I'm Fully Aware How Tardy This Post Is (Halloween 2010)

So, I know that this post is over 2 weeks late, but I've been half-busy and mostly lazy. That may also have been the reason that, despite planning, I was still sewing my costume as I left for my weekend plans.

My last post was detailing my plans for my costume, and not long after that I actually made a muslin of the pattern I found - Vogue 8508. It was the only pattern I found that had a stand-up collar of the size that Altaira's was. (There were lots of costumes with close-to-the-neck stand-up collars, but only one that reached nearly to my shoulders.) I had also bought the fabric by that same time - a gold block trim to mimic the heavily studded areas and a gold satin flecked with glitter for the main fabric. It's not quite similar, but I wanted to make it work as best I could.

The original pattern is for a wide A-line dress, not a near skin-tight dress as the original was. Though I was going to work on truly altering the pattern, I ended up just sewing the shape in - pinning and marking where to make the shape into the dress and adding a zipper (which, by the way, I used far too little of) so that it would fit like a glove, all said and done. I also meant for the dress to be a little longer than it ended up being - though it's not as lewd as I thought it might be at its current length. It was quite a simple pattern to put together - raglan sleeves attached through the collar (or a facing, should you not need a huge stand-up collar) and some simple bust darts. In its original form, it's a pretty cute 60's-inspired dress.

Here is the final product!:



This is actually just about how I wore it - there is actually a long-sleeved gold shirt underneath, and I had mustard gold tights and those little flats. And, of course, I had curled my hair to emulate Anne Francis'.

I spent my Halloween weekend down in New York City with my friend Laura - going to interesting parties, carving pumpkins and having a grand old time. One of the best events was the Phantasmagorey brunch, hosted by Dances of Vice (whose Halloween event I attended last year.) It was most of a show than a party, but all of the performers were excellent. We showed up late, but did get to see the Ghost Train Orchestra and some great burlesque performers (including one on aerial silks!). We were in an awkward spot, up in a balcony, but it was an excellent show and there were so many wonderful costumes that I wish I could've gotten a better look at.

Though no one recognized my costume, I did get some knowing "oh!"s after mentioning who I was dressed up as. It was another great Halloween, full of excitement and good friends. I can only hope that they get better as time goes on.

at the Phantasmagorey brunch

Halloween is quickly approaching...

The decision for this year's Halloween costume was difficult for a long time - I still wanted to look fabulously vintage, but the only thing I could really think of was Judy Garland (while swilling liquor and downing placebos) - other thoughts came in and went out, but nothing really called to me.

Then, just a couple of weeks ago, I watched The Forbidden Planet and I saw it:



Anne Francis' gold dress! I wish I could get someone to be my Robby the Robot, but I think that's asking a bit much at this stage. I'll probably end up with a slightly longer dress (that one could end up a bit.. immodest, to put it kindly), but I can't wait to construct and wear this iconic sci-fi dress. (I'm such a sci-fi nerd, which you probably can't tell by the rest of the posts to this blog, so I can't wait to tell people about how I live on a different planet where monsters from your Id may come to kill you. If you haven't seen The Forbidden Planet, you probably definitely should!)

I'm a little slow on the uptake, so I'm going to go out and get my pattern today (just my luck, there's also a Vogue pattern sale going on this weekend, starting today!) and start cutting out a muslin to play with the construction. I'm using Vogue 8508, which was the only pattern I saw with the large, oval, stand-up collar the dress has (and I couldn't contemplate drafting), but I will have to do some major alterations to the body of the dress, as it's not a wide A-line style.

I can't wait to break out the sewing machine again! It's been far too long!

Advance 2709

Sorry I haven't been sewing! There's been lots of work going on at home, hence why I have only just finished hemming and photographing my newest creation, Advance 2709.

I love this pattern! Its set-in, diagonal pockets. Its six-gored skirt. The fact that it has a provision for just a shirt-waist dress as well as the full shirt dress. (I only had four buttons, so I went for the shirt-waist. Also, I hate making button holes but love shirt-waists, so... that's also a reason.)

From The Year 2050

The back of this dress has a nice yoke and gather detail and the sleeves came out quite puffy as well, which gives the dress almost a '40's style feel to the dress that looks far more '60s on the envelope. Perhaps this is also because of my height and the length that the dress ended up being. But I think this came out splendidly. I found this fabric, with its great pattern, on sale and I think this will end up being my go-to dress next summer. The fabric is really a quite thin cotton, but the fit is wonderful - it comes in close at the waist but it isn't uncomfortable.

Ah! I just can't get enough of it. I can see myself sewing this pattern again and again, but I'll probably take some length off if I make it in a solid.

Here are some more photos in a sort of natural-ish light, showing front and back.

From The Year 2050

Simplicity 3085

I decided to make a dress from one of the two patterns I won back in June, Simplicity 3085. I found an old plaid that I'd bought a while ago and thought that it would go really well with the general design of this dress.

From The Year 2050

It ended up being a bit big on me, as the pattern was for a bust 35, but it's kind of like having a comfortable house dress instead of a totally fashionable day dress. It still has a really interesting look and is nice to wear around.

From The Year 2050

The only real problem I had in this dress - besides almost not having enough fabric and having to cut the collar in two pieces instead of on a fold - was the bottom part of the button detail. It's supposed to mirror the top where it just juts out slightly for the buttons, but the details were awkward and now it just kind of bunches up there. I couldn't get it to point like the top does, no matter how I tried. If I remake this, I'll try to figure out my own way of doing it instead of reading the directions exactly, as they were really quite confusing anyhow.

I also ran out of enough fabric to make the pockets, so I made it out of some leftover orange polka dot you might recognize. I like them, though. They make me feel kind of like I have the pockets of an old timey hobo. (I also originally put those in the waist seam backwards so that my hands would have to go backwards to sit in them. That was an easy fix.)

From The Year 2050

Through this project I've also become a more confident buttonhole-er and that's a very exciting possibility! I really like the fabric of this dress and I'll probably wear it out anyhow, just putting a belt around the waist to tighten it up. It was generally an enjoyable and simple dress to sew, except for that one teeny detail. There's pleating above and below the waist and I think it's generally a very pretty pattern.

Butterick 5032

Home from my recent vacation and I was itching to get sewing again. I had already cut the fabric for everything but the facings before I left, but we took the machine in for servicing so I couldn't start sewing.

I was excited to see how this wiggle-style dress would turn out - I thought it might be nice to have a slimmer dress in my wardrobe and I thought that it was one of the few patterns that the "running eighths" style fabric would work with.

From The Year 2050

Knowing the danger of modern patterns (this is one of the modern reprints of older Butterick patterns) I checked the measurements on the tissue and, lo-and-behold, I had to cut it a size smaller. I probably could've gone down another size on the top of the pattern - it does gap a bit around the top, tending to be more on the back.

From The Year 2050

I only noticed it as I was sewing the top and bottom together, but I had cut the whole top on the same four patterns of the running eighths and the bottom on all eight. Therefore, the whole front matches, but the back doesn't. I still think it makes a nice effect and I matched the lines dividing the patterns almost perfectly, so the effect isn't as bad as it might've been. (Also, I need to iron it.)

Overall, I really like the outcome of the pattern. It turned out a bit long on me (maybe I just have a taste for shorter skirts, but down to mid-calf is not very appealing on the petite figure) so the kick pleat in the back is a bit useless, but I think it's quite a flattering pattern. The front pleats on the skirt section are new to me, but I kind of like them. When holding the partially-finished top to myself, I thought the neckline was a bit high, but it's actually not too bad. I am a fan of the square neckline and I find the neckline on the back to be very flattering, probably on many people. I'd probably sew this again if I need another wiggle-style dress!

Vogue 2962

Another of my older dresses, Vogue 2962, is one of my favorites. A challenge that definitely paid off.

From The Year 2050

I originally saw the skirt fabric at Jo-Ann's and fell in love. I remembered this pattern, having just recently bought it, and decided it would make a great skirt. I did eventually have to go back for more (this pattern doesn't think you'll be using a border print - which this is) for the giant 5+ yards in the skirt. The top is a heavier cotton than the skirt.

From The Year 2050

Not shown here, but the top button is actually a small rose, to correspond to those in the skirt. These buttons and loops were the worst part of the dress - I kept sewing the loops in the wrong place or some of them were stitched down really awkwardly or too tight and I had to redo them probably 4 or 5 times. (Sometimes I can be really bad at spacial things, like where closures go and the logistics of them.) I knew that these were the buttons I wanted - shank buttons that were glossy and shiny and white.

The only alteration I made - besides the length (which, with Vogue, must be for models as I always seem to take like 9" for my being 5'1") was tightening of the bodice panel. It fits more like the pattern image now and feels better all around.

I may end up making this again, but probably not for a long while, and not until a fabric calls out to me again like this one did.

The only qualm I have about it is that it's pretty hard to wear a bra with as the back of the bodice is a bit low and shows the whole back of a bra. It's a lined bodice, but still, sometimes it can be a bit awkward. But the adjusted fit around the middle, the huge skirt and the halter top are so great and Seven-Year-Itch-y! I just love it. (I didn't wear it on the Fourth of July, but I do like to refer to it as my America dress as it's red, white and blue.)

Butterick 4513

Another of Butterick's retro reprints, and this time from 1957, it's Butterick 4513! This was one of my first sewing projects after getting back into sewing, probably actually the second one after Vogue 2267.

From The Year 2050

Despite my unfounded hatred of elastic, I like this dress. Instead of any zippers or buttons or any of those crazy doo-dads, it just has elastic in the back waist to fit it to your body. It's nice to be able to just pull it over my head, but I do prefer the more fitted look of more stern closures.

I made the same view everyone makes - the one with only one line of bias across instead of the two where you have to perfectly line it up within your straps. Too complicated for a then-novice. I also forgot to put pockets in this one, which is a tradgedy because every dress should have at least one pocket, at least to me. I did, however, make a matching bag with the left over fabric from a pattern at Belle Epoque. (Here's a link, it's called the "Bias Tape Tote." Thought it would be a good way to use that spare bias tape!)

From The Year 2050

Overall, I do like the dress. It has the joyful swing of a circle skirt to it and is easy to wear. You can also adjust the straps, which I prefer not to do as I fear not tying them tightly enough and then coming undone at the most awkward of moments.

It's made from a light green quilter's cotton with a kind of crackle pattern on it.

Butterick 4919

This continues a short series of projects I've had finished for a while but am only just getting around to blogging. (I've actually only just finished fixing the hem, which was an atrocity of shortening and not properly measuring. If you're going to shorten always measure and then measure again!!)

From The Year 2050

This is Butterick 4919, one of the recent "retro reprints" that Butterick was doing. Originally from 1952, it's been redone for modern sizing and such.

I really enjoy the waist/tie detail on this dress, though it is a bit awkward to figure out which piece goes over the other in the back. It's nice to have something that you can make as fitted or loose as you want and you can always change it if you eat that giant Thanksgiving meal or something.

I really like the fabric, but I'm a sucker for over-the-top things and the color orange. The fabric just called out to me from the shelf and I knew I had to make something grand with it, so I remembered this pattern and the rest was history!

The only real problem I recall with it was my attempt at shortening which left certain parts very long and others very short. Now it's a little bit below the knee and I think it's a good length for this style of dress. The only other thing I can remember is that I put the hooks and eyes on half-backward at first so they closed in a really bizarre way, but that was an easy fix. The front straps actually have little pleats in them (I don't remember if the pattern just calls for gathering or for pleats, but I did it this way) and they're a really nice detail.

I might make it again, who knows, but I'd like to somehow alter the way the sash goes around the front so it's more sleek.

Simplicity 5006, or the rite of passage of every vintage sewer

I've done it. Using the modern Simplicity 5006, I've made a crinoline. And it was all the horrors of netting snagging on itself and figuring out how to gather the giant skirt (machine gathering worked far better than hand-gathering). But, now it's done! I'm so excited to finally have one!

The finished product.. almost

Instead of shelling out anywhere from $25 to $50 (I know, not that much of an expense..) I bought 5 yards of bright orange netting from Jo-Ann's, on sale for only $1 a yard, and some left over muslin for the yoke, and made myself a crinoline.

It's taken a frustrating day and half - the netting constantly catching on itself, gathering and regathering, and having to do that for two layers. I looked at the instructions and understood them, but I followed what I saw as the best course of putting it together anyway. The wrong sides are facing one another so that the netting doesn't snatch at my dresses or any slips I'd want to wear (and hopefully won't bother my skin as much, either.)

Well, here's what happens when you take a normal dress [Vogue 2902, Christmas editon] (left) and put a crinoline under it (right):

It's like retro magic!

I still have to bias tape the edges and cut it a little shorter so it doesn't poke out from under my dresses quite so much, but I'm so excited!!

Simplicity 1325

The other day I finally finished my most recent project: Simplicity 1325.

I was really excited to get this pattern when I did - it was on sale on eBay for only $1! I made the view with long pants and I was hoping for long sleeves, but I laid the pieces out wrong and ended up with only enough fabric for short ones. I'm alright with that, though, and I think they still look great. It's probably more comfortable this way, anyhow, with the lightness of the broadcloth I made them in.

From The Year 2050

The pants come up to the waist and have a button closure on the left - a very vintage detail. The waistband is slim itself and the closure end has a point to it, which I find to be a really nice touch.

From The Year 2050

Though the short sleeved top didn't have the bias tape detail on the collar or sleeves, I really like the look of it so I added it anyway. The collar is a bit of a mess - I haven't made one like this before, where you cover the edge where the collar joins the body with the top part of the collar. It didn't turn out too well

From The Year 2050

As you can see in this photo, the pockets and bias detail are actually straight when one's hands aren't in them. The pants came out at a really complementary length and the pleating is really nice. I used white thread throughout the project (though I strangely don't have much and kept almost running out) so there's that slight repeat to the contrast of the white of the bias tape against the green. I also altered the position of the buttons because the collar didn't come out quite right and I wanted to make sure I could unbutton the top button or two (well, where they would've been) to breathe and it wouldn't look lewd.

Once I figure out how better to sew these kind of collars, I'd be happy to make this again. I just love the retro styling and the bias detail. It's so kitschy and you just can't find it nowadays! I'd give it a 8.5/10.

Vogue 2267

Vogue 2267 or, "Why yes I do have five dresses made from the same pattern."


(And a cat.) Count 'em and weep. The top one was actually my very first sewing project not done in middle school. I, for some reason, like to get very ahead of myself so I decided to make a dress with princess seams, a zipper and two pockets (one of which is actually on the zipper). It actually came out really well and I still like and and wear it. I put the inside belt on this one, so it's not very good for eating in, but it does look and feel good otherwise.

The other four have a more interesting story. Last summer, I took a service learning trip to Ghana in West Africa. They told us that the culture there was very strict and girls were expected to wear skirts or dresses everyday. So, I remembered this great pattern (as I'd had a lot of trouble finding modest dresses that would hide my bust in mainstream stores) and how good it looked and its pockets. I'd made several dresses between my first and these and was able to whip them all up in about a week and a half. Made of quilter's cottons, I made them in four different colors so I'd have some versatility and wouldn't get bored. They all have very small patterns and I still wear those, too.

(On the teal one, you might notice that it's discolored - that's because I got into a mudfight with it on and didn't wash it out right away. I don't know how much better it would've come out if I did. Oh well.)

Here they are, the parade of champions. (The first two are the same dress - the first one I made.)

From The Year 2050

From The Year 2050

From The Year 2050

This is a pattern I'd suggest to pretty much anyone. It's probably better for more advanced sewers, but with careful instruction reading and learning what those weird terms are, even beginning sewers can be proud of this dress. The square front and back necklines I find really pretty and the pockets are always a welcome edition to a dress in my book. Though I'm sure it would look much better with a thin crinoline, it still looks great without one. It's comfortable (especially without that inner belt - unless you're really really true to measurements) and flattering.

I'd give it a 10 out of 10 every time.

Simplicty 5030

Last night, I finished yet another project (I'm just whippin' 'em out, I know) - Simplicity 5030.

I made view 3, with the Peter Pan collar and short sleeves. I just ordered the pattern online last week and was anxious to make my very first blouse, so I bought the fabric in the meantime. It came together so quickly, probably partially because it's very similar to the shirtdress I just finished.

I shortened the sleeves the way I was instructed to (as I have just finished doing on my yellow shirt dress) and they look really nice. I'm calling it my "grandma shirt" because of the floral print and the older cut. I think I'll probably remake this pattern several times in more neutral or hip patterns to avoid the "grandma" thing.

I'm looking at my next adventure in sewing - it may be a matching shirt/skirt or perhaps some pajamas or even another shirtdress. Only time will tell!

Simplicity 3486

This is the dress I finished last night:

I used Simplicity 3486, a vintage pattern from the late 50's/early 60's. It came together easily, even with the box pleats and pocket (I'd never made a pocket before.) I messed up on some of the pleats in front, and there's one missing on the right side, where I'm going to add a larger pocket to correspond to the breast pocket. I haven't decided yet how or if I'm going to hem or roll the sleeves, as they're meant to be much shorter.
The waist is tight, the button placement is good and I'm really pleased with the overall result. The broadcloth I used is a little thin, but I really enjoy the color. It only took me two days from start to finish and I'm really excited to wear it around. I found some great vintage-looking buttons which really completed the look for me.

Butterick 4790 aka "The Walk-Away Dress"

Today, I'm showcasing my version of Butterick 4790, the "walk-away dress". I used the reprint of the 1952 pattern. I think I may have cut it a size or two smaller than my size shown, based on the measurements listed on the pattern. It's a little tight around the waist, but that's okay.

I bought the space alien fabric a while ago and had decided I wanted to make it some kind of lining, with the outside being fabric that resembled space. I found one that was flecked with glitter, but the simple black taffeta looks better with it, I think. Even though you're only supposed to edge part of it in bias tape, I did the whole thing with alien-green bias tape (which took somewhere from 3 to 5 packages, I don't quite remember) and I think it adds a nice touch.

This was my first time working with taffeta, and I really love the way that it holds its shape so well. Even without a crinoline, you still get that full effect in the skirt. I think that the final product is out-of-this-world, if you'll pardon the pun.

Vogue 2903

Today, I decided to get a little fancy, so I did my hair up and put on one of my Vintage Vogue reprint creations, V2903.



This dress came out pretty well, but wearing it I realize that the sizing of it seems to be a bit more "vanity sized" than other Vogue patterns I've made, which can be painfully true-to-size. The shoulders are large and it is generally big on me, despite that I made it in the size that should fit my measurements. (The shoulders are especially difficult as the neckine is very open and they keep slipping off of me.)

I really do like the dress, it has a nice retro look to it - especially with all the accessories. Though I was intimidated by it (and its huge amount of fabric) at first, it wasn't that complex and I found it a fairly easy sewing job. The back zipper is somewhat oddly set in the middle of the back rather than opening all the way at the top of the back seam and I forgot to put pockets into this one.

Overall, I enjoy it and would probably rate it an 8/10. I'll have to remake it a size smaller and see how much I like it then.



[I pincurled my hair overnight and am wearing jade earrings, a vintage pearl two-strand necklace and a braided brown belt to cinch the waist.]