My First Vintage Pattern Make

I love vintage but had never sewn a truly vintage pattern before!  I bought this one on eBay, actually rather cheaply and was keen to try it!

My first lovely surprise was when I realised that it was all perfectly cut out!!  Result!!!

Then I realised that a size 12 wasn't really a size 12 by my standards- so some upsizing was required. I decided I needed to add 1.5cm to all the seams on the width, but keeping the length the same.   I had this beautiful Liberty snowdrop print that my mum bought me that I wanted to use -it has a bit of a vintage vibe and I think it will be a perfect winter shirt dress!  As usual with Tana Lawn though I plan to line the skirt as it is a bit lightweight.   This sew was a long one by my standards- weeks long!!!!  Mainly because I made quite some errors on the way that I needed to correct (grrrrrr).

First up was cutting out.  I thought I had TONNES of fabric, but wow that skirt needs a lot of fabric- and wanting the pattern to all be at least facing the right way etc - meant I needed a lot.  The only thing which really puzzled me was the skirt that is a circle type - in 2 parts, joining centre front & back. So if the pattern is the right way up at the front, its on its side on the back - but what else can I do?!

I was getting on just fine, until I did the waistband.  Well it was a good 8cm from meeting in the middle!! Even though I d already made it 4cm bigger than the pattern.... I had enough fabric for a second one... JUST.  Luckily the bodice fitted fine- it has gathered fabric pretty much on all sides so I could just gather it slightly less than the pattern intended.   Oh and I made it doubly complicated by putting in some piping.  Sewing piping along with gathered fabric and a lining is not fun (its only the second time I did piping so clearly I need some practice.  I didn't get it perfectly even, I re-did some sections but decided this was good enough.

Then the fun started.  I couldn't for the life of me work out the instructions for part of the front centre bands (where the buttons go).  Having made 2 previous shirt dresses, I just relied on instinct.  And I don't know what happened but the top side ended up about 4cm smaller than the other side.  They started off identical and   I have NO IDEA what I did wrong!!   I didn't have enough fabric to re-do it so I had to unpick, cut it off straight and patch it with another piece.   I had to pass on the v bottom, and just sewed it straight.  I was worried I had re-worked the fabric too much so I sewed through a square (like on denim) to re-enforce it. The join & the square bottom is on the pic below:

And then I sewed a button hole in the wrong place.  ggrrrrrr.   Unpicking a button hole in this fabric was not fun - I was really worried that I would put a hole through it, but I did manage it.  Lucky the fabric is so patterned as it doesn't show (I wouldn't have gotten away with it on a plain fabric.)

I then had fun & games with the hem.  How on earth do you end up with a straight hem with so much fabric ?  I never have an issue getting a hem straight when there isn't much fabric but  with such full fabric I had an issue.  I got it looking even on the hanger, but then it was totally off when I put it on....   I got it ok in the end & finished with bias tape, but there must be a method for this - tips please?   Last time I did a full skirt I made no changes to the length so  I just took it up equally all the way round.  

I'm making this sound like a disaster.... it isn't .  I actually adore it!!  But it took a lot of effort and I learnt some new stuff too.  I really like some of the details on this dress- the front buttons, the waistband that sits just above the hips, the full skirt and all the gathered sections on the bodice- its super comfortable but really quite elegant- well by my standards!!  Here are a few pics