t’s with great satisfaction that I introduce you my new tailleur, jenas jacket and jeans skirt, that i sew by myself from a semplicity patterns from the ’60.
hope you like it!
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Hi all! This is my very first post here, I’m excited to be contributing. I’ve long admired the sewing talent and gorgeous projects I’ve seen posted here, so I thought I’d jump on in myself. I come from a family of seamstresses (grandmother, mom, aunt) but I didn’t learn to sew myself until I was in my 20s. Because of this, I’m pretty much 100% self taught (thanks, the internet!) Until recently, most of the things I created were done without patterns, because, basically, I was afraid of them. I just didn’t understand the jargon, and I tend to want to know how everything fits together before even starting, which I found difficult to do with patterns. Also, I’m super impatient and all those extra steps just plain put me off. Until recently I stuck mostly to aprons (which I sell in my Etsy shop) and simple skirts, most of which I designed myself.
But with a few years of sewing under my belt, I started to eye all the lovely retro repro patterns out there and dreamt of making them myself. I was feeling more confident in my abilities as well, and so after doing some research last fall I decided to start with the well known and “Very Easy” Walkaway Dress, Retro Butterick 4790. I’d read a lot of people had fitting issues, so I used Katrina’s fantastic sewalong and was thrilled with the results.
My hem is a bit wonky but it has since been fixed. 
More details on my blog here.
Since making my first real retro dress using a pattern, I’ve been slightly obsessed! I have a ton of patterns now I’m excited to try out, and have already made a few other dresses (including a tea length wedding dress for a friend!) so I hope to be posting about those dresses and more as I work my way through my pattern stash in the near future.
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Hello all!
Just when I thought I was making some serious dents in testing out my vintage patterns, this happens:
Happy Birthday to me indeed!
My friend’s mother found out I like to sew with vintage patterns and for my recent birthday, she sent me a box of patterns that belonged to an auntie that sewed all the time. There was one knitting pattern (which I passed along to Laura Mae over at Lilacs & Lace – LOVE HER!!!) and 67 sewing patterns. They included mens, womens, teens and kids from the 50s to the 80s. SCORE!
But I digress…
This post is about a cute little pattern I’m pretty sure I picked up from momspatterns.com. (She has some great stuff – go check her out.) Simplicity 3471.
Simplicity 3471
View 1 and 2 are the same dress with different styling. With both you can make the adorable bolero jacket and then either use extra fabric to make a matching belt, or the pattern comes with instructions for a cummerbund belt. I wanted a really casual summer dress and opted for no jacket. I may make the cummerbund at a later date in the same contrasting fabric I used for the facings.
Elephants, giraffes, warthogs and lady lions!
I found this fabric at a local fabric store last year. A friend of mine gave me a gift card for my birthday and of course I used it to buy fabric! This is a basic quilting cotton. The background is a mottled mixture of dark coral and light salmon with aubergine vines and animals. From far away the colour combination caught my eye and when I got closer the whimsy of the print made me just want it that much more! Perfect for a casual summer dress to walk the dog, run errands or sit on a patio.
The bodice for this pattern was the most cone shaped of any 50s pattern I’ve used to date. I needed to reshape the horizontal darts and reshape and lengthen the vertical darts. It’s still not perfect, but at least the bust points don’t sit an inch out from my actual bust point any more!
The zipper insertion was new to me. It called for a slash in the skirt piece, a facing sewn and turned and then a lapped zipper put in. For the most part, I prefer using invisible zippers whenever I can - I just prefer the clean look of no “flaps” to a lapped zipper. The skirt of this dress is quite full so I decided it wouldn’t be a big deal to just slash the skirt all the way to the hem, bind the edges and insert an invisible zip.
Now that I’ve made the bust adjustments, this dress could easily be made in a day. Here is the finished dress:
Sweet little sundress.
(That is my wee little house guest, Diefenbaker the elderly Jack Russell, photo-bombing the picture.)
My mother was taken with the bias work I was doing on my seams and she thought the inside deserved a picture as well, so here it is:
Contrast facing and Hug Snug finishing.
I should be starting on my “Pride & Prejudice & Zombies” dress next, but in that box of patterns above is that cute girls red dress with head scarf that may need my attention first…
Keep an eye out for what comes next!
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About a week ago I had this crazy idea. What if I made another half-circle skirt, but I made it fully reversible? Little did I know that it wouldn’t be as easy as I first thought when it popped into my head, but I made it work, and I think its pretty fab! I ended up having to use a separating zipper made for a coat, which was a challenge finding one the right color and length, but after that it was pretty smooth sailing!
The lighter fabric is not white- its actually a very pale pink with a tiny and delicate floral vines pattern all over it. The darker one, which I’m pretty sure you can see, its just pink scallops. I drafted the pattern myself, using the measurements kicked out by this awesome circle skirt calculator. My inspiration for this skirt is the one pictured here in this post from a week or two ago.
I look a fright, but I'm not one for wearing make-up when I'm just sitting home all day!
I was able to use up two fabrics I had a ton of in my stash that I had no idea what to do with (I originally intended a summer top but it never happened and I had accidentally ordered double the yardage I needed). I also made a matching (also fully reversible) purse to go with it. The purse is my own pattern design- its not vintage or even vintage inspired, but it goes with the skirt that is! LOL
I also made the button down shirt I am wearing in both photos a few weeks ago out of some other fabric I didn’t know what to do with. I’m really trying to pare down my stash this summer, both of fabrics and patterns, and have a lot of patterns listed for sale in my shop, mostly vintage.
You can see more about this fabulous skirt on my blog here.
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Word to the wise: our ‘whatever you want from the WeSewRetro shop‘ giveaway closes this Sunday so get your entry in now before you miss out.
Keep your eyes peeled for some fab new additions coming next week, including some luscious Vintage Vogues…
…and two new independent designers: Jamie Christina…
…and Violette Field Threads for the young’uns.
Good luck!
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I’ve been working on this early 60s coat for awhile and I finished the hand stitching this weekend.
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Initially it had a collar but I didn’t have enough fabric to make a full front facing so off came the collar!
The fit is similar to the 50s style car coats – it’s shapeless and only has 2 small darts at the back to stop it looking too sack like. The pattern I used was Butterick 2624 (1-2-3 Shift!)
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I started Simplicity 8126 yesterday but due to sewing when I was tired had to take it all apart and start again today. I’ve really wanted a great wrap around skirt so I was excited for this one!
So today after picking apart the whole thing, I finally had my skirt! It ended up looking better on my mannequin then on me. Not that it’s awful, but just a little too full of a skirt with the pleat also in it. I added a button hole in the waistband to pull one of the ties through. The instructions had them just crisscrossing in the back and I liked this way better, I think it comes out neater.
I like it but it’s not my favorite. I would maybe make it again but I think I’d rather have a less full wrap skirt without a pleat in the front. I still really love wrap skirts though! Read more about it Here!
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I swooned when I saw this dress over at ButchWax Vintage - it’s divine! It would be perfect for weddings, parties and picnics – every occasion, but such a tiny waist!
I knew I needed to make my own (modest) version if I was to ever sleep at night. So, here goes….
I used the Billie Jean Pattern, from Blue Ginger Doll – and drafted my own collar to suit.
The Billie Jean pattern comes together really easily, and i’m fairly sure i’d use it again as the base for other dresses. The size 16 ended up being the best size for me at a 39.5″ bust (it’s meant to have zero ease, but I found that too tight for this style).
I can’t wait to wear this dancing! (and excuse the headless photos, it’s way too early in the morning).
More details, as always, on the blog…
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Hello vintage lovers! I’m back with another dress from the marvelous book “Gertie’s New Book for Better Sewing” . This shirtwaist dress in 100% retro, and I am so in love with it. I used a linen with a bit of texture in it that has been in my stash for two years now, just waiting to be turned into a shirtdress. What is more useful than a shirtdress?! nothing.
To hear more of my shirtdress story head on over to my blog: ErikaMadeIt
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I have three cousins getting married in the next few months. Luckily, I am running out of cousins to marry off because I can barely keep up with the sewing.
I had to be realistic and accept that I had procrastinated too long and frittered away too much time on non-necessary projects, and I wouldn’t be able to complete a full dress for the first wedding. I’m old-fashioned enough that I feel a bit weird wearing black to weddings, especially summer weddings, but . . . oh, well. It was time to trot out the black skirts and settle for making a new blouse.
I picked one that looked comfortable but also looked like it couldn’t have too many fitting issues. Advance 4858 is from 1947 or 1948:
Classic postwar design: Extended shoulder line, long waist, big skirt.
The red flags were length (easily remedied; I always have to add length) and neckline (thin shoulders; boat necks and I do not get along. But necklines are also easily altered). I decided I’d switch to a back-button closure because I seem to be going through that kind of a phase (see the Simplicity 4727: Black sundress post below) and make the whole thing into a peplum blouse.
It didn’t need a lot of help–I lengthened it a little, closed up the neckline some, and changed the button opening, but the bodice itself was basically fine.
I completely winged it on the peplum: I drew a rectangle (two, actually, front and back) that matched the waist circumference, then slashed and fanned it out until it looked the way I wanted. And that was it.
In fact, it was so OK that I put the entire thing together without a hitch despite the fact that my copy of the pattern has no instruction sheet.
And here it is. Sorry, my hair won’t do anything. I live in braids.
The fit is a little blousy but I think that’s intentional. It also has massive shoulder pads. They look less ridiculous here than I thought they did, actually.
The necklace is a double-strand of faceted crystals that belonged to my grandmother.
Close-up of the back with the awesome huge iridescent plastic buttons:
The fabric is, as usual, cotton. I had originally chosen a purple stylized floral but then decided it was too funereal. It was also an out-of-print remnant and I didn’t think I had enough, and couldn’t get any more. I’m not wild about splattery magenta prints but at least it was happier. (Don’t get me wrong: I love me some funereal fabric, but it wasn’t my wedding, right?)
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