I shared this post awhile back when Melissa was having her Polka-dot series, but today I am bringing it home….
The sewing studio winner is being announced at the end of the post (how is that for mean?)
One thing we love at Simple Simon is Vintage Patterns! We can’t get enough of them. So I knew that the combination of a vintage pattern and polka-dots would be just the thing.
I had fun going through my vintage stash to find one that suited the polka-dot perfectly and when I came across this one, saw the blue shirt on the right—I knew it was the perfect combination. I loved the collar on the shirt (I am a sucker for anything with a vintage-esque collar) and so I was set off to sew it up.
(One tip about vintage patterns–make sure to check your size with the measurements carefully—-the sizes were considerably different than today’s ready-to-wear sizes.)
The thing I missed (when I didn’t read the pattern more carefully) was that it was a maternity pattern, which I didn’t catch until I had the pieces ready to cut and finally noticed that the shirt front and back where making pretty wide A-lines instead of the nice straight shirt I saw on the cover. (Deceiving cover, I tell you….)
Luckily I caught my mistake before I cut so I remedied it by taking both the front and back pattern sides back to a straight line and then I was off to sew it up…..
And here is the final result. See that awesome collar…..I seriously love it.
The fabric was a rayon-polyester blend that I picked up in LA at the Fashion District last Spring, and it had a great drape.
And while you are thinking it…..yes, while Little-Miss-Faux-Dressform and I have well, almost the same size shoulders, but we unfortunately do NOT have the same size waist….so those gaps on the waist….well they fit in real life. (And the belt, well it hasn’t seen that hole in…um…..ever 😉
But I love the blouse, it fits well. I actually prefer one-size vintage patterns for that reason. When you get them to meet your measurements, they do fit great. Other than pulling the sides back from the wide A-lines for the maternity belly back to a straight line, I didn’t change a thing.
Here are some other posts we did on sewing vintage patterns (like measuring your “high-bust” instead of the real bust) as well as how to measure yourself if you want to check those out.
And if you learn anything from the yellow-polka-dotted shirt…it’s to not be scared to try a vintage pattern. They really are awesome!
P.S. The winner
of the sewing studio is….
Oh I had that very pattern!! My mom made most of my clothes back in the 50’s and early 60’s. She even made all of my “formals’ for school functions!