1930s Inspired Summer Outift

I had so many plans for summer outfits, but so far this is all I have managed to get done. Fortunately, the skirt especially has become a summer staple. It seems like every time I wear this I get tons of compliments, one day I went out and literally every person I spoke with mentioned how much they liked it, including my dentist, lol!

It was really quick and simple to sew up as well, using McCalls 6993 version B. While researching this pattern, I found several examples of version A which is adorable and fabulous, but I wanted something a bit quicker and simpler, so I chose version B.

The top is a mish-mash of the very simple and popular McCalls 7542, and the top tier of ruffle sleeves from Vogue 9243. I had to add a little bit more shape and length to the McCalls bodice since the boxiness wasn't super flattering. I just wanted, again, something fairly simple and quick or I would have just gone with the princess seamed Vogue bodice.

I used a lovely floral stretch denim from JoAnn Fabrics for the skirt, and cotton coral eyelet for the top. I underlined the eyelet for the bodice but not for the sleeves. The color of the eyelet was a bit difficult to capture, it kept turning out more orange looking in the pics, but this one is pretty close to the real color.

With the underlining it ended up a little bit heavier than I hoped, so I haven't worn it much because it has been so hot! I'll probably wear it a bit more in the fall and winter, the sleeves are so much fun!

Untucked so you can see the whole thing.

Of course I added a pocket to the skirt, and I encased all my raw edges in Snug Hug on the inside.

I wore this on our road trip to Santa Fe which was great!

I think the skirt will be one I pull out again and again because it's comfy and easy to wear! Once it's a bit cooler I hope to wear the top a bit more.

Gingham Day Dress - Vogue 9103

It's no surprise I tend to wear my clothes very fitted for that vintage look! I love a tucked in waist and a flaring skirt. :-) The down side is, when it's post-holidays and you've gained a little weight all those dresses with the nipped in waists can be a little uncomfortable, lol. I was tired of feeling squeezed in so I decided to just make a quick dress with an emphasis on comfort to wear during the in between times. I looked through my pattern stash looking for a shape that skims the waist rather than squeezes it, and I came upon Vogue 9103. I know, it's a modern pattern and everything!

So I went to work, and managed to cut and sew it within one day! I've been working on so many complex projects lately that it's nice to see that I can actually complete a simple project in a timely manner. :-)

I was pleased with the resulting dress, it's VERY comfortable, it has one of my favorite features - sleeves without having to set in sleeves!

And it has a lovely surprise little ruffle in the back, which makes it even better.

There are pockets, of course!

It also goes really well with my large collection of sweaters! I love that it's neutral so it can go with any color. Here's a pop of red!

So, I'll just be over here living in this dress until I lose the holiday pounds. ;-)

Vintage Mashup Maternity Dress

This was such a fun project!! My friend Theresa (who I made the minty tulle bridesmaids dresses for!) is a fellow vintage enthusiast, and also happens to love classic movies. Every year she attends the TCM movie festival, and usually wears an amazing true vintage gown on the red carpet. This year, she is expecting (yay!) and since there aren't a lot of formal vintage maternity gowns around, she asked if I could help her keep the vintage theme going by making a maternity dress using vintage patterns.

 We started looking at patterns from the 60s mostly, going for that popular empire waist of the time. We settled on vintage Vogue 5942 for the top, an empire bodice with a lovely low back, and vintage Simplicity 8497 for the bottom, a gorgeous flowing floor length full skirt. Neither of these are maternity patterns, but the empire lines just lend themselves perfectly to it! Then we found the most amazing silk that was just screaming to be used for this dress, a radiant teal silk with metallic copper/gold giant polka dots. This stuff just shimmers like you wouldn't believe, I think it looks like coins falling from the sky, lol.

It was really pretty quick to put together, it fit her great right off the bat. I didn't even have to alter the skirt much at all, it was full enough to accommodate the baby bump! I just left some length in front so I had plenty to work with when hemming.

I added a ribbon around the empire waist to break up the print a bit (was just testing the color here, didn't plan to keep that bow!)

And bra loops to keep the bra straps hidden.

I also added a pocket, of course. ;-) Then, probably my favorite part, we snuck a sweet little bow on the back!

I was able to snap a few pics of the final dress on her when she picked it up. I think she looked just stunning, as always.

And here she is shimmering on the red carpet at the festival!

Next Project!

Next up in my queue! :-) #mydailysew #vintagevogue

A photo posted by Stephanie Lochet (@slochet) on Mar 30, 2016 at 2:16pm PDT

Red Pindot Tent Dress - Vogue 8807

This is another dress I made for a trip to France, this time it was for our trip in 2014.

In Burgundy, modeling my new bottle opener which happened to match the red pindots.

This is Vogue 8807, a very simple dress, essentially a kind of tent dress that you can cinch with a belt.

There's a belt included in the pattern, but of course you can use a store bought one just as easily.

It's fully lined with a light white cotton, and had pockets on both sides!

It was an easy make and a cute dress! Unfortunately, I didn't have quite as much fabric as I needed to make it longer, so it's just a bit short for my personal preference. (I like those pasty white knees covered!!) So it's going up for sale in my Etsy shop. :-)