Outfit 017 | Sewing Project

Hi Friends! Guess what? My love for sewing and making has returned! Now, I don't know how long this will last, so I'm really leaning into it while I have the chance (aka during isolation and furlough). The results so far? This 1950 recreation dress from Butterick Patterns. This is the second dress I have made (the first being my last Dapper Day dress) and it introduced me to a few new sewing skills --moments of frustration-- like collar construction and zipper installation.

Is this dress perfect? Not at all. In the end, is it a wearable piece of clothing made from an absolutely beautiful Rifle Paper Co. Hydrangea print? Yes! I am very proud of the finished piece and also proud of what I learned in the process. Yay growth!


The first hurdle in making this dress was a result of falling in love with this fabric. The pattern called for 3 1/2 yards of 45" fabric... and I had 3 yards of 40" fabric. This lead to a lot of 'unique' pattern layouts and the inability to match the pattern along the center seam. The only piece I needed to use a different fabric for was the lining of the pockets- which are barely visible. I am still happy that I stuck with this fabric, and honestly, pattern matching really doesn't bother me that much.

After a full day of figuring out how to get all of my pieces cut, I was able to move on to some sewing! I breezed through some darts (after my last dress I am now a self-proclaimed dart expert) and faced my next challenge: the collar. Okay, if you are considering making this dress-- let me warn you -- the instructions for this collar made absolutely zero sense to me. I was finally able to figure it out by staring at the instructions for a few minutes, then staring at the fabric pieces for a few minutes, staring into the sky for a few minutes (and begging for an epiphany to come), before finally just experimenting with pinning the pieces together in a multitude of ways until it finally came together. Look at that dramatic collar though! Totally worth the struggle.

From there it was fairly smooth sailing: piecing the skirt together, making the belt, pockets, and bows (which was way more fun than I though it would be) and sewing the bodice to the skirt. This is where another one of my mistakes appears (I fought one of the side seams) but I was able to cover that sin right up with the belt. Magic.

Then, it came time for the zipper. I'll be honest, I was afraid of putting in a zipper. I couldn't comprehend how it worked and had very limited instructions. Y'all, zippers are neat! It was so interesting to learn how they are sewn in and it all made so much sense once I started! What a relief!!! Just kidding. Did you really think I would be able to not face some sort of zipper adversary? I made what I believe to be an extremely rookie mistake in that I sewed the zipper in too close to the teeth-- making it impossible to actually use the zipper. You live and you learn to use a seam ripper.

So there you have it! This dress took me a little over a week to make, and that's with giving myself plenty of time to get frustrated and walk away for a little bit. My sewing is still a work in progress, but it's a really fun one. I already have my next couple of projects lined up, and I'm excited to see what new things I mess up and learn from them.