The Australian Wildflowers Dress

Although I do own a lot of original and reproduction vintage patterns and sew with them regularly, I do always try and pull them out especially in September for Sew Vintage September. Especially with Covid lockdown again it is nice to be able to see everyone's makes on Instagram and feel connected to others joining in the vintage sewing for the month.

Both the pattern and fabric have been in my stash for several years, although I hadn't really thought about them together. The fabric is such an amazing print but also very large, so it needed something that would do it justice. A full dress was always going to be the best option, but what sort of dress was the question, particularly how to make sure the skirt showed off the print. I had been thinking a circle skirt as it wouldn't hide anything in gathers, but the directional print would have meant some flowers ended up sideways or even upside down. In the end looking through my patterns and fabrics with both Sew Vintage September and the Whole 30 Fabric Challenge in mind led me to pull both fabric and pattern out together for the first time.

This absolutely beautiful fabric is one I picked up at a Sydney Spoolettes fabric swap a few years ago. The fabric design is called Australian Wildflowers and is covered in botanical drawings of different wildflowers, complete with common and scientific names as well as the states and territories they grow in.  There are flannel flowers, spider flowers, swamp and Sydney golden wattle, Cooktown, lemon and blue lady orchids, kangaroo paw, brown boronia, Sturt's desert pea and waratahs among others. The colours are wonderfully vibrant, and although a few arent' quite accurate to the flowers they depict they are all equally lovely drawings.

The pattern is Simplicity 4982 from 1955 and is an original, not a reproduction. It is a vintage size 12, measurements bust 30, waist 25 and hip 33. As an original pattern, there is a lot less ease than in modern patterns. The bodice is fitted and sits snug at the waist with maybe half an inch of ease. It could possibly do with an extra 1cm, but at the same time the closer fit probably helps to keep the bulk of the skirt from weighing the bodice down too much - the dress will pretty much stay in place without the straps because it simply can't sit lower down the waist.

Being an original 1950s pattern the shape of the upper bodice is very much designed to be worn with 1950s undergarments. The top edge of the upper bodice sat flat and correctly, but there was a lot of empty space between the top and the seam with the lower bodice. To remove some of the fullness I made the lower curve shallower and cut the sides of the piece straight rather than angled out to the lower edge. This kept the line of the top edge the same but reduced the height and width of the pattern piece so it was better sized.

The skirt is very wide and full. There are three 1.5m wide panels for a total width of 4.5m, while the bodice is only 66cm. This meant reducing down approximately 7cm of skirt for every 1cm of bodice. I gathered the skirt by hand in three sections, one for each skirt panel. It took approximately an hour to do the gathering and pin it in place, and then 15 minutes to carefully machine stitch it together. I had considered basting it together but ended up deciding the pins would be better at keeping the skirt from being pulled out of alignment while sewing. Because of the weight of the skirt I wanted to make sure the connection to the bodice was very sturdy, so I did a second line of stitching to make the connection more secure.

The bodice of the dress is lined, using a lightweight white lining. I sewed the straps in at the same time as attaching the bodice lining. To make sure I was still able to adjust the length each strap is two pieces: on attached in the front and one attached in the back. The zipper was installed before the lining was attached, and the lining was then machine stitched along the seam allowances joining the bodice pieces to keep the bodice and shell aligned, and hand stitched to the inside of the zipper tape and just inside the skirt seam. As with hand gathering the skirt this was a time consuming process but the finished product looks so much better for the effort.

The final step was to sew up the straps I had left open. As I mentioned there is minimal ease, so the dress sits close to the right spot when strapless. The original pattern actually has a strapless option where the bodice is boned, but I wanted this to be a bit more wearable so I included the straps. I pinned the two sides together at the shoulder before machine sewing at the top then trimming the excess and hand stitching closed. I probably pulled the straps up a couple of millimetres higher than needed, but it is to minor of an issue to be worth unstitching to adjust. 

Despite how big the dress is it only used 2.85m of fabric. The skirt is three panels 1.5m wide by 75cm long, with 30cm for the bodice and straps and another 30cm to line the bodice. The pattern actually suggests the skirt also be lined, but given the weight of this fabric I decided that was unnecessary. I haven't posted every make here on my blog - I may do a roundup post of the ones later - but this brings me to 15.15 metres or 16.5 yards of fabric from my stash used as part of the Whole 30 Fabric Challenge. Just over halfway through, a bit under 15 metres now to go.

I love how this dress turned out. The waist seam is snug so I can't slouch in the dress but the fit is close to perfect. It's feminine and fun and the weight of the fabric makes it very wearable. Although for now it can only be worn at home, this dress is brightening my lockdown days.

The Wild Meadow Gown

This dress is the Friday Pattern Company's Wilder Gown, which seems to be the current most popular pattern. I can see why it's so popular - it's fairly easy to make and easily adjustable and adaptable. It's loose fitting, but doesn't feel oversized, has a 70s influence but doesn't feel costumey. It has a bit of a secret pyjamas feel but is still very much wearable in public.

The fabric is a viscose rayon satin from My Hung Fabrics in Hurstville. I bought the fabric specifically for the pattern. I really liked the all over floral print, particularly the fact it has the feel of an overgrown meadow. The print is directional with the flowers all growing along the grainline, but because of the overgrown feel it isn't overly noticeable, which was lucky given I accidentally cut the bodice front pieces out upside down. The fabric is wonderfully soft with a subtle shine and an excellent drape, but it does fray a lot. Each seam is overlocked to protect the fabric from falling apart.

The pattern is easy to follow, with only a small number of pieces. The skirt is two tiers of gathered rectangles, two for the first tier and three for the second. Folded in half, my fabric was slightly narrower than the pattern piece, so for the first tier I just used the width of the fabric. The second tier is three pieces, two slightly narrower and one the correct width. 

I chose to make the gown with short sleeves and also shorten the length slightly so it wouldn't look quite so much like a nightie. The length of the full dress would have sat at a slightly awkward length, almost a maxi dress but not quite, so I made the second tier shorter by cutting it off at the lengthen/shorten line. 

Construction is generally very straightforward but I did have some issues with gathering the skirt tiers. The first line of gathering stitches I put in were too close to the edge of the fabric, which given the fabric's habit for fraying meant I wasn't able to gather the whole way along. I removed those stitches and did new gathering lower than the seam line which gathered in quite well. It did mean I had to remove that line of stitching from the finished garment, but it also avoided any more frustrations. 

The one new element to me was the gathered neckline. The pattern pieces have an extended neck almost like a turtleneck which is folded over and stitched with two lines of stitching about an inch apart, with the neck tie piece threaded through the channel between the stitching lines. This then gathers the dress when worn, pulled as loosely or tightly as desired.

I think this dress will get a lot of wear in these warmer months. Because of the print and the length I was slightly worried the dress might be a bit overwhelming, but I'm really happy with how it turned out. The only negative is that the fabric is slightly warmer than I expected it to be. The large amount of fabric gathered at the high neckline definitely contributes to that, so tying it more loosely might be one option. Overall, though, it's a lovely, dreamy, floaty dress that's both an enjoyable make and an enjoyable wear.

The Embroidery Skirt

This is my second Me Made May post, but this skirt is not a new one. This was made last year in October. I even took photos of it, but didn't check any of them until after finishing when I discovered none of them were full sized or properly framed. For some reason it has taken me until now to get around to photographing it again even though I've worn it frequently.

The fabric is from The Fabric Store and is a gorgeous embroidered linen cotton. It was such an eyecatching fabric that I picked it up. I knew the fabric needed the be a skirt to take advantage of the print without the garment being overwhelming, and I didn't want to make anything complicated to take attention away from the embroidery. I thought a simple skirt, that was gathered or pleated in some way, would be the right way to use the fabric.

I bought a one metre piece, and the fabric was about 1.5 metres wide. Because my idea for the skirt was something fairly simple, the only decision I needed to make was which way to cut it. The embroidery is in staggered rows down the length of the bolt. My original thought was to cut lengthwise in between the rows because I was nervous about cutting through the flowers, but when I held the fabric against me to check how it looked it just didn't seem quite right.  When I turned it the other way, it looked great.

I had been very nervous that cutting through the embroidery would cause it to fray and fall apart. But using my overlocker to finish the edges of the fabric on all sides helped to stabilise the print. I decided to pleat rather than gather to minimise the bulk around the waist, and to allow the embroidery to feature as clearly as possible.

I inserted the zipper first and then used pins and my dressmaker dummy to pleat until the skirt fit. The skirt has a circumference of almost 2 metres but my waist is only 60cm, so there was a lot of pleating to do. The pleats had to be overlaid on each other to get it down to the right size. There was a fair bit of trial and error in the size of the pleats and how far to overlap them until I got it right. To hold it all in place I hand basted, machine stitched two rows of stitching, and then covered the waist with blanket-width bias binding.

Because there's a lot of fabric the skirt is quite heavy to wear. But it is fitted well so doesn't slip down. The pleating also gives the skirt a slightly full shape which swishes and moves when I walk. This skirt should have made it onto the blog ages ago, and has already had many wears. Hopefully it will have wears for many years to come!

Sugar Plum Sylph Dress

I had this dress planned for more than four years before I made it. I bought the pattern in early 2014. The fabric was purchased way back in mid-2012. I decided they belonged together when I got the pattern but didn't make it until a month ago. Although I didn't have an overlocker until last year, and it was definitely very handy in sewing up this fabric.

I bought the fabric in Benalla when I was doing my PhD research. Benalla was one of my case study locations, and on the last afternoon I had finished up and was filling in time before leaving the next day. There was a small fabric store in town that was in the process of changing over to selling rugs and curtains and getting rid of all their fabric for $5 per (very generously measured) metre. So of course I bought about 7 metres of various fabrics, and this is the last piece left.

The pattern is La Sylphide from Papercut Patterns. I made a number of adjustments to the original pattern to fit the image I had for it, but nothing significant. I changed the darts from normal darts to tuck darts to give the bodice a slight blouson effect, which I felt suited the drape of the fabric better. I raised the neckline and removed the tie because I found it sat fairly low when I made the blouse version. I also shortened the sleeves to make it a summer dress and lengthened the skirt by about 2 inches because Papercut Patterns always seem to be made fairly short. Construction was still very easy, as Papercut have well-written patterns.

The fabric is a poly crepe georgette so it can get a bit sticky, but it has a great drape and flows nicely which generally means it's airy and cool most of the time. It is prone to fraying, so all seams and hems are overlocked. The colour is a beautiful rich deep purple, with delicate light and mid-purple flowers. The fabric is quite light and partially see-through so while it's not particularly obvious when looking at it, it does require a slip to be worn underneath.

The buttons are from a box of buttons inherited from my grandma. Because the fabric is a georgette that is prone to fraying I didn't want to do buttonholes as I doubt they will stand up to many washes, so the buttons are decorative and hide press studs. I was also unable to insert interfacing on this fabric as it didn't stick when I tried to iron it on, so the bottom of the placket doesn't sit completely straight.

This dress has already gotten a few wears since I finished it. It is nice enough that I can wear it to work, but also works for weekends or holidays, making it very flexible.

Floral Vampire Batwing Dress

I'm often a bit lazy with my sewing. I don't like changing my needle, so if I've put in a jersey needle I generally try and make a few things before changing the needle again. So when I made the side drape merino dress I went through my stash to look at other stretch fabrics I could sew up. One thing I pulled out was a heavy black and floral jersey. The pattern is another one from Drape Drape 2, the two-piece open batwing dress.

The fabric was from a Sydney Spoolettes fabric swap last year. I picked it up and put it down a few times, because I wasn't sure what I would do with it. It was a very large piece (1.5m by over 3m), a fairly thick jersey and quite a large print, so it needed a winter pattern that was big but wouldn't be overwhelming with the print.

Given I'd only just finished making something from Drape Drape 2, I'd already been looking through that book and it was fresh in my mind. It has two different batwing dress patterns, both of which I liked, but the other one looked like it needed a lighter weight jersey so I chose this one.

The pattern pieces for this dress are incredibly large and strangely shaped. Tracing them out was complicated, as there are multiple parts to join together, and it being a Japanese pattern there are many different patterns overlaid on each other on the page it can be hard to identify the correct lines. And the pieces couldn't even fit on a single piece of pattern paper, so there was lots of cutting odd bits off the side and attaching them on edges until I had what looked like a bat in flight.

Surprisingly, when I laid the pattern pieces out on the fabric, there was actually a fair bit of fabric left over. Yet the main piece, which makes up the front, sleeves, and upper back of the dress, was taller than me - not including the sleeves. The pattern pieces aren't only large, they have some strange angles which go in to making the gathered skirt, so it requires a lot of pins to cut out.

There are only a handful of steps to sew this pattern up and turn it into a mid-thigh length dress. The main thing to do is gather up the sides, which transforms a person-high piece of fabric into a skirt. The pleats on each side are sewn first, then the centre back seam, and the lower back piece is joined on. For the sleeves, the cuffs have pleats in them but were still a bit too loose and looked overwhelming with the large amount of fabric, so I added an extra pleat to make them slightly fitted at the cuffs.

I finished the dress a couple of weeks ago but haven't worn it yet. It's thick jersey, but the open sleeves mean it isn't really warm, and it sits somewhere between casual and dressy so I need to work out what it would suit. But I do like it and did enjoy making it.

The Tigermilk Dress

It's been a while since I last posted a new make. This was made mostly at the beginning of March, just before I went on holiday. I had thought I'd take it with my on my tip, but the ten buttons and buttonholes took a bit longer to finish than I'd expected.

The bodice fabric of this dress has had a few attempts before finally becoming this dress. I got the fabric from a fabric swap with the Sydney Spoolettes last year. It had already been cut into pieces for a straightforward pullover blouse, but never sewn up. It wasn't my style, but I loved the print. The pieces were for a large enough that I figured I could play around with them, and given it was a fabric swap they were free.

The pattern for the bodice is actually a blouse. The pattern is Simplicity 8009 from 1977. It had two options, sleeveless or puffy sleeves. Initially I decided to go for the sleeves.
The puffy sleeves were...not good. Although the fabric is soft, it didn't drape in the way I'd hoped, instead sticking out from my arms. So I removed the sleeves and used the fabric for sleeve facings instead. The length also didn't look quite right as a blouse, but the fabric is so nice and I liked how I'd sewn it together, so I decided to turn it into a dress.

The skirt fabric is from My Hung in Hurstville. I wasn't sure what colour would be the best choice, so I took a scrap with me and wandered around the store to see which one it matched with best. I was considering trying to match one of the colours in the bodice fabric, but in hte end decided to stick to something neutral. As it's just a simple A-line skirt I didn't bother with a pattern. I just measured the hem of the blouse and the length from my waist and cut out the fabric.

The dress title comes from Belle and Sebastian's first album, which I was listening to when I finished making it. And the retro feel of this dress suits their music. And tonight, it's getting an outing to see its namesakes perform.

The Frocktails Flare Dress

Last Saturday was Sydney's Frocktails for 2018, where we sewists get together to have some fun, meet the person behind the Instagram handle, talk about fabrics, and have an excuse to make something fun and fancy to wear. This dress is the Loose Flare Drape Dress, pattern 11 in Drape Drape. Although a modern pattern, the tent dress shape gives it more of a 1960s feel.

For Frocktails this year I wasn't sure at all what I wanted to make, so I put it in the hands of the Instagram sewing community. I grabbed a pile of fabric options out of the drawers and draped them over my dressmaker's dummy, took pictures, and asked for advice. There wasn't a clear winner, and every option got at least one vote, but this fabric got the most early support. I really had no idea what to make with it and honestly didn't think I'd find anything, but thought I'd look through my patterns anyway. I saw the loose flare pattern in Drape Drape and thought it might work, so posted a picture of it. Everyone told me to go for it, and I din't have any other ideas. So basically this dress wasn't so much a planned outfit as a "well maybe this will work" creation. I think it worked.

This is a wonderful pattern, if slightly lacking in instructions. There's succinct and then there's cryptic, and the instructions for this dress slip towards the latter. There's little detail in some of the steps, and even with the pictures it wasn't always completely clear what to do - particularly with how to make sure the flare piece doesn't get caught between the lining. I also cut it out mirror imaged, because for some reason the pattern was meant to be cut out on the right side of the fabric instead of the reverse as is the norm with most patterns, but wasn't labeled. However this doesn't make any real difference to the final product.

The measurements on Japanese patterns are often a bit tricky. For this book I'm the height of the extra large, but the rest of my measurements match the small. To deal with this I used extended the small size pieces to the length of the extra large when tracing them out. Because of the large size of the pattern pieces the fabric was a tiny bit smaller than it should have been to fit all pieces on in line with the grain. Had it been 10cm wider or longer it would all have fit correctly, but as it was I had to slightly angle the front drape piece to be able to fit the back on. And in the end my pattern plancement matched the flare exactly to the front piece. Got to love those inadvertent perfect placements!

I had a few people at Frocktails ask if the fabric was a silk. In fact, the fabric is a polyester crepe bought in Cabramatta for $7 a metre. Despite being so cheap and being polyester it's actually a fantastic fabric. It has excellent drape, feels lovely and soft and the colours of the digital print are wonderfully bright. The lining was from an op shop, and cost about $1 for several metres, so this dress is very cheap but doesn't look it.

I also made the ridiculous decision at 3pm on the day of Frocktails to make a clutch purse. I'd been planning to take a black clutch I own, but could not find it and didn't think any of my other bags suited my dress. I knew I had some (cheap and crappy) faux leather, so I did a quick Google to look for a simple and fast bag pattern. I found this one which involves no sewing, just glue. Although I did add a line of stitching in part to ensure the fabric and faux leather didn't come apart. I also had enough scrap fabric left to use to line the bag, and added a vintage button from my collection inherited from my grandma. I don't think the glue was completely dry when I left home, but the bag turned out as well as could be for making it at such short notice.

 I'm really happy with how both the dress and bag turned out, and it's always nice to catch up with the sewing community. Sitting at a sewing machine is very solitary, so catching up with other sewists is always good. And who doesn't love a good excuse to wear something fun?