Zebra Dress: Post #4 (by Grace)

The final installment in the making of the zebra dress! All I had left to do was put in the zip and sleeves, and turn up the hem.

 I may have mentioned how I was fine with putting in zips in my previous post... All the same, I had to do this one twice. But let's not dwell on that.

I tacked the facing to the shoulder seams so it doesn't flap about ungainly.

The sleeves starting to look a bit more sleeve-like!

Quick break for lunch, then on to attaching the sleeves to the dress.

I am quite scared of putting in sleeves but this turned out well!

The final step was turning up and pressing the hem.

Finished! It took me four days at a very leisurely pace to make this dress, and only in daylight hours so I could take decent photos! I'm looking forward to summer and better light for blogging activities (and also better weather to wear this sans tights...). Mum pointed out this article in the Observer Magazine yesterday - shift dresses are in, apparently. Were they ever out?

Here's the dress in all its safari glory:

Jeepers. I swear I ironed it. I just sat down for, like, half an hour before I got a photo taken... 

So what do you reckon? I'm pretty happy with the end result myself.

EDIT Alice : We think its great Grace, you clever lady

Thank you so much for your detailed posts. 
Hopefully this will give anyone thinking of sewing from a vintage pattern, the courage to do so!!

For more from Grace, go to her own blog at So On and Sew Forth

Zebra dress: Post #3 (by Grace)

After a successful quest to the neighbouring town, I found a zip long enough (and in a matching colour!), so onwards with the sewing.

Carefully removing the patterns from the fabric so as not to rip out the tailors tacks (threads which mark the dart positions).

Prettiest ever sleeves and neck facing.

Ready to be ironed!

Pressing darts. So much of neat and precise dressmaking relies on pressing, pressing, PRESSING!

A quick read through the instructions before I get stuck into the sewing machine (not literally!)

 

  

"Stay-stitching" around curves ensures the dress doesn't lose shape over time.

 Pinning the shoulders together after pressing the darts.

 I trim the raw edge of the seams with pinking shears so they won't fray. (I would normally use my overlocker to finish the edges but it lives in Belfast these days and I've been making this dress at my family home!)

Pressing the seams on the neck facing, then sewing the facing to the dress.

It's starting to take shape! Tomorrow I'll put in the sleeves and the zip, and turn up the hem. I used to be terrified of zips, but six months of work experience in a theatre company without a proper zip foot soon ended that!

Zebra Dress: Post #2 (by Grace)

So today was step two in the dressmaking process - pattern cutting! 

First, though, let's take a moment to discuss the mysteries of vintage pattern sizing. Vintage patterns come in one size per envelope, as opposed to today where you have the choice of a few sizes and don't have to decide which you'll use until it comes to cutting.

Generally, we can afford to ignore vintage dress sizing. Just go by your measurements. This particular 1970 pattern is apparently "Size 12". Now, I am a size 10 - sometimes 8 on top. Let us compare my measurements with the ones given for a size 12:

                  Bust               Waist               Hips

Pattern:        34"              25+1/2"             36"

Me:               34"              27+1/2"             36"

Perfect... until you get to the waist. There's a gaping 2" difference between mine and the standard 1970 lady measurement. I don't think it's that I have a weird body shape, or it's a one-off with this pattern. It's been the case with most of the vintage dresses I have made. Waists were (proportionately) smaller! My mum always said it but I thought she just meant I wasn't very trim.

I had to measure across the pattern pieces to see how wide the waist actually was...

Turns out there's a lot of ease (give) in the waist of this dress, so I opted not to add anything to the width of the pattern. It would have become more of a box shape.

This dress is made of 3 main pieces (2xB and A cut on fold for those interested! Plus facing for the neck.)

I did a quick lay-out to make sure I had enough fabric...

Then I ironed the ridiculously crinkly pieces and fabric. Turning off the steam first of course! No-one wants soggy tissue paper :/

 

 Next stage - cutting out the facing pieces (i.e. lining around the inside neck) and trimming the excess around the pattern.

 

I folded the fabric length ways, right (print) sides together, then pinned the pattern pieces in place.

Working on the living room floor ain't so glam but there simply wasn't a table long enough!

Lastly I transferred all the markings (such as darts) from the pattern to the fabric, using tailors tacks and by cutting nicks.

Tomorrow I'll have to head into town to buy a zip, then I'll start pressing the darts and sewing everything together! The pictures will be a bit prettier once I remove the pattern pieces and you can see the lovely zebras.

Zebra Dress: Post #1 (by Grace)

Welcome to our shiny new blog! We are kicking it off with guest blogger Grace from So On and Sew Forth. Did you follow our poll over on facebook to select a fabric for a vintage 70s dress?
 Grace will take you through, step by step, how she will make the dress. And here is her blog post #1

Alice recently acquired lots of vintage dress patterns, and when I asked her if I could borrow a few she suggested I make something with material from her shop. When I called to see what she had to choose from, it was tricky. She has A LOT of fabric. We finally whittled it down to three by Alexander Henry, and put it up for vote on Facebook! 

These are the fabrics:

I was rooting for the dinosaurs to win, but in the end it was the zebras that swung it! It'll probably look the best as a dress after all, as the print is a bit smaller.

Here is the pattern we settled on:

It dates from 1970 and is just about my size! I'm going to make up the green version (short sleeved). I'll probably leave out the white ribbon detail as the fabric is quite busy already. Maybe I'll add a lace collar or sleeves. I'll have decide when it's almost finished! That blue style is pretty cute too.

Once the vote closed I went to collect the material from Alice. When I opened up the envelope I was surprised to find two parcels!

The big one was the zebra of course... 

Guess what was in the little one?

Yay - dinosaurs! So excited! It's a fat quarter of pure kitsch. I'm thinking of what I'll make with it. Definitely something to wear - I'm not going to waste it on a cushion cover! Or perhaps a tote bag would be cute.

I can't wait to get started cutting the dress out tomorrow. I'll post up photos of how I get on this week!