Vogue 7375 - 1952 Construction

The skirt is very straight forward to put together. All the seams are straight stitching. It will be the finishing details that make the garment. The back seam, which has the zipper closure at the top, I have pressed open and have finished the edges with a Hong Kong finish. This first photo is the bias strip applied to one side of the seam. 

 Here, I roll the bias around the edge of the seam allowance and finger press it open. I pin the bias in place and  I will stitch in the ditch to secure the bias to the back side of the seam allowance. Since it's bias cut no further finishing is needed and the gingham will not ravel.

 Next I basted the zipper in place, before machine stitching the zipper. I prefer to take this extra step. It allows me to make small adjustments and if I don't like the zipper placement. The hand basting is a flash to remove, not so when it is machine stitched. I also find that the pins just don't hold things securely enough.

 Hand basting helps me to achieve good results most of the time, especially when dealing with matching plaids. The other two skirt seams were done with quarter inch french seams. I don't have photos because I became so engrossed in my work that I forgot to take the pictures.

 I did make a bound button hole for this garment, butttttt.....I had to remove it because shortly after this garment was completed I went on a diet and succeeded. Two inches disappeared from my waistline and the fastest way to remove them from my skirt was to open the back waistband seam and adjust an inch on each side. Looking back on this, the bound button hole is a nice teaching point for VoNBBS, but I think the machine stitched buttonhole will hold up better particularly because waistbands can be a source of stretch and strain for many woman. (Note: Including me....especially including me.)Two lines of gathering stitches and many pins secured the waistband to the skirt body for basting.

For the hem. I used a satin ribbon hem tape and some careful hand stitches. My hem was slightly over three inches deep. I cut the skirt so that the hem line would fall on a black horizontal stripe and I rolled about a quarter of the stripe to the back in the hem. If I hemmed either on the exactly the line between the horizontal stripes or on a white stripe I felt any small lack of accuracy would be noticed. The black stripe seemed to minimize these errors.

Vogue 7375 -1952 Pre-Construction Details.

 The original directions in VoNBBS say nothing of interfacing. The cotton gingham is very light weight and a bit limp. I feel some sort of support is needed in the waistband. I'm using cotton organza which is sewn in the old fashions way. I find I get less stretching and shifting by hand basting the interfacing to the fashion fabric.

 Here I've marked off the overlap at the center back for the waistband and pressed the facing edge up a 1/2 inch.

Here you can see I've marked the center front of the waist with some long basting. This will help me distribute the gathering evenly.

 Finally, I used a small piece of iron-on interfacing along the seam edge where the zipper will be sewn. The gives the zipper some support on the very light cotton. After each piece is prepared for construction, I pin them in place on my dress form right-side out. This keeps left and right and inside and outside in the correct order. I also don't loose things as I go about construction.

Vogue 7375 - Cutting and Testing

Careful cutting and planning took a bit of thinking.  It was all fairly straight forward with a 1 inch square plaid and 1/2 inch seams. 

 Using a few of the scraps, I tried out some seam finishes. The verdict was french  seams on the two "side" seams and a Hong Kong finish for the back seam which needs to open and flat for the zipper.

Three Rectangles

 

Looking at the illustrations in VoNBBS gave me a good idea of the shape and dimensions of the original Vogue 7375 pattern. I decided to make the front panel 11 inches wide with a center front fold giving me a 22 inch wide cut. The length is finished skirt length plus 1/2 inch for the upper seam and 3 inches for the hem depth.

The two back panels are 33 inches wide. These three pieces will be sewn together to make the skirt body. The zipper will be applied to the center back seam. (I'm quite sure Betty Freidan and Maya Angelou would have a few choice words for me at seeing they had been reduced to pattern weights for the afternoon and perhaps my nightstand reading is bit too personnel for a sewing blog.)

 
Finally, I measured a waistband I liked for the width and used my waist measurement and added 1 inch for ease, 1 inch for end seams and 2 inches for overlap. Viola! Three rectangles.

Vogue 7375 - 1952: The Full Gathered Skirt

I took some notes about materials needed from VoNBBS and noticed there was no mention of interfacing material or seam bindings. There was some mention of hem tapes. It was then I decided to ignore the "how to sew" portion of the directions and take advantage of some of the materials we have today and some of the sewing know-how I've picked up over the years.

The drawings in the book gave me a good idea of the shapes of the pattern pieces and I used my own measurements along with the standard widths of today's yard goods to make up a basic cutting plan.

I gathered up most of the things I need to have on hand from my stash. The white fabric at the top of the photo is some cotton organza that I'll use to interface the waistband. I'll also use a small scrap of iron-on interfacing around the zipper opening. I think I bought the zipper because I felt white would be a better match. I also noted the plaid on the gingham was 1 inch square. This will figure into the plaid matching that  must happen and it suggests an 1/2 inch seam rather than the home sewing pattern standard of 5/8 inch. So now I'm ready to draft my first paper....three rectangles.

Vogue's New Book for Better Sewing - The Full Gathered Skirt - Vogue 7375 - 1952 - Initial Thoughts and Reservations

So here's one of the projects in VoNBBS which I thought was worthy of copying. It's not the first project, but rather the third. VoNBBS is definitely a book originally conceived to teach the fundamentals of dressmaking. I'm sure that in 1952, this book and its patterns where readily available at the shops, but in 2014 in Belgium....not so much.

I've decided to ignore the "here's how to sew" part of the book and keep the design aesthetics of the 1950's, because I already know a good deal about sewing and I've always been attracted to the tailored quality of clothing from the 1930's through the 1950's.

I've also decided to add  two other elements. The first is born out of my unwillingness to devote time, energy, and money to hunting down the old patterns, but instead I want to draft my own patterns based on the photos of the projects in VoNBBS or photos of the patterns envelopes that are found on line. I certainly could use this new skill. The second element that I wish to practice with this book is far more difficult for me. It is choosing or changing the projects to reflect my lifestyle, my personal taste, and my own body shape. I have to be brutally honest with myself and not just make what I would imagine myself being able to wear, but what I actually can wear. I'd love to make myself a ball gown or a silk afternoon tea dress, but I'd look perfectly silly at the green grocer in either one of these confections.

With these two goals in mind, now is the time for confessions. It is said that your tailor may know more about you than your doctor or your spouse and since I am my own tailor, it's time to be honest. I'm over fifty...rather stout....short waisted.....large busted....average height....and I hate to buy clothes in the shops because of all this, I am driven to sew.

I chose this starting project because I love the large black and white check. The colors fit right into my current wardrobe. I already have several blouses and tops I can where with this skirt. I was able to find the exact fabric to make the skirt. And finally, the pattern pieces are rectangles....yep, three rectangles. How much trouble can that be?

So much for the positive. I have some deep reservations about this project, they fall under body shape and proportion. Just look at that photo, that poor woman hasn't eaten since 1949. That must be a 22 inch waist. I can tell you mine is not that svelte and I'm concerned about the "horizontal-ness" of the entire skirt, starting with the narrow rectangular waistband and its' continued emphasis with the horizontal stripe in the very nature of the plaid. To end positively, I could use a simple cotton skirt in my summer wardrobe. Something with a print would be welcomed and the dirndl shape is a quick and easy sew.

Sew...I forged ahead!

Oh my Word!....It's everything

everyone says it is. VoNBBS was available at the downtown library and I got to look at it for the better part of two weeks. Not all the projects in the book are applicable to me and my lifestyle, but enough of them are for me to copy some of them. So first up. The project that doesn't require much skill at pattern drafting, the full gathered skirt. Yes, here comes Vogue 7375 in black and white gingham as seen in 1952.

This is basically a dirndl skirt and I'm not sure this is a good fit for my figure issues. I can guaranty the additional project of the halter dress from this pattern will never see the light of day. I am full-figured and short waisted and well past the age where an open back is sexy. I'd have to nail down that halter top with industrial double-sided duct tape and then be plastered into the next year to wear that one. But the skirt is safe, so let's try it.

Fabric Acquisition Air Trip

   
     Here's the latest fabric haul. I bought all of this at Jo-Ann Fabrics in Hamburg, NY. There's a nice piece of denim. I also purchased a piece of fine whale corduroy, some white eyelet, 4 yards of burgundy poplin and some teal linen-like polyester. The most important acquisition is not shown, but there's a clue to its identity is in the top two pieces of fabric; the black and white gingham and the houndtooth.

New Look 6808 is finished!

     Here's the linen blouse finished and on my dressmaker's dummy. It looks like I didn't press it, but those are just the wrinkles from getting it onto "Judy". I think the fit will be good around the bust, but I'm a bit worried about the neckline again. When I scale up in pattern size to make the D-cup bust adjustments less radical, I often find that pattern makers assume my head, neck, shoulders and just about everything else is large too. I need to find the balance between being able to use a commercial pattern and having to redraft it so much that I might as well save the money and start my own self-drafted pattern stash.

     Pictured below is the finished blouse on me. The neckline is a little large. I will have to be careful about which bra I wear with this blouse. Next time I make this, I'll choose a size smaller on the commercial pattern and scale up the bust adjustment. It's wearable, but it could be improved. (B on fit, A- on choice of materials, and A on finish = B+/A- overall on the project.)

More about New Look 6808

 When I've finished tailor tacking and marking all the pattern points, I carefully remove the paper pattern and cut the tailor tacks. Above you can see that I've more or less pinned the cut pieces, right side out, onto my dress form. I do this to keep to keep organized. I tend to loose things mid -project. I also have poor lighting in the evening and if I determine right side out, left and right ahead of time, it saves ripping, picking, tears and money into the swear jar.

This pattern has many darts for fitting. Here's a view of the front as I marked and pinned in the bust darts. From here on out, it simply a matter of sewing up side seams, applying a lapped zipper and facing the neckline and armholes. Simple? Yes!

New Look 6808 in Chocolate Linen

I don't need many supplies for this project. I've chosen is a chocolate brown linen fashion fabric from my stash. I bought this fabric from G-Street Fabrics last time I was in Washington, DC. In addition, the pattern calls for some thread, a zipper and a bit of interfacing.

 Here's the project mapped out on my cork board. This habit keeps me from losing all the bits and pieces during the work process. I thought this pattern fit pretty well straight from the envelope, so I didn't do any major adjustments.

Here are the cut pieces ready for tailor tacking and marking of all points and darts. I take the time to mark with thread on most projects because it is often a long time before I get time to sew after cutting and many other kinds of markings disappear with time and humidity.