ooobop! 70s dress blue

I am very happy to be posting my first Sew Retro post. This also happens to be my first vintage dress from an original 1970s pattern.

I first made a toile last week which was hugely useful in highlighting pitfalls before I started the real thing. Main lesson learnt: do not shorten an A-line skirt from the hem... especially when you need to ditch 6 inches!

More details on the toile here and more about the finished dress here.

Excitement!

Last year at college I did a quick sketch of a dress I own, to explain to my pattern drafting tutor, what I would like to do as a final project for my first year of pattern cutting. Never got to do it in the end. But what should  I stumble across on my trusty Ebay the other day, but this little gem (£5.52inc P&P and in my size too!) from a 1970 issue of Woman's Weekly. I KNOW!!  It's like destiny isn't it?! So all I need do now is decide on my ideal fabric and find my way around the pattern itself. So if anyone has any fabric ideas and/or any knowledge of the quirks of Woman's Weekly patterns that I should know about, would love to hear from you! This one's going straight to the front of my "to do queue".......

Please feel free to drop by and leave me any ideas, I know there's alot of knowhow here on Sew Retro and would love to hear from you if you have something to share.......

http://portialawrie.blogspot.com/

Late Party Dress Entry

Hey there, everyone. I didn't make the deadline, but I wanted you to see my party dress anyway. Oh, and congratulations to Kristy.



Here is my party dress below:






I made this using Simplicity 6024, a 1973 pattern. It turned out to be a real bear because I didn't pay real close attention to the measurements; so I'm having some fitting issues. It won't close in the back, and I added a section underneath the bust area so it would fit properly in that area. I self drafted the pattern pieces. I still need to figure out what to do to make it fit in the waist before I put the zipper in. And I still need to hem it. I am letting it hang for 24 hours before I put the hem in. Oh, and I added a few inches to the length. It won't look as long as it is now, though, once I hem it. It will probably be an inch or two below the knee. When I get this train wreck fixed, I will do a proper photo shoot for you.

In the meantime, you can go to my sewing blog to see some fun pictures of my photo shoot in the country modeling a skirt that I made. And while you're at it, enter my giveaway. I am doing a giveaway December 2nd through the morning of the 7th in conjunction with Sew Mama Sew. I am doing a giveaway on my art blog as well. And my daughter is having one, too, on her sewing blog. Really good prizes. Good luck.

Sneak peak of the country skirt: