Skip to main content

Purple Florals on Dotted Swiss Cotton Dress and Bolero

    I’m kinda funny about my vintage style dresses. I love them and I sew them, but I don’t actually wear them. I need to change that. But I only wear dresses to church, and I wear choir robes every Sunday. I always feel like it’s a waste to dress up nicely when it’s only going to be covered up. This is, of course, nonsense. I need to be wearing pretty dresses more. I need to make some fall and winter-appropriate dresses. The only vintage style dresses I have are very much spring-only dresses. This needs to be remedied soon. I’ve been dreaming of a 1930s velvet number for a Christmas dress for a couple years. Maybe this is the year?

    The fabric came from Joann Fabrics, as usual. It’s a dotted swiss cotton. Purple is my favorite color, and I especially love this particular shade of maroon-ish purple. And of course, florals are classic for springtime. I don’t know how many yards I bought all those years ago, but it was at least 7 yards. My plan is to make my niece a dress. Maybe both of my nieces? We shall see how much fabric I have leftover. I think there’s quite a bit left.

    This dress is probably 6 years old at this point, but I still love it. It was made with McCalls 5094. View D. It is out of print, unfortunately. From what I can remember, it came together quickly and with little drama. The top is flattering to my body shape, I feel, and it is super cute. The skirt is not a true circle skirt, but it is very full at the hem. The dress zips up the back seam. If I recall correctly, this was one of the first times I installed a zipper and was actually pleased with the result. If you have trouble with zippers, don’t worry. Just practice and practice. I used white piping in the waist and underbust seams, as well as the shoulder straps. It’s lined throughout with plain white cotton, since the floral is a bit sheer. It’s a super sweet dress. 


    So, as I have mentioned before on the blog, I don’t like bare shoulders. It’s a personal preference. So in June 2021, I made a bolero for comfort. This is the bolero from Butterick 6354, also sadly out of print. I have used this pattern before for my Belle dress bolero. The blog for that is here.  It’s just two pattern pieces, with one or two darts on each piece. And that’s it. Since it’s such a simple pattern and I had used it before, the bolero only took a few days to whip up. Again, it is lined with plain white cotton. If I would have thought about it, I might have piped the edges to match the dress, but I’m not taking it apart again. I’ll deal with it.


    Yours in hard work, creativity, and a dash of Pixie Dust

    Sarah

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Reconstructing History RH017

This is review of RH017, 14th Century Kirtle or  Cotehardie. (Link to buy this patten at the end) I ordered it to make a new dress for the 2015 Medieval Fair of Norman. I had been playing a princess for many years, but decided on changing it up this year. I wanted to be a Bard, a poet/singer/general performer. Naturally, I could not wear the Princess gowns of years past.  It came in a timely fashion. I knew it had a booklet of historical notes, I didn't know it was going to come with a textbook! Seriously, this booklet is 15 pages long (including historical notes, bibliography, actual construction, and a section on period stiches) and is in an easy to digest format. The pattern is on regular paper, not the usual tissue paper, which I appreciated. I had trouble with setting the sleeves, but it was my own fault. I made it oversized purposefully to adjust down to my exact size, and didn't quite adjust the sleeves to match correctly the first time. My own fault. I will pos...
Post a Comment
Read more

1900's Set of Drawers-Unmentionables Through The Decades Project 4

Link to my associated YouTube video The first item I sewed for my 1900's project was a pair of drawers. To be precise, French Drawers. This is made from the Edwardian Undergarments pattern from Truly Victorian. I made the shaped hem version, and that worked well. Essentially, it is two wide, flared legs attached to a waistband. It swishes and flows quite nicely on the body, especially when made in a soft cotton. This year, I am trying to make due with what I have in my stash as much as possible. Since I have no experience in sewing for the Edwardian period and no event to wear such costumes, I didn't buy new fabric. White, very fine linen would have been more historically accurate, but I like colors! And I happened to have a soft green bed sheet set. Parts of it have seen better days, hence it being in the stash and not on the bed. But there was still plenty of good fabric left. There should be enough for the whole set of undergarments. As of this writing, I have fini...
Post a Comment
Read more

Pirate Belle, part 2

YouTube video associated with this blog The base pieces for this costume are not complicated. I used Simplicity 3677 for the blouse and the pants. The fabric I bought at Joann Fabrics and was exactly what I was hoping to find. It's a light and airy cotton gauze-type fabric. Also, I am in love with the delicate lace I found at Hobby Lobby that I used to trim the wrists. The blouse has elastic bands at the cuffs and a drawstring neckline. It is incredibly over sized, but the fabric gathers under corsets and pants nicely because it was so soft and light. The pants are a tan corduroy and also have elastic in the cuffs. (Did I mention Historical Accuracy TM was not a priority for this costume?) I still think it's beautiful. And now, for a few accessories. These make or break a costume, especially for a pirate. So many little things must be present for the costume to really say “Pirate”. This little hat was such a blast to create. I used a Yaya Han pattern, McCall's 7643. It ha...
Post a Comment
Read more