Butterick 9628 in orange.

Hey there fellow bloggers/blog aficionados!

So I finally finished sewing up the hem on a darling  sheath dress, which I made from butterick 9628. The pattern comes with pieces for a matching jacket, but I didn't bother making one. I made it from an orange silk material that is actually a polyester blend (easy washing!).

Boy did I have trouble with this pattern! One thing after another seemed to go wrong!
Firstly, and completely my own fault, I miscut the pattern pieces, which meant that I had to cut an entire new front bodice piece. Also, the pattern wasn't complete: It was missing a seam binding piece, and the neckline facings - I just made my own, but they  aren't as lovely as I hoped for.

So the fabric, though lovely, was extremely stretchy, and I had never sewed with stretchy material before. Boy was I in for a surprise! Most of my seams ended up quite puckered, and so did the zipper. :(

I didn't interface along the neckline or armscythes, even though there was a facing. I really should have. You can see in the back photo how the facing rides up - there seems to be nothing I can do about this, short of re-stitching, which frankly, I'm not willing to do.


Despite all of the things that went wrong, I think she still turned out quite wear-able. Here she is!:

Things I learned:

• Interface EVERYWHERE for this type of material: necklines, arm scythes, maybe even along the zipper.
• Do not sew the seam in which the zipper goes in, even if it says to do so in the instructions! Wait until the zipper has been inserted before sewing!
• Pin every 1/2 inches on slippery stretchy material
• Interface, interface, interface!
• A simple, rolled, machine stitched hem is bliss!
• Invisible zippers, even with an invisible zipper foot, are a pain! (but they look nice?)
• belts are a breeze! - I should make more!

Tulle - done!

As promised, here are pictures (finally!) of the tulle petticoat I've been not-so-diligently working on. The petticoat is actually a tad too large for my liking! I think - if I ever attempt petticoat making again - that next time I will make a more 'modern version' with a yoke perhaps.

Without the lining, the tulle really sticks to the insides of my dress. Everyone complains that it's terribly itchy to sit upon, but I don't find it to be so terrible. I haven't taken the gather stitching out yet, so it's not the loveliest looking, but sure is functional!

Anywho, here it is!

I paired it with the pink dress I made earlier, which you can read about  here.

Things I learned:

• Tulle is a pain to work with!
•  It's hard to pin, as the pins just fall through the netting. To counteract this I basted the layers together before I gathered.
• It's annoyingly stretchy! I wouldn't say terribly stretchy, but it does stretch a little.
• It's hard to mark lines  on - expected, it is just a net, but it made cutting difficult!
• zig-zag stitches holds the gathers in more comfortably!
• Wastebands need to be 4x the desired size, if I want to use it like double sided seam-tape. If not, 2x the size.

Updates when the linings made!

A few changes

Ok, so the main change is the layout - whoopie! It took me forever to figure out this CSS layout. I mean, I took a computer course here at the university for learning some of this stuff, but to be honest, it was sort of in one ear, out the other!
Well, for now I'm really enjoying the new look - but slightly worried it might be too much pastel. Can  you have too much pastel?

Also, I've been just so so busy. As a science student, I find that most of my time is occupied with school, especially with midterm exams coming up and such. But, I think I need to make time in my schedule to blog! It helps keep me sane - or at least, helps me keep what little sanity I have left!

So, here are a quick updates:
I've decided to change the focus of this blog up a bit. There are so many things about vintage that I love, not just the clothes, so I'm going to make this more of a 'vintage adventure' blog, rather than a 'vintage sewing adventure' blog - so stay tuned for the general sewing stuff, as well as Motion Picture reviews, and great vintage finds!

Talking about fashion: I've completed the tulle inside of my petticoat - I'll post up pictures sometime soon - and I'm  on to making the lining. In the meantime I've almost completed an orange-satin slip dress. Unfortunately, I didn't make a muslin, and the pattern has so much ease I feel as though it almost dwarfs me! I also had troubles with the stretchy type material - but that's for another post.

Well - I'm sure there is lots more, but that's all the time I have for tonight!

How did you get hooked on vintage?

So my question to you is, how did you get hooked on vintage?It's fairly clear to see that I'm definitely not as dedicated to vintage as some women, but then my adventures with vintage have just started. I think it's rather hard to pinpoint exactly when my fascination with vintage began, but there are a couple of events that were large contributors:

All in a days work

Wow, what a busy Friday. Maybe not for everyone, but certainly for me.

Today I got started on my new project, the petticoat. (Actually I got started very late last night). The fabric I'm using is tulle, and mine is 100% nylon. I'm not using any sort of conventional pattern, but I'm using a tutorial provided by Sugardale a.k.a Trista Roland found here. She makes really cute vintage-inspired clothing, and if you have a moment I would really suggest popping on by to have a look, both at her blog and at her etsy shop.

How do you do your seams?

We all want perfect, quality seams, so that the article of clothing we make looks great inside and out, and is durable - meaning no fraying seams! Well let's face it: leaving seams open (if not cut on the selvage) is bound to be a disaster, especially with the light woven fabrics that I love.

Princess-seamed, gathered dress

Just last week I completed the first sewing project I have dared lay my hands on in years (and without my mother's help at that!). Well, it wasn't a complete disaster, but the process was mightily frustrating. Was the finished product worth the hassle? Maybe, but the verdict is still out.