Upcycle: A retro dress from a thrift store curtain - V8789

This dress was a curtain in a former life.  Now it is Vogue 8789.

Lately,  I've been reading blog posts about upcycling and refashioning.  These are creative people who take a horrible dresses and make something great.  A great example is Nout from Sandpaper Kisses.  She says she doesn't sew, but I don't think the evidence supports her claim.  This is her amazing dress transformation.

Picture from Sandpaperkissesblog.wordpress.com

She is completely adorable and this dress is so cute!  (Check out her blog) It made me want to run out and do the same thing.

So I went to the thrift store and tried to find something to remake.  I had a hard time. Don't get me wrong, I found lots of horrible clothes, but I must lack the ability to see the diamond in the rough.  I found myself in the curtain section and saw a panel with pretty stripes for only $3.99.  I bought it and made a dress. Which I am not sure even counts towards my refashion goal since essentially all I did was buy fabric and make clothes, which is exactly what I usually do and didn't require any great vision.  I'm baby stepping into this whole refashion thing.

I sewed view A of Vogue 8789 with one modification.

Gathered skirts never look good on me. Ever.  They just end up looking bulky and hide my waist.  Since my hips are wide and my booty expansive, that ends up being all you can see.  No bueno.

Instead, I used the Dirndl skirt pattern from Burda (the same one I used for the Bombshell dress) and I can't seem to find it on the Burda site any more or I would include a link.  However, it is a 3/4 skirt that is not gathered or pleated at all.

Using the limited amount of fabric (one curtain panel) and matching the stripes was a challenge.

 Here is the back of the dress.

For the belt, I covered a bit of elastic with fabric and used eyehooks for closures.  The dress is fully lined in a white cotton fabric because the curtain material is quite thin and made of polyester and the cotton is nice next to my skin.  The zipper is an invisible zipper with the lining hand-sewn onto it on the inside.

Final Details:
Dress Fabric: 3.99
Cotton Muslin Lining: 12.00
Zipper: $3.00
Elastic from another project -0-
Eyehooks from another project -0-
Total: About $19.00 USD

Another Retro Butterick 4790 WalkAway Dress

I say "another" Butterick 4790 Walkaway Dress not because I have made one before, but because EVERYONE ELSE has.  I was reading on one blog that if the author saw another walkaway dress, she was going to scream.  Well, who can resist that?  Here is my version.

I love the original artwork on the pattern cover. I was really tempted by the black and white one, but I went with a one color dress in a printed quilting cotton.  I had promised myself I'd stay out of the quilting cottons, but then there was a sale.  All bets were immediately off.

 

As I am sure that everyone has seen a million times, this is the diagram of the dress.  It is one piece of fabric.  The front part has a closer-fitting skirt that fastens in the back and the circle skirt fastens in the front.  

The two ends of the circle skirt are supposed to overlap slightly on the front and button over each other.  Except I cut mine too small.  I had NO overlap.  What to do? The way I saw it, I had four  choices:

1. Scrap the project - I would have needed to cut the entire back part out again and I didn't have more of this fabric.  (sad and really bothers the very cheapskate in me)
2. Continue making the dress and put it in my closet until I stop eating so much chocolate and lose weight. (you would have to pry that chocolate out of my cold, dead hands, so not an option)
3. Continue making the dress and give it away to a smaller friend. (Yeah, right)
4. Find a way to make it work, not waste fabric and continue eating chocolate. (winner!)

I ended up making two rectangles of bias tape and sewing them on to the edges to make a little extension.  I put snaps behind the bias tape, then made three cloth buttons and sewed them on.  Voilà! Une petite solution pour mon gros problème de chocolat.

I'd apologize for the unneeded use of French, but it makes me feel good actually using something I learned at university.  Almost like I wasn't paying student loans for 17 years for nothing...  Almost. But I digress.  Here is the bias tape extension.

 I think I actually like it better with the space between the panels.  I shows off the more fitted skirt and bias tape hems better, which I think is a really attractive part of the pattern.

All in all, I do like the dress.  Except if I have to walk around, sit, bend or move in any way.  Because the more fitted skirt is floating except for a small button at the waist, it bunches up and goes everywhere.  I fought with it like crazy just to take photos.  I think I can sew a knit panel to join the back sections so that they lay still.  It will be stretchy so I can move, but keep the front panel down.  It is just an idea at this point. But I am open to suggestions for this issue.

And one more photo of the dress when I am standing perfectly still.

 Details:

Fabric: 5 yards on sale at the evil Walmart = $5.00

Bias tape: (sadly, I didn't make my own) JoAnns = $7.50

Button kit: JoAnns = $2.75 (with coupon!)

Total: $14.75

V2903 - Retro in Camouflage

I had an event to dress up for that had a Redneck/Camo theme and since I don't miss many opportunities to walk around with big hair and lots of makeup, I did it 50's style.   Unfortunately, I didn't get pictures taken when my hair was big and rockabilly, but I did get pictures of the dress, made from Vogue 2903.

This is the original pattern.

V2903 Pattern

I meant the dress to be a joke.  It is 50's.... and camouflage. But the thing is, I REALLY love this pattern. It is super figure flattering.  I don't have nearly as nice of a figure as it looks like in this dress.  Which everybody knows is the sign of a good dress.

One thing I changed was the pleats.  In the pattern, there are large pleats in the skirt section.  I started to make them with the knit and it was a complete fail.  I ended up skipping it entirely and the way the fabric falls, it almost looks like they are there, anyway.

I used a stretch knit for the fabric, so although the pattern has a zipper down the back, I skipped it.  It easily fits over my shoulders without having to fuss with a zipper installation.

I also got to make a size that didn't include and much ease.  I love that about knits.  A close fit AND the ability to breathe.

On the bottom of the skirt, I just used a serger and didn't hem it.  I figured hemming was too much for a redneck theme.  And it is handy since it is my least favorite part of making the dress.  Does anyone like hemming?  It always seems like a tedious detail after you have done all of the fun work.

Hems - the redneck way

Bottom line: I am going to make this again in a different fabric.  Maybe even another knit.  I'd like a dress I can wear in public without being stared at so much (for all the wrong reasons).  

Butterick 5209 - Flowered 40's Dress

For my latest dress, I have decided to move backwards from the 50's and try Butterick 5209 from 1947.  It love this dress because it so reminds me of the dresses I see my grandma wearing in old family photos.  I am sure she sewed hers, too.  Of course, she had a lovely hat and some gloves to put with the dress. 

This dress has gathered skirt with a fitted waistband and looser shoulders. It has a side zipper with a fully self-lined bodice. Here is the pattern.  I did view  B, which has a full back and sleeves.  (View A has just a halter)

Muslin
I made muslin in a size 16 after reading the pattern measurements, but found it would have been too big.  My dress form is fairly true to my size.  I even tried to pin some sections and was going to try and adjust the pattern, but ended up just making it a size 14 and that made the difference.  If you are making the pattern, there seems to be a lot of ease.  I would make it a size smaller than the measurements indicate if you would like it to fit like the picture on the front of the pattern.

Front of muslin

Back of muslin

Pattern Instructions

Most of the instructions are good... except at step 23.  The picture is terrible and so are the instructions.   I gathered that the goal of this step is to sew the self-lining to the bodice front. I stared at this and re-read it and stared at it some more for about an hour until I gave up figuring out what the authors meant to do and just did it my own way, then ended up doing some hand sewing to finish the seams.  I am still not sure how they intended it to be done. If you have figured out the mystery of step 23, let me know. 

Step 23, AKA the WTF step.

Variations from Pattern

I made two variations from the pattern instructions.  The first variation is that the pattern calls for the zipper to sewn to the top of the underarm seam.   The last time I made a dress with a zipper at the armpit (Butterick 5603), the zipper rubbed against my inner arm and was so irritating I don't wear the dress.   For this dress, I lowered it a tad and put in a hook and eye at the top. This is MUCH more comfortable!  

Inside of dress

The other thing I did was to change the lining of the dress.  The instructions say to fold the bottom of the lining under, hem it and leave it loose inside the dress.  That is too untidy for me.  Instead, I added a strip of blanket binding and hand sewed the bottom of the bodice lining to it, then sewed the binding to the waist, covering up all of the gathering/stitching.

Things I Like 

This dress really does remind me of my grandma's dresses from way back when.  It is also so comfortable!   I have been watching videos on YouTube for how to put pin curls in my hair, so I just need some vintage shoes, a hat and some gloves.

Bonus for anyone who gets this far in actually reading my blog... I accidentally bought two of the B5209 pattern.  It is size 14-16-18-20.  I'll pick a random person* who leaves a comment on this post from now until 8/31/2012 and send the extra pattern to you if you say you are interested in your comment.  I'll even send it overseas.  THAT is how happy I am with this dress.  If you are the lucky winner, I'll contact you through your profile to get your address.

*I reserve the right for "random" to be translated as "most entertaining and/or useful".  Just saying.