Vintage Simplicity 6385 and the SSS 11 Weekend Roundup #2

Today, I've got a full post because I want to tell you about the making of Vintage Simplicity 6385, the shift dress that I wore yesterday. Let's start there and work backwards, 'k.


September 11

Yesterday was the debut of my version of S6385. I bought this pattern recently when I lucked out with a bounty of vintage patterns. This one is missing 2 pieces: the back and armhole facings, both of which you can either recreate, or just do without, using bias binding. It's also missing the peter pan collar piece, but I didn't care about that anyway. Not sure if you can see, but this is a size 12, bust 32, and the copyright is 1966. I'm, however, not a bust 32, so let's see what I did.


After tracing the original, it was time to grade up, but I decided to do a tissue fitting first. Turns out, that across the chest, I didn't really need to do anything except lengthen by about an 1". The rest, I needed to add width.

The black line sort of represents the original, the red, the changes that I made (very roughly). Starting from the top, I lowered the neckline, narrowed the shoulder, and lengthened about an inch. For the back, I did the same, but did not change the back neckline. From there, I added overall width, and shortened the length. I made a muslin, and ended up not needing quite as much width as originally thought.


I drafted new neckline facings, both front and back, and opted for bias binding for the armholes. And I eliminated the ruffles.


The result:

The fabric is a stretch cotton shirting from fabric.com. AAnnnddd, it's a shift. Not too exciting, but actually a dress that really fits into my lifestyle. Here's a back view:

Yep, that's how I look from the back. With a little more styling, the look improves. I really like it with a belt, and I had on a wooden bead necklace earlier, but at some point must have taken it off.

I'm not sure if I'm a jumper girl, but I think it could even work as it got colder with a turtleneck, tights and boots.


For the rest of Self Stitched September weekend roundup, Friday and Saturday looked like this:
September 9

Top: New Look 6981

                     Skirt: Sewaholic Crescent

Shoes: a replacement for the bad Target shoes.

I wore this outfit for a road trip south to Macon to deliver some "fancy" clothes to Kyle who has pledged a fraternity and needed his suits and dress shirts for the Wednesday night meetings. It's a comfortable outfit, that is also presentable. The skirt is a rayon that doesn't wrinkle much.

September 10

Top: Vogue 8392 (made from a Liberty for Target scarf)

Shorts (my grandmother would have called these peddle pushers):

                             Talbots

Shoes: Clarks Indigo

This was an errand running morning, all leading up to a sewing and college football watching afternoon/evening. Kind of dorky, but I like to wear team colors (red and black!) and this outfit fit the bill. I've got the red in the earrings. Sadly, it didn't help us win. 

Remember

Happy Birthday to my Wonderful, Marvelous Daughter!

Today my baby turns 24... years old! Where does the time go? And today, all 4 members of my family (husband, me, daughter, son), are in 4 different cities, and 3 different states. So I drove down to Macon to celebrate Laura's birthday with Kyle. Well, ok, I was going to Macon anyway to bring him more clothes, but it was a good excuse to go out for cake.

Happy Birthday, Laura!!

photo by Nam Nguyen

photo by Thomas Sands

(who is also her husband)

Weekday Roundup #1 -- Days 5, 6, 7, 8

These last few days have been a bit rainy and gray, and actually cooler than the entire summer. But who am I kidding? It will get hot again!


September 5

Top: Simplicity 2211, blogged here.

  Capris: Ann Taylor, several years old.

Shoes: I don't think I wore shoes all day.

This was the rainiest of the week, as the remnants of Tropical Storm Lee rolled through. My dancing partner is Danny, wearing his "thundershirt". He loves it! But I'm not convinced its helping with his dislike of thunder.


Thoughts:
The top is a twill, so a little bit hot in high summer. Today it was perfect. One weird thing about the top... when I first put it on, it feels a bit constricting, but as the day goes on, I stop noticing the feeling. Weird.




September 6

Raincoat: Amy Butler Raincoat, blogged here.

Top: Vogue 8536, blogged here.

Jeans: from the Gap, and they're at least 10 years old.

Maybe older.

Shoes: Merona from Target.

Thoughts:
The sleeves are a bit short on the raincoat, which is kind of annoying. The top has been in heavy rotation this summer. You may see it again. And the shoes... these are the most uncomfortable shoes I own, or at least in the top 5.


September 7

Top: Vogue 8151, blogged here.

Jeans: the same one's as yesterday. Yep.
Shoes: Liz Claiborne black flats. Better than yesterday's.



Sorry for the horrible picture. It's been gray most of the day, and lightly raining on an off. Blue sky has been spotted.


Thoughts:
You can't really see what the top looks like unless you click through to the original post. But it's one that I do really like.  The coverstitching has some issues, and I'm afraid that it will just start to come out unless I do a bit of repair work.


September 8

Dress: Vogue 2006 (vintage 1960s), blogged here.

Belt: Talbots

Thoughts: This is the first outing of this dress since I did a bit of remodeling. And with the belt, which totally improves the look. Other remodeling included taking off the front pockets, and removing the hand done top stitching that ran down the side seams and pulled them up oddly. Today was delightful weather, in the upper 60s F, and this dress is perfect. I underlined it with tricot, so it's a bit warm for those hotter days. My only other complaint is the too high neckline. Choking!

Wilma on Wednesday -- Butterscotch Slices

Last weekend was the kickoff to college football, and Roland and I are huge fans. "Our" team had an evening game, so I made these yummy cookies to bake during halftime.


Butterscotch Slices


3/4 c. shortening (I used a crisco stick)
1 t. vanilla
1 c. brown sugar (packed)
1 egg


Place in a mixing bowl, beat thoroughly.


Add 1/2 c. chopped nuts and mix. (I used pecans)


Sift together the following ingredients:
2 c. flour
1/2 t. baking soda
1/2 t. cream of tartar
1/2 t. salt


Add to creamed mixture and mix thoroughly.

Chill dough. Shape into 2 loaves. I (Wilma) freeze these -- it makes slicing easier. Cut into 1/8 inch slices. (Can you tell that she loves to sew... who else would use 1/8!)


Bake at 400 deg. F for 6-8 minutes.

I shaped the loaves before chilling, and then put them both in the freezer. When we were ready for cookies, I pulled out one, and sliced only about 1/2 of it, and put the rest back in the freezer. Homemade slice and bakes! My slices were probably closer to 1/4 inch, but I baked them for the same amount of time. I like my cookies chewier rather than crunchy. Between the 2 of us we ate all those cookies in one sitting!

Planning Overload

I've been reading the sewing blogs, and have become envious of those who can plan their fall sewing, even down to a color palette. I've always been more of a "see a great pattern, find some fabric, and make it" kind of girl. However, it does seem like a good idea, especially so you don't end up with things that don't go with anything else.


So I got really ambitious, and pulled out patterns, fabric from my stash, and even bought new patterns and fabric to fill in some gaps. And then I made a list. All of that listing and planning became something of an embarrassment of riches when a friend pointed me to another blog with a great and simple project.


Homemade Sundresses for Haiti

Project HOPE Art recently visited an orphanage in Port-au-Prince and discovered that the young girls had very little to wear. She came home and started the homemade dress drive for these girls. A very simple project with a free downloadable pattern from oliver + s which you can get here. Before getting caught up in what to make for me, I'm going to add in a little sewing for those less fortunate. I hope you'll visit this website and consider joining in as well. The deadline is December.

Last October, my husband went on a mission trip to Haiti. This is one of his pictures, two adorable Haitian children that were fascinated with the digital cameras and getting their picture taken.

Road Trip: Fantasy World

Have you ever heard of Dragon*Con? If you're into sci-fi and other geekery, you probably have. I, on the other hand, would probably not have given it a second thought had it not taken place here in Atlanta. And frankly, no offense to those who love these sorts of things, I hadn't really thought about attending. It's downtown, and there was a big (and ultimately depressing if you are a UGA fan) football game, a free concert, and probably even more crowd producing events. I was going to stay home and sew. Yep, that's my exciting life.


But, my friend, Lisa, had other ideas. She had been wanting to check out Dragon*Con for several years. It was on her "list". Friday afternoon she called, and ultimately talked me into it. Of course, we had to go in costume, so as not to stand out. She bears a passing resemblance to Susan Sarandon,

You can see it, right?

and decided we should go as Thelma and Louise. I look nothing like Geena Davis, but never mind.


Anyway, we boldly boarded MARTA so we didn't have to worry about parking, and headed downtown. We ended up not really attending Dragon*Con, but did lots of people watching and picture taking.


Here's a little of what we saw. All pictures were taken by me, and I won't even try to identify who they are of, but maybe you'll know.