I Saw It In The Window, And Just Had To Have It

It felt like it was time to dig into the McCall’s drawer and make a classic, vintage dress. I chose this one which I had bought at a second hand store.

I had gone in and spent hours at my local second hand store going through all of the old patterns. I grabbed anything that caught my eye. The owner was glad to see so many patterns going to a good home, so she gave me a deal on them. I paid approximately 16 cents for this, and other patterns. Much cheaper than the original 65 cent price. Of course, it is used and someone had “outgrown” it, but I thought it was a great deal!

Onto the sew!

This dress was going to be for my sister, Michelle. She came over and went through my fabric stash. We both thought this hot pink would make a great dress. Michelle had bought these curtain panels at a second hand store, and I had stashed them for future re-purposing. Their time had come, to go from curtains to a dress. Very Scarlett O’Hara of us, but if it worked for her, it would work for us!

I got the pattern pieces out of the envelope and first made sure they were all there. My first issue was that the previous owner had cut the pattern, perhaps trying to upsize it since they had “outgrown” it. They taped it back together, but the tape had not aged well. The glue of the tape had gotten onto other parts of the pattern, and I knew if I ironed it I would have glue all over my iron.

To get the wrinkles out of the pattern I used this pressing cloth that I have. I always have it handy in case I need to iron something that I don’t want the iron to be directly on. It’s just a piece of white cloth, but was actually sold as a pressing cloth. My mom found it second hand shopping, still in it’s package. I put it to use ironing this pattern.

My second problem was this piece. Yes, it was here, but the top of it was torn off and long gone. I figured I could make my own piece. I got out a piece of paper from an old desk calendar, and got to work trying to figure out how to make my own piece.

The torn piece is for the back facing of the dress. I took the back pattern piece of the dress, and folded the dart so it would be the shape it would be once sewn.

With the dart folded I could see the neckline. I was going to use that to recreate the torn pattern piece.

I laid what was left of the torn piece onto the back piece of the dress. I traced the shape of the neckline onto the paper. I used Sophrona’s curved tailor’s ruler to get the curve right. During this I thought maybe I should buy a new curved ruler, instead of relying on my Great-Grandma’s ruler. I don’t use it often, and she would probably like that it’s being put to use. So no new ruler for now.

Here’s a better view of the torn piece. You can see the part that extends to the armhole is gone.

This is what I came up with. I hoped it would work.

I folded the curtain longways and pinned the front piece onto the fold.

On the second curtain panel I cut out the dress back, and back facing.

Sewing the back darts.

Front panel darts all pinned and ready to sew. You can see that the backside of the curtain was sun faded, but the right side was not. This wasn’t going to show so I didn’t care much about it. The fabric was still in great condition.

I ironed the darts once they were sewn. I used to struggle more with getting these darts pressed out right. I knew I needed a tailor’s ham for ironing, but I just made it work.

Then one day at a second hand store, I found one! So this little ham came home with me, and has been making my ironing easier.

The facing was sewn in and I had to stitch up the shoulder seams. Yes, I have a cut on my finger. Yes, I have sewing themed band-aids.

Hand stitching the inside of the shoulder seams.

Custom tag sewn in, and facing stitched down.

The pattern had an option for a tie belt. The pattern piece was long gone but no matter. I cut two pieces of scrap black 3 1/2 inches wide. I got some scrap iron on interfacing and put it on the back side, and sewed it right sides together.

The dress was done and Michelle was off to take pictures in it!

At first she wasn’t sure that pink was her color, but it looks great on her! The things I get my sister into, like going to a park on her lunch break to take blog photos! HA! She did get a new dress for her trouble. Isn’t that what siblings are for? To always have their siblings back. I’d say yes!

The dress turned out cute and could be dressed up or down. Michelle did say she was the best dressed at Target when she ran in there that day!

Such a cute dress, and the pattern, fabric, and some of the tools used to make it were all second hand. It’s much better to reuse things and refashion them into something new, than to have them end up in a landfill. It’s a much more inexpensive way to get a new dress too!

As for me, onto the next!