Tags
1957, border print, dress, lady ozma, sewing, sundress, talk about tuesday, vintage vogue, vogue
I really like pretty clothes. I especially like the “vintage” look. Vintage as in: Fashions of yesteryear that actually accentuate your curves and beauty instead of making you feel frumpy and blah.
Don’t get me wrong, I like yoga pants as much as the next girl. I might even be wearing a pair as I type this. However, yoga pants are not really geared towards making you feel or look pretty.
I love looking at pattern books and getting ideas. I, however, do not enjoy the cost of patterns. I watched a “vintage vogue” pattern for a while before it came down in price from a whopping $25 to the best ever just under $5 range. Score!
Let it be said here and now that no one sews any more because it is cheap. You sew to make yourself happy. Sewing is very expensive. So you know, next time you think you might give me a $6 budget, just think of that. I will laugh in your face. I will also tell anyone that asks how I laughed in your face and watch as they laugh as well.
I swept up my pattern, but what do I make it with? Enter the mom-stash. My mom has a minor problem. That minor problem means she has an entire bedroom dedicated to fabric. That minor problem means that I can often make all kinds of cool stuff for cheap because I go shopping at her house.
I found this awesome border print in just the right amount in her stash. I mean it’s like she actually knew and planned for it, right? I liberated the lovely border print from the fabric room along with some muslin for a lining.
I used muslin for a mock-up and loved it. The hope was: mock-up becomes lining. It did! I’ll admit it took a while because I kept getting distracted by other projects and the like. Sadly, I didn’t photograph this portion well at all.
After finalizing the mock-up, I set out my border print and started whacking away with my scissors.
See how the border shows lots more red flowers? I thought this would be awesome looking on the skirt.
It took me about a week to get through this. I had a lot going on and I used this project as mental therapy from some stressful stuff. Sewing, for me, is very cathartic.
What you need to know about this pattern:
- Vintage Vogue is pretty.
- Measurements are strange. Hope you have a tiny waist. I do not. We will not discuss what I had to cut out and then do to alter this pattern to fit my tiny top, large hips, and meh waist. Let’s just say that at one point I had two friends pawing all over the mock-up with a pencil puzzling it out with me.
- The pleats were very strange. The bodice to skirt is all one piece so you do these inverted pleats at the seam after you sew the whole dress together. The directions made that sound way stranger than it actually was.
- Make note of your height. This dress ended up very long on me. Use the “shorten here” marks!
- That neckline and sleeves are seriously going to need to be top stitched to keep things tidy.
What I wish I’d done different/recommend doing differently:
- That white fabric with red embroidery is HEAVY. It’s a loose weave and it’s white, but the threads are quite thick. It needed to be lined. I would maybe not go with such a heavy fabric unless you like gaining 5 or more pounds. Obviously, I do this all the time. I’m a weirdo though.
- I started to do a standard lining. By the time I got to the hem, I realized the dress looked better with the lining being a “slip” and thus not actually attached to the hem of the dress. This meant I got to roll hem both. Not a problem but that’s about 8 yards of hem. Consider alternate options
- On that note, because of this, the bodice lining is tidy, all hems encased between the lining and the bodice. However, this means that the loose skirt is now “inside out”. I would have sewn the lining together so that the inside of the skirt would actually be on the inside or used french seams.
So here’s where it got weird. This is the final product. The dress is rather low-cut so the pattern comes with this yoke. However the yoke directions are probably in Martian or some other language I do not speak. And it does not appear to actually be sewn down.
I love the dress however I feel it needs a little something added to it. And I am not happy with the yoke.
I would also like to point out this was the more “low-cut” yoke. Yikes. Know how large your shoulders are. Mine are tiny. I actually have a lot of neckline trouble do to this.
What I did when I wore it:
That belt was so needed. Doesn’t it look way better?
I hit up the accessories store with a scrap of cloth and found this perfect belt. Awesome! It matches the center of the flowers perfectly! I then wore a modesty white tee under the dress. I’m still looking for a viable modesty idea, so feel free to comment with ideas!
This is a 1957 pattern from Vogue and I really enjoyed making it! I enjoy wearing it even more!
Win of the day: Sir Megabyte gave me a huge compliment on my skills by saying it looks store-bought!
–Lady O
Lady Ozma's Journey 
You are THE AWESOME. I LOVE the dress!! And I’m in awe of your skills at the sewing machine (and on the cutting table.) My mom used to be the standard by which I judged others’ sewing skills – she was also THE AWESOME. But I think you’re right up there with Mom!
I really do love the fabric and the pattern. I think the tee looks pretty good with it – can’t think of what else you might be able to use (unless you were able to score a tee in the same colors as the flowers. . . )! Anyway, can’t wait to see much more of this AWESOME dress in the future!!!
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Wow. You’re way too kind! I doubt that I can in any way compare to your mother! I have so so so much work to do to improve my skillset!
I love this fabric and this pattern. They were just perfect for each other! I think the tee is the best option. Unless i can get something maybe lacy? That would be cool. I just don’t like that yoke thingie. I need to wear this dress again. I might have to start wearing this stuff more than just Sunday because I think I’m making clothing that needs to see the light of day more! Sadly, I won’t be in our ward the next two Sundays, so you won’t see whatever I wear. 😦 I will say, wait until you see the plaid skirt. It’s super cute! And I just ordered the most lovely seersucker to make into a dress so I can’t wait for that to come in!
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OOOH – seersucker!! I’ve always loved how it feels. For some reason, seersucker always reminds me of May. I really can’t wait to see that – do you have a pattern yet? And I am waiting anxiously to see the plaid skirt! What color plaid is it?
I have a wool plaid that my mom bought to make matching skirts for her and our oldest, and then she never got it done. Someday I’m going to do it myself!
And I must also say that I am totally in agreement with your comments on sewing today. It is NOT a realistic alternative to shopping. If you sew, you’re doing it because you really want to do it, not because you’re creating fashions at much less cost than buying in a store (or online!). In fact, I think sewing now is a rich person’s fun. The patterns (I remember when the expensive ones were still not much over a dollar) and of course, the fabric. And let’s face it, all the other doodads you need to buy when making something from scratch aren’t exactly cheap, either!
That said, I do miss sewing sometimes. When I was a teen, I made all my own slacks because my legs were too long to buy pants in the store. By the time I got to college, I had discovered that mens’ jeans were sold by length – so I bought all my jeans in the mens department. At least those things are better today (or maybe when I shrunk, I lost the 1.5 inches in my legs, although that really doesn’t seem possible!).
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I really love seersucker and this is a pretty gingham. Love it! I already have the dress pattern and it is cute. A little more classic in nature.
I maybe still had some issues about my costume budget reflected in this post. Hehe. I will say I try to cut my costs where I can. I bought a bunch of zippers for fabric I have a while ago when they were on sale. The pattern for this was bought on sale fir a fraction of the cost. Etc. you can try to save, if you plan well. The seer sucker was on sale for 60% off! The dress fabric was only twelve dollars and the pattern was a dollar. I’m going fir leds than 20 bucks which would be astounding.
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Ps make the plaid up! (oh and my skirt was a slick pink/purple of course! And I ordered some seersucker plaid!)
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I SO love old dress patterns, I have yet to purchase any because I have had fears of them not being “normal” so to speak. Thanks for the walk through though, I think I may actually push forward and try it! The red belt definitely rounds it out perfectly!
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I do as well. This was not too bad. I was very nervous, especially because the pattern showed this teeny tiny waist. What I did was make sure I cut the size that matched my largest measurement and prayed. There was a lot of taking in at the top, but that’s OK. I’m used to that anyway since I have small shoulders and stuff. It will definitely help to have a partner or a mannequin though. I think you should do it and then post back your results! I want to cheer you on!
And I agree about the belt. It really just made the outfit perfect.
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Its lovely!! the red flowers and the belt are awesome, and the boarder does make it look store bought!! you are so right about sewing not being cheap!!! I look forward to that 5 patterns for five dollars joanns coupon each year!!!
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I love border prints so much! They really can add a lot of pizazz to your sewing! And yeah, it really amazes me how many people do think sewing is cheap. Not. So. Much. I watch the sales. Joanne’s puts patterns on sale for a dollar all the time. Vogue, however, is never a dollar. Usually they go on sale for something like $3 or $4 and that’s when I buy them. No way am I spending $25 on a pattern unless I’m in some kind of major bind.
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