vintage patterns

Monday, January 30, 2012

Fashion, Sewing and a Beautiful Picture

Here is the finished cotton dress with quite a few changes to the original pattern. I was thinking of modeling it myself, but Millie does such a great job, and she wasn't doing anything else at the moment. Some day I will pose for photos in clothing I make and even outfits thrown together for a day, and I do throw together some pretty funky outfits. But, I want someone with me, like my daughters, while I'm at it, so it can be an adventure in fun, and, my daughter are pretty good at throwing a 'look' together.

The dress is from a 1949 Sue Burnett mail order pattern. The fabric is 100% cotton at $2.00 a yard from Walmart. I didn't like the way the original dress fit when finishes, so these are the changes I made;

* took off the sleeves and used them for a hankie-like detail at the shoulder. I have narrow shoulders, so this detail drew that area in a bit.
* I lowered the neckline about an inch and took the center seam in, also about an inch, I also have a small upper chest. And added two vintage buttons.
* I placed the ties toward center front to give a bit more definition to the waist.

So all in all, I think this dress with make a nice summer gardening dress for 'urber' cool wearing in the heat of the day and maybe to wear to the lake.

This Millie girls has such a cute figure ; ) Her namesake is from here Millie the Model


My next sewing projects are just for fun because neither one will fit me nor could I wear them. I would have definitely wore both of the following outfits some years ago and loved them. I guess it is like a middle age crisis and the red sports car thing.
The dress above is draped on the dress form. It is three yards of polyester chiffon (remember I usually work in inexpensive fabrics  at $1.50 a yard, although I do love silks and satins). I would have loved to make this dress floor length, but I bought the last three yards, not enough to hit the floor. So, for this dress I am going to have to draft or drape the pattern from scratch, it should be fun. I did post this on Facebook.

This next outfit I had planned to make two year ago and put on line as one of my custom made numbers but never got around to it or to create my custom design shop, including jewelry and home decor. I can't seem to come up with a catchy all-inclusive name for the shop. Any suggestions would be most appreciated.

The border print set for this vintage fabric with the pants and tunic. I must of had this pattern when I was living in Southern California


McCall's 9676 from 1969 Summer of Love
I really like the dress in this pattern also, hmmm, super cool.

Which reminds me of the colorful 60s flower power dresses for a wedding treasury Jolene of Jo Retro made on Etsy.

And, now the beautiful picture I scored today, enjoy!


19 comments:

  1. your sewing is inspiring! i love the second dress, the colour and everything about it! the first dress is very sweet too, wonderful detailing on the shoulders. so nice of millie to help out ;)

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  2. oh, and you might've seen this site before, i've tweeted about it. but i just love their drawings of dresses. such fun! http://drawthisdress.tumblr.com/

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    1. That is an awesome site, I have never seen it before, thanks for sharing.

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  3. sorry for the multiple posts... if you click the drawing, it takes you to the original dress.

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  4. It came out great!!

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  5. that painting is a score. Nice work on your projects.

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  6. Thanks Danielle! I just found some silky mustardy fabric to line the maroon and mustard chiffon dress. Now to design a pattern for the dress. also, on the pink floral finished dress, I am now thinking of an under petticoat (different post)to give it more length. I still haven't decided, but I have until summer. I am going to keep the picture for a while, the colors are very captivating, the artist is Marie Laurencin 1938.

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  7. I love the way you altered the summer dress. I envy people who can sew, mostly I can do hand stitching, and I do sew my silk boas too! Nice work!

    Cheers,
    Joyflower
    joysilk.blogspot.com

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    1. Thanks Joy, your hand painted silk scarves are beautiful! www.joysilk.com Go Ashland Etsy Team!

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  8. I really love them both. The chiffon is incredibly beautiful, and the one above is lovely, too. Particularly like the dainty fabric print. Well done.

    How's everything going with you? Hope you're well <3

    Love & Cake,
    Amber

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    1. Thanks Amber! Still working on the chiffon, almost done. It took a while to figure out how to construct it with the gathers, but the bodice is lined, now for the side seams, zipper, skirt and that front bodice drapy thingy.

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  9. What a cute little cotton dress - and it would look great with cowboy boots. Romantic western bliss!

    I am so impressed with your sewing skills. I've tried to learn, but I'm just better off glueing things together and leaving the patterns up to pros like you.

    xoxo
    Michelle

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    1. Thanks Michelle, I thing cowboy boots would be great, but I don't really even like to wear shoes :( Hey, didn't you just do a post on that look recently? You had a couple of styles going on, really nice!

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  10. That painting is beautiful! =)

    http://pinkchampagnefashion.blogspot.com/

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  11. I really love this sweet dress you made. I have a similar pattern but for my 8 year old from the 40'sYou should post it on Sew & Tell Saturday!

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  12. What a pretty dress, you did a great job!

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    1. Thanks for stopping by, love your blog and seeing what your making.

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