Floral Retro Wiggle

I had a wedding to attend in August and I really didn't feel like wearing any of my over-used wedding-appropriate dresses, so I decided it would be a good opportunity to try the Butterick 6582 reprint pattern. I used some lovely retro-y stretch cotton sateen that has a 50's style paint effect rose print in turquoise and magenta. I really loved this fabric when I saw in an Essex fabric shop last year, but I try to use secondhand or stashed fabrics so walked away from it. My mum, bless her, noticed my reaction to it and went back and bought a couple of metres and gave it to me for my birthday!

I can't give this pattern a fair review as I frankensteined it with a tried and true pattern which I had already perfected the fit of. But I can say that I'm really happy with the results, despite a couple of niggles which I am able to over look. It would be fun to make this pattern in an authentic vintage fabric from the era, but such fabric would be unlikely to contain any stretch content, and I can't imagine spending the whole day in a wiggle dress without stretch in it. Not when eating and dancing are required!

More more info and pics on this creation, please check this blog post.

Happy retro sewing people!

Zoe xxx

McCall's 6978 from 1963: Aka The Great Wiggle Dress Disaster of 2010

I'm trying to catch up on a backlog of projects that I haven't posted. The holidays got me really behind. If you want to know more about the Great Wiggle Dress Disaster of 2010, check out my blog Sew Sixties. Unfortunately, they can't all be winners. Or maybe they can, just not when I'm sewing (ha!).


Happy Holidays!
Astrid

Butterick 7245 (Dress)

The pattern:



My interpretation:



For the back view and thoughts, please visit my blog :)

Butterick 6063 (frankensteined)

Here's the pattern:



And the outcome:



Visit my blog for more photos and thoughts :)

Simplicity 1412

The pattern:



And the finished product:



I'd heard many good things about this pattern and I must say it really was great to work with.

Visit my blog for more pictures and information, some thoughts on soft pleats and a sneak peak of my next project :)

New patterns

Just a quickie to post 2 new patterns I purchased thru' Ebay. Not often Plus sized patterns like this come up!

I'm a Joan

Thanks, Anna, for all the Mad Men inspiration! I'm throwing my hat into the ring with this red silk satin sheath dress that I think Joan would have adored.

I made this recently as part of my ongoing quest to sew every pattern from a 1952 sewing book called Vogue's New Book for Better Sewing. This is the "after-five, slim sheath dress." As you can see, it was the project featured on the cover of the book, and I tried to replicate it as closely as possible.

The pattern I used is Vogue 7101, which is from the early 50s, but has an especially timeless look I think.

I wrote a lot about the construction of the dress here, so come by if you're interested!

Can't wait to see everyone's Mad Men-inspired looks!

Butterick 5032

Home from my recent vacation and I was itching to get sewing again. A running eighths wiggle dress? Sounds perfect. Easy to put together and a nice result, if I do say so myself.

From The Year 2050

Read more about it at The Year 2050.

Wiggle Dress in Floral & Greens

This is my fave pattern at the moment:


And here's some off shoots, both with vintage green material:





Some more piccies over on Veronica Darling's Crafty Adventures, but I'll be making more of this one soon. It's so easy, especially the one with sleeves.

More Simplicity 1412

So this time I made the dress & the jacket especially for my interview today. More information over at my blog, including a special guest appearance by Mao the cat...

Another Wiggle Dress from me!

Nice pattern hey!?



I'm a total fan of the wiggle dress, my best effort was a beautiful green floral dress I wore to a wedding.

Here's a little pic of my current dress, it's made from a yellow sheet!



More details on my blog, and it's been so great to see all your designs!