Sunglasses recommended

A few weeks ago, I had to entice Tris back from her auntie’s house with the bribe of sewing.

We settled, after much wrangling (four year olds are highly creative in their project concepts, but very low on practicality and, well, taste) on transforming this old, eye-wateringly hot pink, blouse (donated to the cause of children’s wear by my aunt), via a 1970s Style pattern:

I thank that long-ago pattern illustrator for including a bright pink version otherwise I would not have gotten her to go for it, I think.

I started by cutting the blouse off just below the armpits. This gave me a nice chunk for the skirt, with ruffle already attached! All I had to do was cut the bodice pieces out of the sleeves and remaining portion of the upper shirt. The fabric, by the way, is a really lovely soft light cotton, otherwise I would be far less excited about tackling this project. It was lovely to work with.

It’s been a while since I sewed a 70s pattern and they really are the peak of pattern making. A zillion notches to keep everything lined up perfectly. Meticulously detailed instructions. (Can you tell I’ve been sewing with Victorian-grade instructions for a bit?) This pattern even has each seam numbered on the pattern pieces so you can sew them in order.

Now, I won’t say I followed all those instructions, but it’s lovely to have them. I spent a bit too much time trying to settle on the best way to line the bodice with the little ruffle sleevelets, which I originally thought were just shoulder ruffles but actually go all around the arm. In the end I did mostly follow the pattern, except for adding the button loops to the back instead of a zipper.

And, since my skirt didn’t have the back seam, I cut a little slit with a tiny bias placket to give it a little more opening room.

And then when I tried it on Tris (who is nearly five!) this size 4 pattern was massive! So to bring it in just a bit, I sewed the buttons on way over to the side, overlapping the back panels substantially. This looks a bit funny but the improved fit is worth it so it’s not constantly slipping off her shoulders.

Also the button selection process was contentious. Tris was campaigning for purple buttons. I was looking for some cute little sugar skull buttons a friend gave me eons ago, that I think I may have foolishly destashed in last summer’s sewing room purge. In the end we settled on these sparkly white buttons. I didn’t have three in the larger size so the middle one is a bit smaller. Fortunately this dress is for Tris and she isn’t fussed.

I was able to just squeeze in the double-layered pocket pieces. It’s not my favourite method of making a patch pocket as they’re harder to get square, but double layering this fine fabric seemed like a good idea. You can, alas, see how my use of whatever thread we have on hand becomes a bit more of a problem when there is topstitching to be done.

At any rate, the recipient is happy with it and I’m not going to fuss over it any more. The pattern is used. The long-neglected shirt is living life as a functional garment again. Some of the iron-on novelty flocking got used. (Hopefully it holds up and doesn’t come off in patches on the first wash). And now I can move on to more fun projects for ME!