Tutorial - how to insert underarm reinforcement squares

Morning! As promised in my Big Vintage Sewalong post, I've put together a tutorial for inserting the underarm reinforcement squares on Vogue 8875. Of course, when I looked through the muslin construction photos, I realised I hadn't sewn the final dress in exactly the same way, but never fear, everything is fully explained in the written instructions. 

There are a couple of things I should point out.
1. I'd highly recommend making a bodice muslin before cutting into your precious fabric. This is time   well spent as it will allow you to check the fit and practice the technique.
2. This tutorial shows one side of the back bodice as it was smaller and easier to photograph, but the principles are the same for both back and front pieces.
3. Don't be despondent if it isn't perfect on your first try - of the four reinforcement squares I sewed, two went in without a fight first time and two had to be unpicked and redone.
4. Take your time…and make sure you have a stiff drink poured for when you've finished!

Are you sitting comfortably? Then I'll begin!

For each underarm seam you'll need a two inch square of bias cut fabric (the same as your dress fabric).

On the RIGHT side of the fabric, mark the stitching line as shown.

Centre the bias square over the tip of the stitching line and pin in place. Now mark the stitching lines on your bias square so they join up with the original ones.

Sew along the stitching line on the square and slash up to the tip.

Press the bias square first to one side of the stitching, then the other and fold it through to the WRONG side of the bodice. 

This step is not at all clear in the instructions, but believe me, that square needs to be hidden on the WRONG side! It's a bit tricky to get it to turn through neatly but it will. I'd recommend using a press cloth at this stage.

This is how it should look when it's all pressed through to the wrong side. 

And from the right side.

Your two back bodice pieces should now be stay stitched at this point as shown in the diagram below. Hmmm, guess who forgot to stay stitch her pieces for this tutorial?! Don't you forget please - as well as preventing the edges of the pattern pieces from stretching, the stay stitching will provide a stitching line for later on.

Yes, those bias squares should not be shown flapping about on the right side of the bodice, grrrr

You're now going to pin the bodice side back to the bodice back at the side and armhole edges, right sides together. Just imagine a nice line of stay stitching underneath those pins!

What I should have done at this stage is baste the pieces in place and I'd recommend you do too, it will save lots of heartache further down the line! I also found a good tip for this step on A Stitching Odyssey. Marie slits the top of the side back piece up to the seam allowance (or up to the stay stitching in your case), enabling the pieces to manoeuvre into position more easily. 

See the slit, at the top of the black piece?

Now, take a deep breath and stitch into position, sewing just outside the line of stay stitching to keep it hidden. Remember:

1. Don't feel you have to sew the whole section in one go. If you sew one seam at a time it will give you more control and hopefully minimise unruly fabric getting caught in your stitching. Talking of which…

2.  You're sewing round a very sharp corner so you need to be aware of folds of fabric potentially getting in your way. Go slowly and keep re-positioning your fabric out of the way of your needle. 

Here are the pieces stitched together. In an ideal world, the top of the side back piece would have been slashed down to where the stitching begins.

Press seams open and clip into your curves where necessary.

This is how it should look from the right side.

And here's the same seam on the finished dress. The reinforcement square is completely hidden and will add strength to the inner corner of the seam line.

If you're at all worried about the neatness of your underarm seams it may help to use a busy, patterned fabric. Nobody will ever notice the odd wonky stitch!

I hope this tutorial provides a bit of extra guidance if you're tackling this pattern. And as always, if there's anything you don't understand or that doesn't make sense, please let me know in the comments.  Have a good weekend! x

Big Vintage Sewalong Dress Reveal!

May I present Vogue 8875 - my chosen pattern for the Big Vintage Sewalong blogger tour!

The pattern is for a fitted dress and matching coat, but it was only ever the dress I was interested in - I love the style lines on the bodice and the apparent simplicity of its design. Key word here: apparent! When the pattern arrived and I scrutinised the instructions I discovered things weren't quite so simple - but more on that in a minute!

The pattern originally dates from 1955 and has some fab mid-50's details, including kimono sleeves, unusual princess/underarm seams and tucks instead of darts on the skirt front. There are also instructions for adding a self fabric belt and waist stay, neither of which I did, but I think they're nice touches.

What I didn't like about this pattern were the instructions for the princess/underarm seams. These seams are reinforced with bias squares of fabric which are sewn to the outside of the bodice, then slashed and pressed to the inside. This crucial step really isn't very clear at all. It's not actually that difficult a technique once you know how to do it, but you do need a bit more guidance than the pattern offers. I took some step-by-step photos and will be putting together a tutorial soon, which hopefully will make the step a bit clearer. As for the rest of the dress, it was very straight forward to sew, so don't let me put you off!

Because of the shape of the bodice, it's difficult to get an accurate idea of fit without making a muslin. I actually made two muslins (gasp) as I was determined to get the fit right before my fabric was even in the same room as my scissors. I cut a size 12, which was a pretty good fit everywhere except the upper arms and the waist, so I added more room to those areas (see below). I also made the following changes:

- Changed the side zip to a centred zip (no surprise there). There's already a centre back bodice seam so no alterations to the pattern were required, yay!

- Shortened the skirt by a gigantic nine inches!! Mid-50's straight skirts are typically worn well below the knee, but the original skirt pattern was almost maxi length on me.

- The bodice is actually supposed to drape over the waistband in a blousey fashion rather than fit in a smooth line - this isn't apparent in the line drawings and envelope artwork. My first muslin confirmed that this did me no favours at all, so I shortened the bodice by ¾".

- Widened the kimono sleeves very slightly as they were a bit restrictive.

- Added a total of 1" to the waist, divided between the various seams. The dress fabric has more give than the muslin fabric (calico) so the waist did end up a little roomy. I'm not changing it though - it's nice to be able to bend over without stopping my circulation!

- I also tried to reduce the height of the bust darts, but this resulted in a baggy upper chest so I left them as they were!

Fabric suggestions are brief: crepe, shantung or tissue taffeta, but I think anything with a nice drape would be suitable. I went for a luxury crepe in a beautiful teal/turquoise colour from Sew Over It - the colour is a bit of a departure for me but I love it! I first saw the fabric at the Knitting and Stitching Show, which was an advantage as it meant I could play with it a bit before deciding if it was suitable. It certainly was! It doesn't have that weird spongey feel you get on a wool crepe, instead it's smooth and silky and quite weighty. If you're looking for a special occasion fabric this is definitely one to consider, I think it's lovely. The dress isn't lined (I couldn't bear the idea of sewing those reinforcement squares all over again) and the skirt does cling to your legs a bit without a lining, so I'll be wearing it with a slip,

I'm so pleased with the finished dress, it has a chic 1950's feel but at the same time, looks quite contemporary. The fabric instantly elevates it to something special and I can see this becoming a popular going-out dress this year. 

I wouldn't recommend the pattern to an absolute beginner, but if you like 1950's styles and fancy a challenge, then go for it. McCall's UK have kindly offered an extra giveaway copy of Vogue 8875 to one of my blog readers. If you'd like to be in with a chance of winning it, simply leave a comment on this blog post, including your email address if it's not linked to your Blogger profile. The giveaway is open worldwide and closes at midnight GMT on Thursday 19th May. The winner will be chosen at random.

You can find out more about the Big Vintage Sewalong on my previous post here, including details of the 20 selected vintage patterns and the other bloggers taking part in the Blogger Tour. Remember, money raised from the sale of each pattern will go directly to the Eve Appeal cancer charity, so you'll be directly supporting a great cause.  Right, that's all folks, have a great weekend! x

I'll be wearing it like this after a few drinks...

The pattern and a fabric allowance were kindly provided by The McCall Pattern Company. All views my own.   

1950's-style shoulder tie dress

Recognise this fabric? It's the one I chose from the Hemingway Designs collection, which Tracey from Trixie Lixie very kindly sent me to try out last year. I always knew I wanted to use the fabric for a summer dress, hence the delay. Well, summer's on its way and I'm ready and waiting with my new sundress!

Initially, I was going to make a shirt dress, but after seeing this pattern illustration with a similar turquoise print, I decided to make a fifties-inspired sundress with shoulder ties. I also wanted to add a bit of white somewhere as I love how the two colours look together.

To draft the bodice I used my bodice block as a starting point, together with the instructions from Casey's tutorial for a 1950's sundress (part one and part two). The tutorial worked fine for me, but if you are thinking of using it, I'd recommend reading both parts before you start. It isn't until part two that Casey advises you to use a sleeveless bodice block to make the sundress. A bodice block or pattern that's originally drafted with a sleeve (as mine is) will have more curve around the armhole. Luckily, I made a muslin first and eventually worked out why my armholes were so baggy!

Take my word for it, the neckline does lie flat when I don't have my hands on my hips!

I deviated slightly from the tutorial in a couple of areas. I lowered the neckline to slightly dip in the middle - the original straight-across design does look authentically 1950's, but it was cutting into my neck at exactly the wrong place. I also swapped the gathered skirt in the tutorial for an A-line skirt (I used the pattern from the Colette Peony dress). I reduced the A-line shape by about 1.5" at each side and added pleats rather than gathers at the top (as I did with my gingham Peony dress). The result is not as eye catching as a full, gathered skirt, but I made the dress with holidays in mind, so the less skirt to contend with, the better!

The fabric is a lovely quality, medium-weight cotton, which is a good match for a semi-structured dress as it's nice and crisp. The one I chose is Duck Egg Grid, which has now sold out unfortunately, but if you like the distinctive grid design, it does feature in the newest Hemingway Designs collection in some lovely pastel colours. I didn't even attempt to pattern match the grid design as it's so busy, but actually, when you look closely, the pattern is separated into grids by dividing white lines. By absolute FLUKE, the gridlines on the bodice and skirt match up perfectly, with no help from me whatsoever. What are the chances eh?!

Matching gridline! It's the same on the other side of the bodice too.

Making this dress wasn't without its trials and I did struggle a bit trying to draft the bodice. I always feel slightly out of my depth when it comes to drafting anything myself, I much prefer the safety net of ready drafted pattern pieces. I got there in the end though and the result is just what I was hoping for - a pretty, practical sundress with a bit of a nod to 1950's styles. I like the fact that simply adding white bias binding around the armholes results in a pair of splendid shoulder ties, such a lovely detail!

For some reason, I seemed to think that putting my hair in a pony tail and leaning ridiculously forward would show off the shoulder detail. Er no! I've included the photo anyway because it makes me laugh.

Bloody halfwit!

This dress will be perfect for my holidays and for all those hot, sunny days which I'm reliably informed are just around the corner!  x

EDIT: If you like the shoulder tie bodice, but don't fancy drafting your own, Maison Fleur have just released their Summer Blouse pattern which has a similar detail. Might be worth checking out.


Fabric was given to me free of charge for review. All views my own.

Mad Men Dress Challenge - The Big Reveal!

Ta-Da.... I've finished my Mad Men dress, just as spring has sprung.  

I chose this bright blue Joanie dress for the challenge, as I wanted to add a fitted shirt dress to my wardrobe.  I took it slowly, adding a few of my own touches, and I'm pretty happy with how close it looks to Joan's original number.

So, down to the nitty gritty.  The pattern is vintage McCall's 3779 from 1956 - a fitted wiggle shirt dress with kimono sleeves. I love the style of this pattern, especially the clever contour darts around the waist - they create curves where curves don't exist and nip in any that are a bit out of control!  It's the same detail that was used in my Roobeedoo top, which, incidentally was another vintage McCall's, they certainly knew how to cut a flattering pattern in the 1950's. 

I didn't make a muslin (tut tut), the only adjustment I made to the paper pattern was to shorten it by three inches - the original length was virtually ankle length on me! When I first sewed it up it looked absolutely fine, but it just didn't have that Joan va-va-voom factor I was looking for. This is where the kimono sleeve shape really comes in handy.  Because there's a centre back seam and the underarm seam and side seams are one and the same, I was able to make the following adjustments to the dress without it looking completely butchered: one inch taken from the top arm seams, one inch from the centre back seam to the waist, and an inch off the side/underarm seams, tapering down to half an inch at the waist.  I also took another three inches off the length (yes, I'm officially a midget).  I've made a copy of these adjustments, but I'm pretty sure my next version will be similar to the original, roomier pattern I sewed up.

I HATE wearing my hair up - you can see how uncomfortable I look!

The buttons are self covered and I made my own belt with a covered buckle, using a belt and buckle kit from A Fashionable Stitch (a one inch 'Rita' if you're interested). The dress needed a belt to match the Joan inspiration picture, but I personally think the dress is more flattering without one.

Hair down and no belt - that's better.  Look at how big my hair looks after I've taken my up-do down....

....and look how flat it looks one minute later!  Yes, I have the world's straightest hair.

For fabric I used some cheap as chips 'bi-stretch' from Calico Laine.  I found it difficult to match the colour, plus I needed something with a bit of stretch and this seemed to tick both boxes.  It was fine to work with, and at £3.50 a metre, I made the entire dress for just over a tenner. But… it's pretty cheap and nasty fabric at the end of the day.  I think the style of the dress is classy enough to disguise this, but I know it.  I do regret not using a wool or double knit, but it's a pretty close match despite this. I'd love to make an Autumnal version in a double knit and there's already a summer polka dot version in the planning stages as we speak!

It was a real pleasure to make this dress and I had a lot of fun trying to recreate Joanie's overall look for the pictures. I've also really enjoyed following everybody else's progress and reading all the research other bloggers have been doing into different character's looks.  This has probably been the most enjoyable challenge I've been involved in so far - I've had a big grin on my face during the whole process! So massive thanks must be given to Julia Bobbin for organising such an interesting and fun challenge.  Don't forget to check out her blog from 1st April, where she'll be showcasing all the other amazing Mad Men dresses that have been created worldwide.  I can't wait to see them all.

Happy Monday! x