Burda Style For people who sew
Description
I found this 1939 dress pattern on Etsy. Once again I got frustrated looking for a vintage pattern that exactly matched my measurements so I just grabbed one that was close enough, this one is a bit smaller than my measurements.
This pattern has a lot of nice details that make it utterly impossible to do a tissue fitting so I purchased some super-cheap fabric and decided to try out the top section of the dress, the idea being that if it worked then I would add a peplum and wear it as a blouse.
The recommended finishing techniques for this pattern are bias facings and bias bindings, which mean’t I got to try out my bias tape maker for the first time. Unfortunatley using bias facings as finishings looks messy and they don’t sit well, I have prick-stitched them down on this version but I will draft an all-in-one neck facing if I remake this as a dress.
Usually when I am pinning and cutting my fabric I use an idiots version of tailors tacks which is to stick pins through the markings on the pattern and then stick a pin through from the other side to mark the other section of fabric and then after unpinning the pattern I pull the two pieces of fabric apart and hope that my marker pins stay in……For this pattern I decided to use proper non-idiot tailors tacks for the first time. Why-oh-why have I not done this before??
This pattern has the MOTHER of all sleeve heads, they are huge AND they have a taffeta circle of stiffening (folded in half and basted inside the sleeve head). The bulk of the 3 layers of fabric made it impossible to pull the gather stitches which kept snapping so I used my ruffle foot for the first time and it worked like a dream.
All in all this fabric was a bit of struggle and a bit of a mess as an end product but a nice pattern and with a few tweaks and a nice plain fabirc this could be a nice dress.
Carrying on with my vintage theme and thanks to Burda Blog I have found a great line of vintage reproduction patterns in multiple and plus sizes. Hoorah. I have just bought a nice vintage reproduction blouse pattern from http://www.evadress.com/index.html
Material Notes
2.2 Metres Crepe Microprint fabric for £2.99 from Ebay seller nadeem1001 If this fabric were a lady I would call it the B word, it's hard to pin, hard to cut straight, hard to sew, hard to press.....Love the print though and can't complain about the price.
Categories
Credits
- Lulliths Vintage Dress Patterns on Etsy
http://www.etsy.com/shop/lullith74
- Gerties New Blog for Better Sewing
http://www.blogforbettersewing.com/2010/04/fat-and-sassy.html
- Burda Blog
http://www.burdastyle.com/blog/vintage-sewing-plus-size-patterns
9 Comments
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Apr 28, 2010, 02.28 AMby ustreetmove
lovely!
Apr 26, 2010, 10.12 PMby amibambini
Those sleeves are for serious! Great job, it sounds like it was a mission but well worth it.
Apr 26, 2010, 10.01 PMby stephiaffi
Fabulous! Absolutely love the fabric and pattern and all!
Apr 26, 2010, 11.16 AMby kaitui-kiwi
I think the finished product is great despite all your problems, they were well worth working through. I love that you made a dress into a top and your fabric is a great choice
Apr 25, 2010, 04.53 PMby mahaila
Every pattern brings new learning experiences. Sounds like your learnt heaps from this one! Love it!
2 Replies
Apr 25, 2010, 05.34 PMby candyjoyce
That is so true, I feel I have especially learn’t a lot with the last two patterns I have used as they have both been vintage patterns, I have gained a lot of what I need to know from tutorials here on BurdaStyle.
I noticed from your profile that you are currently living in Berlin, I am coming there for a couple of days in May so if you could point me in the direction of any fabric shops that would be great.
oh and by the way, I love your green dress with the black silk straps.
Cheers,
Candy
Apr 25, 2010, 08.43 PMby mahaila
In Berlin, much like the rest of Germany… this is my experience anyway….. sewing is a VERY expensive hobby. It is much more accessible in Australia. So I tend to shop cheap. The one place to go is the Turkish markets in Kreuzberg, Tuesdays and Fridays, open noon til 6. Just hold out the roll of fabric and yell ‘zwei metern bitte’.
Have fun in Berlin
cya
Apr 25, 2010, 04.36 PMby lizah
really nice, good job!!
Apr 25, 2010, 04.34 PMby Natalia *
I love those shoulders and sleeves. Fantastic.
Apr 25, 2010, 03.30 PMby chichil
That’s too gorgeous! You did a great job, you should try the dress version too!
Apr 25, 2010, 03.23 PMby mlssfshn
Waist seems to sit higher in the finished garment than the images on the pattern. I love the fabric, you did a good job despite the problems you had.
1 Reply
Apr 25, 2010, 05.37 PMby candyjoyce
Thanks for your comment,
You are right, I need to lengthen the waist section a bit so that the waistband sits properly under the bust, at the moment it does pull a bit and is probably because the pattern is a bit small.
Cheers,
Candy