Vintage Style 4248 (copyright 1985) was recently given to me by Sarah.  I so appreciate that people think of my girls when they are browsing patterns in op shops!  It only took about a minute for me to reach into my stash and pull out a length of soft spotted knit that Emma has also recently given me.  The finished dress really is a combined sewing bloggers effort!

So, to the pattern.  As you’ve all noticed by now, batwing sleeves and cowl necklines are definitely back in fashion again.  It’s that thirty year cycle.  After taking a look at the pattern cover Clare was quite happy for me to sew up the view with the straight skirt – as long as I made the skirt shorter.  That’s easy to do with a rectangular pattern piece!

I sewed view 3, in the girls size 10. There is plenty of ease in this pattern, and even though these styles are back in fashion, they are not usually worn as oversized as they were in the 1980s. I did year 12 in 1985, so this dress pattern is smack bang in the middle of my teens and early adulthood. I wonder how many of you had this exact dress back in the day?

The fabric is super soft – it was originally from Darn Cheap Fabrics. The pattern is super simple. Front and back bodice pieces that integrate the sleeve. Rectangular cowl pattern piece, rectangular skirt pattern piece. A casing for waist elastic is made using the seam allowances where the bodice joins to the skirt. Easy peasy!

As is often the case, construction was pretty much all on the overlocker. I did use the sewing machine to stitch down the waist casing and to do the skirt and sleeve hems. I think that this dress came together in less than an hour. Shortening the skirt to above the knee brings it into 2016 instead of 1985 – and of course, there are no raglan shoulder pads in this version of the dress!

It really is worth taking another look at those late 1970s and early to mid 1980s patterns – check at your local op shop or if you are like me, just trawl back through your pattern stash! I love this dress on Clare, and she’s pretty happy with it too. A great tween style.