Vintage McCalls 4762 Baby Doll dress Pattern from 1976 aka the Marcia Brady Dress

Marcia! Marcia! Marcia! Finally finished the baby doll dress that I think Marcia Brady would have love. As I previously mentioned I was working on this floral baby doll dress using my vintage McCalls 4762 dress pattern from 1976. I will be the first to admit that I am a fan of fashion from the 60s and 70s. I was a big fan of the 60s and 70s fashion revival that happened in the early to mid 90s. Baby doll dresses, mod styled dresses, velvet leggings, long vests, palazzo pants and bell bottoms. Okay I didn’t really wear the bell bottoms, but I did wear my dad’s Navy issued dungaree pants which were pretty retro to me. I was pretty styling during my high school years. I still have a love for that era, which is probably why I was drawn to this pattern. Very Marsha Brady. I see a whole slew of these dresses made from various fabrics for my Fall wardrobe. For now I finished my first version using Rayon Challis from Fabric Mart.

Pattern Review (The Pros): The pattern was very easy to follow and came together rather quickly. Does this mean my sewing skills are getting better? The dress would have probably been finished earlier if I hadn’t insisted on using French seams to finish the seams for most of the dress. I love how finished the dress looks from the inside.

Back View

The Cons: My only gripe about the pattern as it is for all dress patterns from the 70s is the ease they add into the design. I added ½ inch to the side seams for the bodice and sleeves because this was a size 14, but left the skirt portion alone. I found out that I really didn’t need the half inch for the bodice, but should have taken out at least ½-1 inch from the side seams for the skirt portion. The gathering was so big that it made me look pregnant. I had to sew on a sash to get a more fitted and flattering look.

Gratuitous Picture with Buni

Did it come out like the pattern picture? Yes, except I added a sash, which you could hardly see and lace trim around the neckline and sleeve edge.

Do you need to make adjustments? Yes, because I thought that a size 14 might be too fitted for me. I added ½ inch to the side seams for both bodice pieces. Turns out I didn’t need to add it and would have fit the size 14 just fine. Also because the bodice was so loose I didn’t need to add the zipper and could easily slipped the dress over my head. Had to add a sash to give me some shape because the skirt was too gathered to look flattering on me. I will need to keep these changes in mind for the next version of the dress.

Sad attempt at getting the two kids to pose with me.

Pattern Level: Experienced beginner since you will be doing a sleeve and zipper insertion.

What could I have done better? I should have trusted my gut and not added the ½ inch to the side seams although I felt that the ½ inch to the side seams of the sleeve portion made it a perfect fit for me. Also think I should have used a solid colored fabric for my sash since the busy print makes it blend into the dress.

Would you sew this pattern again? Already in the middle of making version number 2 with the changes I noted from making this dress.

Pattern: McCalls 4762 circa 1976 purchased from Retribution Vintage on Etsy.

Fabric: Rayon challis from Fabric Mart.

Techniques: Sleeve insertion, gathering, French seams and invisible zipper.

Work In Progress: Vintage McCalls 4762 Babydoll Dress from 1976

Spent a wonderful Sunday afternoon working on a babydoll dress that I am planning to wear during our vacation to the Bahamas. I present my current work in progress a babydoll dress made from McCalls 4762 from 1976 using rayon challis fabric from my favorite store Fabric Mart.

I still have to hem the dress and add lace to the sleeve ends. I am also planning on making a sash to wrap around the dress since I made the dress a little big despite it being a size 14. Currently it looks like a maternity dress, but should look wearable with a sash. The rayon challis was a dream to sew with, but I will save the details for the pattern review.



Lace detail

Already have pieces cut out for another dress just like this with a different patterned rayon challis. Hope to post more pictures soon.

The Smock Dress circa 1972

Front View 

Back View

Another weekend sewing project that ended up so-so. I seem to have a very bad track record with my pattern selection. *sigh* I guess everything will always be a trial and error when it comes to sewing. I mentioned that I was going to work on this pattern below. Simplicity 5154 Smock Dress circa 1972. I was drawn to the dress because of the really cute sleeves and simple construction. While I was making the dress I realized that it was loose enough that I didn't need to put the zipper that they said was needed. Of course the lack of zipper should've given me an inkling on how loose the dress was, but my "spidey senses" just weren't tingling since I was so elated that I cut out 20 minutes of zipper sewing.  The final dress looks more like a Mumu dress that my Grandma "B" from the Philippines used to wear. I looked at my dress and the dress pictured on the pattern and the only thing I can think of is that they must have taken in the dress quite a bit for the pictured version and that is probably why they needed a zipper. Strangely my version is very flowy and A-line and not straight like the pattern version. Hmmmm... I'am not daunted. I can still wear the dress, but I would need to wear a belt to make it look less Mumu-ish. Anyways, here is my pattern review:

Pattern Review (The Pros): Very easy to put together. Only four main pieces (front skirt, back skirt, yoke and flutter sleeves. Also I was able to omit the zipper and still fit into the dress. The dress has a lot of give and is very forgiving.

The Cons: When I tried on the dress it just wasn't flattering. I think I will blame the flutter sleeves. The sleeves were just too fluttery. Of course it may also be my notoriously bad fabric choice again, but I just wasn't liking it. Now that I looked at the picture I wonder if its because its meant to be worn with something underneath?? Hmmm.. Another possibility is that I don't have very svelte model arms and I just hate the way this highlights might my very unsvelte arms. Naaahh. I'll just blame the sleeves.

Sleeve and Yoke Detail

Did it come out like the pattern picture? Yes. I added some rick rack on the sleeves to "jazz it up" and I really like it. 

Do you need to make adjustments? Yes, read above.

Pattern Level: Beginner. I would change it to super easy if you are able to not use a zipper and still fit into the dress. 

What could I have done better? I think if I make this dress again I would like to make the butterfly sleeves bigger. I would also like to make it in a drapier fabric such as rayon or perhaps a knit to see how it looks like.

Would you sew this pattern again? On the fence with this one. The dress is super easy to put together, but not as fitted as I would like. My answer is maybe.

Pattern: Simplicity 5154 circa 1972 purchased from Historically Patterns on Etsy.

Fabric: 100% cotton from Joanns. 

Trim: Dark brown ric rac from Sweet Peas Treat Shop on Etsy.

Techniques: Lining, gathering and trim application.

Simplicity 8723 from 1970: Finished

Alright! Another finished project. This time without even making a muslin for it. Above is my completed Simplicity 8723 from 1970.

Simplicity 8723 circa 1970

The pattern is for a simple A-line shift dress with a square collar, bust and neck darts and a back zipper.

Here is the picture of the back.

And a close up of the zipper.

 Again sorry for the bad pictures. I was too lazy to iron the dress and I was playing with my Canon's ISO settings and all this blah, blah, blah camera stuff that I am still learning.

Pattern Review (The Pros): This is a Simplicity Jiffy pattern that has three main pieces (front, back and sleeves). Also there are pattern pieces for the front and back collar facings and the armhole facing. My intention was to make the shift dress with the sleeves to practice my set in sleeve technique.

The Cons: I wanted to tailor my dress to be a bit more fitted since the traditional shift dresses are notoriously shapeless. So I ended up taking out the seam allowance to take in the dress. This led to a lot of problems since I overestimated how much I needed to take off to make the dress fit. Thankfully I basted the dress sides and tried it on before I actually sewed it. I realized I could sew the dress using a 1/2 inch seam allowance instead of 5/8 to get the dress to fit me correctly. Also I thought the sleeve pattern was too tight on the sleeve hem so I took my mom's advice and added an inch to the sleeve pattern by cutting the sleeve pattern in half and separating it by an inch and redrawing the pattern. Bad move! Should've consulted the Readers Digest Sewing book first before I did the alteration. My sleeve alteration made it impossible to set it in to the armsyche. I ended up having sleeves that looked like they came from the traditional Filipino dresses worn by Imelda Marcos. Just like this only worse:

You see Imelda's face. Imelda is saying "You did what!?" That is what happens when a novice thinks she knows how to alter a pattern.

Did it come out like the pattern picture? Uhmmm..Yes, although it is a bit more fitted and I'm missing the sleeve and ended up just folded the edges over and sewing the armsyche that way instead of making the facing. I was too lazy and disappointed to finish my dress properly. My last con had to do with my fabric choice. Seems like my choice in fabrics can really suck sometimes. My favorite saying is "it was a good idea at the time." The embroidery/stitching on my cotton fabric kept catching on my sewing machine's teeth so the fabric would feed differently and made matching the edges really hard. The fabric was also very tightly woven and I guess I should've chosen a thinner needle or maybe used a walking foot. If anyone has ideas on how to fix this then let me know?

Do you need to make adjustments? Yes. Please see cons.

Pattern Level: Experienced Novice. You'll be sewing darts, facings and inserting a zipper. Inserted my second invisible zipper. Will be a bit harder if you decide to add the sleeve, but don't let my experience scare you away from sleeves. I used to be scared with inserting zippers and now I don't think twice about adding them. You will need to practice and I would suggest practicing with a muslin, which I am going to do.

What could I have done better?  I could've done a better job with altering the dress to make it fit. I also should have consulted my Readers Digest Sewing book before making the alterations on the sleeve pattern. Actually I should've done that even before I thought it was a good idea to remove the seam allowance. I completely forgot about things like design ease, being able to move, to breath or walk when I altered the dress.

Would you sew this pattern again? Of course. I am actually thinking of making this dress out of muslin so that I can practice my alterations and set in sleeve technique. I like the finished product, but would like to make sure I do my alterations correctly without messing up the armsyche and sleeve pattern. I am hoping to make the dress version with a sleeve. So wish me luck.

Pattern: Vintage Simplicity 8723 from 1970 bought on Etsy.
Fabric: Cotton with stitched flowers from Fabric Mart.com.
Techniques: Zipper insertion, darts, facings, underlining, (failed) set-in sleeves and hand sewing.

Simplicity 5511 Dress: Liberty Marylebone Version

You got a sneak peek of this version from my post about Yukari (my new dress form). This is another version of the Simplicity 5511 dress made from floral fabric from the Liberty of London Marylebone collection. This is quilting cotton not super soft cotton lawn print that they are famous for. I was worried my fabric would be very stiff, but it came out a bit softer after I watched it. Don't get me wrong. I should choose a drapier fabric for next time. Something that gathers nicely like challis, voile? Any suggestions??

Front

 

Back View

This dress was my first attempt to modify the pattern and it almost ended up a disaster. First, I decided after making the blue version that the bodice needed to be taken in a bit since I had about 3 inches of fabric sticking out on both sides. I thought "okay lets take out two inches and it should fit better." WRONG.. Wasn't until later that I realized taking an inch off each side of the bodice pieces would take out four inches overall. Front bodice was cut on the fold so taking one inch from the side would end up with two inches removed from the front pattern piece, but I forgot that if also took an inch from the side of the back bodice piece and ended up with an additional two inches removed. I realized why they say that if you want to take in your pattern by a certain amount that you divide that amount by four and that would be amount you take from each side of your pattern piece. DUHHH!! *Smacks forehead.* The experienced novice strikes again. In other words. If I wanted to take two inches off my bodice than I should have taken my pattern in by 0.5 inches on the sides for each piece (2 inches / 4 = 0.5 inches).

Luckily, the bodice fit perfectly and would have probably made a nice strapless dress (maybe next project), but I had to sew my dress using a 1/4 seam allowance. Not so good! I will need to be careful when wearing this dress since I can accidentally split the side seams.

Another dumb thing I did was alter the gathered skirt since I thought it was a bit too gathered and made me look bigger than I was. So in order to make it less gathered I took my pattern in by two inches, which equaled four inches overall. This resulted in a less gathered skirt, but I wasn't really careful when spreading the gathering evenly. You'll notice if you look closely that a lot of the gathering ended up on the side. Very counter intuitive. I did like the overall shape that resulted from my mistakes. I'm sure this is probably just a happy accident, but at least I ended up with a wearable product.

Lastly, my ultimate fail is adding a ruffle to the hem of my dress. You'll probably wonder whats wrong with that. The problem is that I made the ruffle using the selvage (sealed) edge of my fabric because I didn't want to go through the hassle of finishing my ruffle edge. The ruffle made my hem hang in the most awkward and rather unflattering way. I had wondered why my dress was puffing out on the sides when I was wearing it since it draped nicely when it was on Yukari. I asked my mom and told her what I did and she said it was probably the ruffle. I guess I should have cut my ruffle on the bias or made my dress wider on the bottom. I was so proud of myself when I did the ruffle too. So this ends my list of fails for this dress.

So here are my lessons learned:

1. If I need to take in the sides I need to remember to divide the total amount I want to take in by four. The calculated amount will be what is removed from the sides of the pattern.
2. Remember to spread the gathers evenly or you might end up with some awkward draping.
3. Adding ruffles to the bottom of your dress may alter the way the hem hangs. Of course this all depends on your fabric and the design of the dress. 

Hand Sewn Facings

Other than that sewing this dress was a breeze and I even hand sewed the facings on the inside. I will definitely remake this dress again, but with a little more thought on the tailoring.

My New Dressform: Simplicity DF150 (small) aka Yukari

Behold! My new dress form arrived today. She is a Simplicity DF150 in small and I have named her Yukari after the main character from my favorite fashion manga: Paradise Kiss by Ai Yazawa.

Yukari aka Caroline from the Paradise Kiss manga.

Yukari is an early Valentine's gift from Mister. I purchased her from Amazon at a very agreeable price and I absolutely love her. Yukari is modeling my current work in progress, which is an altered version of Simplicity 5511 made from Liberty of London Marylebone quilting fabric in Meadow Red that I purchased from Fabric.com last September. I was almost finished with this on Monday, but won't have time to attach the straps and bodice until this weekend. Having a full time job and taking care of an almost two year old can put a cramp into my sewing schedule. I usually get to sew on weekends, holidays and sometimes Monday after work. I altered the Simplicity 5511 dress by taking it in two inches at the bodice and four inches at the skirt. This resulted in a modern looking fitted dress. I like the fit at the bodice, but will probably loosen up the skirt for a more gathered look next time I make this.

Coincidentally, Burdastyle began showcasing dresses made from the Liberty of London Marylebone collection this past Wednesday. The fabric is surprisingly soft after you wash it, which isn't the case with most quilting weight cotton fabric. I'm still learning my way around fabric, drape and what type of fabric works best for different types of clothing. I love quilting fabric for their print and color variety. Unfortunately they can be very stiff and/or uncomfortable to wear. Still love them though.

The dress form is very basic with neck, chest, waist, hip and height adjustments. The height adjustment is not very stable and should be used with caution. Also the base is not the most stable, but works for me. Just have to lean it against the wall or something. I can't wait to use Yukari for all my styling and fitting needs. I will keep you updated on how much like her as I progress.

To finish here is another picture of Yukari with Buni.

And a picture of what I'm hoping to start and finish this weekend: Simplicity 8723 circa 1970. This is another retro Jiffy Simplicity shift dress pattern with three main pieces that has a back zipper, square neckline and optional short sleeve. I'm skipping out on the blue broadcloth this type and will probably use one of my fabrics from the Liberty of London Marylebone collection. I am hoping to make the version with the short sleeves. Wish me luck and happy sewing!

Completed: Simplicity 5511 from 1973

Simplicity 5511 circa 1973

I am on a roll. Below is a picture of my completed dress made from the Simplicity 5511 circa 1973 pattern. This dress has a bodice, straps and a gathered skirt. This dress gave me a bit of trouble in terms of fit. My original finished version was huge despite me cutting and sewing exactly as instructed. The pattern was for a size 38 and for some reason I had at least 3.5 inches of ease on the bodice and skirt panel was huge. Since this was a wearable muslin I decided to just take the dress in an inch on the sides. The fit was a little bit better although I think I will take in the skirt portion a little bit more than an inch.


Please excuse the bad IPhone photos. Better pictures will come later.




Again this is made from blue broadcloth that I have been using to make my wearable muslins. Although I am getting sick of seeing this fabric.



Lastly is the picture of the back and my first invisible zipper insert.

Pattern Review (The Pros): Again I chose this pattern because it looked easy to put together. The pattern was another learn to sew type of pattern and was very easy to follow. The pattern was made up of five pieces not including the optional pocket.

The Cons: I had a lot issues with the fit. I finished making a size 38 in another dress (see Simplicity 5424) and I had about 2.5 inches of ease. This dress ended up with 3.5 inches of ease on the bodice and gathered skirt panel was huge. And this was from following the sewing the instructions for a size 38. I guess sizing does vary from dress to dress.

Did it come out like the pattern picture? Yes, although it was a much bigger version. I kinda thought it was more rectangle shaped than A-line.

Do you need to make adjustments? Hell yes. I am planning on taking the bodice by an inch and sewing with a 5/8 in seam. This would alter the bodice by about three inches. I think. I would also take in the skirt panel by two inches with a 5/8 in seam. Hopefully everything works out with the new measurements.

Pattern Level: Experienced Novice. You'll be sewing darts and inserting a zipper. Instead of a regular zipper I inserted an invisible zipper (my first).

What could I have done better? Chosen a better draping material and maybe premeasured the pattern pieces first to get an idea of the overall fit.

Would you sew this pattern again? Of course. Already in the process of redrafting the pattern.

Pattern: Vintage Simplicity 5511 from 1973 bought on Etsy.
Fabric: Blue Broadcloth from Fabric Mart.com.
Techniques: Zipper insertion, darts, facings, underlining and hand sewing.

Simplicity 5424 Pictures

As promised here are some pictures of the Simplicity 5424 dress on a real person: ME! Please forgive the fact that the dress is wrinkled. The pictures were last minute and had to be done in a rush since Mister was getting ready for work and I had just put my daughter Buni down for her nap.

I really like the shape of the dress. I can't wait to make this dress again in a more drapey type of material. Here is a not so good picture of the back. I was trying to emphasize the A-line design of the dress. Or perhaps I was about to curtsey to the wall.

Here is the last picture. The bodice is a bit big and I will have to figure out how to get it a bit more fitted, but overall I like it. Very proud of this dress. Hopefully the rest of my dresses will be just as successful. Hope I didn't just jinx myself. Happy Sunday everyone.

 



Completed: Vintage Simplicity 5424 from 1972

Behold! I completed Vintage Simplicity 5424 circa 1972 using the blue broadcloth I purchased from Fabric Mart.

Simplicity 5424 circa 1972

Here is my completed version. The front. Don't pay attention to the wrinkles. I wore this to work and was too lazy to iron it again.

And here is the back.

With a close up of my very first zipper insert.

Pattern Review (The Pros): the pattern was relatively easy to put together. The pattern was a learn to sew type of pattern and I loved how it spelled (almost) everything out for you in the instructions. Even included the 5/8 seam allowance line on the pattern that you can trace on your cloth, which I did.

The Cons: I'm sure there had to be an easier way to sew the facing down without hand sewing. I'm wondering if I could've serged the underlining so that it doesn't come out. I did a bad job of hand sewing the bodice facings.

Did it come out like the pattern picture? Sort of. The pattern was for an A-line dress and my version was very wide on the bottom, but I guess that's what an A-line should be. It feels like I could put a petticoat underneath. Of course I did choose broadcloth which is really stiff and probably wasn't the best choice for this type of pattern. Hopefully I'll be able to get Mister to take some pictures of me modeling the dress so that I can show you.

Do you need to make adjustments? Yes, although I don't know what type. The bodice seems rather big and I would prefer it to be more fitted and I would like to take the sides in a bit. Since this is a wearable muslin. I'm hoping my next version of this dress will fit better when I figure out how to do those changes.

Pattern Level: Experienced Novice. You'll be sewing darts and inserting a zipper. I suggest practicing your zipper insertion before placing it on the dress. I made a small zippered pouch before working on the dress.

What could I have done better? I could have sewed the seam allowances better. I edge stitch parts of the bodice and the skirt panel. I'm wondering if this is probably the reason the dress feels big. I was afraid I wouldn't be able to fit into the dress. I should have also finished my edges. I didn't have pinking shears and was too lazy to zig zag the edges. Now I have blue threads everywhere. Oh yeah. I should have also looked up how to sew single fold bias tape. I sewed it on the hem like double fold bias tape and afterwards wondered why it was so hard to put on. Then I looked up how to sew it and found out what I did wrong. Yep. Completely different way to sew it on. A long list of mistakes. This is the reason why I'm a novice. At least the final product is wearable.

Would you sew this pattern again? You betcha. And I will use fabric that is less stiff and finish my edges. Hopefully my next version will be better.

Pattern: Vintage Simplicity from 1972 bought on Etsy.
Fabric: Blue Broadcloth from Fabric Mart.com.
Techniques: Zipper insertion, darts, facings, underlining and hand sewing.

Self Drafted Mini Skirt

I decided to be ambitious today. I stumbled across a patternless skirt project on Burdastyle that I it thought looked simple enough. The instructions were for a self drafted skirt that uses your waist and hip measurements to create the pattern. I thought the instructions were simple and self explanatory. Wrong! I knew something had to be wrong when the skirt piece wasn't exactly matching up to the width of the waistband despite my carefully following the directions for creating the darts. I thought being off by almost an inch wasn't too bad. WRONG AGAIN! I have to keep reminding myself that when you're making self drafted clothing that you have match up everything. Despite all my efforts on being thorough (e.g. zigzagging the seams, sewing slowly, following the directions, etc.) I still ended up making mistakes. My skirt looks fine from the front, but in the back the portion of the skirt gaps out. *sigh* Nothing a belt can't fix. Oh well. I guess I would get a "E" for effort, which isn't too bad for being a first time drafter and my second effort in putting a zipper. I finished the hem using a single fold bias tape, which probably wasn't a good idea for the thick corduroy fabric. I guess this is one of the many reasons why I am a novice. Let me know what you think and if you have any suggestions for fixing the back. The instructions for the skirt can be found here.

Sorry for the bad picture of the back, but take my word for it that it does gap out. Also don't ask why my hands are like that. This is the best I can post from my Iphone. I'll hopefully be able to retake some better pictures.

Pattern: Patternless Skirt Project-Burdastyle

Fabric-Green Corduroy-Fabric Mart

Just a peek.

Just a peek at something I finished last week. This is a wearable muslin (aka mock-up of a pattern) made of blue broadcloth using vintage Simplicity pattern 9359 from the seventies. Check out the details in my other blog Apple-Buni. Stay tuned for more details and another completed dress.

Simplicity 9359