Making a 1960s Dress – Simplicity 3852

Following the making of my first retro dress using a pattern from Butterick, I realized that sewing enabled me to make pretty much any dress from the 50s or the 60s. o(^∀^*)o

I had read about vintage patterns and how they were said to be more difficult to understand than modern patterns. That is why I had decided to start with a retro pattern for my first sewing project. But I was so eager to make a "real" vintage dress—and wasn't interested in other retro patterns—that I focused my research exclusively on vintage patterns for this project. I chose the pattern Simplicity 3852 in size 11. I loved the overall dress design (the one in green) and the price & shipping fees weren't very expensive.

Fabric, interfacing, pattern and notions purchased

It took me three visits to the fabric store (two to the same one) to find the fabric for my dress. In the end, I hesitated between this print and another similar to the one I had chosen for my first dress, except that instead of being purple, the little flowers were yellow. Although the buttons I had chosen looked better on the little flowers print, I wanted something different as well as the flowers to show from afar, so I ultimately went with the print that had the biggest flowers. I regret it a little now, well, that's too bad.

My mom and I didn't have much difficulty making the first dress, so I expected this one to be a bit harder. Turns out I had seriously underestimated the complexity of this pattern. I hadn't studied it in advance and didn't notice the side pieces on the bodice. Acknowledging their existence could have at least spawn a reflection on how to sew them and the potential snag they'd represent instead of starting completely unprepared.

The step with the two side front pieces that caused us the most trouble.
I could never understand that darn drawing.

When making my previous dress, my mom and I didn't rely on the instructions as my mom knew how to make the dress without them. However, because she didn't understand how to sew the side pieces either, decoding the instructions was our only way to go. Thus I learned some sewing lingo and tried to make sense of it in my pattern instructions and illustrations. I knew how valuable this was if I wanted to make other clothes, but my lazy bum just wanted to make the dress without having to search a bunch of words and terms online. I felt like I was constantly interrupted in my work and was only reading and searching, but never building the dress.

After three days of trying to figure out the step and two visits to the fabric store,

my mom and I finally ~sort of~ understood how to sew the side front pieces.

I think that's the same picture as above but with a focus on the armhole.

(I put the picture for future reference in case I ever make this dress again. Yeah I'm nuts.)

Onto the back now. Finally, something easier.

The side back pieces were thankfully easy to sew since they work the same as for the front.

Placing the collar on the bodice

We weren't sure how to sew the collar on the bodice, but it still turned out okay.

Bodice almost finished   ╮(￣▽￣;)╭

My mom sewed the sides of the bodice and the underarms.

I can't remember if she sewed the bottom of the sleeves also or before/after.

That step was so confusing to me.

Bodice done

Making the pleats on the skirt

Skirt pinned to the bodice

We realized two issues when pinning the skirt to the bodice (and me trying on the dress):

• The skirt was too large for me. I picked a pattern with a 24 ½" waist and my waist is like 25", so I don't know why the waist was loose on me. Maybe there's something I haven't yet understand about pattern measurements though.
• The bodice didn't fit like the image on the pattern. On our bodice, the two front edges overlapped left a space like ロ at the stand-up collar, while it had to be this kind of V-shape:

I can't remember if we folded both of the front edges more (or if we folded just the one that overlaps the other one), but we folded at least one and cut some of its front edge fabric (because we didn't want too much fabric folded on the inside). In other words, we made the bodice tighter by altering the front edge(s).

I guess that the best would've been to try on the bodice before sewing the front edges for the first time.

Fortunately, the bodice still fit well (and even better) after this unpredicted alteration.

You can now see that the front edges buttoned will give the V-shape to the collar.

We consequently altered the front edge(s) of the skirt and removed the two pleats on the front, the ones on each side of the buttonhole. Yes, it's a big removal, but the skirt was really too large and it would've been weird to ease that much (especially after making the bodice even smaller). I have no idea if this was a wise decision, but it worked.

Bodice and skirt sewed (T▿T)

From the outside

Each buttonhole was sewed two times because I thought it looked too fragile otherwise.

Not sure if this was okay, but they definitely looked more sturdy after.

Marking where the buttonholes will be on the skirt

(forgot to take a pic when I did the same for the bodice).

My mom sewing the ribbon on the collar

Buttonholes, buttons, ribbons ✓

Then I realized I had made an irreversible mistake, as if I didn't have enough issues with this dress already  ヽ(ಥ∀ಥ)ﾉ

My collar is making the unwanted square shape when it's supposed to make a V-shape.

(I had altered the front edges precisely to correct that problem earlier.)

This happened because I didn't place the buttonholes further enough from the front edge. I made the error of thinking that the button would lay in the center of the buttonhole—when it rather goes towards the front edge because of the bodice stretching.

To fix this problem, my mom sewed three snaps inside the bodice, next to each button. The snaps adjust the front edges of the bodice correctly to make the V-shape collar. It works well and it's not noticeable from the outside, so I'm really satisfied. I was so disappointed when saw my mistake, especially since I didn't imagine re-doing the buttonholes once I cut them open.

Since the buttonhole mistake isn't visible on my skirt as it is on the bodice, snaps weren't needed.

At last, here's the dress completed:

I found that the kimono sleeves were too big on me, so my mom pinched the sides and sewed them.

With the belt

In the beginning, I wanted a real belt with the prong and the eyelets. However, I wasn't able to find an (affordable) belt kit online and my fabric store doesn't sell them anymore, so we used the belt that came with a dress I had bought at Values Village a while ago. My mom covered the strap with the fabric and sewed it and glued the fabric onto the buckle.

Close-up of the belt. Love that it's the same print as the dress 💛

In the picture above, you can see that the seam on the skirt's left side edge doesn't match with the one on the bodice. I'm too lazy to be willing to fix it right now... so maybe one day. It's not really noticeable with the naked eye, fortunately.

I'm wearing a Liz Lisa sukapan underneath to add some poof to the skirt.

(A petticoat would fit better since the sukapan doesn't go all the way down to the knees.)

I wanted to take pictures of the dress outside, but the sun was so bright that we can barely see the details on the dress...

Not the best pose, but I wanted to show the dress in motion.

Love the skirt shape when the wind blows!

Just not from the front

...

I'm so happy my mom and I finally got through this dress. The design is beautiful but we were faced with lots of issues making it. The side pieces put aside, the actual dress measurements didn't seem to be true to the pattern size (which was fit for a 31 ½" bust and a 24 ½" waist). My bust and waist measure a little more than these numbers, and without our personal alterations, the dress would have been too big by a couple of inches. Maybe that's because we followed a step incorrectly. 🤷 I could make another one of this dress in the future, but only when I'd be more experienced in sewing.

Update May 2nd 2020: We added a loop on the belt which was lacking:

Getting a First Hair Trim in Two Years

Just a short post to make an update on my hair...

The last trim I got was in February 2018, which is more than two years ago. I had tried to resist trimming my hair since then and was doing fairly well, but the partial quarantine got the best of me and after a couple of days pondering over it, I asked my mom to give me a trim today.

My hair before the trim.

(In fact, my right side is shorter than my left side.) >_<'

With picture brightness increased.

You can see better where my hair thins out.

My mom started to trim ½" to 2" of hair at the bottom (the hemline was so irregular). That was like 10 strands lmao. Then she cut a solid 1".

After the trim

Although this is a very small improvement, the ends are better than before. Obviously, I'm sad that my hair is shorter. I wanted it to reach knee-length before getting a trim, but my ends had been in dire need of a cut for a while, so I expected my wish to not come true.

To end this quick post here is other delicious food that I enjoyed for the time I'm staying at my parents' house:

Beef skewers with green pepper, onions and mushrooms;

all grilled on the BBQ and served with rice and pepper sauce

Rice with green onions, celery and edamame;

yellow walleye cooked in Panko with tartar sauce (not shown); broccoli

Little Sewing Projects

It's been a little over one month since I've posted here, yet I feel like it's been longer than that. Maybe this is because of the events happening worldwide and evolving at a fast pace, I'm not sure. But I just came back on Blogger now, and I immediately noticed the layout makeover of the Posts page. I'm not fond of it, especially the wide white space at the left of the posts, but maybe that will get fixed eventually?

Writing right now, I can see that this compose page has also changed. I like it. I think the info is less crammed and I like selecting my labels from a list. I'll have to get used to writing in such a large space (I feel like I was writing in half of this space before?) I'll need to get my bearings since some functionalities seem to have had their icons changed... and some new functionalities popped up (like inserting tables?!)

I just realized that you need to develop the three dots to get access to some further options like text alignment. Not a fan of this though it involves the same number of clicks. I took a quick peek at the HTML view and it seems easier to read. I'm wondering if there are other changes I haven't discovered yet.

I'm staying at my parents' house during the pandemic and count myself lucky to be able to work from home. I kind of missed writing here. I've caught a cold on March 21st that has kept hanging on ever since, but I've been getting better. It started as a typical cold, with a sore throat and a stuffed & runny nose. The sore throat didn't last long and my nose was the worst. Then towards the end of the week, just as I was starting to get better, my throat said otherwise. It was tightening every time I took a breath which made me cough and gave me slight trouble breathing. There were better days than others, but the pressure in my throat was persistent and I would sometimes feel exhausted for unknown reasons. I've improved now. I'm not on meds anymore, seldom cough and sneeze normally. I'm knocking on wood, but I believe that the "toughest" days are now behind. This was such a bad time to get hit by a cold. I questioned myself so many times whether I had COVID-19, although I didn't have a fever nor coughing spells (If you aren't part of the medical staff, you have to be hospitalized to get tested i.e. be really sick.) Now, I don't think I had coronavirus, but I would have appreciated a test response to give me that reassurance during those past weeks that I was sick and constantly thinking that the worst was yet to come.

I'm not sure what I would've written about if I would have had the energy to come here, so it's not like there's a lot to catch up on. I finished watching Caliphate yesterday with my mom and even though the plot isn't the type of story to pique my interest, I was surprised by how good it was. Apart from watching Netflix, I also sewed. After making a first dress with my mom, I found sewing to be truly enjoyable and not intimidating anymore. I bought myself a sewing machine because I want to continue sewing when I go back to Montreal, whether it is to alter clothes or make them from vintage patterns.

I'm very satisfied with my purchase, it has worked well so far.

(You can see in the back a dress my mom and I have been working on...!)

Our government hasn't made it mandatory to wear masks when going out, but I made some for my family in case they come in handy and after reading this article (in French) from Le Pharmachien. I might wear one on the subway or the bus when I go back to Montreal.

The masks have three folds and a microfiber cloth inside. I followed this video (in French) to make them. Even if you don't speak French, the instructions are very clear and the technique to make them is super simple.

Other patterns of the masks... the HK one is so cute.

I still have to cut the microfiber in small rectangles to place them inside the masks. I also need to finalize the elastics... we've been looking at every place for smaller elastics, but they're all gone, so I used elastics my mom already had. They aren't meant for this use, but they work just fine.

My mom had a small ironing board that she gave to me. Because the cover was old and a bit disgusting, we replaced it with a Hello Kitty pillowcase.

First, we removed the board's cover and foam. Little wood scraps kept falling off the board.

Then I painted both sides of the board in white.

This not only made the board cleaner but also kept the wood scraps from falling everywhere.

I pinned the old board cover to the pillowcase (altered beforehand).

The fabric was cut around, with a couple of inches left to fold the edges under the board.

My mom ironed the pillowcase to the shape of the old cover and stapled it in place to the board.

She also added another layer of foam.

We initially thought about using an elastic or a rope to fix the cover under the board (so it could be washable), but staples were way easier and faster. I'll iron pretty much only clean clothes or fabric on this and I don't think I'll change this board cover for a long time anyway.

Ta-da! 

I absolutely love it. And it makes a cute home decoration.

And finally, our menu on Easter:

Ham, mashed potatoes and yellow beans. I don't eat very balanced meals at my apartment,

so it's been great to get my daily dose of veggies since I'm at my parents' house.