McCall 5055 - Sheath Dress Notes
A little ditty of a late 50s sheath dress. For the full story of how it came together, click here.
I think the pattern I worked with is a size too big, but it's tough as I think I'm in-between sizes, being tall but on the less curvy side. The ease got me with this one. This is the fitted muslin so there's still room for adjustments on the next version. This being the case, I did quite a few alterations to get it to fit closer -
Some quick pattern notes:
- The pattern has a straight skirt that flares out slightly at the hem, I wanted something closer in cut to Natalie Wood's dress here. To get this I tapered in the side seams from the mid-hip down so it nips in at the knees more.
- The apex of the bust has a point (because of the silhouette / shape…
McCall 7262 - Bra & Shorts Notes
One of my favorite makes - once I fully sorted out fit issues, which were many & doozies. For the full story on these with photos throughout the whole process, read here.
Some quick pattern notes:
- These shorts will hit nowhere near pictured in the illustration. I'm tall and mostly leg, they'd have hit just above my knee if I kept the original hemline - camp counselor, not fun and flirty length. I can't imagine where the hem would land on anyone shorter. I chopped off a lot of inches to get them to look like the illustration and I plan on taking more off in the next version.
- The top has quite a bit of ease. I did a tapered adjustment on the bust apex that ended up working out perfectly for fit.
- I crossed the straps in the front and it came with…
Butterick 5685 - Tilt Hat Notes
I made these from The Vintage Pattern Lending Library's digital reproductions - which you can find for sale here - by mashing up the crown from version C and the brim from version D. It actually worked out pretty perfectly and I got the 30s swagger, slightly tilted hats I've always dreamed of!
Some quick pattern notes:
- As I did a mix of two hats I followed directions for each as needed and it was clear and easy to make this jump between the two.
- I expanded the brim up an inch to fit, was an easy grade and the crown I swapped out fit in well without any further alterations.
- I interface the brim with Pellon shape flex and the crown with Pellon mid-weight sew in stabilizer, both worked out brilliantly. I also stitched a lot of deco details into t…
New York Pattern 1051 - Bolero (Version A) Notes
Take everything I say here with a bit of a grain of salt, but - this pattern gave me a run for my money.
Picked it up thinking - Yay! Simple! - There are only three pattern pieces for a collarless Version A of this bolero, but it's a choose your own adventure for complexity with these and I chose highly complex.
The pattern instructions are very sparse (mostly your order of basics: sew dart, sew these seams) and when it comes to more finished details it assumes a higher level of sewing knowledge (which always seems odd to me, to direct for the easy stuff and leave the complex things totally at "technical challenge GBBO" level). Ex - for the finishing of the inside it gave options to just flip up the edges (simple way) or to line (with zero i…
New York Pattern 1162 - Peter Pan Collar Blouse Notes
Super lovely blouse, comfy, highly recommend!
Some quick pattern notes:
- Directions are a bit on the sparse side, assumes a fair amount of sewing knowledge.
- I'm no expert but there's something confusing going on with the collar. For the front corner of the facing, you stitch it wrong side, clip the corner, flip right side an attach the collar, but it doesn't all line up / give allowances? When it comes to adding the collar and finishing bias it doesn't keep the line of the blouse down to the front point as it should. I did a mock up and the final and each time it just didn't make enough sense. Sorted it, but it was tricky. If anyone makes this and knows what I'm missing with this, all ears.
- Careful with clipping the notches. For some reason the…