I am about to embark on a project for a friend which has me making a 1970s double breasted blazer a la Don Cherry. The colour palette requested is based on the Cleveland Browns uniforms – orange and brown. Yup. Let that sink in for a second…
SOOOO…I decided I wanted to make something for myself before I threw myself into the Don Cherry project.
I picked up this pattern (Simplicity 8125) on eBay about three months ago and was having a bit of a difficult time finding fabric. I don’t know about you, but sometimes you just need to find the RIGHT fabric for a project. This one needed two fabrics! It was a lot more difficult than I thought it was going to be, but I digress.
According to the envelope this Simplicity pattern is from 1969. It is for a mod style REVERSIBLE! dress. How cute is that? Two dresses for the price of one!
Simplicity 8125
It took me a couple of months and a trip across the border to find two fabrics I liked. Confession here – it is a rare day that I don’t wear black – so I KNEW one side was going to have a black background. I was stumped on the second side. Most people would say – why not white and magenta? Good question. I have what people politely call alabaster skin tone. It is pale to the extreme and blue undertones which means I cannot wear white without looking like I’m dead. True story.
Here is what I was finally able to find:
On the left: Black and magenta dotted cotton batik. On the right: Light magenta with dark magenta squiggles.
Not too shabby right?
This dress was a breeze to sew up. The only alteration I had to make was to shorten the dress about 3 inches. The joys of being so short. It took me less time to sew up this dress then it did to cut it out.
Here are the results:
The light side.
The dark side.
This dress is much cuter on a real person – my Judy doesn’t do it justice, but it’s been raining most of the weekend and I couldn’t bring myself to fake a cheery shoot! Maybe when the weather gets better I’ll post another picture. Fingers crossed that summer comes to Vancouver, BC!
-girliefrank-
This post was written by...
girliefrank – who has written 8 posts on WeSewRetro.com.
I live in beautiful Vancouver, BC (Canada) and have been sewing for almost 30 years (eek!) My grandmother put my first "real" sewing project in my hands when I was about 8 years old - a counted cross stitch - to ensure my hand sewing was up to par before I was allowed to use a machine. I have recently "retired" and while learning to be a haus frau for my almost vegan hubby and my four-legged Parson Terrier son, I have had a chance to get back to sewing! I hope to be able to share some of my work with you on a fairly regular basis!
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
Absolutely brilliant! I love the colours you chose! The dress looks fantastic!
Thanks Debi!
Great idea to make a reversible dress so you can suit your mood.