Vintage Guts - Part 2!

Hey Guys,

I've been meaning to get the next one of these up for a while now, and here it is finally :)

Oh, and it's one of my favourites!

So much so, that I would appreciate if you would turn a blind eye to any grubby marks you may spot. It's ready to be washed, and I haven't quite decided how I'm going to wash it yet...

This is my pink deadstock day dress. Marketed as 1950's, but I think it's more likely to be 1960's -judging by styling and seam-finishing. 

I bought it at the Viva vendors in Vegas. It still had it's original tag on and everything, so never been worn or nothing! Makes me so sad when I think of how they price vintage in the US - I would have expected the vendors to be way overpriced but this dress, and another one in lemon were $54 each. How crazy is that?

It's a 'Lady Manhattan' dress, and is a polyester/rayon blend. Apparently Lady Manhattan was a division of Manhattan Industries – originally The Manhattan Shirt Company, founded by Lewis Levi in 1857. The Lady Manhattan label was first used in 1954 and trademarked in 1956, which ties in with my guesstimation.

Apparently 'Dura-Smooth' was marketed as 'permanent press', meaning that now matter how or how often the garment was laundered, it would keep it's smooth, supple look. I found an ad for 'Dura-Smooth' in a newspaper from 1965.

I have decided that this is my new favourite skirt on a dress. I love the knife pleats, it gives a nice slim waist I'm leaning towards, but I still feel like I have the full flowing skirt that I've always known and loved.

Oh, and this is one of my favourite bodices too by the way. Fit's like a dream, and I finally figured out why vintage waists always looked tiny. Besides the fact that many were, of course! The blousey top makes your waist look smaller too.

The dress also came with a lovely fabric belt, which I have transplanted onto a number of other outfits too! I love a plain coloured self fabric belt. I have a few I've picked up with other dresses and they always lift an outfit up to another level. 

This is the back of the belt.

There are some belt loops on the dress, but they are those sort of string loops, and they are far too big (oh and one has already come undone), so I sort of just go over them. I feel bad at the thought of removing them!

The back has a deep box-pleat in the back, which is a nice feature and keeps everything comfy, and some small pleats either side of the box-pleat to nip things in. As you can see, it also has a shirt-style back yoke.

The top of the box pleat is stitched down, and stops the box-pleat gaping open.

From the outside, the bottom of the box-pleat, and the side pleats appears to be closed with bar-tacks.

I was trying to figure out how they achieved this look, and when I looked inside, it appears that instead of straight stitching the pleat, it was done with a zig-zag, and it shows like a bar tack on the outside.

It's intriguing, and a nicer detail than a regular old straight stitch.

I love the notched collar. It's just the right size, and sits nice and flat.

The only thing I would think about tweaking if I ever get around to re-making this dress is the sleeves. I do like them, but I think they're a smidge too long on me and could possibly do with tapering in slightly.

Now, I'm sure I've mentioned at some point before that me and side-zips are almost a no-go area.

This is why the next part is my absolute favourite feature!

The skirt below the button placket has a sort of hidden fly :)

There's enough of an overlap that there's no risk of untoward flashing. There is a press stud on the underlap and a bar hook at the edge of the placket.

The knife pleats line up perfectly across the front fly, and it hides the centre front seam.

Another feature I love (I seem to love them all!) is the hem. It's super deep, and I actually really love that you can see that through the skirt.

The skirt is hemmed with a blind hem, but it seems to be machine sewn. I'm not sure what this stitch is called? Chain stitch?

Some of the seams have selvedge seams, some have pinked seams, and some have overlocked seams. It's a complete mixture which is funny.

Oh, and a special mention to the first night I wore this dress, to the Dolly Clackett hen party, when I fell down the stairs to the train and got blood on the inside hem.

Thankfully not visible from the outside. But seriously. This dress survives for more than 50 years and I ruin it on it's first wear. Bravo.

I'll leave you with some shots of me enjoying the dress :)

Emmie xx

Photo from Alex at Sew Over It

Photo from Ooobop

Vintage Pattern Binge

Hi Guys,

Some of you may have noticed that I have been having a bit of an eBay splurge of late.

I don't know why, but sometimes I just get these unreasonable urges to acquire goodies (Thankfully for my bank balance, it's been sated in relation to both patterns and handbags this week).

And of course, I've got to share the goodies with you guys!

As you can see I've apparently been leaning more towards a 60's silhouette, which should be interesting.

And there were even a couple of original letters from the pattern companies stuck in from 1966 :)

Enjoy x

Vintage Guts part 1

Hey Guys!

I bring to you the first installment of my Vintage Guts series!

I'm excited - I hope you are!

So the first dress I'm bringing you is my blue Wrap Dress. I bought it in April in a shop called Retro Fit in San Francisco. The shop I bought it in was really awesome, the best part being that the changing room had a submarine door to climb through.

It appears to be made of a chambray, and I think it cost me $103 with tax.

 There was another dress I liked too, but the lining was shredding and I thought it would need to much work. Also, Mr.G was all 'you don't have much room in your case and you don't know what else you're going to find'. To be honest, that was true, it was our first day. But it was super cheap because of the repairs needed.

So as you can see, the dress kind of has a dungarees feel about the straps. The wrap-ties button at the front, and there are MASSIVE pockets on the front, with appliqued rose baskets. These pockets are amazing, they hold so muc, and even better, half the time you can't tell there's anything in them.

It looks to me like the rose baskets are all one print - cut out of a print in one piece, and then appliqued around each piece to make it like like patchwork. The roses are quilted, and puffy with wadding.

The pockets are edgestitched at the top centre front. And for some reason asymmetrically.

Which is probably why the pockets sit differently sometimes. I might rectify it, as it bugs me sometimes.

A I mentioned, the wrap-ties button at the front.

And there are two sets of buttons for, you know, if you've had a big dinner.. I like how you can't tell the second set are there! From doing this post I have realised that the placement of the buttons on either side and centre front of the skirt in relation to the darts, is completely off.

There are three darts shaping the bust, which I definitely appreciate! Gives less of a boxy pointed bust, and I enjoy the fact that one of the darts goes into the arm.

The straps have a dungaree feel about them. The whole neckline is faced, and the staps are just topstitched on. The straps travel down the wrap back into the waist, and enclose the side backs in the process. It is topstitched all over.

The back skirt seams utilise the selvedge. The selvedge of this chambray is basically the exact same as the rest, which is awesome, and it isn't obviously the selvedge, but you get that finished edge with no fraying!

The outer wrap has folded in the selvedge by about two inches, and it is simply pressed, but the inner wrap isn't folded at all!

The under wrap comes through the side seam, where a gap has been left, and topstitched around. 

Now going inside out...

The company brand label is still intact! It looks like they trademarked at the end of 1959, so the dress is Early 60s probably.

As you can see, the straps enclose the side back on the inside too! the waist is pinked and topstitched up. You can see the selvedge edge of the skirt.

I love how the dress looks almost the same inside out.

The hem has a small turn and then a deep one, and is handstitched. It's a little uneven but hardly visible from the outside.

Some of the seams are pressed oped in parts and some aren't. The skirt sides are pressed open for the waist seam but pressed to the side at the hem. The bodice sides are a little erratic too!

As you can see theres a small red mark in the fabric at the waist front which was pointed out to me when I bought it. I had already seen it, but I couldn't leave it behind.

The front neckline is faced, understitched and topstitched. The edge of the neckline is turned under and stitch, although a small bit needs to be repaired. The centre front of the facing V is seamed.

You can see the edges of the straps are turned in and topstitched.

I think one of my favourite parts of the dress is how the straps enclose so many seams. If I want to replicate the dress, I will really need to think about the order of construction!

I don't think there's anything left to cover in this one!

Hope you guys enjoyed it, and if you notice anything that I haven't - let me know!!

Emmie xx