Hi! I’m Sarah, I blog over at colorkitten.com and I’ve been following Sew Retro for some time now! I love seeing everyone’s projects and the things everyone does to adapt vintage patterns.
I have been sewing for ages but haven’t sewn from vintage in a while. (Even though I have collected loads of vintage patterns over the years!) This year I decided that if I wanted to keep them, I had to start using them! And here’s the first project I have finished up:
It’s from this 1955 Butterick pattern (view B):
I would normally not have attempted such a tough pattern for a 4-year old who’s going to grow out of it quickly, but my daughter is firmly anti-jacket and we live in NY so…she really needs to wear a coat! I thought that if I let her have some input maybe she’d wear the result, and she wanted a red coat that “looked like a dress”. I assembled some patterns, and this is what she picked out. Gulp! It was hard going but the results were worth it — and the project was a success! She loves it and I think she’s actually going to wear it all winter. For the most part, I followed the original instructions (down to putting in mini shoulder pads) but one thing I did differently was to heavily interface the skirt part of the coat, since it’s actually designed to be worn over full skirts and petticoats which would have helped hold it out a lot. It helps a lot, although, when the coat actually is worn over a full-skirted dress and petticoat it looks amazing:
If you want to know more about the pattern and coat, you can read my blog entry, see more photos on flickr and check out the write up I did on Pattern Review!
I look forward to working through my vintage pattern collection and sharing the results!
♥ Sarah
What a beautiful coat (and the little girl is beautiful too). You did a great job and the effort is worth it. Merry Christmas.
Just gorgeous! I bet that she'll always remember her pretty coat!
What a perfect Christmas coat. Now you have to watch "Miracle On 34th Street" with her. (the old one):)
That is so darling! It is perfect on her, what a cutie! When I was a little kid I had a favorite formal coat that I loved so much, my mom made a second identical one when I outgrew it.
The coat is adorable!
This coat (and girl!) is absolutely adorable!
oh my word! so adorable!
The coat and your daughter are so cute! I loved sewing coats for my kids – from a pea coat for my sons to the Vogue military style coat to a Project Runway jacket last year. I look forward to seeing more projects of yours!
Even though your daughter will grow out of it quickly, it was well worth the effort! As she loves it and will wear it lots you will get full value for the time you invested.
Oh wow this is great! I just bought an almost identical pattern in adult size, I hope it turns out half as well! I will definitely use your tips to help me. Lovely lovely!
Thanks everyone! It's by far the most satisfying sewing I've ever done. Of course after a few years of sewing coats I may get sick of it..
Enken, I would love to see your pattern and how it turns out — I want a coat like this too!
That is completely darling…what a perfect winter coat!
What a wonderful coat! I can remember wearing coats that looked like this in the 1950's..
Hi ,
Merry Christmas and Happy New year 2010 ,
hugz,
Wanda
p.s,
me blog is;
http://www.wandar-wanda.blogspot.com
that is simply gorgeous! I want one for myself!!