This post is all the behind-the-scenes details of my latest me-made project, which I recently featured in an outfit post ~ My Fall Fancies Dress.
I started this dress in February with an vintage Advance 9785 shirtwaist dress pattern I got off Etsy and some vintage thrifted cotton. I think the Advance is late 1950s – early 1960s? I’m not 100% sure, but I thought it was pretty anyway.
I had to tackle a few new skills with this pattern ~ doing to an FBA on a kimono sleeve bodice was just for starters. The dart ended up looking funny, so I just moved it to where I thought it should go and thankfully it worked!
I also had to try my hand at my first on-the-bias project, as the bodice was bias cut, and to make the layout trickier, I had to pattern/stripe match as well! This meant that it took me THREE hours just to cut out the bodice, and I wasted a fair amount of fabric which led me to the conclusion that, although pretty, bias cuts aren’t necessarily worth it.
Buttonholes and pleating were also two new skills to me ~ and I have to say I adore my Bernina 860! It’s five step buttonhole program is the easiest, simplest way to do buttonholes and once I practised a few I just breezed through the three buttonholes on the dress’s bodice. I never thought I would say this, but ~ I love stitching buttonholes!
The pleats were relatively simple, and I am positively ecstatic with how they look! I think that they suit my figure far better than gathers, so I know I will be trying these again.
Of course, although I like the original pattern, I still made an alteration and took out the buttons/facing strip down the front of the skirt. I think my reasoning for that was that the bodice buttonholes were scary enough without having to do more! Plus, I find button-down skirts annoying. They tend to pop open a lot on me for some reason.
I had trouble with the collar/neck facing and end up tacking and sewing that down in about a hundred different ways/places, as well as the collar being a pain to put on. I had to re-apply it and rip it out at least three times, but even though the inside is a little messy, you can’t tell from the outside, which is good. I guess these things just take practise.
All these new challenges meant I did a lot of stop/start sewing; sometimes leaving the dress for weeks until I could summon up the courage and the time to pick it up again.
However, the thing that I am most proud of with this project is how perfectly my seams match! The centre back seam and the shoulder seams are spot on and I love how the front facing has that lovely ‘bridge’ between the two front chevron-stripes. Pattern matching is fiddley and time-consuming, but oh, so satisfying when it comes out right!
~ Project Details ~
Year: Late 1950s – early 1960s
Pattern: Advance 9785
Fabric: About 6 yards/5.5 metres of thrifted cotton doona cover {$9.00} ~ this is one fabric eating pattern!
Notions: Three buttons {$3.00}
Time to complete: I have no idea…
Make/Wear again? Definitely wear again!! I am really happy with how it came out: I love the fit, the style and the fabric. However, I am not so sure that I’ll make the pattern up again. I’m thinking that once was enough. Although, I do love the skirt, so it does seem likely that I might use that part of the pattern again.
Total Cost: $25.00 including the pattern
xox,
bonita
P.S. ~ For more posts, outfits, tutorials and more, please visit my blog Depict This! I hope to see you there soon!! ^ω ^
