McCalls 4728 - 1942 summer dress

I started my New Years Resolutions off with a bang this year, by making 2 of the 12 garments I've set myself to finish in 2011. On New Years day, feeling not in the slightest but hungover and with nothing to do, I started sewing around midday and finished at 11. It's amazing how much you can achieve with solid, uninterupted sewing time!

This pattern is a direct copy of an original 1942 issue that I bought last year (annoyingly I can't remember where from, and I can't find it via google!).

**Edited to add - I found the pattern! www.pastpatterns.com**

It's a simple day dress with a 6 gore skirt and gathered blouse top. It has 3 buttons in the front with bound buttonholes and a side zip.
The pattern has been well copied and I found all the darts, circles and tacks in the right places, which was a relief as some features like the collar relied quite heavily on accurate placement.

The fabric was a cotton tana lawn that I picked up in John Lewis in the summer. I managed to find thread and a zip to exactly match the greenish blue shade and I used white plastic buttons.

This was my first attempt at bound buttonholes and I'm very pleased with how they came out!

As you can see, the top has darts on each shoulder and gathers top and bottom.

I think that the cotton I've used could be a little too heavy, and I think these could drape better, but they still give the fabulous 40s blousy effect.

The sleeves have these lovely darts round the top edge which give a very structured shape.

The pattern does show you how to make your own shoulder pads, but I didn't bother. There's also a belt to make with this but I don't have a buckle I can use yet, so I haven't started that yet.

All in all, good dress and nice pattern which I'll almost certainly sew again!

The other thing I ran up before bed (and finished off on the 2nd) was a gathered dirndl style skirt. I've been meaning to make this for ages and knew how quick and easy it would be, but needed the new year to kick me into action!

 I used Gertie's instructions for a gathered skirt, only I made the waistband with a tab and button at the top using the instructions from the simplicity 3688 skirt, which I know pretty well now!

Easy and pretty natty if I do say so myself! The fabric I used is an odd loose weave cotton (I think) so it's summer wear only, but it's nice to have some new items waiting in my cupboard for the good weather!

My next projects are a winter dress, lining a jacket I already have and possibly a second house dress. So much to sew, so little time!

Current Projects

I've finally got around to photographing what I'm working on at the moment, and boy do I have a lot of sewing on the go!

Project number 1 is this wrap top, made with a pattern from Decades of Style. It's recommended in a light fabric but #I've used a medium weight suiting so that I can wrap up in it for the winter. The pin tucks on the front have turned into small pleats but other than that it's worked fine. I've made bias binding to go around the whole top, which has been a right pain, but that's my last task to finish this top. I actually pinned it on last night so hopefully I can finish this tonight. Seeing as I started making it a year ago, I'm happy to be at the end!

Project number 2 is this suit. I bought it a little while ago because it's beautifully made and I love the fabric. Sadly, the lining was completely ripped and the zip on the skirt was faulty. I'm setting out to fix both of those issues and while I'm at it, I'm shifting the skirt about 1" up into the waistband to complete the work of the last owner. She'd moved the button on the skirt out by about 1/2" but hadn't done anything else, meaning that the zip wouldn't do all the way up and there was a gap between the top of the zip and the waistband. I'm moving the waist up enough to close the gap and replacing the zip while I'm at it. Hoping to get this done soon so I can wear it in the cooler weather.

 

Project 3 is actually done. Last night I replaced the ripped square in this quilt. It was made by a friend of my parents in the last 70s and has been mine since I was a child. It feels good to be using it in my own house! I used a scrap of fabric from project 4 to patch it. The close up is of one of my favourite squares - a fairy riding a bike!

Project 4 is a diversion from what I bought this pattern for. I'm planning to make the blouse and trousers for the Hepburn Hepburn sew along, but I decided I need a wool skirt urgently so I'm using some old wool fabric I had laying around to make the skirt first. I've cut the pieces out but that's all so far.

Project 5 is in a similar stage of completeness (i.e. cut out). It's gone on the back burner for now, being a summer dress, but I'm still going to press ahead with it for next spring. I'm going to have a go at making my first belt for this too.

I'm also going to make a house dress using the same pattern as my blue and white spot (photos of the finished article later) with this aeroplane fabric. I'm calling it my RAF dress and it's project 6.

Project 7 is a dirndl skirt made from a light wool black fabric. Quick but bottom of the list for now!

Also on my to-do list is sewing tape onto the curtains my Nan gave me for the bedroom and living room and a winter dress. I'll see if I can get around to posting my future projects later! I realise, of course, that while I'm blogging I could be finishing these projects, but I never was one for resisting distractions!

Sew much to get done

Well, John Lewis had a dissapointingly small selection of fabrics. I managed to find something for each of my projects I have in mind, but the quality and quantity wasn't what it used to be.
I thought sewing was supposed to be coming back into fashion!?
Like all things, I think the answer is 'go to London'. Think I'm going to have to plan a trip to the big city :)

The green crepe back satin is for the butterick dress, hopefully for Goodwood.

The centre fabric is a medium weight cotton, which I'm going to use for the shirtwaist dress above. The pattern is a copy of an original.

The black on the end is for my next attempt at a dirndl skirt. It's a wolly feeling cotton with a very nice drape.

Plenty for me to be getting on with! I'm finishing my blue spotty dress and hemming my black dress tonight and I'll crack on with the rest tomorrow. I usually don't bother with toiles, I'm too impatient to get onto the real sewing! I am going to mock up the top of the butterick dress though - it's very fitted round and under the bust and being larger than the average lady in that department, I think it needs a trial!

Model behaviour

So, it's the end of the weekend and I've had quite a good one.
On Saturday I went to a short photoshoot with two lovely local guys. They got some lovely shots and hopefully I'll be able to get them up in a couple of weeks when they've had time to process them.

I also finally made my dirndl skirt! I'm very pleased with it, although it could be about 1 inch longer, plus I sewed the button onto the wrong side of the waist band, so that it buttons up the other way. Otherwise, it's pretty good and I'm chuffed I managed to finish it so quickly.

I like the strawberry print, but the fabric is a bit thin, and see through! I'm thinking of getting some better quality fabric and sewing another one for best. Now I've made one I'm happy I could improve upon the design again.

I based what I did on this excellent guide from Gertie. If you're into sewing, her blog is well worth checking out.  Plus, I love her philosophical musings about fashion, body shapes and all sorts of other fascinating things!

My dress is nearly finished!



Despite cutting the wrong size out on the front pieces, I managed to
get the pieces to fit together and I think it's turned out fine

I just
need to do the button holes and sew on the buttons now! I'll post a
picture of me in it (if it fits!).



I'm also going to make a dirndl skirt
from cute strawberry pattern fabric I have. Hoping it'll turn out ok
because I'm not using a pattern!





My white 40s trousers from Vivien of Holloway arrived the other day,
they're snug but hopefully on my salad and exercise regime that should
be resolved pretty soon. I wore them to a car boot on Sunday with a
straw hat I picked up at a flea market a few months ago and they were fab. Will get a pic up asap.

I'm increasingly finding hats and headscarves are superb for dealing with
bad hair days, and are saving me hours in front of the mirror! My friend
Jamie (proprietor of the fabulous Gimme Shelter vintage shop in Bristol)
is picking me up some hair rats from the beauty wholesaler soon.
Looking forwards to my hair being long enough to do something with, I'm
just trying as hard as I can to grow it right now. Lots of long hair
thoughts! Resolved to use a Hollywood roll to solve my hair issues.
Curling it every morning is out of the question, so think that putting
it up in a roll, or plaits, is my best option. Just wish it would grow more quickly!


I've also found out why nothing's growing in one part of my garden... 8kg of cat!