First time vintage: Butternick 9599

This months theme for the social sew is try something new. To be honest I didn't know what to make with this theme. So I waited for the inspiration post... and I still didn't know what to make. I'm not that interested in making jeans. I have tried a lot of tricky fabrics already, I just love all things silk. And faux fur is just not my style. 

I was already thinking of skipping this months social sew but then I remembered the half finished vintage dress that I started in June for the social sew but never finished. I bought Butternick 9599 for my first ever vintage dress! I think the pattern is from the early '60s. I chose the pattern because I liked the neckline so much. I also like the sleeves they have 3 little darts in them. I thought the dress looked vintage but still modern enough to be wearable. 

Because I had never made a vintage dress I choose to make a muslin of the top. I didn't make a lot of adjustments. I only lowered the darts a bit and shortened the skirt 20 cm. To be honest this dress took a lot longer to make than I anticipated. And needed so much fabric as in 2.5 m, making this one of my most expensive dresses. 

The fabric is a cotton blend with a bit elasthan. It has a tiny pattern in it that I love. The fabric is similar as the one that I used for my strapless dress.  It looks so wrinkled in these pictures, I did iron the dress before I took these. I can't iron the dress on a high setting because the fabric discolours. Lucky for me I did test this before I started pressing. 

I like the dress a lot but to be honest I'm not sure how often I will wear this. I still like the high neckline and the zigzag button front. Maybe I need to try and style this a different way? 

The details:
Pattern: Butternick 9599 
Fabric: Den Boom €45
zip: €3.65
buttons: free (grandmothers stash)

The best things twice

When I made my fist pair of Milly culottes I was unsure that I would ever wear them. Usually I'm never interested in trendy patterns, I prefer classic styles. When I made them the first time the idea was that if I never ended up wearing them I at least tried to make trousers for the first time. 

Little did I know that I would wear them to dead. I have worn them almost every week during the summer. They are so comfortable and the go with nearly everything. Like an A-line skirt without the impracticality of an actual skirt. The fabric of the first pair started to pill in the back and they where always a bit to large. So it was time for a new and improved pair!

The best improvement that I made was to chose nicer fabric. This is a nice black fabric from the fabric sales. I'm not sure what it is made of but it doesn't wrinkle at all. And it is black so these will go with even more of my clothes. I chose not to use elastic in the back like I did last time and I made them even smaller in the waist. 

The details:

Pattern: Milly Culottes La Maison Victor Jan/Feb 2016

Fabric: €24 The Fabric Sales

zip: €2.65

Burda 107 strapless corset dress

I have a feeling that I have been working on this dress for ever! I choose to make this dress just for the experience, new techniques and all. Every time I saw that dress on de Burda website I wanted to make it, so I bought the pattern when it was half price. And with absolutely no occasion to wear this dress in the near future. But it was so much fun to make. I love the strapless design and sewing boning is fun!

The fabric is a cotton polyester blend from Den Boom. I also used that fabric for the lining of the dress. It was the end of the bold and I got some extra for free. I like that the lining is made of the same fabric as the dress. That way it matches, sometime it is visible at the neckline. 

I don't like to wear strapless bras so I tried a lot to prevent me from having to wear one with this dress. In the end I ripped up an old bra and sewed the cups to the lining. A very amusing sight when you try to pin bra cups to a lining that you have pinned shut. It worked out great! That might also have something to do with the fact that I did made a muslin. 

I love to wear it, I just feel amazing in that dress. When I modelled the dress to show it to some friends they told me it was the sexiest dress. So that is why I thought it would be a nice entry for Allies social sew with the theme hot hot heat. It might not be great for very hot weather but the dress is hot :)

The details:
pattern: +-€2.5 (Burda style)
fabric: €15 (Den Boom)
zip: €3.65      
Boning: free
Bias tape: free