Can I start by saying I’m loving the new Sew Retro vintage sewing patterns board over at Pinterest?!

Without it, this dress would never have existed… 😉

You see, I recently was cruising around on Pinterest & found this pattern on the Sew Retro board;

And I thought that dress would be perfect to make & wear to a friend’s wedding. So that’s what I decided to do. It was all a bit last minute, but it worked out in the end.

Unfortunately I didn’t have a copy of Vogue 9061 on hand. But it wasn’t to hard to modify the pattern for a simple shift dress (I used Vogue V8146) & turn it into this pattern. I posted some basic instructions for how I did this on my blog, Orchids in May.

The fabric I used was from my husband’s late grandmother’s fabric collection. It’s a Thai silk that I think she brought back from Thailand many many years ago. Despite the age, the colour of the fabric is brilliant – the photos don’t do it justice. I don’t know if it was the age of the fabric but it was really fragile & a little tricky to sew with. I ended up using a Hong Kong finish on all of the seams because I was petrified of it just unravelling before my eyes.

I’m really happy with how this dress turned out. I’m still thinking of making some changes to the bow at the back – at the moment it looks a little limp, but otherwise I’m pretty happy.