The Back and Forth dress

 It feels like I started this dress ages ago! At first I had a clear vision of what I was making. I would make the Simplicity 4491 with the wider skirt and that would be it. And I did, until it was time to hem the dress. Then I started second guessing my choice and started thinking of tearing the skirt down and making the wiggle view instead. In the end I went back and forth with the decision for weeks (hence the name) and finally went with the original idea. Isn't that always the case by the way? lol! I did take some construction photos when I worked with the bodice part but forgot to take any with the skirt part. I underlined the bodice with white cotton and did the skirt lining with the same cotton. The flower fabric is a polyester cotton blend sheet I thrifted for 2 euros from the Salvation Army and the white cotton is and old sheet I got from my mother. The only new thing I had to buy was the zipper, so in the end the dress cost about 4 euros, not bad!

I did the underlining my own way; pinned the two layers togethet and staystiched the edges.

The sheet had a tag that said the fabric was ironing free. It wasn't but still it's pretty!

The darts were worryingly pointy at this point.

I trimmed the darts and finished them with hand overcast.

Sewing the neckline facings. I added interfacing to all the facing pieces to stabilize them properly.

I didn't make any alterations to the bodice piece since I had done it once already. With the skirt part I had to make do of what I had. There wasn't enough fabric to make the skirt as wide as the pattern required. I ended up not using the skirt pattern pieces at all. I just took as big a piece of the fabric as I could and made a one-piece dirndl skirt. I did to the pleats in the front according to the pattern, but that was easily done even without the pattern pieces. I handpicked the backzipper, all 50 cm of it! And twice! I also added a waiststay to secure the skirt.

Finished!

The hat is a must on the 1st of May, but so uncomfy on!

Here's a peak of the 1st of May celebration in the 1940s:

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Sain vihdoin valmiiksi mekon, joka on lojunut keskeneräisenä viikkokausia. Nyt se on kuitenkin valmis ja istuu kuin unelma!

Candy stripes!

Hello you all! My break from the blog seems to have streched a bit longer then I meant it to. I started work again on Tuesday and the whole week has gone by so swiftly that my blog posts have been non-existent, I'm sorry for that and will mend my ways! I have a lot of great things for you; I got my hands on some old catalogues and will post about them as soon as I get them scanned. I also finished two garnments that had been hanging on my door for too long. The first you'll see today!

The candy striped fabric was a sale find and my plan was to make it in to a 60's summer dress. But then I found another fabric and decided to make the dress from that (I'll show you that tomorrow). So the candy striped fabric had to go back to my stash. Then one day I had a terrible urge to make something fast and simple, a circle skirt would be perfect I thought! I went to Casey's blog and read the instructions on her circle skirt and was up and ready to go. Until I found I didn't have enough of the candy striped fabric for it. Oh well, I changed my plans a bit. I took the back skirt pieces from the McCall 7686 pattern I had made a while ago and cut two skirt pieces on the fold. Then I only needed to cut a waist band and sew the whole thing together! I handsew the zipper as usual, but ended up machine stiching the hem. The skirt is unlined and perfect for summer! And for the First of May of course!

My trusted McCall.

Frills, stripes and some gold accents and I'm ready to go!

Close up on the fabric. I love!

I'll be back tomorrow with the 60's dress! And I'll be posting another Inspiration post on Monday. It's my favorite one so be sure to check it out!

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Hauskaa vapun attoa! Tein pikaisen hameen suloisesta karkkiraitaisesta puuvillakankaasta. Huomenna vuorossa on kukkakuosinen mekko 60-luvun kaavasta.

The overly sweet Pink Dress

I finally succeeded in taking some pictures of yours truly! You can't believe how difficult that is in my supersunlit apartment! (Yes it's sunny today! Yay!) I started on the dress two weeks ago, and it's been on the verge of being ready. And now it is, finally! I ended up shortening the sleeves by 4 cm but otherwise the dress is pretty much like the pattern suggests. I think next time I'll lengthen the bodice by 2 cm though, just for a better fit. It turned out supersweet, and I started to worry that it might be a little too sweet for 26-old me. Luckily I had just the cure, a metallic Armadillo belt! So here it is, my new heatwave worthy dress:

This dress desperately needs to be worn during a heatwave.

I'm pulling the fabric, that's why it looks so funny at the back.

Shoes from H&M. I'm in love with these shoes, if only my feet shared that love, sigh..

Armadillo belt from Zara. It reminds me of those old westerns with John Wayne, although he propably never wore belts with flowers on..

I have another dress on the sewing table. It's actually the muslin for the wiggle dress from an earlier post. The muslin started to look so cute, that now I'm thinking of finishing it up.

 ***

Kesän helteitä on mukava odottaa, kun kaapista löytyy nyt ihanan kevyt ja suloinen puuvillamekko!

Grading a wiggle skirt

I got one of the Etsy patterns I've been waiting for yesterday and since it's been a grey day weatherwise I thought I'd skip getting the blasted buttons (you know of what I'm talking about lol). The pattern I got is a classic 60's wiggle dress. Wiggle dresses are something that I remember always wanting to wear (the other is an Edwardian dress). A wiggle has been in my dreams, but I haven't been able to find a ready-made because of my shape. I can't count all the times I've spent drooling over some sheath dress to only notice that if the bodice fits the bottom won't. And vice versa. And to have a friend who can fit into any sheath or wiggle she pleases has made me a teensy bit cross with the ready-made dresses. How lucky then that I've found the world of vintage sewing! I now have wiggle dress patterns and the resources and means to make them mine!

The new wiggle.

The problem that I have with fitting in sheaths or wiggle dresses is that I have a relatively small waist compared to my hips. I'm also a bit pear shaped, so buying patterns by bust size doesn't equal a fitting bottom part pattern. This was my first try in grading a bottom piece and it turned out okay. I think the bottom could fit even better if I took out a few more centimeters of the sides, but for a first wiggle (and a wiggle walk!) a little room is fine by me. I did the muslin as neatly as I could, cause I'm planning on maybe making a wiggle dress for my graduation (when ever that day comes). So I thought it was a good idea to rehearse the whole thing all the way through in cotton (I have a nice thrifted lavender satin waiting in the stash for the fancy wiggle).

The pattern I started out with had a bodice one size smaller than mine, so I knew that the bottom wouldn't fit me at any will without alterations. I measured the skirt pieces and checked the room that the pattern had in the hip area. I then compared that measurement to my own hip measure and figured the amount that needed to be added. On the first muslin the skirt was way too big. I noticed that I only needed to make additions in width to the back piece and none to the front (this was a kind of bittersweet moment lol). Because I'd used a fabric I didn't want to waist (and cause I was feeling lazy) I took the extra centimetres from the centre front of the skirt. I than had to move the pleats too but for me this was nothing compared with having to take the whole skirt down. So the skirt now has one seam more than the pattern, but since this is a muslin, I don't really mind it. Because I wasn't so sure if the grading was accurate I didn't take pictures of the grading process. So here's a miniature version on paper (Gertie does these and I love them!) of the changes I did on the back piece of the skirt (I apologize in advance for the poor English on the paper bits, oh brother..). The changes are only to the back piece of the pattern, but I think the same goes for the front parts as well. Also, this grading changes only the hip measurement, the waist stays the same. I figured this grading style on my own while rummaging through my head for some basic pattern alterations I've seen and read about, so if you know of a better way to do this, please do let me know!

First, trace your pattern on another paper, you'll need the original later! Measure the distance from your waist to your hips' widest part, for me this is 25 cm from the natural waistline. Mark that distance on your pattern. If your making changes on both the back and front pieces, measure the distance for the patterns separately, as the distance may vary at the back than at the front. The line is illustrated here with the broken line. The left side of the pattern is centre front, the right the side seamline.

Cut along the grain line arrow almost to the top of the pattern, but don't cut it all the way. You can stop at the seamline if your patten has a separate cutting line. Be sure not to cut into the darts.

Add the needed amount of hip ease to the marked line. For me this was 4 cm. Add the amount by parting the pattern pieces 4 cm (for me) at the marked line. Secure the opening, I used scotch tape and a piece of pattern paper.

After you've widened the hips you'll see that the hem is now too wide for a wiggle skirt. We need to make it wiggle!

The opening of the slash would need to be 4 cm (for me) to keep the skirt in its original form. Because we can't take the measure from the slash, we'll take it from the sideseam instead. To know how much needs to be taken away, measure the gap in the hemline. Substract 4 (for me) from that number. The result is the amount you'll need to take away from the sideseamline. Measure the amount (7 cm for me) from the sideseam and mark it.

The new broken line shows the new sideseam. It starts at about the point where you added the hip measure and stops at the hemline where you made the substraction. Cut the extra off but without any sharp corners at the hip. Remember to make new seam allowances to your new sideseam!

After this you'll need to straighten the hemline. Draw a new hemline in a right-angle from the centre back line and matching the sideseam. Cut the extra off.

 Now you need the original pattern by your side. You'll need to draw a new waistline and replace the noches so that they match the front skirt pattern.

 Place the new pattern on top of the old one. Trace the notches from the old pattern to the new one and draw the waistline along the waistline of the original pattern piece.

 And now youre done! The hip has been widened and the patten has been made in to a wiggle once more! Hurraa!

I didn't make any changes to the bodice pieces, although next time I'll propably add another 1 or 2 cm of length for a more comfortable fit. I've found that with vintage patterns I can go down a size in fitted bodices and more on loose bodices because the seam allowances are bigger than I'm used to. I usually sew with a 1 cm allowance, when the patterns suggest 1,5 cm. So I get room from that difference to my bodice pieces. 

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Tämän sateisen ja harmaan päivän ohjelmana oli uuden mekon kaavojen muokkaus. Kapeahelmaiset mekot ovat aina olleet minulle hankalia, koska niiden malli ei valmisvaatteissa ainakaan salli kurveja, ei sitten ollenkaan. Koska itselläni on suhteellisen kapea vyötärö verrattuna lanteisiin, on sopivien kotelomekkojen ostaminen mahdotonta. Onneksi kaavoja muokkaamalla nämäkin mekot ovat nyt käden ulottuvilla! Teen ajan salliessa tekemistäni muutoksista myös suomenkielisen version.

A Side Project called the Belt

I've been a good girl and done a bit of my thesis. I've also been entertaining my sister and niece and friends. Therefore I didn't get any sewing done this weekend. And I'm still waiting for those last two buttons so I could finish the dress. But I got a terrible urge to do at least some sewing. So I remembered that I had some fabric left over from when I reupholstered six of these old chairs that once belonged to my great-grandparents:

Old one on the left, new on the right.

I was looking for a fabric for these chairs with my friend and she found this beautiful piece for me! And it was for sale! The flowers and motives on that fabric are just screaming ME; I have a similar motive on a curtain as well. Anyhoo, so I had some fabric leftover. And since Casey posted not long ago a great tutorial on self-fabric belts, it was a done deal! I did do some things differently, but the end result is basically the same.

This is what I started out with. A thrifted belt buckle and some leftover fabric.

I started out by cutting two 10 cm wide fabric strips from the fabric to make the belt 4 cm wide. I left 1cm on each side for the seam allowances. I had to cut two strips because there wasn't enough fabric for one long strip. I did alter the length after I'd sewn the pieces together, it was easier for me that way. I then zigzagged the edges and sew the pieces together. I folded the strip in half and added some interfacing to the other side. I used interfacing because I haven't found the stiff belting that Casey uses. It helped that the fabric was so thick though. I therefore also didn't make the seamline in the middle of the strip but in the other long side.

Zigzagging away.

Some crroked interfacing.

I double-stiched the pointed end of the belt to secure it.

The fabric, just to give an idea of its thicknes. It is after all meant for furniture.

The teadious part: turning the belt inside out.

All turned and waiting for the iron.

I topstiched the upper side to keep the belt from wiggling.

I added some poppers like Casy to keep the ends in place.

Finished! And all in about an hour!

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Koska sormeni syyhysivät päästä viikonlopun jälkeen taas ompelemaan ja koska en ole vielä saanut aikaiseksi hakea niitä kahta viimeistä nappia söpöilymekkoon, päätin käyttää hyväkseni vanhoja kangasrippeitä. Päällystin kuusi vanhaa tuolia vähän aikaa sitten ihanaisella kankaalla. Kangasta jäi hieman yli ja ajattelin tässä olevan mainio tilaisuus opetella kangasvyön tekoa. Käytin samalla yhden kirpparilta löytämäni vyösoljen. Työhön meni runsas tunti ja nyt on kaapissa kauniista kankaasta tehty vyö, joka piristää mukavasti mekkoa kuin mekkoa!

Done with the sleeves, on with the buttonholes

I got all the machine sewing done today with my 70's Sweetness dress. The sleeves that I was a bit terrified to set in (propably because of the misfortune with the Swing Dress) actually went in without any problems. That is I only had to undo one little bit of the other sleeve seam because I had sewn it together with some bodice fabric (lol). 

Setting the sleeves with my trusted Jack the Seam Ripper by my side.

I sew the skirt pieces together and how easy what that! The skirt is a dirndl skirt so there was two rectangular pieces to sew together. After that it was time to gather the skirt waist and attach it to the bodice pieces. The gathering took some time because there was so much to gather, but in the end the seams were sewn together nice and neat. So after finishing the last zigzag seams on the skirt and bodice there's only handsewing left to do. 

Gathering the skirt.

I sew the side zipper in by hand to get a bit more practice on that technique. And then I started sewing the buttonholes. My intention was to follow Sunni's tutorial but in the end I followed the instructions from an old Finnish sewing book. The instructions are basically the same, but they don't require any special threads or gimps. I ended up using a double thread to ensure that the stiches were neat. I started at the bottom of the bodice because I figured that the first ugly ones would be easily covered with a belt and the last perfect ones would be the ones in the spot light (lol!). I've done three now, and it seems that it will truely become a line of evolution in button hole binding.

Handpicked zipper needing some ironing.

The evolution of the buttonholes. The best one so far on top.

The thread I used in the buttonholes is a find from my granny's stash. It's a 100 per cent cotton thread called "Rosethread" by Vaasan puuvilla. The factory was closed in 1964 but the thread is like new.

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Mekko edistyy kovaa vauhtia ja enää jäljellä on käsin ommeltavat viimeistelyt. Sain tänään tehtyä hihojen istutuksen ja hameen poimutuksen ja yhdistämisen yläosaan. Vetoketjun ompelin jo käsin ja läpinlävet ovat työn alla. Lisäksi aion viimeistellä hihat ja  helman käsin totuttuun tapaan. Käytin lapinläpien ompeluun vanhan käsityökirjan ohjeita:

Progress on the Pink Sweetness Dress (hereby called)

I got so much done today! Yay me! I started on the Stil 8777 dress yesterday. I traced the pattern pieces and cut them from the muslin fabric. Today I made the muslin, alterations and almost the entire bodice piece!The first muslin wasn't much of a looker; the neckline was too wide and it dragged to the sides. Unfortunately I don't have any pictures to show you, the sun wasn't my friend today when I tried to photo the muslins. I did a few little tweeks: widened the neck darts and straightened the shoulderline by taking 1 cm of. The muslin was pretty perfect after this. I then started to trace the patterns on the underlining cotton. The downside for me with this pattern (and all the Stil patterns) is the fact that it doesn't have seam allowances on the pattern pieces. Therefore there aren't any notches either. So I added the seam allowances and of course when it was time to cut the cotton I cut one of the sleeve pieces along the seamline not the seam allowance line. Luckily this was the underlining cotton so it was only a matter of doing things anew.

Tracing the patterns on my drawing table aka ironing board.

I followed Gertie's tutorial on the underlining except I didn't handbaste the pieces together. I don't trust my handbasting skills. Instead I used a ton of pins and machine basted the pieces together here and there. For example I sew a row of stiches in the middle of the darts and in the curved bits. This way the stiches worked also as a staystich. Don't be alarmed with the yellow lines, they don't show on the right side and should come off in the wash.

This was the first time I've ever sewn princess seams. I got to tell you that it wasn't a totally unnerving experience but I managed to come up with two nice seams. The princess seams are on the backside of the bodice, the front has darts and an opening for a button closure. I was a bit worried about the front darts at first because they looked really pointy on the muslin. Luckily they don't look that way once the bodice is worn. Since I used a double fabric the seams are also all a bit heavy. I'm thinking of maybe trimming the darts but I'll wait till the dress is all done. before worrying about that too much.

A nice and nearly perfect princess seam finisfed with a zigzag line.

I was beginning to dream about a serger after the millionth zigzag seam, sigh..

After I'd sewn all the darts, the princess seams, the shoulder seams and side seams it was time to sew on the facing. Although the intruction sheet only recommended using interface on the button strip, I used it also on the facing piece just to stabilize the neckline more. Though it seamed like a good idea, the result of two-layered fabric plus an interfaced single-fabric wasn't that good after all. I'm still hoping that after ironing and ironing some more the neckline will look alright. Interesting thing about ironing this fabric, the fabric (100 per cent cotton) changed color when I ironed it. The pink parts turned peachy. In the end I actually like the effect that it gives. Wonder about why that happened still.

Facing pinned and ready to be sewn.

After the facing I decided it was time to quit for the day. At least on the machine (lol). I covered some buttons with the fabric and came up with a new problem: what buttons to use?! The fabric is really really cute, and I'm worrying if it becomes unbearably so with the self-fabric buttons. I need seven buttons for this and the only ones that I have in my poor button stash are these ones:

Dark buttons, yay or nay?

This is how the bodice looks with the self-fabric buttons (need to buy two more):

Decisions, decisions, this is the world of a sewist.

Well, maybe I'll worry about that tomorrow. It's good have something else to think about besides setting the sleeves, yikes! I'm also thinking about making the handsewn buttonholes that Sunni shared, but will have to see if I'll be able to find descent materials for them.

The dreaded sleeves await for tomorrow.

***

Ompelukone sai laulaa kyllikseen tänään. Sain tehtyä Stil 8777 mekon koeversion, muutokset kaavaan ja ompeltua lopullista versiota yläosan verran. Vuorasin mekkokankaan valkoisella ohuella puuvillalla, koska päällikangas oli mielestäni turhan läpinäkyvä yläosaksi. Kaksinkertaisen kankaan ompeleminen olikin sitten hieman haasteellista, mutta nyt yläosa on vuorauksineen ja tukikankaineen koossa. Huomenna luvassa hihojen istutus ja alaosan ompelu. Sitten jääkin enää napit ja näpinlävet sekä tietysti vetoketju! Vielä kun saisi päätettyä mitä nappeja tuohon miehustaan laittaisi...

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Edit: I'm going with the self-fabric buttons. It'll make accessorising much easier.