Sewing 60's Style

Sewing 60's Style

This is sort of an incomplete review, which sometimes I feel maybe isn't entirely fair, but I've sewn enough of this garment to be able to comment on the quality of the design and pattern. To preface things, I moved a few months ago and unfortunately lost the use of my sewing room and office. It's been devastating. As a disabled woman my whole life is centered around my pastimes and without them I'm more sedentary and depressed. I've definitely gained weight and I find that my brain fog is far worse without the stimulation that my art and sewing provide me with. We'll be renovating the sewing room very soon and I'm thoroughly elated at this prospect. It's been so chaotic without either space. Recently I've had the itch to sew, I decided to give it a whirl in our front room using what little fabric and notions I had access to (most things are still boxed). I haven't sewn without a sewing room in something like six years, and it was horrible. It's still horrible. The lighting is abysmal, the cats kept trying to lie on my fabric and pattern paper, cutting was awkward, and my makeshift table using my ironing board collapsed, flinging my sewing machine onto the hardwood floor - the machine miraculously survived, the floor is dinged but it's all scratched and dinged from previous owners anyways so I'm not heartbroken. But I digress, the pattern:

Simplicity 8358 Pattern Review

I chose this pattern after combing through several 1960's frock patterns. Recently I've been watching the latest season of Call the Midwife, which just isn't as good as it used to be, but it's chock full of 60's fashion and seeing all of the bright and happy looking dresses compelled me to revisit the decade. I seldom sew anything 60's because for me it was a decade preoccupied with tent dresses and terribly unflattering silhouettes. There were a few highlights which were largely reminiscent of the 50's, but a lot of the designs I just can't get behind. I don't have the model body type so I can't throw on a full body cape and expect to look chic. That being said, I don't have hoards of 60's patterns and obviously I only keep those that appeal to me. S8358 is one of those dresses that looks flattering enough, it's a princess seamed a-line frock with raglan sleeves in varying lengths with different collar styles. The difficult part is assessing how accurate the illustrations are in the absence of real photographs and in this case... these drawings look really cute. The actual dress? Enhh...

I used a hideous Pepto-bismol pink poplin for the muslin. Poplin is the recommended fabric, among others, and I have to disagree with this choice. Not only because I hate poplin, because it's scratchy and it wrinkles, it's just too structured for this particular design. Maybe it works for Verison 3, but belted in Version 2, the look that I made, it causes unsightly bunching and doesn't hang quite right. I also wouldn't use poplin for Version 1 with the gathered sleeves, instead I'd recommend a rayon or lightweight chiffon with a slip worn underneath. The poplin did sew smoothly, though. I ran out of fabric and was unable to cut the second sleeve and either of the three collar options, hence the incomplete garment in the photo. I might purchase some cheap poplin in a contrast some day and finish the dress to donate - I hate being wasteful!

The instructions were fair although I hardly followed them. One thing that irked me was that they begin with Version 1, which has a notched neckline where the scarf pulls through, the other versions recommend referencing back to the beginning steps which have you cut and sew the notch. I knew the difference but a beginner would totally cut this piece without thinking, it's poor organization. Considering that Versions 2 and 3 are the more simplified dress you'd think those assembly instructions would come first and then the collar notch variation added later. It's confusing.

The design is okay. The princess seams and back darts allow for shaping. The size I used was slightly above me in terms of fit so it hung loosely but I think it's for the best considering I have a muffin top right now. These kinds of dresses are unforgiving to those of us without flat stomachs. The raglan sleeves feature a shoulder dart for shaping. I was apprehensive about it but it does sit nicely. The roll collar doesn't work on my stubby neck so I was going to make the shirt collar instead when I ran out of fabric. Assembly is fast, cutting took forever but that was a given without my rotary. I felt overwhelmed by the amount of fabric in this garment. The hem sits just above the knee, but I think it looks better either higher or lower, that could just be me though. The dress is very plain. It almost looks utilitarian like a nurse's uniform. Perhaps a printed fabric might look better for this design but the solid colour is very overwhelming. It looks cute on the mannequin but when I wear it I feel like one of the Mr. Men. Call me Little Miss Underwhelmed. It's unlikely I'll ever sew this again but if I did I might try Version 1 instead, in a much nicer printed fabric.

Anne Adams R4613 Dress

Vintage Swing Dress

I've been chubby since last fall, honestly, I've eaten way too much pie and ice cream and pizza and cake. My husband is my worst enabler, and with the stress of house hunting we often have no choice but to order take out as we sit, anxiously waiting to hear back as to whether we've lost out on yet another bidding war (and yeah, we always lose). Not surprisingly I have a hardcore shortage of summer friendly clothing, hence the Zulily shopping spree. I only ended up with two wearable dresses from Zulily, they cancelled my other dress order on me - bastards! Fed up, I decided I'd make my own dresses instead. So I scoured my pattern collection and found a cute summer friendly looking dress from the 1950's. It's an Anne Adams dress, and I wouldn't be surprised if you've never heard the name before, it's one of the many mail order pattern companies from the olden days. Sometimes you can find these patterns for cheaper online than a Simplicity or McCall's because the brand isn't as identifiable. They also tend to be unmarked patterns which is kind of a pain in the ass and might put off some buyers. This is the second mail order pattern I've tackled, this being the far more successful attempt of the two.

Knock Off Velvet Skirt

Silence + Noise Tie Waist Velvet Skirt Knock Off 

Using Simplicity 8653

Last winter I purchased a gorgeous velvet frock from Urban Outfitters. It was almost $100 and probably out of my budget but I had wanted something pretty for family gatherings and dates, so I caved and I bought it. Shortly thereafter, while perusing the UO catalog online, I spotted the "Silence + Noise Tie Waist Velvet Skirt" in a luxurious looking emerald green, but at a whopping $60 CAD it was out of the question, especially after my expensive dress purchase. I waited forever to see it go on sale and it never did! Of course everything else was marked down, including every other colour of my dress, except the one that I had purchased. Go figure.

I was disappointed but determined, I would have that skirt, even if it meant having to make it myself!
I've been dying to use this Simplicity "Grooves" pattern which features 00's fashions, like wide leg pants, crop tops and gathered athletic style skirts (with kangaroo pockets - probably the most adorable sewing terminology you will ever use). This was the only pattern in my collection that I felt matched the Silence + Noise skirt design. It features a gathered, elastic drawstring waistband and an a-line shape, like the skirt in the product photos, but minus the mitered pockets and dolphin shorts hem (another ridiculously adorable sewing term).

I thought that the skirt in the pattern photo looked a little taught in comparison, it didn't have nearly as many gathers, so I drafted an extension onto the front and back skirt pieces. I also drafted the mitered pocket from scratch and I'm in love with how it turned out, I will probably employ this technique thrice over. Unfortunately I didn't make a toile for this project, I just dove right in, and I discovered a few key problems.

1) The dolphin hem was not going to be an easy draft, so rather than overwork myself I simply created a side seam split with a slight hi-lo hem to cover my arse. It works but it's not as visually appealing and I wish I had taken the time to draft a dolphin hem after all.

2)The elasticized drawstring waistband totally tanked! I had drafted a new, wider waistband for the project, sewed on the elastic, stitched buttonhole openings for the drawstring, and threaded the drawstring through the casing. The result? A frumpy, hideous gathered waistband that could not flatter any figure. When looking at my inspiration photo, the waistband is a little frumpy but not nearly as much. It seemed like an excessive amount of material was causing my problem. So I unpicked it, redrafted the waistband and shortened the skirt width, resulting in my having to redraft, sew and recut the pockets and side seams. I must've shaved off ten inches of excess fabric. I tried the waistband in the same manner and what do you know, the same problem happened again. It was still frumpy and unflattering.

At this point I'm wondering, what's going on here? The skirt looks fine gathered before the waistband is assembled. It even looks a little more appealing with ten inches shaved off, yet the waistband looks like crap. The answer? Silence + Noise were clearly using a much cheaper, thinner stretch velvet than I was. My velvet, a moderate thickness, was creating too much bulk in the waistband. I had to rethink it entirely and this is when I lost steam.

I put the skirt on hiatus and left it for a whole year before returning to it.

Now I wouldn't recommend putting all of your projects on one year's hiatus, however, I did return with a much clearer vision in my mind, and with new ideas and techniques that I could employ with this project. I had just finished one red velvet circle skirt with elastic waistband, I knew exactly what I needed to do with this skirt.

Obviously a gathered waistband was out of the question, so instead I needed to serge a wide elastic waistband directly to the skirt. This is accomplished by cutting an elastic to fit your waist, plus seam allowance, then cutting a casing the same length but twice the width of the elastic. I sewed both the elastic and waistband casing seams, and then encased the elastic, therefore creating the waistband. Finally, I used my overlock to serge the waistband to the gathered skirt.

IT'S THAT SIMPLE.

I merely stitched a faux tie onto the front of the skirt to emulate the drawstring effect.

IN REVIEW

A few things to review, for one, the skirt is not as a-line as the pattern depicts. I thought that once it was gathered it would look more flared but it does have a tight, fitted, pencil skirt effect, even with the added fullness. Secondly, there is an undesired fullness between the thighs where it creates a bubble effect, in other words, this is not a skirt that I will be wearing on days that I look and feel bloated. I'm not sure if the gathers were working against this skirt? I had ensured all the gathers were made in the front but not where the pockets are located, in order to show the pockets off more - this is different than in the inspiration photo where the skirt is completely gathered all the way around. This might have caused the bubble issue. I do wish I had created the dolphin hem but it's not something I want to revisit. Overall, I have my skirt! I'm looking forward to wearing it through this chilly winter weather. I consider this a fairly successful knock off.

-Lu