I don't know why I never posted this? I have a couple that never left the draft box. The blog post has been written since 2016, now in 2020, I will post it!
---
Wow, it's been a while. I'm not sure how many new things I've finished, work has been hectic and I haven't had much time. These pictures are from months ago, the same time as that vintage repro dress. Yikes! I'm lazy at blogging.
I don't have a toss pile. I've never thrown away a piece of fabric in my life. I will always remake something, or at least store it for eternity with the potential to be reborn.
Thankfully this dress was salvaged from the forgotten depths of the attic. After being lovingly rescued from the terrors of Brimfield antiques market (which has a shameful lack of vintage fabrics and patterns, fyi), it was brought forth into the light as Simplicity 1612. I managed to completely finish the entire dress before I realised how terrible it looked on me. I almost wish I had taken pictures. But I didn't. It got stuffed into a bag, along with my sadness. The pattern has such good reviews that maybe I just made the wrong size or something. This was done a long time ago, probably before I knew what size to use. Who am I kidding? I still make the wrong size on occasion :P
During a lull in creativity, I take out my things-gone-wrong pile to try and fix them. I tore apart the dress, used some scraps I had the foresight to save, and behold, another rendition of Simplicity 1801. Which may actually be the first pattern I've ever made more than one of, despite my intentions on other patterns! I might make more of them, I love this pattern.
The fabric is a super polyester type jersey that I picked up at Brimfield eons ago. I decided to redo it because I was going through some books on textile prints that a coworker let me borrow and this piece of fabric really reminded me of the designs in those books -->Artists Textiles 1940-1976
This version of the Simplicity pattern didn't turn out as well as the first. The fabric is actually very low quality and I didn't do I double layer on the waist-band, which makes it look floppy and loose. The pattern wasn't actually meant for knit fabrics, but I did my best. The only real changes I made were to reinforce seams with clear elastic and change the shape of the skirt based on what the previous incarnation of the dress had been.
I haven't actually worn the dress yet, aside from taking these pictures. But that isn't entirely unusual, I have a huge number of clothes, and they only get worn when I'm not working. Which seems to be rarely, but probably isn't as rare as I think.
Hopefully it won't be as long to my next creation!
~Nikki
