When I saw this dress pictured on the website of Farmhouse Fabrics, I knew I wanted to use this pattern and this fabric for my granddaughters’ birthday dresses.
Fortunately, the pattern was included in the Summer 2018 issue of Classic Sewing Magazine, available from Farmhouse Fabrics, as were the fabric and all the trimmings.
This pattern allows for many variations; here is one page from the featured article on this dress in Classic Sewing Magazine.
With birthdays three weeks apart from each other, one in March and one in April, my granddaughters bridge that small gap between Winter and Spring. Presenting them each with a special Springtime birthday dress has become a real focus for me in planning my annual sewing. What amazes me is how quickly the time for this particular sewing comes up in the new year. But somehow I always get them finished in time for the birthday celebrations.
I decided to forego the white eyelet collar shown in the example and make the collars out of the dress fabric. My thought was this change made the dresses more “everyday,” albeit fancy, nice everyday! Because Farmhouse Fabrics carried this wonderful bias, picot-embellished edging, I chose to trim the collars with it.
In the back of my mind, I had the thought of also embellishing the dresses with rick rack (when do I not have the notion to embellish with rick rack?). However, I did not want to overdo it, leaving the lovely fabric to carry most of the impact of the dresses. When I found pale pink jumbo rick rack, I thought it might be the perfect anchor to the skirts, pickling up the zigzag motif on the picot collar edging.
Here is one of the dresses before the rick rack was applied.
I think the rick rack is a very nice addition.
I determined that a single row of rickrack was all I needed. Of course, to be done correctly, it had to be hand-sewn in place, which took a bit of time.
The final finishing touch was the placement of two pink buttons at the back opening.
I self-lined the bodices.
Another close-up.
This diagram helps to show the details of the pattern. Notice the narrow darts in the bodice, which gives such a nice degree of shaping. This is the type of detail found on well-engineered patterns.
The backs of these dresses are so pretty!
So, two dresses done – and two+ yards of fabric left over! What would you do? Silky soft cotton, beautiful Spring colors, an even plaid. How could I not use it for something?
What do you think of a blouse? A casual, everyday type of blouse, hopefully perfect for the upcoming casual Summer? Yep – that’s what I did!
I have already altered, “perfected,” and made this vintage Simplicity pattern from the early 1970s several times, and I must say, I never get tired of making it.
The pattern art here is so dated!
About halfway through the construction of this blouse, I had a moment of questioning my choice. Was this blouse going to look just a little too “country with a piece of straw in my mouth?” Or was it just going to look fresh and bright? But at that point there was no turning back.
I combined two sets of buttons remaining from two previous blouses for the eight buttons I needed here.
Identical size and same look made combining these two sets of buttons an easy decision.
Now that the blouse is finished, I really like it. We’ll see what my granddaughters think when they see me in it!
fiftydresses 