I was thinking of giving this post the title “What the Vintage Fairy Puked Up”. It doesn’t sound nearly as appetizing as cherry pie, but considering how much of this dress fits the mainstream ideas of what a vintage dress should look like, it would be a pretty good description. It only lacks a crinoline.
The fabric is a “quilting cotton” and if you squint a little, you can see the polka dots mixed into the print with the cherries. The jumbo rick-rack and the peter-pan collar just add to my being open to ridicule from anyone who actually knows anything about vintage clothing.
I used a vintage pattern, Simplicity 8171, that Vintage Pattern Wiki dates to 1969. My pattern has no date on it, but it definitely looks 1960’s. I picked it up for less than a dollar while on my Astoria trip. It’s a size 4 and I added 10 inches to the skirt length at Guinevere’s request. She prefers to be able to bend over modestly in her dresses, and as her mother, I definitely support the idea that modesty is beautiful.
It isn’t that I don’t like this dress. It’s pretty cute on her, but through the whole time I was making it I was bothered by something. Maybe it’s a little generic, maybe it’s the stiffness of the fabric, or maybe it’s those stereotypical vintage elements. I guess I just didn’t feel all that inspired by this project. This was a case of Guinevere needing some new dresses and asking me (pretty please) to use this particular fabric to make her a dress. Why did I buy quilting cotton and put it in my stash to make a dress for Guinevere at some later date? I don’t remember, but since it has no drape, the options for use are limited. The gathered skirt is basically the only option when sewing with quilting cotton.
Despite the initial lackluster-ness of this project, I like the finished product.
And why am I exhausted and getting no sewing done this week? See that thing Guinevere is sitting on? That’s the kids’ new play structure. In these pictures, it’s only partially finished. We’ve since finished it up, and just need to put down some cedar chips around it for cushioning. It took hours and hours over multiple days to get it put together; at least I remembered the sunscreen (SPF 50 in multiple layers, only barely sunburned over the weekend and already my skin has faded back to it’s usual pallor.)
I do still have a good bit of the fabric left, but not sure what to do with it yet. PJ’s? Playsuit? Since I took a nice chunk out of it, I’m still counting it as a stash-busting project (and if I finish up the rest of it by the end of the year, I won’t count it again). Stash-busting stats: 17/25
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