The Strawberry Girl

I'm going way back to the 40's for my next Vintage Pattern Pledge make with Butterick 5209 which is a 1947 reproduction. There are 2 views: halter neck or with capped sleeves. I made view B with the sleeves and I have to say I love it!

This was a bit of a drawn out project though from toile to finish. I had to adjust each pattern piece because I seemed to be a different size for every one of them. The bodice was size 8, midriff size 10 and the skirt was pretty much size 6 because I didn't want as much fullness - too many gathers is not a good look for me, I'm just not tall enough.

I used a black bemberg rayon lining instead of self lining as I just managed to squeeze this out of 2.5 metres of this cute strawberry polka dot quilting cotton which has been in my stash for ages waiting for the right project to come along. I know sewing garments out of quilting cotton is a big no-no for some people but I think it worked out really well for this dress, particularly with the fuller skirt.

The construction part of the pattern was pretty easy to follow although I did find the lining a bit fiddly but then again, I often do!

Overall, I'm super pleased with this dress ... and ... I've managed 3 Vintage Pattern Pledge garments this year!

I'm leaving you with this song (one of my favourites) 'cos I can't get it out of my head - Christine, the Strawberry Girl ...

Feline Groovy Dress

Following on from my Kitty-A-Go-Go dress, my next make towards my Vintage Pattern Pledge is another Catzilla stage outfit featuring, you guessed it - more cats! Obviously this dress actually came first, because as you can see we started off with quite a small cat pocket which grew significantly in size for the Kitty-A-Go-Go dress. It features the same cat fabric but in green this time.

Believe it or not this is my very first proper vintage pattern and it's Simplicity 7526 - a mini shift dress with zip up front. The drawing suggests it's meant to be a young girl's pattern but our vision was a bit more go-go girl than school girl. As you can see it was shortened quite significantly but other than that not many changes were made. The pattern size is a 12 and pretty much fitted straight out of the box with only a couple of little added extras.

Cat pocket and cat zipper charm.

The back piece was quite big which I know is the style but I added in a couple of small darts and a contrast waistband to give it a little bit more shape.

The edging at the bottom of the dress was actually meant to add length as we cut it shorter than we intended to. Like, that really made a difference didn't it?

With it's twin in red