Where's the Vintage?

Ah, so much for the my entry into the Vintage pattern contest. Earlier this month I had ordered 3 lovely vintage patterns from Lanetz Living.

There is no date on the Marian Martin "1970's mail order dress" - that inverted pleat is so neat. The Simplicity shirtdress (with a front zipper!) has a copyright date of 1976 - sigh. And the pattern I bought for DD, McCall's 3077, is much too easy to enter into the contest, although I have gotten around to the pattern alterations on her outfit.

I also ordered 1 pattern from eBay. Sadly, it has been 27 days since my eBay order and I have yet to lay my hands on the Vogue 1060 - the Vogue Americana Anne Klein pattern - I ordered.

It was the sleeves that got me - hopefully the pattern will surface...

Even though I don't have an entry in the contest, just entering got my creative juices flowing! I should be able to knock out The Little Miss's dress and smock this week and hopefully talk a friend into turning beads into buttons for the mail order shirtdress. Work got in the way of my pattern alterations, but that's okay. I will make time to sew in the coming weeks.

Happy Sewing!

Degeneration of a Hairstyle

Karen had a vision of how her bridal party's hair should look. I got my locs styled (and my loctition decided to cut them! while she was at it) two days before the ceremony. The Little Miss only wanted to wear twists at that time, but Karen wanted her to hair to be pressed and curled for the ceremony. It was a nice idea in theory...

Karen made a hair appointment for the rest of the wedding party. The appointment was the day before the wedding and The Little Miss's hair looked great right after it was pressed and curled. She looked fab...

But August humidity does not treat natural hair kindly. Here she is at the rehearsal dinner (I don't have permission to post Karen's image online)...

By the time we woke up on the morning of the wedding, The Little Miss's hair was a D.I.S.A.S.T.E.R. I didn't have time to braid her hair so we left the flat twist in the front and tried to make an afro-puff crown at the back. By the afternoon reception, The Little Miss's hair just was what it was - and she wore it well. The twins both had a great time at the reception.

I started her Bradelocs two weeks later...

Little Miss Flower Girl

I have not sewn for myself in ages. Who am I kidding? I haven't sewn at all in ages. But, I did dust off the old Kenmore to make DD's ("The Little Miss") flower girl dress.

You see, she was the flower girl in my best friend Karen's 2006 wedding. Karen is also their godmother and thought it would be cute to have the twins in the wedding - DS ("The Little Mister") was the ring bearer. And I was the maid of honor. I am so glad I bought them Gameboys for that weekend!

Karen chose a beautiful ivory wedding gown and very nice two-piece, strapless periwinkle bridesmaid outfits. The Little Miss has always had a bit of a tummy and the flower girl dresses she tried on made her look like a marshmallow. Even though Karen really want The Little Miss to wear a dress similar to this one,

I knew that wouldn't work quite the way Karen envisioned. So we chose to make her an ivory and periwinkle dress from McCall's 4763. The Nordstrom dress was $110. I spent less than $40 on this project, including pattern, fabric, and notions.

Alright enough backstory, on to the review!

 

Pattern Description: (From pattern back) "Lined, ankle length dresses have tie ends in back; view A has contrasting front band and bow; view B has contrasting overskirt and tie ends."

Pattern Sizing: The pattern comes in both toddler and big girl sizes. I made a size 6 for The Little Miss.

Did it look like the photo/drawing on the pattern envelope once you were done sewing with it? Yes. I made view A.

Were the instructions easy to follow? Yes, the instructions were easy to follow.

What did you particularly like or dislike about the pattern? I liked that the pattern is a basic special occasion style with pretty simple instructions. I made two identical dresses because was a little anxious that The then 4-year-old Little Miss would ruin her first dress before we took photos. The Little Miss is an inveterate tomboy - prone to ruining clothes seemingly just from breathing. I completed both dresses pretty quickly - it took less than 1 day from start to finish even with Mommy interruptions.
I am a lazy sewer, so I didn't particularly like the need for a lining. But the lining was necessary and welcome in the end. I was also a little frustrated with the fact that the front and back "sash" did not align perfectly when following the pattern markings. Or maybe I did something wrong...You can see the lack of alignment here:

The Little Miss dancing with Auntie Cali

Fabric Used: I used two colors of satin fabric which I bought on sale at my local JoAnn Fabrics (which has since closed). I used muslin from my fabric stash for the lining.

Pattern Alterations or any design changes you made: I changed the length of the skirt to accommodate the tummy/height ratio. I also made the back sash narrower - it is pretty wide for a small child's dress.

Would you sew it again? Would you recommend it to others? While I would not sew this pattern again - dressing up don't go 'round here much - I would recommend this pattern to others.

Conclusion: You cannot go wrong using McCall's 4763 to make a simple, economical child's special occasion dress. McCall's patterns go on sale routinely and this pattern could work with almost any special occasion fabric.