Hello to allie J. readers and welcome to those stopping in from Sewing the 60s or Style Sixties!
Catherine from Sewing the 60s and I previously challenged each other to make matching dresses with the same fabric and you can see the results here and here. This time around, we invited Sarah from Style Sixties to join us in sewing some coordinating clothing. I\’ve always admired Sarah\’s sewing projects and deep knowledge of the 1960s, her decade of choice when it comes to fashion (and music). Plus, it is fun to have a participant from three different English-speaking countries: Catherine from Australia, Sarah from England, and me from the United States. I\’m sure if we all met up we would have quite a laugh figuring out what we were all saying…
Despite the fact that we all sew primarily from vintage 1960s patterns, we couldn\’t find a pattern that all three of us owned! We decided instead to sew the same style–shift dresses with a collar and cuffs–without worrying about the patterns we were working from. After all, there are about 1000 shift dress patterns and I know we each have our favorite tried and true fits.
I turned again to Simplicity 7737 and then (oops!) blatantly copied a dress Sarah made last year since I had a nice hunter green plaid in my stash already! I thought about using Simplicity 7194 (the pattern I used for my \”Lilly\” dress) but I wanted to minimize the pattern matching I had to do, so princess seams were out. The original Simplicity 7737 has two sleeve variations: short sleeves (which I\’ve used in my previous versions) and \”long sleeves gathered to snapped cuffs.\” I swapped these out for the sleeves from McCall\’s 6969 using the technique (and sleeves!) I used for my secretary laurel.
This dress has a sneaky secret… the collars and cuffs are removable!
Many patterns of this era have \”removable\” collars and cuffs, including my sleeve pattern of choice. I\’ll note here that removable just means they are slip-stitched on–so, yes, you can remove them, but it\’s not, like, a \”do I feel like cuffs today?\” sort of addition. I decided to stick with the pattern\’s \”removable\” cuffs, but switch it up a bit for the collar: I made a dickey!
The \”collar\” of this shirt is actually the top bits of Simplicity 2154 (repro). I picked this one since I had made it before and I knew that it would fit with the neckline of Simplicity 7737 (since I tried them on together before I started) and that it would fit over my head with a little button closure, no zipper.
It does feel a bit silly to wear a dickey, but right now, I\’m enjoying the versatility. If I wanted to, I could make a whole fleet of Simplicity 7737s and wear my little white collar with all of them. This also means I can launder my white, cotton collar without worrying about the color or fabric of the body of the dress. I do think it\’s funny because I would never wear one of those combo-look tops (like, a sweater with attached collar to make it look like layers), I think they look so tacky. What do you think? Would you wear a dickey?
Sarah and Catherine are some of my favorite bloggers and I know whenever I visit either of their blogs I\’m certain to leave inspired. Please do peek at their makes: you can find Sarah\’s here and Catherine\’s here. Thanks ladies!
pps: thanks to by dad and brother for helping out on this photo shoot!
Your dress is so nice! Mine didn't turn out as well I had hoped, but I couldn't face starting again lol. I'm sure me, you and Cat would have a great time trying to understand each other if we all met. I'm definitely up for more challenges in the future and next time I'll check my pattern measurements before I start! x
I like this a lot – though I've yet to meet a plaid I don't like! I've never done those super-long French darts. I know they're pretty old (classic?) but they look so fresh!
Coincidentally, I just recently finished a gingham dress with white cuffs and collar too! However mine certainly isn't a sheath style dress. You look so Cute in yours!
ahh yours is addorable! and removable collars and cuffs – how ingenious! you should post that as a tutorial – how to convert a normal dress into a button on collar/cuff style dress. I would definitely like to try that one day. the ease of laundering being the most attractive partI'm sure i would definitely understand both of you. there's so many American and British shows on TV here I can understand Northern English to American deep south accents. I however get told that I talk too fast sometimes and like most Aussies use quite a lot of colloquialisms so i might be the hardest to interpret perhaps! 😛
Oh my gracious! I adore your dress! The plaid is great. When I first saw the pic I thought, perhaps, you had used Vogue 6881, which I have been staring at for two weeks. Also, I'm jealous of all of you for having sewing buddies! I need to find some 70s sewing buddies asap.
That is such a cute pattern!! The collar especially looks very similar to the one in the pattern I used for my dickie. I feel like we 60s fans are few and far between compared to 40s/50s sewers, and there are fewer still 70s enthusiasts! Hopefully that will change as Mad Men mania recedes and the 70s become trendier??
Your pink dress? It's so cute, I saw it on the Sew and Tell page 🙂 I almost made this one a full skirted dress, but decided to see if I could squeeze two items out of my length of plaid. The pattern I used for the sleeves is a full skirted dress with collar and cuffs though, and it is SO tempting, despite the fact that it has burned me in the past and been super unflattering… those adorable but unrealistic pattern illustrations, they get me every time!!!
I really like this pattern–it has the long french darts and little bust darts, which allow for a nice fit despite the simple shape of the dress.
I totally copied your plaid dress, so that you for the \”inspiration!\” I'm happy I decided to go for a tried and true pattern as it seem both you and Cat bumped up against some fit issues 🙁 I've been watching The Only Way is Essex (I'm sure ALL of England is jussst like this, right? haha) and I can barely understand what they are saying sometimes, but I'm learning! 😉
Ah, I didn't think of the tv accents–we get BBC shows but I can't think of any Aussie shows except \”The Librarians\” (I think that's the name). I'm impressed you can understand so well, the US and the UK have such wide ranges of accents. I'm sure Australia does too. I heard on the news that the Aussie accent is partially due to heavy drinking back in the colonial days??
Sadly, you rarely see anyone sewing 70s patterns. 70s fashion is definitely on the rise though! I see it often in stores (not that I shop that much, you know, because of sewing and all), and I am in love with the new brand Stoned Immaculate (http://stonedimmaculateclothing.com/). I totally want to blow five grand and buy the whole line!
You all did an awesome job!! How cool to find sixties sewing enthusiasts from all over. Nicole A Go Go xo http://www.vertigogodesigns.ca
I'm so glad I found your blog! I was a fashion merchandising major in college and didn't love the sewing class we had to take, but I like the idea of being able to make your own clothes. I just don't have the patience for it. I love seeing your designs on here. Your creativity and talent are just amazing!
Thanks, Nicole! I'm so pleased you posted in the facebook page, I'm happy to have \”discovered\” you as well. 🙂
Thank you so much, Hannah! Intro sewing classes can be frustrating when your vision goes beyond your skills–especially since you have a fashion background! In a lot of my posts I try to link to similar items available for sale for my non-sewing friends 😉
Need this dress in my life, stat!www.eyehateheels.com
No dickies here. I momentarily though about a modesty type attachment for my bra for low cut tops, but thought a camisole would be so much more useful. Same for a dickie, I'd rather have a blouse or top for layering.
You look so cute!http://www.alovelystyle.com/?p=4734
I love this dress and I would totally wear a dickie. Great work!!
This is adorable!!!!! I love it so much! The plaid is really sweet, like a fun take on a school uniform for grownups.