric (without drycleaning… it’s bad enough I’m planning to dryclean this dress!)  I was not thrilled with the results of the dryer method – while it did shrink, it also fulled slightly around the edges of the fabric, and there are a few pulled threads.  No one but me would notice though!

I think this dress has a bit of a 60s vibe, so I paired it with a vintage broach (my Grandma’s) which matches it exactly!  My grandma had a ton of Sarah Coventry jewelry, and I’ve inherited the lot.  I love pins and broaches, the bigger the better!

We had what is (for us) an epic snow last night – six inches!  I tried for photos anyway…

This is closer to the color of the dress.

I learned several new skills with this pattern.  I learned to apply piping and an invisible zipper (both not hard, but I did get the special feet for my machine.)  I am so thrilled with my dress, and can’t wait to make more!

Cut

and sew

and make a garment that is totally inappropriate for the weather!

Actually, it’s made of wool, so I say it counts as a winter garment.  Yes, after 3 muslins I’ve finally got my fit issues worked out on the Rooibos dress, and I’ve cut into my wool crepe.  I preshrank this crepe in the dryer with wet towels, a method that I’m pretty sure I don’t recommend.  It came out with dark splotches, so I washed the whole piece in the sink with eucalen, and they went away.  I think this color was just going to change a bit on getting wet, so the whole thing needed to get soaked.

I made 2 alterations to the pattern.  First I did a small bust alteration on the front, which removed the excess fabric and made the front (in the size 2) look great!  The back was still being weird though – the back neckline was gaping.  I read and reread the books on fit, trying to figure out my problem (I often have this issue in ready to wear also.)  I don’t have a swayback, so I knew it wasn’t that exactly, and the excess fabric was too high for that anyway.  I finally determined that my issue was called “erect posture” in the books.  I would not think that standing up straight requires an alteration, but there you go.  I have very straight posture, as a result of years of music, dance, and stage training and work.  I did the alteration for erect posture, and it was fixed!  I’d imagine this is an alteration I will be doing often.

The actual color of the crepe is closer to the top photo, though it is richer than that.  My camera hates greens – and it is green, not teal.  I have changed the neckline.  The original design has a tiny little collar formed from the facing, but I was not a fan of it.  I’m going to use some decorative buttons there instead.  I’m making a 2 for the bodice, but a size 0 for the midriff and skirt – the 2 had a lot of extra fabric, which is again strange because my measurements led me to the opposite conclusion – that I should make a smaller top and larger skirt!  The crepe is far more stretchy than my muslin fabric, so I knew that I didn’t want it to be too big.

The design calls for piping around the neckline, sleeves, and pockets, and I was anxious to try out my new piping foot (foot 38, for Bernina owners.)  I also bought an invisible zipper foot, because I am all about buying the specialty feet rather than making it harder on myself by improvising.  I am not good at zippers, though I am improving.  My old machine had an awful zipper foot, that tried to do both types of zippers.  Not so much.  I had to go on an epic search for packaged piping, not being in the mood to make it myself.  Joannes was totally out of black, so I had to go to Hancocks again (let me reiterate how sad I am that our big downtown sewing store, Baer’s, closed last year… it was 5 minutes from my house, and actually had things in stock, not to mention all the fabrics… sniff.)  I, of course, got sucked into the pattern sales.  Here is what I found:

Vogue 1132, I bought this for the skirt pattern, probably to use the plaid from my last post, though I have a red/black plaid that might be more suited.  I must confess that I love that jacket too, and I would love to make the complete suit someday.  It’s got a bit of that 70s vibe again, and I think I like it.

Vintage Vogue 1136.  Dress and jacket combo.  They had this made up in the magazine earlier this year, and it is cute, though I confess I would shorten the dress (I don’t do tea length.)  I’m mostly attracted to the jacket, which has some unusual detailing.

Vogue 8640.  High waist skirt and jacket.  Very Mad Men.  I love the retro vibe – this would make a great spring suit!

Mccalls 5843.  Again I am searching for a maxi dress I will wear.  This one isn’t super low cut, which I prefer.   I like the ruffle, and I could also see it a bit shorter (with the ruffle.)  I can imagine wearing this out to the coffee shop in the summer.

Back to the sewing – I’m trying to decide how to finish the seams, and once I get that worked out I’ll continue on the dress!