Jun 15 2009
sewing for me
Yes, I’ve still been working on the kiddos fourth of July outfits, but… I’m actually sewing for me! It all started with a butterick reprint of a vintage pattern B4790 I believe is the pattern number. If your lucky enough to have a Joanns store near you, you can pick this up for around $1 at one of their pattern sales. It’s truly a great pattern, and is very flattering. Unfortunetly for me, I’ve run into some obstacles with mine. First my fabric shrank so much that I didn’t quite have enough to make it around the bodice of my dress, so it looks a little odd but I can forgive that. Then I ran out of yellow (the base color in my dress) thread, and couldn’t finish the bias binding. I bought more the other night but have yet to finish my dress because I need to chop off, oh about 5″ in length from the skirt. Did I mention I’m short? Oh woe is me, why were vintage dresses made for women 5′ 5″ and taller? I’m 5′ 2″ and I have to lose a lot of fabric in length, which in hindsight could have made up those missing inches I needed in the waist. Oh well, next go ’round.
Then, the man and I are supposed to be in his best friends wedding party. While that’s an honor for us, it’s just not practical money wise. We live very simply, and have 3 kids. Their wedding is going to be quite extravagent and just getting there will cost us a pretty penny. So I’m going to bow out of the wedding, saving us the cost of a bridesmaid dress. What, you ask will I wear to the wedding then? Of course I’ll tell you! Besides youcanmakethis.com, my other favorite (and happy) place is etsy. So many great finds there, and vintage patterns are my new love… they just go hand in hand. I found this great 1948 evening gown pattern for $8 and snatched it up. I’m still searching for some fun and cheap practice fabric for the main part of the dress, but I can’t wait to start! Here’s a picture of that pattern
I absolutely love this pattern and can’t wait to make this dress. In the meantime, my sister in law is graduating and I needed a dress to wear (and build my confidence for the wedding dress), so I’m making this
I’m making view A, which is the front dress in brocade. I’m doing mine in a blue retro/pop fabric though. I’m also thinking of making a fabric headband to match, and hoping to get that June Cleaver look. I’m afraid though that it’ll give that childish look instead. What do you think? I did a mock up last night of the bodice for fitting purposes, and it came out pretty good. I did have to add an inch in the waist (it fit perfect) to accomodate for the full skirt that will be gathered to the bodice. And I had to shorten the shoulder seam to get rid of some of the excess bunch in the bust. Let’s face it, I’m not as endowed as the women in this era were. Well, I’m off to go dry my fabric so I can get started on the real deal, only 2 days to work on this bad boy!
