A Quick Review of 2017

Well it's only been forever. My last post was over a year ago, and a lot has/hasn't happened since then.

The first immediate bad news - I haven't sewn anything remotely historical in that time period. However, that doesn't mean I haven't done any sewing.

The good news is I still have sewn - a lot. My sewing took a bit of a retro swing (no pun intended) and I've been making oodles of dresses - 10 in fact! I've had a variety of fabrics in my stash for a while and at the beginning of the year, I made a promise to myself that I would try to work through it. In addition, I thought it would be fun to have several dresses for my destination wedding in August (more on that in a bit). Here's a quick overview of everything that was made, in no particular order of completion.

Christmas holiday dress - Retro Butterick B5748, Halloween dress - McCall's Archive Collection M7086

These were both made for work. They relax dress code during Christmas time for us and allow us to wear holiday colors, so I had to make a dress for the holiday season. I found this fun vintage-looking fabric on sale and it screamed to be made into a dress. This was my third go at the pattern (a reprint from 1960) and since I already had modified pieces for my measurements, it went together in a matter of a couple days.

My ghost dress I tried to finish in time for Halloween but failed. Part of the problem was I attempted to make it using a pattern I had not used before, so I had to do make a mock-up then adjust for my measurements. This McCall's reprint from 1963 was modified and I did away with the faux belt decoration on the front. Hopefully I'll have a chance to wear it for Halloween this year!

Bridal shower dress - Gertie's Ultimate Dress Book by Gretchen Hirsch, dress for fun - Retro Butterick B5748

On one of my last posts, I had mentioned discovering sewer/blogger Gretchen Hirsch. I purchased her dress book and used it to make a dress for my tea party bridal shower in May. I also used one of her fabrics released through Joann Fabrics and was very pleased with the result. Only downside was I had to heavily modify the original pattern pieces to match my own body type.

My second version of B5748 had a modified skirt to match this fun Finding Nemo print that I found while fabric shopping with Mumsy when she came out to visit in spring.

Wrap dress for work - Vintage Vogue V8788, wrap dress for fun - Retro Butterick B4790

The first wrap dress was made for work using a 1954 reprint from Vogue Patterns. As I quickly discovered with both these wrap dresses, adjustments to my small bust/waist ratio are hard to make and as a result, both are not quite a perfect fit.

The second wrap dress is another reprint, this time from Butterick. Taken from 1952 this was supposed to be a dress you could make in a day. I easily proved that theory wrong with all the fitting and fabric adjustments I ended up making.

Summer dresses - both made with Patterns by Gertie Butterick B6453

Released through Butterick, Patterns by Gertie is another one of Gretchen Hirsch's sewing endeavors. Most of these patterns have a retro vintage vibe and this one was based off dresses of the 1960s. This pattern was released earlier this year and thanks to a sew-along that she did on her blog, I was able to do a couple variations of this dress in quick succession. I ended up wearing the second dress during my wedding week.

Pique summer dress - Retro Butterick B5748, Rockabilly style dress - Simplicity 8051

My first go at B5748 was so fun to put together, mostly because I got to work with a new fabric type - pique. It was a beast - argh, the fraying! - but I loved the end result and wore it during the week of my wedding.

For my wedding, one of my bridesmaids and best friend from high school decided to make dresses to wear together. We both purchased this rockabilly style dress pattern and worked on them together over the course of the summer, each using a different fabric. Mine was cotton poplin, and Jenna's was cotton broadcloth.

Our matching dresses!

So yes, in other news, I'm married now! Kerry and I opted for a destination wedding and traveled to the hospitality city of Savannah, GA, in August for the event. We were joined by a few close family and friends and everything turned out perfectly! Our wedding and reception was held at The Whitman Mansion, and we got to stay in this gorgeous 1890 Victorian house as well. While I did not make my dress, I made sure to add a few vintage touches including my hair style and a full tea-length style dress.

In my other spare time, I completed a variety of other sewing projects to include:

• baby items for friends and family
• gifts for my bridesmaids
• sweaters for our four-legged family members
• sleepwear for the now husband

And I also managed to get some cross stitching in as well.

Charlotte from Mirabilia designs by Nora Corbett

I had started this in 2016 and managed to finish it soon after getting back from Savannah.

I love the bead work on this piece!

Autumn in My Garden from Mirabilia design by Nora Corbett

This piece was actually in progress when I last signed on and finished shortly before the end of 2016, but I still wanted to show it off. After framing, she was gifted to my now mother-in-law for that Christmas.

Okay, so that was a little longer than anticipated, but that's most of my projects for extended absence! I'm hoping to get back to writing regularly, as well as back into my historical sewing. Now that I've dabbled in vintage and loved it, there will probably be additional posts on that as well, but I'll try to keep everything balanced!

Here's to 2018!