The sewing thread

ConstantKathyPatient38

Thanks Arty - Sadly I reckon that is how it will end up, realistically, if I can't get any more suggestions..

I keep my dressform in front of the bedroom window, dressed in a long Tshirt with a sunhat, gives anyone looking in from the flats opposite something to think about...…

All the best.

Laura_Elsewhere

ConstantKathyPatient38 wrote: »

Can anyone advise me, please? I bought a beautiful 50s/60s style fine wool dress in a Charity/Vintage shop (Octavia Foundation). It is elegant and was meant originally for my Granddaughter, who is into Vintage. It is too big all over for her.
I am really "lusting" after it for myself. Could I unpick it, use it as a pattern and "grade up" making a new toile? Would you say there is a limit as to how much one can increase the size in this way? Is there a book/video that might be worthwhile?
I've done a fair bit of dressmaking, a few courses, but never taken on something like this. The detail on the dress means I have not seen anything similar in any of the Big4 or Indie patterns.
Hope someone can offer some help. Happy New Year to everyone!

What you *can* do is lift a pattern without unpicking it. It's how they get patterns from serious antiques in museums.

Experiment, basically - it's a combination of laying the dress flat in the first place and sketching the construction, and then measuring all over in every direction and making a sketch of each pattern-piece that's involved. Measure in every possible dimension, diagonals, whatever.

then buy the xmas wrapping paper that is about to be 50p a 10m roll and make sure you get the stuff that's got squares all over the inside Use that to draw out the pieces according to your measurements. Hang onto the original all through this because you *will* find something you forgot to measure, trust me...

then you have the exact pattern for the too-small dress.

Copy that onto big sheets of newspaper. Tape sheets together to put big pieces onto.

now get a good dressmaking book, an old-fashioned one that explains where to cut the newspaper pieces. Mostly for grading to a larger size, you do two things: one is cutting pieces completely in half and moving them apart and taping another piece in the middle to make it eg longer or wider, but the other thing is cutting into a piece but only partway and then splaying the piece apart, or cutting a piece into two but adding different amounts so it isn't a straight-edged piece you add in.

Now you'll have a Frankenstein's-newspaper pattern that is the vintage dress to your specific measurements.
Copy that again onto the squared-inside wrapping-paper.

And label it with the description of the dress and the year and your bust/waist measurements - trust me, it saves a lot of tears if you can look at a lifted pattern a few years later and know whether it fits you now or needs taking in or letting out a bit


It is NOT terrifically difficult. Just go at it steadily. Measure more directions than you think you need. Read several vintage books on how to grade up.

And then sell the vintage dress, the original, and use the money to buy some really nice fabric to make your own in, because cheap fabrics are the giveaway for modern "retro" efforts that look wrong. Read those vintage dressmaking books and use their tips. Sew in hanging-loops. Tack dress-shields into the underarms. Make shoulder pads that fit your shoulders instead of buying modern rubbish ones to make you look very '80s in the wrong decade of 'vintage'! And track down some light habotai silk to use for lining it and not modern synthetic stuff - let the dress breathe so it doesn't need cleaning, ever.

Little touches like bound seams will make it feel couture-made as well - I buy 1/4-inch organza ribbon by the reel very cheaply on eBay, and I bind hems with it: first, machine-stitch along the cut edge of the trimmed, levelled, hem. then machin-stitch the organza ribbon onto the hem immediately inside the stitching-line. Then turn it under by however much you want and hand-stitch it down, and press through a damp cloth, and you have a hem that looks utterly couture-made if anyone glimpses the inside of the hem, but which really takes no major skills to do

ConstantKathyPatient38

Thanks Laura, for taking so much time and trouble. I will give it a go, but do some reading first.

I did a one-day "copy your favourite dress" course but on something straightforward. This dress has lots of detail - a collarbone level narrow 1" wide scarf-type thing with fringes done with a needle on the bow - that bit is easy enough. The sleeves are without armholes - seamed down the shoulders from neck to elbow, with a diamond shaped gusset in the armpit. The waist is fitted, with two small pleats either side - might be tricky to replicate.. There is a lapped zip, and bound seams and hem - again OK for me to replicate. Enough to keep me busy...….. I guess "bite-sized pieces".

Thank you.

Artytarty

That was a great post Laura, i wish you could come and make my clothes and then they would be finished to couture standards! I'm a very impatient body and used to have the nickname "Mrs do- rightly" at a sewing class I attended. Older and wiser now,I realise short cuts are Not a good idea generally.
Good luck with your blue wool dress,I'm hoping it goes well, maybe you can post little snippets about your progress?
Laura is so right, buy really good fabric for the final version and take your time over the details.

Laura_Elsewhere

ConstantKathyPatient38 wrote: »

Thanks Laura, for taking so much time and trouble. I will give it a go, but do some reading first.

I did a one-day "copy your favourite dress" course but on something straightforward. This dress has lots of detail - a collarbone level narrow 1" wide scarf-type thing with fringes done with a needle on the bow - that bit is easy enough. The sleeves are without armholes - seamed down the shoulders from neck to elbow, with a diamond shaped gusset in the armpit. The waist is fitted, with two small pleats either side - might be tricky to replicate.. There is a lapped zip, and bound seams and hem - again OK for me to replicate. Enough to keep me busy...….. I guess "bite-sized pieces".

Thank you.

The sleeves are sometimes called 'dolman sleeves' or 'kimono sleeves', and they actually are far easier for many people than armholes and fitting a sleeve to it! The diamond underneath, the gusset, is so that you can move your arms without tearing it underneath.

I would have a look on Abebooks for a good manual - here's a blog post from someone who makes some vintage styles: https://blog.colettehq.com/inspiration/50-favorite-sewing-books - that will explain how to grade a dolman bodice and so on...

I bet you'll manage just fine!

ConstantKathyPatient38

Thanks Laura.

I can see that I am going to have to resurrect my learning - as opposed to reading for pleasure - skills. Out of the habit! If only reality time was not almost back...….

I do remember my Mum making my younger brother some trousers (by hand, when he was about 3) which had a diamond gusset at the crotch, so I know it stands up to wear.

Many thanks.

Laura_Elsewhere

Why not think of it as a year-long project, to end up with a gorgeous, made-to-measure frock in soft, fine, light warm wool, lined in light silk, to wear next December for looking and feeling Utterly Gorgeous in?

A bit of reading in Jan and Feb, and googling for tutorials on bound seams or hems and whatnot, which is an ideal thing to do while the light's at its worst.... then in March and April you can be sending off for samples of fabric and making your mind up, and aim to have made the final paper pattern to your measurements by the start of May... and make sure you have shoes that work with the style - and choose, or buy new, undies which will be what you wear under the dress, and make sure you wear those when taking the measurements, because you can vary surprisingly in different bras, trust me on this!
The making can be done over the summer, giving you the autumn for finishing (a stage-costumer friend always says he reckons the cutting and sewing seams are only about 50% of making a dress!).

Then take yourself off to have your hair done or facial or massage or whatever counts as pampering and spoiling yourself to your preferences, and have a luxurious bath with fabulous bath oils or bubbles, do your make-up, put on your chosen undies, and then slip your beautiful new dress on and feel a million dollars for a Christmas outing!

"What, this? Oh, I made it myself..." - there is NOTHING like it!!!

ConstantKathyPatient38

Well - I just rooted out some JL vouchers I had from my birthday, and some cash I had for Christmas, with a view to going to JL tomorrow to look for some new bras - I hope I can get properly measured, too, without an appointment(!). Those are the only things I need for now - going out shoes last for years, as comfort is the order of the day.

Taking a year-long approach would certainly remove some of the self-imposed pressure - thank you for that idea.

All the best.

jackieblack

Hello! :wave:
Have just discovered this thread and subscribed

Having recently been binge-watching re-runs of The Great British Sewing Bee, and being particularly inspired by the transformation challenges, I decided, after many years of struggling with a variety of poorly functioning ancient hand-me-down sewing machines, and having accumulated a decent amount of Amazon gift cards (from surveys), to buy myself a basic Singer machine in the Boxing Day sale. (there are a couple of the ancient machines that I will get serviced/repaired at some point in the future when finances and the means to transport them allow, but for now this is a cheaper and more manageable option).

For starters - several years ago I stopped using duvet covers and reverted to using a flat sheet and quilted bedspread under/over the duvet, so have a quantity of bedding available for transforming. I also bought a new mattress a couple of years ago which is much deeper than my previous fitted sheets, so also have a quantity of unusable fitted sheets, and that’s before I start going through my wardrobe and suitcases of old clothes/curtains etc...

The top of one of my quilted bedspreads is getting very thin (the wadding backing part is still good) and I fancy creating a new top (or making it reversible) from some of my stash, and there’s at least one cover that I’ve always thought would make a lovely summer dress.

I used to do a lot of dressmaking and household sewing (curtains etc) but got too busy with family/life and struggled with not having a decently functioning machine. Now I am a divorced empty nester, it feels like a good time to rekindle sewing as a hobby - I had a reasonably successful dabble last summer, but now feel inspired to have a proper go at it...

silvasava

I went to Scotland over New Year and a lovely little shop sold squares of tartan oddments. I bought some lovely soft blue ones with a brushed finish that I'll make into a couple of cushion covers. One for me and one for DS1