And it's a wrap!

And with that incredibly unoriginal title, today I have a Sew Over It ultimate wrap dress to show you.  I was given this pattern, along with the vintage shirt dress for Christmas 2015 and I really don't know why it took me so long to get round to making it!

This is actually my second version of this dress. I made my first version back in May. Any of you who follow me on Instagram may have spotted it in my me-made-may photos. However I just didn't love this version, the neckline was too wide, leaving my bra straps on show and making it seriously boob-y. I also felt the fabric made me look a bit like Minnie Mouse! In my recent moving house clear out, it got donated to the charity shop. I always kind of hope that I'll spot someone in my local area wearing one of my me-mades that I've donated. Anyone had this experience? 

On my previous version I'd lengthened the bodice but on this one I brought the neckline in by about an inch and a half on each side and then gradually tapered it down to the waist. I also obviously added a lot of length as I've been dreaming of creating a wrap maxi dress all summer. 

I used a light weight cotton jersey from Girl Charlee. Although it's quite thin, it didn't do that irritating curling at the edges thing that some thin jerseys do. I also love this print. Construction was pretty straightforward. I used my overlocker for a lot of it and the rest on my sewing machine. This is one of the first garments I've made since getting my new walking foot for my sewing machine and it's made such a difference. I'm really pleased with how all the stitching has turned out. 

I've got the boob coverage sorted but I think if I was going to make another maxi version, I'd probably widen the skirt pieces at the bottom as I flash my legs all the time.  Flashing my calves to the world is not exactly a problem but I think it would sit a bit better with slightly wider skirt panels. Ideally I would have made it a little longer too, however, I did not have enough fabric to make any of these changes on this version , there were only minuscule pieces left once I had cut it out.  Anyway, while it's far from perfect but I'm really pleased with it. 

I wore it on a super geeky trip to Friends-Fest recently and it turns out its perfect for jumping in and there were no flashing issues-perfect!

An unusual vintage make

I'm squeezing in another vintage make before the end of the year.  I've been really enjoying making clothes from vintage patterns this year and this is now my eighth vintage make of 2016.  I've far outstripped my pledge.

I bought the pattern in a charity shop earlier in the year and the price of 75p is still attached.  However, I've forgotten where I picked it up.  It's an unusual pattern, the Wikia entry tells me its from the early 1960s. This means that in addition to sewing up 8 of my vintage patterns, I have also covered three decades with these patterns.  This was my only pattern from the 60s, one was from the 80s and the rest were from my beloved 70s.

The pattern is meant for knit fabrics and is the oldest knit fabric pattern that I've ever seen.  However.I found some of the construction details a little odd, as it uses darts and facings and suggests a zipper closure in the back.  This maybe because I've previously only used more modern knit patterns.  I was wondering if it was because knit fabrics were relatively new back in the early 60s so the patterns were still adapting to the qualities of the fabric?  Let me know if you know better.

I used this cotton jersey from girl charlee and made up view B, with the fabulous cowl collar.  And I've only just realised that I've made up a very similar dress to the pattern art version, although I've got squares rather than flowers.  I mainly followed the instructions, although I omitted the zipper as the dress was roomy enough and had enough stretch to pull over my head.  There are no instructions about using zigzag stitches or adapting to the knit fabric in any way.  I don't know if this is because they assumed we knew to do this or because people didn't adapt to knits in the same way in the 1960s.  Anyway I treated it a bit like a woven, since I figured it wasn't going to be stretching much and so just used straight stitches.  I've worn this a lot since I made it and so far no stitches have popped out so hopefully this was an ok decision.

The dress is a little big on top, although it fits great on the bottom.  I guess that's the curse of one size patterns (and lazy people who avoid making adjustments where possible) but it's not too much of an issue and I quite like the slightly blousey effect when it's worn with a belt, which I always plan on doing as the total lack of waist is not a look I go for.

I love the collar on this dress. My favourite 70s patterns all have big collar details, maybe that's what drew me to this 1960s pattern.  I think this may be my favourite vintage pattern make of the year!

One week, one pattern

When Hannah announced that she would be running OWOP this year, I knew that I wanted to take part.  I'd loved taking part in 2014 when Jane hosted and I used the lady skater pattern.  This time I decided to use the SoZo Dolores dress and top pattern.  I already had 3 versions of the top made up, versions 1 and 2 can be seen here and I decided that this was the perfect excuse to give the dress a go.  I can knock versions of this up in a about an hour, so I reached for this blue and red rayon knit that I had in my stash and got stitching.  Scroll down for an exciting peek at it.

So how did my week turn out?

Day 1.  I spent most of the day in my peacock Dolores top before changing into some glad rags for a wedding.

Day 2.  After the wedding I went for a paddle on Margate beach in my yellow Dolores top.  The water was really pretty warm.

Day 3.  Peacock top again.  It was at this point that I realised that I was going to have a problem as a heat wave had hit London and 2 out of 4 of my possible makes for this week had long sleeves.

Day 4.  The hottest ever September day, I finally ventured out at about 7 to get a photo of my new dress.

Day 5.  I enjoyed the sunshine at my local lido, wearing my Sew over it ultimate shorts and yellow Dolores top to cycle down there.

Day 6.  I enjoyed the last of the summer sunshine again at the Lido and my dress was the perfect thing to throw on over the top of my swimsuit.

Day 7. The solution to my lack of hot weather apparel was obviously to make myself another Dolores top!  This one was on my to make list but just got bumped up the list rather speedily!  I bought this amazing stripey jersey when I was in Amsterdam.  I love the varying stripes and it feels like everyone should have a stripey top in the wardrobe and somehow I didn't have one yet.

How did you all get on with your one week, one pattern?  

I don't need a time machine, I'm recreating the 70s right here

I really have caught the 70s bug and despite, in my last 70s dress post, criticising original 70s garments for being made of synthetics I've now gone fabric authentic and created my own polyester 70s number.

That being said my polyester fabrics feel lovely. The black one is a yummy ponte from girl charlee and the tartan was donation from a friend of my mums. I've had the vision of a princess seamed dress using this tartan ever since I received it. I was tempted to buy the By hand London Sabrina dress after seeing this gorgeous version by Ooobop but in the end decided to use a pattern from my stash.

The pattern is Style 4588 which I used once before here. I made a few modifications; I added the same amount of length as last time, this pattern is really meant to be a tennis dress and apparently if you were playing tennis in the 1970s it was acceptable to flash your (matching) knickers! I didn't fancy the flutter sleeves which came with the pattern so used the sleeve pieces that came with a different vintage pattern in my stash, with a bit of rough and ready adjustment to for a slightly different sleeve head. I figured the ponte was going to be quite forgiving and it turns out I was right.  I didn't think the flutter sleeves would work with the slightly rock chick fabric combo. Although I'm not convinced that the puff sleeves work with that vibe either but this would probably bother me more if more rock chick credentials had ever been greater than zero!

 The first time I went out to get photos of this dress, it was so windy that the skirt blew around constantly and this was the best photo that we could get.  Instead we went to look at books on a barge with a band on top.  Add a coffee and that's a winning day out in my book.

What's your favourite style decade?  While I love styles from many different decades, the 70s are clearly winning in my wardrobe at the moment.