Penny for your thoughts
Sew over it published a new pattern about a week ago. It’s called Penny dress and it is another shirtdress and a gorgeous nod to the 1950s. What I really love is that this dress pattern turns into a blouse pattern with few simple modifications. What is even better, is that the women at Sew over it realised this and made a nice tutorial on how to do just that! As I was still pondering whether to make a dress or a blouse I found this piece of black and white polkadot cotton poplin in my stash. I hadn’t bought enough of it to make it into a dress but…
Dress for special occasions
I have rarely occasions to dress up but last weekend I had a chance to attend to a party and I, of course, took the opportunity to sew up a new dress for it. I have been eyeing for this gorgeous cotton jacquard for ages but just didn’t have any project for it. I chose to use Burda dress #108 from the 4/2014 issue. It is a sheath dress with an unusual overskirt and a bateau neckline. I love the skirt part and I know that the bateau neckline suits me well. I had to make a toile of the bodice before cutting to the pattern since generally Burda patterns do…
Vintage shirt dress by Sew Over It
Hi all! May I present the newest addition to my ever expanding dress collection: The vintage shirtdress by Sew Over It. The pattern for this dress is one of the two patterns I got a few days ago: I started working on this dress almost immediately since I happened to have a suitable viscose fabric ready. (Again a find from the factory remnants section…) I was between the sizes 8 and 10 and decided to cut the size 10 to be sure and add a bit to the hem to be able to adjust the length of the skirt (Note to self: The next time remember to add the extra…
Vanessa Pouzet Wanted t-shirt and some stash busting skirts
Hello again! I have been optimistic about the weather turning sunny and spent some rainy days trying out a t-shirt pattern by Vanessa Pouzet that I have been eyeing for a while. Wanted is a form fitting t-shirt with a square neckline. The pattern is unfortunately only in French and I don’t understand French. Luckily there were lots of explanatory pictures that were enough for me to understand the instructions. Not that there is much instructions needed for a t-shirt. The only French I finally needed was to understand “Les marges de couture sont comprises” that means that the “seam allowances are included”. I made two versions using two different…
Vintage pattern – modern style
I wanted a wrap blouse to wear with my 1950s A-line skirts. I stumbled across this vintage Advance 7701 pattern on Etsy and bought it. The pattern was interesting: the kimono sleeved pattern has basically just a single pattern piece (well one for left side and another for the right side) plus the ties and a small collar piece. It is slightly longer at the back and wraps around the waist. I found this beautiful light pink jersey when digging through the factory remains section of Eurokangas. The fabric is definitely not vintage-like, but I thought it might work just fine. I don’t know the exact composition of the fabric,…
Back to the 50s with Bette dress
I found this wonderful free 1950s style Bette dress pattern when surfing for some vintage style patterns online. It is on British Sew magazine webpage and you’ll only need to log in to download the pattern. I spend some time on the Sew magazine pages and there are also tons of other great patterns offered for free. Bette dress is a classic 1950s dress with a nipped in waist and 5 panel skirt. If you want your skirt to have that 1950s volume and gathers this is a wonderful pattern for that. Although for the full 1950s look you’ll need to wear a petticoat to lift the skirt up. I had…
Back button blouse and a trick for a neater understitching
This blouse 4655 from Lekala was published only a few weeks ago and I bought it almost immediately. The blouse has a fairly loose fit and a ruffled peplum. The shaping consists only of bust darts making it fairly quick to make. I also like the cuffs with the slits in them even if I ended up changing the design a bit when sewing it up. I have been saving some lovely cotton lawn by Atelier Brunette in my stash for a long time, but now decided that it was time for me to use it for this project. I usually get confused if I read Lekala’s instructions, but luckily…
Taking Lizzie to the seaside
The pattern of this fabric caught my attention immediately when I saw it online at Abakhan Fabrics Eesti. Since it was on sale I ordered the whole rest of the fabric which was just 130 cm. I was slightly disappointed to notice that the fabric had a small (ink?) stain on it, but luckily the stain was quite well hidden by the busy print. I thought for a while of sewing the fabric into a blouse (and cutting the pattern pieces around the stain) but finally got out my Sew Over It Lizzie skirt pattern where the stain is conveniently hidden behind one of the numerous pleats. I have made the…
