In the Queue

Oh, dear! I've bought another vintage pattern, Simplicity 2313, a jumper and blouse from the 1940s. I bought it from New Vintage Lady's Etsy shop. She sells her own vintage-inspired patterns in plus sizes -- very cute, but out of my size range. She also sells vintage patterns in a variety of sizes. This one, a vintage size 14 has a 32 inch bust. (Vintage sizes run smaller than modern ones.) So I'm hoping it will fit without too much alteration.

On her blog, New Vintage Lady is hosting The Plain Pattern Project, a sew-along in which she challenges her readers to make one of the most plain and basic patterns in their collections at least three times by December 31, 2011. "One of the three garments should be made as close to the original designs as possible." The other two will offer more scope for the imagination.

This pattern would qualify, so I'm very tempted. But I'm probably being overly optimistic to even imagine I could make three versions of it by the end of the year.

I also want to try the 1950s Walkaway Dress sew-along hosted by the Eidelweiss Patterns blog. Originally issued in 1952, this Butterick pattern was wildly popular. Now reissued as Butterick 4790, many people have been lured into buying it by the perky and charming cover illo from the original pattern. But people who have actually made the dress give it very mixed reviews. Most complain about the fit. Interestingly, as revealed on the Eidelweiss Patterns blog, the modern version does not exactly reproduce the original pattern. The author of the sew-along shows how she restored the lines of the original bodice here, and is showing a more step-by-step version of the alterations during the sew-along.

I bought the pattern some time ago, but have hesitated to actually cut it out after reading the bad reviews of it and actually seeing a woman wearing this dress last Halloween. (Very sad!) I think I'd really like to have a go at the alterations, especially since I already have some inexpensive fabric in my stash which I could afford to devote to it. (This pattern takes nearly five yards!)

Oh, dear! For a quilting blog I've had way too many garment posts lately. Okay, the next couple of posts will be about quilting.