Vintage Patterns

As I've mentioned in previous posts, I've been spending alot of my spare time dressmaking rather than accessory making. Considering in the future I want to work in fashion I feel it's almost more important to have a sound knowledge of dressmaking and to focus on that at the moment rather than just the accessories. (Having said that, I can't wait for payday cause I've got an idea for a bag, but the material is £60/m!)

I've also been loving vintage recently, but haven't really been all that impressed with the offerings of Glasgow's vintage stores :( However, a few of the pattern companies having realised how major vintage is, have re-issued their patterns that were originally drafted and for sale in the 40s-60s. Vouge has turned out to be my favourite, they have a whole section in their pattern book dedicated to their vintage patterns. It's so lovely just to look at, and hard not to buy one every time I open the book! However at christmas I made this dress(I apologise for the photo, it's the best one I have!) from Vogue:

V2902

The top is a plain black viscose satin and the skirt is a stunning leopard polyester jacquard. It was the first proper dress I made and I'm soo happy with how it turned out. The picture is actually of me wearing it ready to go out on new year's eve!

After making that, I thought I'd try the Butterick pattern book, they class their re-issued patterns as Retro(which is actually more accurate). There's one aspect of Butterick patterns that makes them marginally more desireable than the Vogue ones, the price. Vogue patterns start at about £8, the most expensive Butterick pattern is about £8, see my point? I got 2 of the Retro Butterick patterns and here's how they turned out:

B5214

B5032

Both dresses are cotton poplin prints, and the jacket is a silk/viscose/wool tweed. The jack isn't finished jet, the tweed is a nightmare to work with without an overlocker so I'm patiently trying to make it work. However the dresses are going to be awesome for summer. I can't wait for the sun to come out and stay out so I can wear the white one and not feel like your typical british person over doing it in white cause its not grey outside!

My next project is to make another dress that will an combination of the two Butterick patterns, the top of the blue one and the skirt of the white one, I've got a cute little anchor print cotton that will be perfect for it.

I should probably add that all the fabrics and patterns were bought from Mandors(where else?) and all the patterns are still available. I was lucky enough to get the last of the tweed and the blue print cotton, so these are no longer in store but all our new summer cottons and fabrics are gradually arriving so its worth coming in for a visit just to see whats in store and maybe get some inspiration and get making!