Back in 2018 Clare sewed a dress from a vintage pattern using vintage techniques as part of her MYP Personal Project.

The dress has been languishing in her wardrobe, as the bodice no longer fitted. However, Clare really likes the fabric, and the full skirt. As it happened, there was still some fabric left in the stash. So between the dress, the scissors and sewing machine, and a new pattern, the dress became a matching skirt and top!

The skirt was easy. I cut the original dress through the bodice, a couple of inches above the seamline to keep all the gathering intact. Then I did a double turn of the fabric to form a waistband, and hand-stitched it in place. I did think to remove the vintage side dress zip before wielding the scissors! I inserted a new invisible zip into the side seam, and added a couple of buttons and loops for waistband adjustability.

The top was more complicated. It took a bit of trawling through pattern sites to find something that matched her vision. We ended up with the VikiSews Nola dress. The pattern is described as follows: Nola is a close-fitting dress with a trapeze silhouette. The front features a yoke gathered on the bottom, and finished with a channel for ties on the top. The back has side panels as well as a shirred center panel. The skirt has a slight A-line shape. Nola has a short, voluminous sleeve with gathers along the shoulder and a channel for elastic at the hem. The front and back necklines are quite deep, and the dress is above knee length.

I figured that I could just cut the dress off at top length, and it would work out okay. I also modified the design by using elastic in channels in the back instead of shirring. Shirring looks gorgeous, and Clare loves it, but my sewing machine really prefers not to shirr!

I cut the centre back piece double (I used a lightweight cotton for all lining pieces as I barely had enough fabric for the outer) so that I could sew the channels for the elastic. I also made a casing at the hemline and inserted elastic there to keep the top closer to Clare’s body. However, this pattern is designed as a dress without any fastenings like a side zip or similar. In this top version Clare can barely wriggle into it! If I was sewing this again I would definitely look at openings/fastenings to make it easier to get in and out of.

The sleeve hem frill is created by turning a fairly wide hem and sewing a channel for the elastic. Easy peasy! And pretty. Here’s a closer photo so that you can see details of the bustline, sleeves and waistband more closely.  There is a drawstring along the top of the neckline that gives quite a bit of adjustability.

I had so much trouble choosing which photos to include in this blog post because I think they’re all gorgeous! So here’s some photo spam.

Clare specifically wanted this outfit to wear to the Valentine’s Day Picnic that she has with her friends near the Botanical Gardens each year. They like to dress pretty/fluffy/romantic for it! Here it is in action.