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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…
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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…
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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…
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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,…
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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…
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Minimalistic shirtdress for the summer
Here is a bit older make from last summer that I didn’t get to posting at that time. I bought this lovely stretch cotton poplin last spring when visiting Edinburgh. At first I did not know what to do with it, since it is a bit crispier than the cottons I’m used to deal with. Then I saw this shirtdress pattern while leafing through the March issue (3/2016) of the Finnish sewing and crafts magazine Suuri Käsityö and decided to try the pattern even if it is a bit different from what I usually wear. The design of the dress takes inspiration of a man’s shirt and it is loose…
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Marina romper for the summer
This lovely romper pattern by Cali Faye has been on my wishlist for a long time. For some reason I’d never found a perfect fabric. Then I bought this wonderful viscose remnant at the local fabric shop and I loved the colour and the pattern (of the fabric). I was at first thinking of doing something for myself out of it, but then thought that the strong colour would suit S better. When I remembered this romper pattern, I decided that the pattern and the fabric were meant for each other. Marina romper was very simple to sew and did not take long. The front and the back are identical and were…
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Rainy day with Cami-dress
Pauline Alice has a wonderful retro-inspired patterns but the only one I have attempted is the Cami dress. It has the full skirt in the style of 1950s and a high waist. There are two sleeve variations, a short sleeved version and a 3/4 sleeve with a turned cuff. The latter works better for the autumn/winter dress but for this summer dress I chose the simple short sleeve. I particularly like the shape of the shirt collar. Often I feel that the collars are drafted a bit too big for me, but this is just perfect. The length of the skirt comes a couple of inches above the knee, so it…
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Nostalgic polkadots
It seems that I have found another favourite pattern to use over and over again. I made this dress last summer and loved it, even if the fit wasn’t perfect. A few weeks ago I stumbled upon this gorgeous lilac coloured polkadot viscose fabric when visiting Eurokangas in the neighbouring city that has slightly bigger selection than my local one. I have never worn this colour before, but I was pleasantly surprised that the colour suits my winter-pale complexion. Anyway, I got instant vintage feels and started thinking about sailor collars and flowing skirts with puffy sleeves, so I dug into my pile of sewing magazines and found the one…
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Oh Boyz aka t-shirt of faces
When I saw this fabric at Eurokangas I did not think twice: K was going to get a new t-shirt. With the funny print there was no need to get a fancy pattern, so I took an old an trusted pattern: Let It Be from Ottobre Design 6/2010. There was really nothing fancy with the sewing. I added a bright orangey red collar using a scrap piece of jersey I had in my stash. If I remember correctly the selvage of the printed jersey said “Oh Boyz”, so that is what I started calling the t-shirt in my mind. This t-shirt has been in regular use already for months. I have had…
