Sunday, August 24, 2008

Going REtro

This weekend, I drove from my home on the southern edge of MI to my sister's place in Pittsburgh, PA. Naturally, at the prospect of an entire weekend of freedom (the first full weekend I've gotten off from work all summer!) I HAD to bring my sewing, and the new Retro Butterick patterns I bought a few of days ago...-

So, I proceeded to make a mock-up of the pattern I was most inclined to start with, Butterick 4792. The mock-up is just a brilliant blue cotton jacquard that I bought at a resale shop at $5 for 4yd. I actually rather like the fabric, but I hadn't a pre-determined use for it, and I needed SOMETHING to make my mock-ups out of, and I didn't want to go buy scads of new muslin!

I was not particularly pleased with the fit of the front at first. In the picture on the left, a distinct gapping is visible. When I turned to the side, WAY too much was showing through that gap!


To remedy this gapping, I folded the front bodice back a bit at the side seams and pinned it. This definitely helped! I don't particularly like how high and tight the armholes are after pinning, however, so I will probably take my French curve and make those a bit lower. I will also make a dart on the side - a dart slanting up, the type of dart very common in '60's sheath dresses - in order to eliminate what gapping is still left after taking in the front side seams. Although a bit of gap also occurs with the back neckline when I put my arms back, I think I'm pretty satisfied with the back view overall.

More updates to come soon!