Sew Over It - 1940s Tea Dress

I completely forgot to post this one! This was my Spring for Cotton make, as mentioned here way back in April. I wrote some of this post before my laptop died and have only just remembered it....

I had been thinking about a 1940s style dress for a while and when Spring for Cotton came along it was the nudge I needed to buy a pattern. I couldn't find an original vintage pattern that I liked in time for the challenge, and having never sewn sewn from one before I decided to purchase the Sew Over It vintage style 1940s Tea Dress. I'm glad to say I did, because the style is just what I was after.

The fabric came from Stitch Fabrics, it's called Sea Shell Lawn. My sister bought tickets for a girly day at the Sewing for Pleasure & Fashion Embroidery & Stitch Show at the NEC in Birmingham in March. I got it then along with a few other lengths of fabrics. The fabric was really lovely to work with. Nice and crisp when it needs to be, but soft and not easily creased too.

I was a bit of a late comer to Spring for Cotton and although I initially didn't think I would actually finish on time, I surprised myself by being able to complete the dress (minus the hem and buttons on the front) with enough time to take a photo and post it to the Spring for Cotton flickr page on the last day of the challenge. Yay! I'm feeling really bad about not managing to post this now:-s

The alterations I made to the flat pattern didn't really take too much time once I'd made the first muslin of the bodice. I only made two bodice muslins and there were enough panels in the bodice to make any final fit alterations if there were any.

I made the first muslin cutting a size 12 at the bust and hips and grading to a 14 at the waist. After the first muslin I made the following adjustments:

• Hollow chest adjustment (a tuck of about 2cm along the neckline). But I think I would only do a 1cm tuck on the next dress as it pulls a little. 
• Lowered the centre front bust panel by 4cm. And took the same out of the lower bodice panels.
• Added an extra 2.5cm to the length at the shoulder (adjusting the facing with the above alterations.
• Moved the bust gathers more to the centre front, otherwise I had gathers where I didn't need them and it all looked very strange,
• Took 1.5cm out of the width of the front bodice from the middle of the shoulder down to the waist, not at the centre front (as the shoulder was a bit out too - yes, perhaps a 10 would have been better - I think I may go back to compare my altered pattern pieces to the size 10!).
• Altered the sleeve pattern to be a cap sleeve using the first half of Heather B's tutorial here.

After making the whole dress up I also made the following alterations:

• Took in the dress by 4cm at the centre back (as I was inserting the zip), grading out to the middle of the back bodice (which should remain a 12 on me) and taking more in at the skirt hem (9cm in total!). Perhaps I should have graded from a size 10 out to a 12 at the waist
• Hemmed the sleeves and skirt with black bias binding.

I enjoyed making the dress and felt confident in the adjustments I'd made. The instruction booklet was clear. I used the Sewalong pages too, which were helpful when I needed a bit more information. I knew how to put in the invisible zip and did it on the first go. Although I wish now that I had run down the zip one more time to get a bit closer and to get the zip a bit more invisible!

:-( Invisible zip, not so invisible

Hazard of taking your own blog photo's - trying to get yourself in the shot!!

I struggled a bit with the facing - especially the point on the 'V'. I think I aligned the centre front at just the edge of the fabric, and not with the seam line oops, I wont do that again! It was rather fiddly and had me cursing for a while. But it looks fine in these photo's.

The one thing I am really annoyed about is my decision to not pattern match the fabric. Because the fabric is busy, I thought I could get away with not matching it. With hindsight I see I should have definitely matched on the centre front of the bust panels. It just looks like I badly matched it rather than actually not bothering!

Tusk! no pattern matching going on here.

The idea with Spring for Cotton is to use 100% cotton fabric and to try to use 100% cotton, or vintage notions. Well, I managed with the fabric, but not so well with the zip and buttons. Although, maybe in the 'make do and mend' style of the 1940s I did reuse buttons from a ready to wear item which came with three spare buttons (very generous!), which I always collect in case I might need.

I love the idea of 1940s style, vintage and dresses. I'm not 100% confident about wearing this one. I do really like the dress on me. Maybe it's just not within my comfort zone and I will need to wear fitted dresses more often for me to feel comfortable in them...

I think I was twirling round, I wasn't falling over, honest!

Dahlia summer dress

A while ago (June!), I wrote that I would keep my blog more up to date with regular posts...What happened?! Well, mid-way through writing a new post my laptop died a horrible death and was never resurrected, that's what! Hmmm, obviously I still have that blog post, hanging about in my drafts, but my photo's were, stupidly, saved to the desktop and therefore lost.  The good news is that I have a new (to me) computer and desk (made by me and my husbands fair hands, no less!) and I've retaken the missing photos so I can start posting again. 

Whilst on my 'break', I only managed to make a couple of items of clothes because we've been busy with constructing a desk, upcycling other furniture, gardening, and trying to enjoy a bit of the summer! Then (playgroup) school was out for (7 whole weeks, we've still got 2 to go!) summer and my sewing time has almost vanished! I missed blogging a lot, so here's my first post after my 'break' - a Dahlia sun dress.

I love reading Heather's blog and I've followed her for a while on IG, so I was easily swayed into her Sundress Sew-a-long when it popped up in my IG feed! You still just have time to join in if you want to... I decided a summer dress was just thing I needed to make for my holiday in September.

I used the Colette Patterns Dahlia dress, which I have made before, but not the sun dress version. Unfortunately I haven't worn this sun dress yet because the summer hasn't really shown up! However, there was some sunshine this morning and I did get some photos done, although, I had to change into something warmer afterwards! It's COLD!

Dahlia Pattern. Image from Colettepatterns.com

OK, the pattern used mostly different pattern pieces for this version (2) of the dress. I think I prefer the skirt of version 1, which is three pieces, not six, and has some lovely gather details where the skirt and yoke meet. Not sure it would have worked for this fabric though, as it's not as drapey as the rayon I used for the version 1 dress. 

Alterations:
I re-drew the front and back bodice pattern pieces so that they would cover my bra straps. I made a muslin and adjusted on this and transferred my adjustments to the paper pattern after.

I lowered the neckline on the back bodice by 5cm. However, I didn't curve it enough - not sure this straight line across my back works on me! But it does cover (most of) the bra straps up!

I sewed the bias binding around the arm and neckline in a different order to the pattern. I decided to do it differently, because of the more angled join of the straps to the back bodice piece. However, I wouldn't do this again. I would redraw the curve of the back bodice neckline and then sew the bias as directed. This way the front straps won't gape (it's only a slight amount, but it matters to me!).

I lowered the the front pattern piece neckline by 1.5cm. Also, I feel like I have a long body, I'm not entirely sure if this is true (except that swimsuits never seem to have enough length in them!) Anyway, for this reason I thought it a good idea to add 2.5cm to the length of waist yoke. Looking at the photo's, I'm not convinced it works. Although it looks better than the muslin did according to my husband!

I cut a size 8 for the bodice, grading from an 8 to a 10 at the waist yoke, then a 10 at the top of the skirt to an 8 at the hips. I also took the skirt side seams in by 5cm at the hem. I just seemed to have some extra fabric, perhaps more than I like to wear, maybe I would only take 2.5cm out next time.  

Colette Patterns Dahlia Dress Version 2

Fabric:
It's from The Sewing Cafe in Hinckley. They don't sell on-line, but if you are local to Hinckley (Leicestershire), it's worth a visit as the service is excellent! It's a very floral cotton (maybe not 100%?) fabric, it feels like a lawn, but it also feels like it has a very slight horizontal stretch. Hmm, I love looking at it, but, I'm not sure it's entirely me. But I tried something different and I will wear it. I do love the shape of the dress and will probably be making another soon, maybe the top of version 2, bottom of version 1. I just need to find some 'me' fabric. Maybe a solid colour would work well and would let the gathers sing out. The fabric was lovely to work with and my bias binding was beautifully easy to make (just the sort of practice I needed).

Neckline detail

I overlocked my raw edges on my new overlocker! I made the purchase a few months ago and I'm still getting used to it. I do love how speedy I can sew up clothes now though!

I do really love our garden. We've worked hard to make this border this year. It still needs loads more plants in it, but we're chuffed with it so far!

I'm very much looking forward to wearing this in warming climes (Spain!)...before September I've got a bit more holiday sewing planned. I've nearly finished a skirt, maybe I will fit in something else, I'm not sure what though. Have you been sewing for a holiday or are you bypassing and beginning your autumnal sewing already?!!!