never judge a pattern by the cover....

Sunday 10 February 2013
Don't we all just love vintage patterns with their glorious illustrations? Problem is, I bet many of us have been fooled by them too - the garments never quite turn out like the illustration, and in some cases look completely different.  This has happened to me several times before, so really I shouldn't have been surprised, nor annoyed.....

Anna had been invited to a rainbow themed birthday party, and of course she demanded a new dress because unfortunately I think I've created a little fashion monster who thinks getting a new dress every week is the norm.  But I happened to have purchased some Lisette fabric bought from Spotlight during the January sale earlier this year that she liked, so I was able to oblige.  It is described as sateen, but it's quite thin like a poly-cotton voile, which would be perfect for a twirly dress style that she likes best.

Lisette-fabric

I also let her pick out the pattern which she just loved doing since I've transferred all my scanned pattern covers to my Ipad so she just had to flick through them.  The hardest part was settling on one pattern, but in the end she chose vintage Style 1485 from the 1970s that I hadn't used before:

Style-1485-vintage-1970s-girls-sewing-pattern

I always like using an unused pattern from the stash, and I've had good results from Style patterns before so I went for it.  I did the necessary measurements, sewed it up and finished it last Tuesday while both she and Toby were at daycare and had it ready and waiting for her to try it on when she got home Tuesday afternoon.    I congratulated myself on another productive day.  I then spent part of Wednesday unpicking it all.  Sigh.....

Style-1485-vintage-rainbow-dress

The completed dress looks ok on the hanger, but on Anna it may as well have been a wine barrel - it was really wide and really short.  In fact I think it may have been as wide as it is long.  I know the fashion for little kids in the 1970s was for short dresses, and I also know that Anna is exceptionally tall for her age (above the 100th percentile in the growth charts), but this dress barely covered her butt when standing and if she lifted her arms up the dress rose enough to show off her Dora underwear which is not so classy.

I didn't have enough fabric left to add another layer, so instead I decided to add contrasting layers in a solid colour in between.  However life intervened and it's still all in pieces in my sewing room.  But it didn't really matter in the end because it just wasn't to be a party dress.

Last Thursday, after his first 3 days at daycare, Toby got terribly sick with some virus and spent hours vomiting continuously for most of the day and evening.  We ended up in the emergency department at the wonderful Concord hospital (the staff in there are so lovely) for him to be re hydrated, which luckily they were able to do with medicine and he didn't need a drip.  In fact he perked up quickly and has been fine since.  We got home from the hospital at about 1.30am on Friday morning, and by 5.30am I was doing my best impersonation of Toby the previous day.  By Friday afternoon Anna joined in the fun too.  My husband who is proud of his iron guts constitution managed to hold out until Saturday night before he too succumbed.

So that is pretty much the whole weekend wasted, and I can't even say that all that bed rest and couch time has left me well rested.  Worst of all I missed meeting up with everyone who went along to the second Sydney sewists meet up as I had planned to on Saturday afternoon.  But there is always next time!

And now a mound of washing awaits me tomorrow, but on the bright side the kids are well enough to go back to daycare - whatever doesn't kill makes you stronger, right?!

18 comments:

  1. Oh Kristy, what a terrible weekend for you all. That's the sort of virus where you know you're going down and can't really do anything but wait for it. Hope you have a better week coming.

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  2. Oh no - toddler germ warfare strikes! Who needs WMD when you can have the under threes crowd to decimate the population. Seriously though I hope you all feel a lot better soon.

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  3. Those first years when my daughters went to school were the hardest health wise for my family. They constantly brought home a new germ that eventually traveled through the household so I totally understand and feel for you and yours. Hopefully you'll make the next sewing get together.

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  4. Yikes! What an awful weekend for you all. I hope evryone is feeling better now.

    As far as the dress, could it saved to be worn as a top? Perhaps with leggings? The farbic is just too cute for this to become a wadder.

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  5. Oh man! What a crappy weekend! I'll touch base with you in a few months and we'll organise the next catch up. Like you mentioned, perhaps drinking and eating, followed by shopping. :)

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  6. Sorry to hear about your weekend. hope everybody r back to their tiptop shape... And the dress is really really cute, i hope your daughter get to wear it.

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  7. Oh dear you poor things. I wouldn't wish that upon my enemies! Hope Anna gets to wear the new creation soon.

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  8. So sorry to hear you got hit with "The Stuff"... ugh! No funny, I'm sure... I basically went and bailed my DD out week b/4 last with it... fed the kids and made school lunches for the next day.
    Fortunately only 1-2 of the rest of the family got it... nothing like more work when your already feeling poorly! Feel better!
    Tell Anna that Jean thinks she is a big girl if she is already picking out patterns for mom to sew! Weren't there any back length measurements? That's too bad... all that trouble. But jump back at it so it doesn't end up as a UFO! LoL...
    Jean

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  9. Oh no! Poor wee mite! glad to hear that he is feeling much better already! And what adorable fabric- this is going to look so sweet when the colour band is added :D

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  10. Glad you are all better. I well remember those days and am now reliving them as my daughter is a first year teacher and bringing home all sorts of bugs. So far not as severe as your family, but misery just the same. Her pediatrician warned us.

    With vintage patterns remember each generation (about 25 years) is taller than the previous ones and even long designs can be too short.

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  11. What a weekend for you all, and hope your are all feeling much better. Looking forward to seeing Anna's dress when it is finished.

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  12. Ewww, what a nasty lurgy you had! Hope you get back to the sewing soon. That dress is cute and there's a good chance it could look even better once you have added a contrast fabric.
    It must be fun to sew for little girls, I have boys, and the only little girl in the extended family is 8 hours drive away...
    so its sad to not be able to sew cute little dresses for my family.

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  13. There will be other meet ups. You were being a great Mum, although you tummy might not think so.
    I hope this week is better for you all.

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  14. I agree leggings would work great for the dress.As for the daycare Was anyone else sick?Are they sure it was a virus and not food related.Its true though if they get sick in daycare they tend to be more resilient once they start school :)

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  15. Oh man, what a horrible virus! To have everyone stricken--I have gotten unusually, terribly, bed-bound sick a couple times recently and wondered how on earth moms do it when they are feeling like that. Hope everyone is well now!

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  16. Hope the little man feels better soon. Shame about Anna's dress, it definitely has 'hanger appeal'.

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  17. Oh dear that was my worst potential nightmare - all having gastro at the same time and not being to look after them. In fact I have a terrible memory of my husband holding a baby to be fed by me while I tried hard not to be sick on them ! You made me giggle about the Dora undies look - some celebs would think that was actually classy. I am sure Anna will love her new dress when it is finished anyway.

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  18. That's a sweet little dress that your daughter for your adorable little girl.

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