An interesting vintage pattern

I really like the new blog called Catherine's Patterns.  She is talking about vintage patterns and showing very beautiful examples. She will also introduce some of her own designs in the future. I am looking forward to that.

She showed a really lovely floaty number from the Jazz Age exhibition and a 1920s pattern from her own collection - both dresses have the bodice wrap around towards the back.  A really fascinating detail!

I must say that I didn't used to be that keen on vintage patterns because most of them look best on figures that are very different to my measurements so I feel that most vintage garments would not be ideal for me.

What I love about them is that many patterns show details and design features that you can't find in modern patterns. Take the side seam that Catherine wrote about: how lovely is that?  Have you ever seen a sewing pattern with this kind of side seam?  I don't think I have.

The follow-on thing from the above that I like about vintage patterns is that you can find very intriguing design ideas and if it is possible to isolate them from the rest of the pattern, then they might be a fantastic source of inspiration for copying to your own sewing projects.

Reading Catherine's blog made me think about what vintage patterns had found their way into my pattern stash (why does a stash feel like the Star Trek episode with 'The Tribbles'? They seem to multiply when I'm not looking).

And see, I had bought several!  Oh boy.

But most of them have some kind of detail that I really like and hope to use by Frankenpatterning the vintage element with a modern pattern that will fit me.  Not that I have already developed a template block pattern that fits me really well just yet, but I fully intend to get there one beautiful day.

Here is one I just had to get because of the collar, - well, the front view of the collar:

Vogue 9083. I believe this is a reprint so you can still buy this pattern

Just look how gorgeous this looks both as part of the dress and under a jacket too!  I just love it.

It is this kind of structural looking design element that appeals to me.  Having said that, the skirt is not at all bad either.  In fact I really like the pocket placement at the bottom of the side panel seam.  I wonder how difficult that is to sew?  It is probably a good idea to strengthen the corner of the centre front piece with a little bit of interfacing...

Never mind, back to the collar.

It tunrs out that it is not part of the dress.  The dress in fact is shoulder and strap less. The bodice part is a bustier shape with a horizontal seam across under the arms, and parallel to the ground all the way around. Who'd have thought.

The collar then buttons onto that bustier in four places on the front, the back of the collar hangs down and is not attached.

When I looked at the collar before I could study the pattern pieces, I had intended to make the back of the collar a very different shape to this sailor's collar rectangle. Perhaps a gentle curve across, or some more shaping to this curve.

I still want to go with a design change like that but I may have to make a top or dress that does have shoulders.  A collar that's much less high at the centre back could flip up in windy weather.  I am also thinking of sewing this to my top or dress (made from a pattern that fits me well) as if the back of the collar is a back yoke instead.

It would also make it easier to slip into a jacket without getting the back all squashed up.

What do you think of the idea?

New year, new project

I am incredibly pleased that I started to cut out my first project of the new year on the second day of the year.  That's an auspicious start of something I want to do a lot of: to sew and use up more of my fabrics.

I hadn't made up my mind yet about which size I was going to use, the largest might be something like XXXL (size 52).  For some reason I had left all the different sizes on the paper pieces but then didn't notice.  So I needed to change the sleeve curves that had come out a bit too 'curvy'.  It worked though.

The following day I cut out some more pieces and did a first few seams.

The pattern is one that I had to buy again because I cannot lay my hands on the tissue pattern, I have only the photo and instructions left in the envelope.  I checked in currently available patterns (as many as I could bear to look through) but I couldn't find a similar style: Burda 6230 is a very loose shirt, or what I call an 'over blouse' - a shirt you can wear over a heck of a lot because it is so over-sized.

What I like about it is that you piece together the front and the back: there is a horizontal seam line from the yoke that extends into the cut-on sleeves, and they have a diagonal seamline between the lower sleeve and the front/back so you don't have to use extra wide fabric.  See the black and white drawing on the pattern envelope shown above.

The yoke piece that extends into the sleeves ends near the cuffs in a sharp point. I thought that looked very clever.  Not so great for shortening the sleeves: I can't wear the oringal length sleeves, they're 10 cm too long!

My first 2017 project is a muslin of this pattern because I want to check that I shortened the sleeves correctly (that yoke piece needs to be sewn to the united front/back piece and the lower sleeve piece. I can't know if it's right until I've sewn that seam). And I also want to see what the length is like on me. It'll probably drown me!

But seeing how long this is as an actual garment is better for deciding how much I want to shorten it by once I use my actual fabric.  I want to use a white fabric with white machine stitching on it that I bought in a shop clearance sale just before Atlantic Silk in Electric Avenue, Brixton closed its doors for good. Shame, this was a good fabric shop, particularly the back area.  At least Simply Fabrics is still around.

I don't want to cut into this beautiful fabric and mess it up.  I have not seen another fabric like it in all the years in which I amassed my fabric stash - so I've seen a few.  It is pretty thin and looks quite crisp but I haven't washed it yet. It's just so much easier to sew with a fabric that still has that sizing layer on it and I reckon the pattern is loose enough that it can't shrink too much if it even does.

I still haven't decided if size 52 is right for me.  I didn't exactly chose to use that size because I blindly followed the outlines. Oh oops.

But I am sewing! And that's the main thing.  Very pleased.

PS: On the third day of sewing (4 January) I've assembled the front and the back and sewed them together at the shoulder/top of sleeve seams. The button bands are not attached on the inside yet but they are on the outside. I cut and interfaced the colour and will probably attach it next.

PS: I forgot that I blogged twice about this pattern, both in July 2016: That 'over blouse' pattern I've long been looking for and also: What did I do today?