Domestic Goddess dress

It’s the new year, so that means it’s time for a new dress, right? (Not that I ever need an excuse to make a new dress!)

I’ve nicknamed this one the Domestic Goddess dress, as the cut and floral fabric in soft colours make me feel all 1950’s housewifey. After the photos were taken, I decided to go with that retro vintage housewifey sort of feeling, put my heels on and went to the supermarket then cooked dinner. (Yes, with an apron over the top, even! Very domesticated, no?) This may not sound all that special, but the whole cooking dinner thing is something that kinda intimidates me a little. Sad but true. Hence another of my New Year’s resolutions this year – lose that intimidation of kitchen ware! (For some reason, I’m more than happy with making a wide variety of sweet things, but dinner always seems to fall back to just a few really basic things I’m comfortable with. Hmmm.)

Anyway, I digress.

So, here it is. The first dress of 2010. The Domestic Goddess dress!

Made from a re-released Butterick pattern (Butterick 6582) from 1960. There were two key variations to this dress – the more 1960’s style one with a long wiggle skirt, and this 1950’s style one with the full skirt. I’m more a full-skirt kinda girl, so I don’t think I’ll ever get around to making it up for myself in the wiggle skirt design….

This one is made from a craft cotton, with a pretty little pink floral pattern all over it.

Fitted bodice, ruched shoulders, full skirt (gathered at the waist except for a section across the center front which is left ungathered), self-fabric belt (which is just pinned in the photos, as I didn’t have any D-rings wide enough for it, so it’ll get completed after my next trip to the fabric store). Fastens with an invisible zip down the center back, and a hook-and-eye closure at the top of the zip (which I accidentally forgot to fasten for the photo. Whoops.) (Please excuse the creasing on the back of the skirt – I was lazing around reading a book for about half an hour before we took the photos, and it got a bit crushed!)

Domestic Goddess dress (seated)

Domestic Goddess dress (back)

Domestic Goddess dress (top)

August dress (polka dots!)

Now that I’m back from the Christmas week visit to my parent’s place (and their ultra-slow dial-up rural internet connection, which essentially cuts me off from internet access for the whole time I’m visiting them), it’s time for the last posts of 2010!

Here’s the next in the line-up of the 12 Months of Dresses projects – this one is from August.

Another re-released retro Butterick pattern, this time from 1957. (Butterick B4512.) It’s quite a fun design, this one – prim and proper in front, with a plunging back. (A combination that I’ve been coming across a lot with these 1950’s re-released patterns! And not one that I would have expected, either. Clearly, those 1950’s gals were a bit racier than they appeared! 😉

To add to the fun of the design, I’ve made this one up in a bright purple cotton with white polka-dots all over it. Kinda screams out ‘party dress’, now doesn’t it?!

This pattern has three slightly different variations – one with a collar, one with a big, floppy pussy-bow at the neck, and one with a plain neckline. There are also two belt variations – a plain belt, or a cummerbund. I’ve gone with the plain neckline and cummerbund option this time, although I fully intend to make up the pussy-bow variant at some stage.

And here it is, the August dress:

August dress (front)

August dress (back)

January dress

The January dress doesn’t really have any other name. Which seems a little bit sad, since the last three I blogged about did. I feel it needs a name, just to be able to fit in and hold it’s head up high amongst the others…. Anyone got any suggestions? Coz I’m not really coming up with anything…..

Anyway, the January dress is nearly a year old now, and I’ve only just gotten photos of it! Eek! It was the first in the 12 Months of Dresses project for 2010. One day (maybe in January 2011) I’ll get around to making the belt that goes with it, but in the meantime (since I can’t find what I did with the rest of the fabric) it’s been getting worn with a blue belt I purchased for another dress.

This one is from a re-released 1957 Butterick pattern – B4792. It’s another slightly unusual one – the back dips low and the shoulder straps carry on and join in the center front, where the front bodice and lining are sewn over top of them to create a gathered front neckline. It’s got another one of those awesome 1950’s ultra-full skirts (fun to twirl around in, yay!), and in theory fastens with an inset side zipper. Since I’m not a huge fan of inset side zippers, this one fastens with an invisible zip up the center back and a hook and eye closure at the top of the zip. Which is just as well, since it was quite a bit bigger on me than I expected and I had to take it in a fair bit at the sides after I tried it on, which would have been a lot more complicated if the zip needed to be moved!

The fabric is a craft cotton, with a vintage nana type floral print all over it. One of those ones I saw and went ‘awesome! I have to have that!’ and my mother and sister (who were with me at the time) looked at me oddly. What can I say? Vintage nana-type stuff is fun. 🙂

January dress (front)

January dress (back)

January dress (twirling)

November dress (aka The Curtain)

Yep, it’s true. The November dress is made from a curtain. And not just any curtain, but a genuine retro 70’s style cotton curtain that I found in an op shop. It called to me, seduced me with it’s bright and happy colours and little tulips, and the next thing I knew I was walking out the door with it and taking it home with me. (Sounds a bit like a random encounter in a bar so far. Hmmm.)

Anyway, this curtain and I stuck it out for a while. It lived in my fabric cupboard for a good couple of years, every so often peeking out and saying ‘hey, when are you gonna make me into something new?’. To which I’d reply ‘soon, I promise! Really!’ and then forget about it all over again.

Then back in November, the curtain and I got reunited. And creativity blossomed from our encounter. Woo hoo!

First up, I made a couple of cushion covers. Which are happily sitting on my couch, looking all bright and cheerful.

Then I made a skirt, and used the curtain’s cotton lining as the skirt lining. Nice and thrifty of me, yes?

Then I wore the skirt to brunch with some friends, and realised that although I’d made it in my size, it turns out I’m not that size any more and the skirt was actually too big for me. (Side note: must redraft my skirt pattern.) This kinda sucked a bit, as I’d fully lined it and didn’t really feel like unpicking the entire top just to take it in a size.

Then I decided, hey, why not turn it into a dress? Which also involves lots of unpicking, but it’s unpicking to create something new, which is completely different from unpicking to adjust a size, and no where near as frustrating.

And thus, the November dress was born. 🙂

(I then went on to use some more of the itty bitty bits of curtain that were left to make a glasses case for my mother for Christmas. There isn’t much curtain fabric left now. Possibly enough for a small soft toy. Watch this space to see what it ends up as.)

And now, after that long drawn-out tale of a girl and a curtain, I present to you, the November dress.

November dress (front)

November dress (back)

Still looks a bit like a curtain, doesn’t it? Luckily, I have no issues with wearing things that look like curtains. 🙂

The bodice is one that I drafted back in February for the pink-and-red dress. It’s based on another dress I own, with a few adjustments (such as making the bodice longer so you don’t need to wear another top under the dress!) The skirt used to be an A-line hipster skirt. Which means it’s not as full as I would have liked, but there wouldn’t have been enough fabric to make a very full skirt, anyway. The skirt is from a pattern I drafted ages and ages ago back when I started sewing.

I made a belt with the fabric as well. Not that you can see it very clearly, since it sort of blends in with all the other fabric pattern!

I think overall, it was probably better as a skirt, but since I seem to be wearing dresses far far more than skirts these days, it’ll get worn a lot more than it would have if I’d left it in it’s original incarnation.

Long live curtains! 🙂

May dress (the peanut butter one)

Why is the May dress the peanut butter one? Because it’s all yellow and brown. Which kinda reminds me of Reece’s peanut butter cups. (Yum!) See what I mean?

May dress (seated)

May dress (front)

May dress (back)

The May (peanut butter) dress is made from a re-released Butterick pattern from 1952. (Butterick B5033.)

The bodice is close-fitting, with an odd cut-out in the middle and a high neckline at the back. Fitted waistline at the natural waist. The (very full) skirt has pleats in the front, and flares out a lot. Fastens with an invisible zipper and hook and eye in the center back.

The fabric is a blend of something (I’m not entirely sure what) which conveniently doesn’t need ironing (making it perfect for a going-out-for-dinner dress if you head away somewhere, as you can just throw it in your suitcase! So this dress has been to a ballet in Slovakia and the opera in Hungary with me, making it the most well-traveled of the 12 months of dresses so far.)

I meant to adjust the pattern and include in-seam pockets on each side, but completely forgot to add them. I may go and do this at some point, as pockets in dresses are awesome. 🙂

I’ve since made a basic narrow belt for the dress in the same fabric.

This pattern has another variation, without the cut-out in the bodice and with a collar and ribbon bow-tie instead, which is on my list for dresses to make next year.

June dress (with vegetables!)

So it turns out I’m a bit behind in posting about my 12 months of dresses project. Oops! (But hey, that’s what happens when you get confused about your blog, right?!?)

Anyway, without further ado, I present to you (finally) the June dress. Complete with vegetables.

June dress (front)

June dress (back)

The June dress is another of the re-released Vogue 1950’s patterns that I’ve been happily collecting. (I do love my 1950’s dresses!) This one is an original 1954 design, and has been re-released as Vogue 2267. The dress has a fitted bodice, square necklines in front and back, and princess seams. It fastens with a side zipper (I used an invisible zipper, as I far prefer them for sewing with) and has in-seam pockets at both hips.

I used a craft cotton fabric again (they have the best prints, after all!), so it’s reasonably lightweight. Black, with a pattern of vegetables all over it (as a wearable reminder to eat your greens).

My only issue with this pattern (and indeed most of the re-released 1950’s patterns) is that the armholes are too tight. Sadly I completely forgot this when making up the dress, so ended up having to unpick the shoulder seams (which was more irritating than usual as they were finished by hand, which is something I hate doing in the first place so having to re-do it is not-so-fun) and let them out as much as I could. Next time, I’ll just have to remember to add an extra centimeter onto each shoulder strap to start with, and then it’ll be perfect. 🙂

I was quite impressed by the fit of this pattern. Probably not so good for busty girls, but it fit me perfectly, was quite fast to sew up (aside from the aforementioned hand finishing – grrr!) and I fully intend to make it up again (in a completely different colour so it doesn’t look as much as though I have two the same!).

March dress

As per usual, I’ve been slack with updating this. Sorry! (And thanks to the lovely Teresa for giving me a slap on the wrist about it!)

As part of the aforementioned slackness, I haven’t really given any updates on the 12-dresses-in-12-months projects. So, here’s one now!

This is the March dress. Made from a re-released 1950’s Vogue pattern. Pure cotton, with a pink and white floral design that makes it look a bit like it was made from your nana’s curtain. Yeah!

March dress (front)

March dress (back)

BurdaStyle Pink & Red stitching contest

I entered my first ever stitching contest at the BurdaStyle website (www.burdastyle.com) on Sunday. Very exciting! 🙂 The challenge was being run by Coats and Clark, and it was to make a pink and red outfit, with decorative stitching detail, for a heart disease and breast cancer event. Since I’m a fan of pink, red, good causes, and challenges, naturally enough I decided to go for it.

Also naturally enough, being me, I got the fabric on Friday and made the dress mainly on Sunday, even though the contest finished by midnight Sunday. Oops.

All went well, though. I wandered along to the super-fantastic half-price sale at Arthur Toye, found some bright cherry red fabric with a textured stripe through it, and some dark-pink-and-white gingham that went with it nicely, and got started. Fun!

I drafted up the pattern bodice by myself, basing it on the bodice of a dress I already owned. For the skirt, I used a pattern piece for a retro 1950’s dress pattern I have, but only used 3/4 of the skirt pattern, and gathered it the entire way around the waist instead of following the original design. (In other words, I couldn’t be bothered measuring out the skirt, so modified a pattern I already had access to. Coz drawing out full skirt patterns is somewhat boring – been there, done that before.) I went for a retro 1950’s sundress style look, with a natural waist, full skirt, and fitted bodice. The sash widens out at the bottom, and to meet the decorative stitching requirements, I thread-painted a rabbit on the bottom of one half of the sash, which I reckon kinda ties in with the whole 1950’s pin-up Playboy girl style and colour.

It was quite exciting putting this up on the BurdaStyle website – my very first project! And it was especially exciting getting a couple of nice member comments on it. 🙂 (Thanks, lovely BurdaStyle community!) If you’re curious to see it on a ‘proper’ website, you can check the project out here: http://www.burdastyle.com/projects/pink-red-1950-s-style-dress (And if you like it, feel free to vote on it! 😉 ) I’m pretty happy with how it turned out, actually. The only adjustment I needed to make to the original pattern draft was to lengthen the bodice, which I did on the dress (since I didn’t bother making a muslin to test it) by adding gingham trim at the top, which I was going to do in some form for decoration anyway, so it all worked out rather well. 🙂

As well as an entry into the BurdaStyle contest, this is my February dress for the 12 Months of Dresses project.

Pink & Red 1950's style sundress

Pink & Red 1950's style sundress

Pink & Red 1950's style sundress detail