The Making of a Prom Dress

I was actually quite nervous as I waited for Jess to try on her Prom Dress this morning.  This is the first time I've been asked, or commissioned I guess, to make something, for someone, for a special occasion.  Prom, no less.

To see the making of this Prom Dress, find me at Stitch me Softly...

ORANGE you jealous of my retro mod dress??

Orange is such a vibrant, happy, summery color... check out this awesome mod fabric and the dress I created with it using vintage Butterick pattern 5913. More on my blog, Just Five Minutes More.

Hi! The Sookie dress

Hi everyone! This is my first Sew Retro post. I am a fairly beginner sewer, I have been sewing for about 6 months now. I sew clothes for me and occasionally friends (though they have to be very patient as it takes me a long time to finish things!). I have a blog over at http://monkeysockslearnstosew.blogspot.com/.

Sew Retro was one of the first blogs I found when I started looking, and I was so inspired I immediately went and bought loads of vintage patterns off ebay, even though I was pretty much incapable of sewing them at the time! I can safely say that I have never had much difficulty sewing them, even the unprinted ones, the main problem is generally my need to alter them all to fit me. sigh.

After a couple of variable results, I finally got round to sewing the sort of dress that I wanted to learn how to sew in order to make-a 60s super fitted shift dress. I was inspired by the weekly challenge on Sew Weekly, to base something on a television character, and, as it was suddenly very summery, I went for a flowery sundress inspired by Sookie on Trueblood.

I used Butterick 2434, which is a fitted jumper (not sure what exact year) and made view c.

I had to alter it a bit with a slightly bodged FBA (eventually just fiddling about with my dressform) but overall it came out quite like the picture and worked very well.

Here is me posing in a graveyard for full vampire effect (except that it was a very sunny and cheerful graveyard!). I think its one of my favourite things I have ever made! More details on my blog.

Hi from Erica at Recycled Fashion

Hi everyone, I'm Erica, from Melbourne, Australia. I am delighted to be part of Sew Retro. I only started sewing last year, but now that I have started, I find it very addictive.

I have always been a fan of second hand and vintage fashion, which I write about on my blog Recycled Fashion. Sewing has opened the door to another world of fashion, and of course op-shopping, which now involves hunting through patterns and fabric, not just clothing racks.

I am also one of the editors of Refashion Co-op, a worldwide collaborative blog to showcase refashioned clothing projects and share techniques.

Two garments I have made using vintage patterns so far are..

1. 1960's dress using red floral thrift purchased fabric

Buttons

2. A top made out of fabric from a skirt I purchased from a garage sale for a dollar, using the top part of a maternity dress pattern purchased from savers.

The fabric pattern does not quite match at the front, but I did the best I could with the remaining material I had..

I am happy to be part of Sew Retro, you ladies are all very talented, and inspiring.

"Marnie" dress,

  I wanted to share with you my version of a dress that appears in the film "Marnie" by Alfred Hitchcock in 1964, my passion are the customes of old movies and I have the challenge of doing one every month from a different movie, you can see all reviews of it on my blog.
  Even the term is open to enter the giveaway to choose my dress from the movie of the month of March, "Rear Window" 1954, if you pleased, . Enjoy the weekend, dear sewers ..

60'S GINGERBREAD DRESS

I just finished this gingerbread patterned dress that I made from the Simplicity 3929 pattern from the early 1960's. A really simple silhouette but so versatile! It was really easy to make - I just had some trouble with the gathering of the waistline. The threads ended up breaking but I got there eventually! I'm so happy with the end result and just feel this is going to be one of those dresses that I end up wearing almost too much because it just works. I have to say that it looks nothing like the dress in the picture on the pattern. Slightly exaggerated skirt compared to the real deal!

I hope you like the dress as much as I do! More pictures can be found on my blog pretty odd wonders.

Sofia x

McCalls 8824: Date night dress

Here is a dress I finished last week to wear at our 4 year anniversary.

I found the fabric on sale for $2/yard!

See more at my blog Creative Accomplishments!

A vintage dress, some antique underwear, and a new project...

I just started a new sewing project yesterday, an 1870s corset. You can read all about the project so far at my blog.

I wore a fun, 1960s vintage dress while I was working on it, too!

The picture uploader isn't cooperating right now, but you can see pictures of my dress, my project and some antique edwardian undergarments in my collection on my blog.

Hope everyone is having a lovely weekend!
-Evie

A Dress for February

Hello, my name is Mikki and I live in Leeds in the UK.  I've only been sewing about four years after being convinced for most of my life that it was far too complicated a skill for a clumsy fool like me to acquire!

 

Luckily a good (and very patient) friend managed to persuade my flatmate and I that rather than wasting our time sitting around drinking wine and moaning about men, we could be making our own dresses, drinking wine and moaning about men at the same time.

 

Prior to that I had a terrible eBay habit and spent a small fortune on 60s dresses.  Now I spend a fortune of fabric, notions and vintage sewing patterns instead.

 

So my sewing is largely about the dresses and all about the 1960s.

 

This year I've set myself a challenge of making at least one dress a month and updating my blog with my progress, here is my dress for February:

and the pattern I made it from - Vogue 5942.

 

 

McCalls 8715 from 1967

McCalls 8715
year was 1967

I fell in love with the illustrations on this envelope long ago - and my own daughter hasn't even grown into this size yet! But - circumstances came up and I got to use it last night. I made it in the top view for my niece Elizabeth, who lives in Minnesota. It was extremely simple and easy to alter to what fabric was on hand. I used it as a 'safety' pattern because I can't get there to try anything on her and the A-line shaping means it is very likely to fit her. Her mom measured her around the chest and it came out to match this pattern. The last dress I had made her she had outgrown and was pretty upset about it! Auntie sewer to the rescue.

Pictures of the finished (but unpressed) product at my blog.

McCalls 7444

I finished McCalls 7444 right on time before the holidays. The fabric is a soft wool blend and I'm very happy with how the dress turned out. Now I'm ready for Christmas!

Please stop by my blog Creative Accomplishments.

Peggy Dress Unveiled

The Peggy dress is complete! It's been a long and bumpy road, but despite a few tweaks along the way, I'm very happy with how it came out.  Read more about the progress on my blog: What's Up, Cupcake?

Peggy dress success!

Hi everyone! A couple of weeks ago I posted a request for help in finding a pattern similar to a dress Peggy wore in a recent Mad Men episode.  Well your suggestions were great and I found the perfect match!  I'm half way through the dress as I've encountered some stumbling blocks with working on my first vintage pattern, but I think it's going to turn out great. 

Read more on my blog: What's Up Cupcake?

Thanks again for your help and I'll post the final dress shortly.

Handmade Jane

Hi, I’m Jane and I’ve been sewing for just over a year.  When I'm not chasing around after my two young sons, I spend a lot of my time sighing over fabrics (usually vintage inspired prints) and agonising over which pattern to team them with.  So far I’ve made a few retro styled items, this 50’s style button back blouse from Collette Patterns...

... and what I like to call my ‘lady dress’ which I made from McCall’s Easy pattern M2401. 

Please check out my my blog Handmade Jane, where you can read about them here and here.

Having gained a few skills and upped my confidence I’m now ready to have a go at a real life vintage pattern.  I’ve got three waiting in the wings, but I think this one will be the first one I try.

Looking forward to sharing the results with you all. x

Butterick 4165

Here is my version of this pattern:

Please read more on my blog!

Octoberfest dress!

Hey everyone,

We went to an Octoberfest BBQ yesterday, and I wanted a German looking Dirndl style dress, that wasn't too costumey, and that I could wear throughout summer too! I chose Simplicity 4491 because I've made it so many times and it's pretty quick to whip up.

So bright and lovely for the sunny day! It's IKEA fabric, a remnant that was really cheap, but I've had it for a while, so it was effectively stash busting. More photos on my blog!

1967 pattern- Simplicity 7470- Mod Green & White Tab Dress

I made this green and white dress from Simplicity 7470 (1967). I'm happy to report that this project was relatively uneventful-- that's always a good thing! You can read more about it on my blog here: Sew Sixties.

mad for green dress

A little bit Mad Men, a little bit like something Elizabeth Taylor might have worn in Butterfield 8, and a classic bombshell color thrown in. I’ve been in a bit of a late 50s/early 60s mood lately; mostly it’s due to all the early 60s films I’ve been watching over the course of the summer. I decided to indulge in my recent mania for late 50s/early 60s sheath dresses and make my own this past weekend! I used a sloper I drafted as the base, a green linen blend in my stash, and a whole bunch of structure techniques and hand sewn details. I adore how it came out--be sure to stop by my blog for more of the nitty-gritty sewing specifics!

Blue wool

After much debating I decided on a blue wool fabric combination for one of my latest pattern purchase. I did the final touches last night and here it is.

This is the 1963 pattern I used.

Please come by my blog to read more.

McCall's 9087: 60s dress from 60s tablecloth

Thanks to my self-imposed clothing and fabric ration, I'm having to get creative in sourcing dress fabric. This dress started life as a tablecloth, presumably sometime during the late 1960s/early 1970s. I bought it in a French thrift shop for €2.

I underlined it with a cast-off bedsheet dyed brown, making this dress something of a walking white sale. The pattern is McCall's 9087, from 1968.

More details and another dress made from non-dress fabric over at my blog.