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Blue Bow Dress (Simplicity 1207)

By MelissaO on July 8, 2015

Hi everyone, I wanted to share one of my recent (well, not too recent) makes with all of my fellow vintage sewing lovers. I’m calling this one the blue bow dress and I made it with one of my favorite vintage patterns: Simplicity 1207, from 1955 (see below).

The most challenging part about making this dress was definitely the piping on the yoke and sewing the area together properly- I think I ripped it out and started over about three times!

The fabric is a light blue chambray-type cotton which is really nice for a lightweight summer dress. I debated about lining it but ultimately opted not to. The bows are black grosgrain ribbon and I finished the edges off with some fray block.

I actually wore this dress for our engagement photos, which we took at Disneyland. Here’s my favorite one:

If you’d like to see more photos and info, here’s my post on my blog, Mint Green Sewing Machine.

-Melissa

8 Comments

1940s | Dresses | Vintage Sewing

1940’s Inspired Gray Chambray Shirtdress

By MelissaO on September 11, 2013

Hi friends! I wanted to share this project today that I made over a year ago. It’s a shirt dress I made as a project in a sewing class I took at my local community college. I based it on this 1940’s dress pattern in my collection, though I didn’t use the actual pattern:

As you can see, the envelope is in pretty rough shape! I fell in love with the cute diamond-shaped pocket detail.

The fabric is a gray cotton chambray. I also did some topstitching in yellow! For more pictures and info, check out my post here on my blog, Mint Green Sewing Machine.

Happy Wednesday!

-Melissa

8 Comments

1940s | Dresses | Vintage Sewing

Sew for Victory–Simplicity 4036 Chambray Shirtwaist Dress

By Becca on April 1, 2013

I made this dress for the Sew for Victory sew along challenge, hosted by Rochelle from Lucky Lucille.

I used a vintage pattern from the 1940s, Simplicity 4036. I had to make a lot of alterations to the pattern (it was two sizes too big and I always have a lot of fit issues anyway), but I’d say it was worth it.

The fabric is a vintage chambray that I picked up at a thrift store a while back for about $2. I made the buttons and the belt, using material I had left over from a previous reconstruction. It has little red cherries with navy and light blue stems and leaves.

If you’re interested, you can read more about it here.

13 Comments

1960s | Dresses | Vintage Sewing

Lampoon Dress

By threadsquare on April 19, 2012

I was recently asked to participate in a Simplicity Blog Hop, and chose 1913 as my first dress to stitch up and blog about. After a few false starts, from being unable to find my desired fabric to receiving the list of other participants and trying to predict their tastes (nobody wants to show up to the prom with the same dress!), I finally settled on this chambray. I recently confiscated it from my mom’s stash, along with the red bias tape, the turquoise metal zip (hand-picked), and the Yale blue lace hem tape (also hand-stitched). The only non-vintage item in this dress is the thread and hook (I’m going to re-work the thread bar, as it’s too large). I like to call the Project Runway line “choose your own adventure” patterns, because they include lots of variations & details you can throw at ’em. In the end, I simply went with the collar and added piping.

You can read more about my adventures in fitting this dress over on my blog. Lampoon, it was. Let’s just say that I think I’ve finally learned how to properly fit my curvy back. And to get armholes up where I prefer them to be. The first version was almost rude.

4 Comments