3/29/13: I'm Sewing for Victory! - Final Part

I was true to my word. The photos just came in. . .

[ By the way, I'm not wearing the shoulder pads in these photos.  I discovered that the weight of the skirt solved the shoulder issues! ]

Catherine and I just took these photos this morning. When I was sewing up this dress I was worried that I would need to take photos with a snow covered background. Thankfully, some warmer temps have arrived!

Now onto the details!

The Features of this Dress: Topstitched, knife pleats in the skirt, pleated sleeves, shirt dress type bodice, and an inset belt at the waist.

The Fabric: A light to medium weight rayon crepe in a navy blue color, was used for the skirt. A cotton lawn with printed polka dots was used for the bodice. The crepe was bought from denverfabrics.com three years ago and the cotton lawn was given to me by a neighbor.

The Pattern: Simplicity 2106 from 1949 was used.

This vintage pattern was bought three years ago on Etsy. Envelope is tattered for sure but the pattern pieces are in great shape. Also came in my size which was a real bonus! I tweaked the style a bit by removing the button band closure on the skirt. I opted for an invisible zipper instead. Not many alterations had to be made for this one. I only needed to add 1" to the waist and 7" to the skirt's length. OK, that second number is large but it was an easy one to make!

The Construction Process: Let me first talk about the underlining. As I said in my previous posts, the cotton lawn I used for the dress's bodice is much too transparent to wear on its own. That's why I decided to use an underlining for the bodice area and omit it from the sleeves. A medium weight cotton in white was used. So what is underlining? Underlining is a second layer of fabric that is basted to the fashion fabric, (the main fabric that is seen from the public side), which is then sewn in unison. The public layer and the underlining are treated as one layer throughout the sewing process. You can see the underlining in action in this photo:

[ Picture of the inside of the dress. You can see the white cotton that was used for the underlining ]

So what type of hems did I use this time? For the hem of the skirt I used my traditional method: serging the raw edge, turning up the hem, and slip stitching in place. I used a 2" hem this time.

For the sleeve I used a narrow hem. It was the best choice for such delicate fabric.

As I said up above, I replaced the buttons that ran down the front of the skirt with an invisible zipper.

The zipper stops at the inset belt; right near the belt's button.

The inset belt was a tricky little devil to sew in. The pattern instructions told me to topstitch the belt entirely. I gave it my best shot but the layers kept on twisting on me so I wound up slip stitching a part of it. It looks great so it was worth the extra effort. I also want to point out here that I sewed both seams with twill tape and I used sew-in interfacing for stabilization. 

[ An interior shot of the inset belt ]

 Two of my favorite aspects of this dress are the buttons. . .

 And the pleats with their topstitching.

So there you have it. I'm so happy to have joined this sew-along and actually saw it through. I've joined a sew-along before and never even made it past the muslin! Now you see why! I cannot wait to see everyone's 40s creations on parade. Thanks, Rochelle, for being such a dynamic hostess and making this sew-along both motivating, inspirational, and fun. I think everyone has been victorious!

 See the other posts that are part of this series by clicking here.

3/28/13: I'm Sewing for Victory! -- Part Four

The Sewing for Victory's deadline is almost upon us (April 1st) and I can happily state that my 1949 dress is done. Whew! I made it! I have been keeping tabs on the flickr pool and every time I saw a new finished project, I would start biting my nails. The end was feeling so very close and at times I wasn't sure if I was going to see this thing through. But I did!

I'm not totally finished, however, for there is a need of a photo shoot and that will be taking place either tomorrow or the weekend.

In the meantime, here are a couple teaser photos for those who like to imagine before the big reveal.

Yes, you see pleats! And what's this, buttons that look like polka dots? Yes! I was rummaging through my button stash and as soon as I saw these cute, black shank ones, I knew it was a match made in heaven.

I really, really wish I had more of a chance to show you this dress's construction. As it turns out, I had to go and get a cold a couple weeks ago and that slowed things down considerably. Yes, there were a few short spurts of sewing while sniffling but not much progress was made. No matter, the dress has made it to the finish line and I am very happy on how it turned out. In my next post I'll go into detail on how I sewed this dress up and how I changed the pattern, so be expecting that. I can't wait to show you!

3/15/13: I'm Sewing for Victory! -- Tracing Pattern Tips

Popping in this morning with a few tips on how to trace patterns without marring the original. Very important when it comes to working with vintage patterns, like the 1949 Simplicity I'm using for the Sew for Victory! sew-along.

[ the Front pattern piece ]

I am using the Front piece of my pleated skirt and trusty, old brown packing paper to demonstrate. This is a good example because there's a lot of markings to transfer. So here's how I do it, step-by-step:

1. Pin the pattern piece, right side up, to your paper. I don't want to ruin the tissue paper so I use a minimum amount of pins. One to three pins usually works for me.

[ the pattern pinned down ]

2. Mark the outer cutting lines of the pattern by drawing dash lines around the pattern's entire perimeter. Make them close enough so you know where to cut with your scissors. I used to trace using a solid line, but really, that took me forever! Dash lines work just fine.

[ drawing dashed lines along the cutting edges of the pattern ]

3. Now its time to transfer those markings. I do it without the use of a tracing wheel because I don't want to leave indentations in the tissue. My goal is to leave the pattern tissue in the same state in which I began.

For for straight of grain line and markings like dots, I fold back the tissue and come in with my pencil.

[ folding back the tissue and marking the dot with a pencil ]

For the long, vertical lines on the pattern that are used to make the pleats, I extend the lines at both the hem and waist and number them accordingly. I also extend any horizontal lines on the pattern, like the shorten/lengthen line, at this point.

[ extending the pleat lines and numbering them ]

I need to draw these long pleat lines in but I don't have a ruler/straight edge long enough.

[ the pattern extends past my longest ruler--my rotary cutter ruler ]

I could go and invest in a longer ruler, but nah! In this case of events I usually whip out my tailor's tape. I extend the tape from the waist marking to the hem marking. In the photos below I am connecting line #9.

 While holding the tape in place with my left hand, I make a dashed line at one end, following the edge of the tailor's tape.

[ drawing a couple dashed lines along the tape ]

 I then connect the dashed line with my ruler and pencil.

 At this point, part of the pleat line is drawn in. My ruler now can complete the line.

So that's how I trace my patterns! It would, of course, be a lot quicker to use a tracing wheel and carbon paper (which I do use on modern patterns), but this is my tracing method of choice for the vintage ones. OK, off to sew!

3/14/13: I'm Sewing for Victory! - Part Three

Decided on a quick and no-brainer lunch today (Hot Pockets! hehe), so I can devote a couple solid hours to this dress. As it turned out, I didn't even get pass shoulder pads and pattern tracing! Thought I would be much further along now than I am. I blame it on the shoulder pads. They were tricky little devils. May have been my inexperience or my shoulder quirks causing this. . . I really don't know. Whatever the case may be, I am going to walk you through what I did this morning.

Firstly, this was my shoulder problem:

In this photo, I am wearing the muslin without a shoulder pad. Because the pattern included ease at the shoulder for insertion of a pad, a large diagonal fold is visible. As I said in my earlier post, I was planning on eliminating the shoulder pad altogether at one time, but I changed my mind and decided to go with the authentic 40s look.

Last night I searched through all my sewing how-to books to find how to make my own shoulder pad. No luck. You would think this would be an easy thing to find, right? Sigh. I then went on the internet and searched for a blog tutorial (the usual procedure for me), and found one done by Casey a couple years ago. Since her shoulder pad is triangular and my pattern calls for a "triangle pad" in the notions, I decided to start off with an exact replica of hers.

This is how it turned out:

This pad has three layers of cotton quilt batting. Very easy to follow how-to, by the way!

I inserted the shoulder pad while wearing the muslin and this is how it looked:

A little better but I still see some rather large folds extending from the shoulder.

I went back and made another shoulder pad that had five layers of batting. This is it:

 And this is me wearing it:

Looked like I was on the right track. The pad's thickness was good but the triangular shape was not filling in all the necessary areas. So while wearing the muslin and pad #2, I made pencil markings where I thought the pad should extend to. I took off the muslin and transferred these markings and measurements to paper to make pad #3:

This pad has five batting layers and as you can see, I made a curved pad instead of a triangular one. I also tried to mimic the curve of the armhole.

Here is what it looks like in use:

Best one yet! All I notice is the bit of gathering at the off-set, shoulder seam--just the way it is suppose to look like.

Whew! It was a battle but now I'm ready to move onto the actual fabric cutting. Before then, however, I have a pattern tracing tip to share with you. Be expecting that tomorrow!

3/12/13: I'm Sewing for Victory! - Part Two

Wanted to come by earlier to write about my muslin endeavors for my 1940s dress I'm making for the sew-along, but another sewing commitment diverted my focus. Will tell you all about this other sewing project at a later time, because in all honesty, it deserves a post or posts for itself!

Just to help you remember my plan, here's the pattern and fabric I am using:

So let me bring you my muslin, done up in a cheery, striped pink fabric, who in a previous life, was a bed sheet. Make do and mend!

No, I'm not wearing it. Why you ask? Because it fits great and there's no need to ask for fitting advice. (Yeah, if I can avoid posting a muslin with me in it, I will.) I don't know how it happened but it did, and I'm not complaining. Everything was easy to sew together, too. Surprisingly, the pleated sleeve took me no time and I love how it looks:

The muslin fits great but I did make some initial alterations to the tissue pattern. They're the normal changes I make to almost every pattern I use: (1) add 2" of length to the bodice and (2), add 1" to the waist width, or in the case of this dress, the inset belt, whose construction resembles a waistband:

  When I first put on the muslin one thing did stand out to me, and that was the shoulders. Too much excess fabric at the shoulder, causing vertical folds to fall down in the area between the neckline and armhole. It soon dawned on me that an integral part of this muslin was missing. Could it be the shoulder pads? You know, that quintessential 40s garment add-in that I'm sure Joan Fontaine and Barbara Stanwyck didn't leave home without?

I didn't have shoulder pads on hand so I slipped some polyester batting scraps under the shoulder while wearing the muslin, and the shoulder looks perfect. Up until today, I was planning on eliminating the shoulder pads from this dress and altering the shoulder and sleeve cap to remove the extra ease. But after playing around with my makeshift batting and reading about how I can make my own pads (make do and mend. . .), I believe I will stay true to the era's love for straight shoulders and the pads they used to achieve this look.

What's up next for me? I could go straight for the fabric cutting but I want to do two things first. Number one is make the shoulder pads. It's a new thing for me so I would like to get that out of the way! After that I will trace the original pattern tissue onto some sturdy, brown packing paper. Ah, packing paper. . . The poor man's Swiss Tracing Paper! I don't mind using it, really, and I feel more at ease when I'm doing my alterations. I feel like, "Who cares if I use four yards of it. . . It doesn't cost a thing." Now, if only Amazon.com can stop using those air packs for packing; I need more paper! ;)

3/4/13: I'm Sewing for Victory! - Part One

Almost a week ago I mentioned at the bottom of my post that I have joined a sew-along. So here I am today to give you all the details! 

I have joined a 1940s themed sew-along titled Sew for Victory! and it is being hosted by Rochelle from the Lucky Lucille blog. The sew-along started in mid-February and will end on March 29. A couple days after the 29th, Rochelle will post a parade of all the finished participants' 40s fashion for everyone to see. I hope I make the deadline!

I first received the news of the sew-along from Tasha's post on her By Gum By Golly blog. I wasn't a reader of the Lucky Lucille blog so thank goodness Tasha mentioned the sew-along; I would have never known about it.

Now what will I be sewing? It took me no time to decide what pattern to do because I've been looking high and low for an excuse to make this dress:

This is Simplicity 2106 and it is from 1949. It is a button-front, shirt dress with a pleated skirt. View 2 has the option of pleated sleeves. (My favorite style aspect of the whole design!) I am doing View 2 except I will be eliminating the buttons in the skirt and using an invisible side zipper that extends from the armhole to six inches down from the waist. 

I bought this pattern from an Etsy seller in 2010. I think it was $10 or so. The pattern envelope is falling apart but the pattern pieces and instructions are in great shape. When I had the pattern tissue strewn around the sewing room, my sister came in and said, "What is this? I thought you were going to do a pattern from the 1940s." It looks that new.

The tagline of this sew-along comes straight from the WWII decade itself: make do and mend. When it came time to pick out the fabric for the project, I knew I wanted to make do with what fabric I had on hand. I soon found out that my choices were limited. I don't have many single fabrics that have copious amounts of yardage. This is what I wound up doing:

I am using two different fabrics. A white/black polka dot lawn for the bodice and a navy blue rayon crepe for the skirt. Since the lawn is well, a lawn, I will be needing to underline it so it won't be too transparent. Another layer of lightweight cotton sounds good.

If you have been a follower of my blog for awhile you might have notice the normal train of events when it comes to sewing around here. I usually make a post sharing my plans for a sewing project I'm just beginning. I follow up with a post showcasing the sewn item all serged and ready to wear or use. I never seem to do in-between posts. 

For this dress, I'm going to do something different. I believe it will also capture the spirit of doing a sew-along. I will be publishing progress posts throughout this month or until I have a finished dress. How do you like the sounds of that? I will share with you my thoughts, fitting alterations, design changes, and the little tips and hints I will find along the way. This dress has a lot of detail so I know I won't run out of things to talk about. I'm really excited to get things rolling here and will be back later this week with a muslin recap. (Made a bodice muslin and tried it on today!) See you then!