Pink Raglan dress from Simplicity 7465 copyright 1967 with alterations

  

Simplicity 7465, copyright 1967

I made this today, with some alterations.

This pattern caught me into buying it because it boasted raglan sleeves or regular looking sleeves in the same pattern.  Do you see how they did it?  They put a yoke on one version of the dress - using the same lower half of the dress, and the raglan sleeves when added to the yoked version turn out looking very normal with set-in shoulder and armhole.  The version without the yoke comes up and finishes like a regular raglan.

I made several alterations to the pattern from the get-go.  I couldn't help myself - plus I had already cut a pair of pants out of the fabric I had bought, and had to 'make up' for not having the entire two yards anymore that I had planned for.  But, I knew I could do it - and with a bit of fiddling here and there, it happened.

Here is Esme pretending a knitting needle is a wand, and goofing off.. she is casting a magic spell.  I love the way the sleeves move, as I said in another post - sewing takes 2D and makes it 3D, then you get to see 3D in motion on a body.  The sizing of this one - size 6 chest 25, is a little large on her, and I made the long version instead of shortening it like I normally do.  But, it works on her - and it will grow with her over the next year or so better for having long sleeves now.

The skirt has some excess planned into it for the tie back, which allows her to both be comfortable in it standing or sitting and run as well.  It is a good design.  I had her try it on to make sure I had put the ties at her waistline before I sewed them down for permanency.   This picture also shows the slightly fallen yellow hairtie ribbons I put in her hair this morning for school.

The dress after it was finished - it really looked too big on the hanger, almost a size 7 or 8... not a 6.  Esme even said when she saw it that it was too big for her!  But the ties (seen below) were not tied tight at that time, either.  I took a second fabric I had and put panels in the front skirt because I had not put the inverted pleat in.. they weren't much, but enough to ensure it would not hang tight.  I've tried the inverted pleat before and been dissatisfied with it.. so I wasn't willing to try it with this fabric, maybe another time to do this pattern 'as it is written'?  Maybe not.. I know what works on her, and I know what my sewing style likes...which is what works on her :)

Pre-wear on the hanger, back ties.  It was supposed to have buttons, but I altered for a zipper.  It stays much better on her.  The other alteration I did is slightly visible here, but not otherwise.  I cut the back pieces apart at the center waist to reposition the fabric and make the most out of my short yardage.  I would not have gotten them out of the fabric in full pieces.  It is seen only as a disturbance in the pattern but the pattern is so all-over eye-dazzling that it doesn't matter much. 

Yay for good sewing projects :)

we're on to the 6s and then the 7s...

Just a little note to myself.. both of these patterns are coming in the mail. 

Butterick 4543 size 7, dress with long sleeves
I saw this one and it was so very pretty... yet simple, yet compelling.
I went looking all over the internet until I found someone who had it for sale at a reasonable price.  It was a size up from where I need it, but then I thought - well, just at the beginning of this year I was sewing fives for her, and then it has bumped up to six recently with both of the last two dresses... Size seven isn't that far away, really.

Simplicity 6824 size 7 shirt, pants . 

They had this one, too - so I added it on mostly for the pants.

That, along with a coat and a full skirted shirtwaist dress I caught a good while back should provide a lot to choose from for sewing the next size up.

 

bits with dog skirts and smurfs

the roller coaster
at the west tennessee state fair

written this morning:
Esme is due to wake up any minute. I had to giggle again last night as she has so much faith in my construction abilities. In the past few weeks she has asked me to make a WordWorld robot for her that talks and plays and moves its eyes. She was certain we had the materials for one in the garage in my workbench. If not, she was certain I could go to the 'work store' in the big town and buy all the stuff to make the robot, just like her room. She calls where I work the 'work store'.

Last night she decided to ask Mom to build a rollercoaster like the one she rode at the fair. She said we could use our yellow wagon and I could build tracks and lift her up on to it. The one thing I COULD make for her was a poodle skirt like the one she wanted there - made one last night for her. As I entered her room after she went to sleep - to put it in the dresser drawer - I found an entire smurf village built out on the bedroom floor. As I had been stitching earlier she had told me she had been playing with pretend smurfs in her room and built a village where each one could be safe in their houses. Sure enough, little block houses all over the floor, fifteen to twenty of them.

this afternoon:
The smurf village is still intact on the floor. Esme is passed out in her beanbag chair in front of a Land before Time episode. Mark said she came in during the rain and was very upset about not being able to play outside. She is wearing the skirt I made her last night over her pants. Mark said she came to him wearing her smock top dress and pants and asking him to help her find the sleeves on the skirt because she thought it was a new dress. He showed her how it was used and she was happy. It is a six gore red trumpet skirt with an elastic waist and a brown dog applique poorly stitched by me last night. For a first attempt at a 'poodle' type skirt for her, not bad - useful, she likes it.


8943 simplicity pattern size 5
had the skirt in it


hand drawn by me from looking at some vintage clothing and putting my own spin on it


passed out in the beanbag chair
with a bag of chips wearing the skirt


Esme's 'smurf village'

Sunday pink dress

Size 5.5 dress
mixture of McCalls 8001 size 5 and Butterick 9644 size 6

She wanted a pink spiderman costume with a mask. I told her if I could get a pattern to work well I would put a spiderman emblem on a pink dress. I have one drawn out for her, and this pattern did seem to work fairly well. The sleeves need to be a little larger and the waistline could be more even and lower by an inch or more. But, as the lady at the store today said, 'I didn't even notice - and no one else should be looking that close, either.' Yes... *hmm* I still bought more pink fabric. It will be Friday when I have another full day off.

Pattern Alterations:

9644 Butterick circa 1960, size 6
could not find the front bodice piece this time


McCalls 8001 size 5, circa 1961
I've been using this one for nearly a year now

Sleeves: 8001 dress sleeve laid over coat sleeve, cut according to length of remaining remnant of fabric. Skirt: Butterick 9644, own version of gathering done all around. Bodice: 8001 dress with 9644 back bodice as length indicator..



being a little goat herder girl
leading the goat around the yard by waving a stick by her - so she gets curious and wants to try to eat it


Loula hanging out with Mouse cat in the background



Mark took this photo a few nights ago. This puppy was given away to her new home today - and I think the lady will really love her. It is also a great shot of Esme smiling :)

Super simple purple sleeveless

Two down and a few more to go. I made this super simple purple sleeveless dress tonight while Mark was stewing chili. Esme had said she liked this dress at Niddle Noddle quite a bit, so we found a fabric similar to it when we were in town today. I omitted the sleeves of her regular pattern and made it a single button overlap closure instead of a zipper, to keep it cool. She says it fits well.

I think I have a few other things to plan - a pair of pants from the brown/blue flower fabric she chose and she has asked me for a cat doll with green eyes - which I have stalled on in favor of getting real clothes made. I like the fact that I was able to make good use of the machine these past two days - sitting down and actually DOING the job is only about an hour or two, but getting myself up to the task of sitting down and devoting that hour or so, that is usually the hard part. There are so many other things clamoring for attention, but the sewing is very rewarding.

A new-to-me blog I like : Bliss by mrs. french I have already gleaned some beautiful ideas from her inspirational pictures.

I discovered an early 1900s artist Virginia Frances Sterrett, who created beautiful art nouveau (almost Japanesque) woodblocks and paintings for several fairy tale/mythology books in the early 1920s. I read the tale of Blondine at archive.org while Esme was napping yesterday and loved it, although it is simple it would still be just a bit much for her, mostly length. Several of the Sterrett artworks look much like things I have drawn in the past - her turtle especially, and the gorgeous dropback of Prosperine's choice whether to eat the pomegranate or not in Tanglewood Tales. They have been reprinted into paperbacks on Amazon, along with Arabian Nights, also illustrated by her. I should probably put those on our list for Christmas if they are still available.

---ramble----

I did buy a few books recently - a crop science book is coming in the mail, as well as a grisly but beautifully illustrated version of Grimms Fairy Tales from the 1940s. I looked it up on Abebooks expecting it to be outrageous and found a copy that said 'good' and listed all the right info for surprisingly cheap - I will see if I am astounded or disappointed in about a week. I went seeking a specific type of copy because, in my above-mentioned reading and Mark's trying to remember specifics of Hansel and Gretel, I realized our collection contained a nice volume of Hans Christen Anderson and a 1950s text-only Arabian Nights but not any Grimm at all! I thought: Esme's education will be lacking! *sarcasm* but honestly, there is a bit of truth in that. In three years when she is wanting something to pore over, we will have some things with beautiful pictures and stories that have historically enchanted generations.

This one, if it proves to be what it claims to be, will be the non-politically correct Grimms which we will have quite a bit more to talk about on as parents but are the copies we remember reading before they were 'cleaned up for the public' sometime after that. As I've said before, it feels like I was raised in another era compared to nearly everyone else 'my age'. The world I grew up in was nothing-new and passed-me-down so the 1920-1940 books and comics I was reading in the 1970s were not 'special' at the time, they were what we had and if you didn't rip the pages you could read them and not have to stare out the window because the library was far away and new books were few and far between. We also had a wood burning potbelly stove we hung mittens up on to dry in the winter, candle light when (often) the electricity went out and a pumphandle in the bathroom for the water there but running water in the kitchen. It was an interesting place to grow up in at the time, and doing so helped foster so many things I find interesting now. I also notice, at times, that the older language in the books I read at the time still follows me now in later life.


Dora Deane 1915 book at Gutenberg
I had a copy of this at the age of eleven or so, and I remember it made an impression on me similar to Oliver Twist or The Secret Garden or Cast Upon the Breakers did as well at the time.

Another size 5 by Helen Lee

McCalls 5127 young girls dress pattern with artist smock

I've been using the other size 5 dress pattern I scored last year for .. well .. about a year isn't it? OK. 8 months. The 8001 that I altered to be without the pleat. I think she has four or five dresses that have been made with that pattern and they still fit. I found this one and had to snap it up - even though I usually will not pay over 5 to 7 dollars for a pattern shipped. I did. It will be my birthday soon :) Right? It is by designer Helen Lee, which I am always drawn to, as well.

The artist smock and the dress together are just right.
It is winging its way to me in the mail and should probably, I hope, be here by the end of the week.

Simplicity 3096 and more

Simplicity 3096 dress pattern
and some fabric from the clearance rack

The yellow version's lines and pockets really caught me weeks ago, and then I won the bid on Ebay. I have some plain yellow fabric as well and also some blue gingham coming in the mail soon.


Practicing sewing some old white cotton sheeting
into a simple laundry basket.

This basket is a 'time sink' type item - it takes a long time to get something that could be bought cheaply in plastic. However, I have been inspired lately by the house magazine Skonahem, which is Swedish. But, I feel a deeper connection with things I have read lately about the Sami people. It is odder still that there is much in my 'spirit drawings' that also rings true with some things I read here. Drawings of deer, bears and lots of ornate clothing, turtle shells, the universe as a round house etc... I could have picked up those ideas anywhere in my studies in years past but they have 'stuck' more than anything else.

Esme went to the nurse this morning and she did not think her cough and gagging was serious - just a prolonged cold. Considering she does not have a fever and has been playing like regular, just with a cough and sometimes a gag - it was not serious but good to have someone 'check up' at the same time. Esme was very worried she was going to get another shot, but Mark distracted her by blowing up a glove like a balloon. By the time the nurse did arrive to look Esme over she was not worried about it anymore.

We are now sitting home eating chicken noodle soup. Loula puppy seems to be perkier - her problem might not be serious. A Pogo cat has a few kittens in the basement storage room that she likely had last night. She is happy with them.

Mark says I am 'special'... because I was rubbing black pepper on my chocolate graham crackers. He gave me the idea and it is a GOOD one. Black pepper is one of those things, like coffee, that I like to have in abundance.

a few thoughts on patterns

Patterns I have marked for 'later' to buy and sew, someday.
I would have to alter or find the right sizes for them.


McCalls 2329, centennial dress
the bodice front shape is interesting


6042 McCalls
gorgeous child's dress and apron


McCalls 7089
child robe and nightgown, raglan sleeves draw me to this one

LATER: Was looking at all of those patterns stalling doing something I knew I really needed to do while I still have one morning of sleeping in ahead of me :) Mark spurred me forward a little - and I'm glad he did. Pulled apart Esme's bed and washed it down of all the junk she got caught in the corners of it. Washed the floor everywhere around where she eats and under her old changing table. Took bleach to a large area of the shelving she used to use more often than she does now. Kept the roll going and washed down her table and computer desk. Moved to the kitchen for the last leg and mopped most of the floor down and around the dog food and water dishes. I'm a simple girl when it comes to that - I just want a simple mop that can be washed out in the shower and reused, and that the head does not come off of the mop every few minutes! Mine does the latter... so often I am doing better to actually just sit down on the floor and scrub. Now I know my back hurts much more than it did last time I did that much crawling around the floor... getting older, but it was worth it and I keep reminding myself that dirt is coming up, getting out and getting gone. There is more that could be done.... but now it is time to sit and eat some chips and knit on the blanket and drink coffee... I have tomorrow off, too.

I mention that last bit because I was reminding myself last night - hopefully I can remember to remind myself as it comes up then, when my back hurts I will keep moving - maybe not in the exact ways that made it hurt (putting toilets up on three foot high shelves etc.) but I will keep moving, walking, cleaning, staying active. I have a deep belief that is one of the things that made my mom get sicker and sicker - when she hurt, she stopped doing things because some of them hurt... and then with her diabetes (which I do not have, but have a good chance of getting if I am not careful and maybe if I am careful) she put on more and more weight, which made her back hurt more, and then she deteriorated further and further until now she is at the point where her weight interferes with doing nearly anything. I am very scared of that. I want to take after my father in that regard.... I'm really hoping I do.

Thought I'd sit down - but went to wash my hands and the bathroom sink being slow running got to me again. Put the mop bucket under it and cleaned out the p-trap. YUCK and yuck and yuck. But, success. Note to myself for the future - when putting the pop up clip back on, make sure the round nubbly circles are facing towards the front. I have been a plumbing specialist for how long and still failed on the first reassembly on my own faucet? And I even had the luck of having it put together for me the first time but hadn't taken a good solid note of that fact.

Red dirndl

Simplicity 8714 (right)
Simplicity 5169 (center)
Butterick 2194 (left)

I used most of the pattern pieces out of 8714 (right), with alterations to look like 5169 (center) in the waist and a comparison to 2194 (left) for the size. All of the patterns are 1960-1975.


I trimmed 1/2 inch off of the neckline all around and added a center waist panel that was present in the other pattern, but not in this one. It seemed to be easily addable without any alterations to the main pattern. And it was. The upper sleeve cap from 5194 was compared to the modern sleeve pattern I have been using with Butterick 2194 (a fourth pattern indeed!) to make a long bell sleeve without the center stay gathers. I just couldn't see Esme wearing that actual gathered sleeve in reality -- not practical.


Did this yesterday - still need to put the zipper in at work today and try it on her when I get home. Overall it is the same length and bodice size as the Osaka dress - but it has a dropped waist.. we'll see! I added the ties because she usually needs them to keep the dress comfortably to-form as she moves around at high speeds ;) And Nova (the puppy) will pull on her dress sleeves to lead her around if she doesn't have back ties to grab hold of. The dress sleeves get perforated and Esme doesn't like her sleeves all wet and slobbery. They play often this way 'tug of tails' back and forth across the house.

I only had enough of the flowered fabric for the front of the waist - but it was a good use of a loud fabric. It is called 'Andalucia Earth' flowery fire stripe, by Patty Young.

Today: Got her to try on the red dress today saying Grandma would want to see it. She fussed a lot - because she wanted to stay in her pajamas. She still has a cold and has been fighting Daddy to put on anything but the blanket sleepers lately. I convinced her into it with crying and found that the second sleeve was a little hard to get 'quickly and easily' assembled without asking her for cooperation.



I think the dress would look a little stranger from the back if I gathered the skirt there higher than the skirt in the front - but it would be easier to get that second arm through the waist once she already has her first arm in. I could also extend the back line from armhole to skirt a bit on each side and it would be hidden in the ties without as much change in the look of the garment.

And some pictures of it on - it really moves with her well and she can get into any position (even crawling on the floor pretending to be a puppy) and it does not make her constricted. I do like that about old clothing patterns -- they are 'fancy' but not impractical if chosen well (and properly altered).

Christmas Eve note

Mark gave Esme her big wheel tricycle early, and she pushed it around the kitchen for a while. She really likes the flag - kept getting off to play with it and get a chair to go look at it closer again. Her feet are on the pedals when they are in the 'near' position but don't reach in the 'far' position.. so she will have to wait until Spring to really pedal it. But we're sure she'll be tall enough then!

Esme is napping on the bed now watching Cinderella. It is supposed to snow tonight and there were a few ice crystals in the air when we got home. I'll hang her sock up soon and if she doesn't wake up before ten I'll start to put everything into it! Grandma and Grandpa would like us up there about ten-thirty tomorrow morning.

Sewing blurb: My patterns arrived in the mail while I was at Grandma's with Esme. I took a project up there with me, newspaper to alter the Butterick pattern into the Simplicity jumper and shirt. I checked the mail on the way down and found the 'dirndl' dresses :) But... as I'd already done the altered drawing - I cut out the shirt when I got home. I'm hoping I did a good job altering. First thing, I'm awful at making up collars out of thin air... holding my breath there, we'll see. I also made the 'tails' of the shirt longer, as I tend to make shirts on the short side otherwise. It took every little bit of a green remnant to cut the pieces for a collared, 'puff' sleeved, button-up shirt. Now, to sew it! I might just tack the sides and shoulders together and work on just the collar tonight.

pattering some more

While I'm waiting for the dirndl with the gathered sleeves to arrive I'm thinking of what to do next. I've finished knitting my green scarf, a hat to match and have started on a pair of gloves - but every time I go through my sewing patterns I keep coming back to the Butterick pattern as the best option for going forward.

But do I just alter it better to fit her or...? I guess I've been so busy lately I want something exciting and although making my own pattern is that - it is also a bit more involved tweaking bits here and there and making multiple items to compare etc... A new pattern to play with is what it is - and always will be material for the future. When the dirndl size 4 arrives I'll definitely be playing with it :) Until then I keep going through pages and pages of newly listed vintage patterns every few days, and have still not found anything more intriguing than this.


Simplicity 3603, 1960s

This pattern is VERY similar to the one I made the last few dresses out of - except it is a square neckline jumper with a fuller skirt. It has the same 'princess seam' front panel meeting a full skirt.

And I really should make a few more pairs of pants. I've made those two longer legged pairs but still have at least one fabric earmarked by Esme for pants that have not been made. My intuition says I'd make them easier if they matched a new dress :)

Other note: She STILL loves her Osaka dress. I asked her again today and she nodded and said she LIKES the pretty dress and thank you mumum :)

We are nearly ready for Christmas. We put up a set of snowflake lights I bought on clearance. Esme really likes them :) I wish they didn't blink, but well... they do. We have a few things to wrap still and a toy to put together. Esme really wants to put up a Christmas tree. She has asked me to put up a Christmas tree and/or have a Christmas present every morning and several times during the day. She brought me a superball and told me it was my Christmas present. Mark also thinks Esme was saying 'bicycle' (bik-ik-ik-ik-klee) in a very strange way after seeing her toy. I think she was trying to read the word off of the box. I heard her try to pronounce 'circle' a few weeks ago - and it sounded like 'curr-kuh-klee'. She's getting closer and closer to trying to sound things out - but then she will still do things like sounding out 'huh-ih-ull-ull' (hill) and saying 'house!' without even thinking there might be something wrong there...

busy bits

Losing days - I have no idea where half of Friday and most of Saturday went. But it went, because I am sure today is Sunday. We are invited to a Christmas party tonight at six... I really don't see us going but said I'd 'maybe' think about stopping in for a few minutes. She really thinks we're coming... hmm *my wallflower tendencies are twitching* It is so cold out - I really don't want to leave the house at all today. There are several things I should do today... but I am lacking ambition and focus.

Just a few cute things -
Yesterday Mark picked me up from work and Esme led one of my coworkers all around the store saying she was going to show her something. Apparently they never found it. She saw Santa at a store we stopped by - but she didn't want to go up to him. He gave her a candy cane, but she wouldn't even say thank you without turning around and facing the other direction first. She was really really shy! Mark got Esme two new rubber ducks at the store - Christmas themed. They are immediately 'baby ducks' for the mama duck we have downstairs (who lost her babies last year sometime). So, Esme had to have a bath - even though Mumum didn't want one! She wanted to play with the new ducks in the bathtub. She asked for PT duty three times and actually did it... pretty wow for me to have one success lately.

She asked me 'Throw away a me, mumum, throw away this a me' about her lollipop before she climbed into her bed.. which is a progression on her picking up that sentence. She'll probably have it right soon, if she is paying more attention to it. She also asked for 'chips from the package of blue' yesterday and 'chips in green' today. We have two kinds of chips we keep on the snack table and she has to ask for them - now she is differentiating which kind she wants when she asks. I'm sure this upside-down syntax comes from me. I talk funny, sometimes...without intending to. Parts of my brain are 'upside-down' in that regard, and it comes out that way. But - I want to make sure she learns the right way to ask, too.

We gave her some bunny shaped graham crackers Mark wanted to try and she had a fit about them. She said 'No eat bunny cookie.' and put them in her empty cup to carry around the room. We ate ours anyway. She then said, 'Oh no, what have you done? My bunnies cry in my hand!' The bunnies got soaked in juice drops and she wanted to throw them away. I ended up eating all the ones in her drink cup as she gave them soulfully over to me one by one. She never did eat one *facepalm*... oh well. She does have square graham crackers she eats!

We also read 'Sleeping Beauty' last night for the first time. She has never seen the movie. She was confused - she kept asking where the Cinderella book was, and trying to read the words on the pages because they were new words and she didn't know what was supposed to happen. Exactly the right reaction! And then when she seemed to be lost, I read the story to her. She fought any idea of actually laying down and having her blanket on her. She wanted to kill the dragon at the end of the book 'take that dragon!' I took her big dragon toy and had him come up into the bed and she smacked him and made him go away. Then he attacked Daddy in his bed.. and he said 'take that dragon' and the dragon went away again to the floor near Esme's bed. To this Esme quickly (and with no prompting) said 'I lay down - I sleep!' Apparently dragons on the floor mean no getting out of bed or you shall be eaten...

Patterns I'm on the watch for:

McCalls 2936, date unknown

Simplicity 5169, c. 1972

I'd like to try a dress with these kind of sleeves/waist. I found these two vintage patterns with the style but haven't been able to find any of them anywhere near Esme's size. They seem to be available in size 6 or up, or not at all :( Oh well, save the idea for the future and maybe I'll make/find something later.

I ordered this and two others (including the second one above in size 6) from an Ebay seller... I have about two dozen patterns -- so why do I need more? I guess it is because I found this one that is SIMILAR in size 4... and the money was already there from my Squidoo account...


Simplicity 8714