I vaguely remember my mother wearing the pant suit version of this pattern, so it must be from the early '70s.
I cut it out months ago, but I have only finished sewing it this last week. The warmer weather removed my enthusiasm for wearing corduroy, but a slight cold snap spurred me on again.
The dress has princess seamed with a v-neck and seamed above the waist front panel.
The dress was easily assembled but the inverted 'V' of the bodice gave me pause, and, with typical introvert behaviour, I thought about just how to achieve a definite bodice point for far too long. I should learn to do something and then, if it doesn't work, ponder why. I might get more done that way.
I think the dress looks better IRL than in the pictures, and it could be because all the pictures, save the very first one, were taken at the end of the day when I was all rumpled.
As with many patterns, the sleeve heads are too large resulting in
puckering around the arm hole seams. I managed to steam the worst of the wrinkles away, but if I make the dress again, I'll
definitely reduce their size.
I inserted a back zip, but later removed it as I can pull the dress off over my head without the use of the zipper.
The facings and pockets (not included in the original pattern but I like pockets) are made from cotton remnants from the stash as I thought self facings and pockets would be too bulky.
I'm rather pleased with how this turned out as I had to make no fitting adjustments at all. It's amazing how the way patterns fit changes over the years. The pieces were all well marked and other than the overly large sleeve heads, (that I knew would be just from looking at them, and should have trimmed) everything went together very well. I hope all my other vintage experiments are this successful.
Beautiful dress and thanks for the review. I have been watching this pattern on eBay as I think it is a great style. Really nice to see it made up. I like the contrasting pocket linings.
ReplyDeleteThank you.
DeleteIt was definitely easy to sew, except the poufy sleeve heads. Lessons learned.
Ahh! You blogged about it! Beautiful. I know what you mean about things looking better in real life than in photos. I can tell from the photo with your arm extended, where the wale of the corduroy is visible that that is true. The texture makes a difference, as well as the fine point of the v. Lovely work and lovely colour.
ReplyDeleteIt's funny - I am a classic introvert and for ages I worked with another economist who was an extreme extrovert. I used to take too much time thinking about how I was going to program something and digging into the data, and he would do things really quickly and then have to show and tell every ten minutes what he had done. I was often ready to kill him. Over time though, I learned that I had to just do things and get them out the door (while still maintaining some of my careful pruning and thinking), and he learned to respect the fact that I would pick up the superficial mistakes he made because he was rushing through things. Both personality types have strengths, and it sure is difficult to adapt one's natural inclination.
Thank you. I like the dress but I may redo the sleeves come fall. I am by no means a perfectionist but the puckering around the sleeve heads irritates me to no end. Sewaholic's Oakridge sleeves were a joy to insert into the blouse so I'm going to take the sleeves out and recut both the arm hole and the sleeve head.
DeleteI work with a number of introverts and I'm amazed at the differences and similarities between us. People are amazed when I tell them I am very introverted because I am so...decisive... at work. (I also have a 'lead, follow, or get out the way' mentality because people who dither drive me crazy when we constantly have such tight deadlines.) Thankfully we all compliment each other and get along well.