70's Love

Pockets!

I'm a big fan of second hand shops and one of the things I like most about them is finding cool vintage patterns. When I go for trips to New Zealand I always look for them. This one is Style 2631 from 1979 and I got it for the bargain price of 20 cents!

The bust size is perfect for me but I am very much a pear so I added 9cm at the hips (3cm at the centre back and 1.5cm on the side seams). I followed the pattern instructions for the most part although I added interfacing to the sleeve bands and neck facing. I think now though that maybe it would have been nicer to have had a soft collar.

This belt is also from an NZ op shop

"Dress is gathered to yoke cut all-in-one with sleeves, and has shawl collar, front fastening and side seam pockets". I LOVE that it has pockets. And the yoke is so very nice. I really enjoyed making this dress (except for the RAYON).

The boyf chose this fabric. I wasn't really into it but he was so enthusiastic about it I let him buy it for me. But now I love it. I think it was the perfect fabric for this pattern. It was purchased about a year and a half ago so when I was cutting it he forgot it was mine and thought that it was fabric for a shirt for him. Lol. He has more floral garments than me! I am not even kidding, I counted.

So, this fabric is rayon. Apparently I have somehow never used rayon before. It is the devil's fabric! It moved around so much while cutting. It stretched out at the pockets. It was ridiculously hard to get a straight hem. It drapes so nicely but is it worth all the trouble? I followed some of Sarah Beth's tips which helped a little. Normally the sewing instructions (at least on older patterns) always say "baste and then sew" and I always just ignore the basting part and just sew. Not this time though. I basted almost every single seam! It was completely necessary otherwise I probably would have been in tears while sewing.

The buttons are some from my Nana's button collection. She gave me a tin of some nice ones last year so I had a rummage through that and found the perfect ones. These are even the right size according to the pattern (1.5cm).

I'm very anti-smoking but I love this tin

I bought a new sewing machine last year, a Juki HZL-600. Her name is Hazel and she is the true love of my life (for many years I thought that my Babylock overlocker was the one but now I see that I was wrong. Although I LOVE LOVE LOVE my Baby). One of the reasons I wanted this machine in particular was that I had heard it does beautiful buttonholes and it really does. No more dreading doing buttonholes. They are so fast and easy and come out so perfect.

Just look at that buttonhole!!

I really like this style of dress and the fact that it gets belted (so can actually eat when wearing it, unlike a lot of my other dresses). I think I will make it up in a solid fabric next time to really showcase the details. It has topstitching on the yoke but it is barely visible with the print. 

I can't wait for the weather to warm up so I can start wearing this!