Swing Dress in Plaid

Finally! A sunny day and I can take some pics of the swing dress I made for Christmas. I used the same Sense and Sensibility 1940's Swing Dress pattern that I made my first swing dress from.

Having grappled with the instructions previously, I just about managed to get the bodice right without too much unpicking.

I'm not sure it's actually meant to be so 'blouson' but I like the way the bodice looks like it's a separate, I think the bodice pattern pieces are too large for my frame, although the skirt is a great fit.

Side zip

And boy I really matched up those checks didn't I - I unpicked the skirt panels umpteen times to get the checks to line up nicely at the front. 

But after all that angst guess what - I really wish I hadn't bothered. I wish I'd cut the skirt panels on the bias - I think the dress would look much nicer with the plaid on the diagonal! It might swing nicer too. Ce la vie. 

Not sure how my hula-hoop got in that pic.

 Well matched checks down the centre back

 Matches my dancing shoes too.

There is a lovely photo of this dress in action on Flickr, taken by photographer Lucie Robinson. I was dancing at the Royal festival Hall with Young John at Christmas - one of the nicest partners a girl could wish for and still up for lifts and drops.

Take a look!

1930’s Sweetheart Overalls

A real treat to make these. A sweetheart of a pattern from Decades Of Style pattern company – the instructions are bold and clear. They took me two days to complete without much fiddly finishing off. 

The bits that took the longest were the buttonholes! I’ve got a bog standard Janome sewing machine, it doesn’t have a chip and doesn’t do buttonholes automatically whilst I make a cup of coffee. It was the first time I’d used the buttonhole attachment – I really like it and its low-techiness. You place a button in its holder and it gauges the size of the buttonhole from the button’s diameter. 

This took a few goes as the machine had a bit of trouble clicking into reverse mode once it had sewn the second buttonhole bar – I think it was the fabric that was problematic and I just gave the gizmo a little manual nudge each time to get the buttonhole completed.

I added a tiny press stud on the end of the bib strap just to hold the back strap in place – I’m not exactly long-bodied and there was a little excess bib strap that wouldn’t lie neatly under the back strap.

I had wanted nice deco buttons, possibly square – and I’m still looking. For the time being I’ve used some vintage ones from my stash, and added two at the backwaist, for visual effect.

What else can I say in praise of these overalls – they are really comfy, I went out dancing in them last night – rigorous Lindy Hopping in very hot sweaty conditions. 

They stood up to a lot of twisting and leg kicking – I did remember to reinforce the crotch seam mind you.

The fabric was a cheap polyester, for ease of care really – I made the overalls as a dancing outfit specifically and they’d need a good wash after each outing. I’d make them again in a nice medium weight suiting for posh wear I think.

The cheesecake photo shoot serves to show off my newest Cruiser Bike that I got in the summer - she goes like a dream!