Manic Pop

It's finished, it's finished!     And it's the most beautiful thing I have made so far!  Max's mom gave me this fabric for Christmas along with the little yellow buttons. I struggled for a bit what to do with it. I wanted to do this amazing vintage fabric justice so it took me nearly 4 months to decide on a design, but I finally did! The pattern work was relatively easy and I actually made all my patterns perfectly, including a placket with facing which I don't ever recall doing before. If I have, it was in college and I don't remember much from college. Sewing patterns all laid out with my pattern making book.             I did have a bit to overcome with sewing on this one though - sewing a placket (which wasn't too hard but I had difficulties getting it to line up perfectly), and putting in near-perfect buttonholes which I had to rip out about 4 times. Note that I only had 4 buttonholes to create! Cutting ...

I'm a pretty big fan of tent dresses (or trapeze dresses - call it what you want). They're simple, easy-to-make and you can have many variations of them. These are a fun style to wear for spring and summer!  See this DIY from a Good Housekeeping Crafts book from 1971 - photos at the end of my own trapeze top from a while ago! (Bear with me on the photos here - this book is quite cumbersome and hard to scan.)  Applique patterns, in case you wanted the dress to look EXACTLY like the photo. (But why?)  How to cut the fabric efficiently. (This is actually pretty important cost-wise for you - especially with something this big.)  Using pattern instructions from my patternmaking book from college, I created this swingy trapeze top a bit ago. I used sweater fabric from a thrift store find for the collar of this top.   I also opened up the back on the pattern to have a diamond shape.   It c...