As it Seams

Take One Dress. As-it-Seams to La Gang a Nat

By Victoria As-it-Seams - 23:31

Forgive me if I am a little excited - but I really am! This is the first guest post of my very first series, Take One Dress!
Back in November, when I picked up a vintage dress on a oh-so-rare visit to New York, I had an idea of using a garment as inspiration for others. And when I suggested the idea to my friend and blogger Natalie at La Gang a Nat, I could practically feel her enthusiasm jump across the Atlantic. And the monthly series Take One Dress was born. See my creation, and add your own at the Flickr group.
Natalie lives in Ontaria, Canada and is mum to three darling girls. Her sewing is immaculate, she has a lovely vintage and contemporary style, and she's a full-time working mum. I'm in awe! I have a feeling that Natalie has access to a secret Canadian time-vortex where there's 28 hours squeezed into our 24...Whatever her secret, she's given Take One Dress a fabulous start. Natalie is first up, in a line-up which includes Sewpony, Groovybaby and Mama, and While She Was Sleeping. Look out for Do Guincho next, in February...
Over to you Natalie...

Take One Dress Mara Blouse and Pleated Skirt 10

Bonjour! I am Natalie from La gang à Nat and I am completely thrilled to be visiting my friend Victoria on her blog today.
She wrote to me in early December and showed me this amazing vintage dress that she picked up in New York City in October. I loved it immediately! (And WOW Victoria!! You look amazing!!!)

And when she asked whether I might be interested in creating something for one of my girls inspired by this garment, I was all over it! This is how Victoria's dress inspired me to create an outfit for Gaëlle, my toddler:

vintage 60s vibe
solid colour
fabric covered buttons positioned in a retro fashion
striking bodice insert
full skirt
sleeves

Based on those elements of inspiration, this is what I created... Taa-daa!!!

Take One Dress Mara Blouse and Pleated Skirt 2

As soon as I saw Victoria's dress, I knew I wanted to try out Compagnie M.'s Mara Blouse pattern. Although not triangular, the insert was perfect and definitely gave the garment that vintage feel. For the main fabric, I chose a soft green corduroy that I had on hand at home.

I was all set on using some plain white cotton fabric for the insert but then a little package arrived in the mail all the way from England: you see, a few weeks earlier, I had won a fat quarter of Kokka fabric on Victoria's blog and it was so lovely that I knew I had to use it here. Look how sweet it is!

Walking in the frest with friend

(giggle giggle, love those Japanese fabrics, typos and all!)

I made zero changes to the Mara Blouse pattern as I felt it had the exact vibe I wanted for my garment. Lovely insert, long sleeves, sweet buttons, a bit of piping, some home made bias tape and voilà! (Short sleeves would have respected the inspiration dress much more but as it's insanely cold in Canada right now, long sleeves made way more sense.)

Take One Dress Mara Blouse and Pleated Skirt 4

I was planning on making a simple a-line skirt from the same green corduroy fabric, to resemble the inspiration dress. But after finishing the blouse, I completely changed my mind, dug through my pattern stash and came upon the Girly Pleated Skirt by Heidi and Finn. Perfect! Those darn little knife pleats took forever to make but were so worth it! I decided to add two fabric covered buttons in order to rock the vintage look even more and tie it in with the blouse.

Take One Dress Mara Blouse and Pleated Skirt 3

I really dig how this turned out! I love how it looks on Gaëlle (who was moving so much during the photo shoot that it was completely impossible to get a full body shot of her...sigh)

Take One Dress Mara Blouse and Pleated Skirt 6

Take One Dress Mara Blouse and Pleated Skirt 5

Take One Dress Mara Blouse and Pleated Skirt 7

Take One Dress Mara Blouse and Pleated Skirt 8

My Inspiration Dress So now, in turn, I am passing on the baton to Marta, an amazing sewist from Guincho, Portugal. Marta, this is a very special little dress here... It might not look like much but I wore this dress as a little girl, almost 40 years ago now. In turn, my daughters have also worn it (as well as a small fleet of dolls along the way).

Characteristics of this dress:

Style: Vintage from the early 70s
Designer: tag removed but was purchased at a local northern Ontario (Canada) store in 1974
Fabric: polyester (and a bit itchy)
Key features : solid pale pink bodice; pale pink and white houndstooth skirt, sleeves and collar; contrasting navy blue stitching; visible navy blue metal zipper; navy blue piping on front bodice and around collar; box pleats on skirt; peter pan collar; short sleeves folded over.

*The piping and zipper look black in the pictures but they are actually navy blue.

Here I am celebrating my 2nd birthday in 1974 with my cousin Josée. Her dress is really sweet as well, no? And how about that stylish wall paneling?

I can't wait to see what you come up with Marta! I know you'll give it your Do Guincho twist and it will be phenomenal. I can't wait to see what you come up with And if anyone else feels inspired by this vintage little number, sew along and show us what you created!

Thank you so much Victoria for having me here today!

Bisous, Natalie XX

Thanks Natalie!
I love that you have come up with something so totally different from my interpretation! (see here)

Do come back on February 3 to see where Natalie's inspiration takes Marta of Do Guincho! And if it inspires you too, sew-along! I'd love to see your creations on the Take One Dress Flickr group. And keep track of Take One Dress over on my facebook page.

Take One Dress

February 3 - Do Guincho
March 3 While She Was Sleeping
April 7 Sew Pony
May 5 Groovy Baby and Mama
June 2 Mystery Guest
July 7 As it Seams

25 Comments

Taking stock of 2013 - and there can never be too much piping

By Victoria As-it-Seams - 15:14

4 Comments

Take One Dress...for a little lady in red

By Victoria As-it-Seams - 09:36

There's something about a red dress that I can't resist. I've got a few, and now I've transferred my red dress obsession to Missy.

This is Missy's Christmas dress, sewn late at night in December evenings, rushed, unpicked, restitched and fiddled with.

It's also the very first Take one Dress creation, sowing/sewing the seed for my exciting 2014 guest series. See here for details.

I've been on a little sewing journey - from this 1960s wool vintage dress bought in New York, to Missy's Christmas dress, via the Take One Dress experience. My plan was to sew something inspired by my vintage dress, but not a copy.

The Take One Dress Route...

I spent several nights thinking about my vintage dress. There were two things which struck me particularly; the near-circular skirt, and that triangular insert. How could I make that triangle work in a little girl's dress? Then I remembered this blouse, my shark teeth blouse.

When I made these shark teeth pintucks the first time, it struck me that if I inserted a contrast colour, I could create different triangles. At the time, though, I stuck with minimalist white.

But the Christmas dress! Aha! Now's my chance to experiment!

Now, believe me... this was Truly Experimental!

The dress is made of brushed cotton red flannel. Wintery, and with a bit of texture, like the open weave wool of the original 1960s dress. But it was also bulky, and it definitely didn't make neat pintucks like that crisp white cotton lawn. And then of course, I had to insert the contrast strips. Red and white felt like a harsh combination, I've used stone-coloured linen. And it works perfectly. I stitched the 'teeth' down to hold the linen in place.

And, while my geometry might not be perfect, (believe me this involved rulers, measuring and brain power) the effect is pretty good.

My plan was to insert this as a placket into a dress made from Straight Grain's Tinny pattern, flipped about a little. I also wanted to keep that absolutely horizontal neckline...

Sounds simple, no?

Um... No....

Unpicked...stitched...unpicked.... aggghhhh.....

Think I finally nailed it.

My placket insert was a little short! Oh no.... ! Quickly remedied by lengthening the bodice with a waistband...which also linked to a bow (what could be more Christmassy), lined with the same stone linen.

I lengthened the Tinny sleeves, and made the skirt a 3/4 circle, partly because I felt a full circle might be bulky in the flannel, and to reference the original dress, which isn't a full circle.

Now this is Missy's Christmas dress, and I'm going to link it up with Sew Pony and Craftstorming inspiring 12 Days of Christmas series.

For the past few years we've travelled to Scotland to spend Christmas with my family, but this year, work commitments mean we'll be staying at home. I'm so looking forward to spending time playing with the children and relaxing. And stomping through the beautiful countryside around our home.

So I wanted to make a dress that didn't scream 'Party.'

I was thinking more Nordic folk hero, a little girl from a Tolstoy novel, something striking, simple, cosy, practical (ish) and a touch romantic....

And, while there are lots of things about this dress that technically aren't great (please don't look too closely at the hem! Done very late at night after long working days...), I do love how it looks on Missy! I have, I think another Lady in Red...

And now, I've left Natalie at Nat and the Gang with a challenge? Where will the Take one Dress journey take her? She's the first in an exciting line-up of bloggers, and will be creating a vision, also inspired by my vintage dress. Intrigued? I am! I can't wait to see her creation. To be unveiled here on January 6!