Finished project, yay.
The Butterick 6582 Retro 60s dress was conceived in my "sewing room" about 5 weeks ago and I put the finishing touches on it tonight.
I absolutely love my sewing room (though my gas bill won't!!) it gets cold in there so to heat the room up I crank the heater up high during the evening. During the day it gets awesome warm sunshine so it's a really nice space to kick back and sew!
Last weekend I finished the bodice. The bodice is fully lined - no facings. I didn't have time during the week to sew so I had to wait till the weekend.
On Saturday after a day of kettlebells, brunching and a four hour nap; I cut out my gathered skirt, gathered it and attached it to the bodice.
On Sunday morning I woke up early and hand picked the zipper. I used a black 18" dress zipper I found in my stash... you could say I was 'stash busting'! Haha, not really, I just didn't want to go all the way to the shops for a $2 zip.
I love the handpicked look. I still have to work on my 'zip positioning' technique - the zip is not dead centre so the pricks are not even on both sides.
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| Waist seam matches, clap clap!! |
I love the faux wrap bodice and the gathered shoulders. Too cute!!
The one feature of this dress that I liked was the fact that the front bodice was one big pattern piece, and one small shoulder piece, which joins the main bodice piece to make the "faux wrap".
Because of the way the pattern pieces were designed, I had the option of laying the pieces out on the fabric to choose where the flowers would end up (like I did with my V8511 floral/collared dress and my M8545 floral dress) and the with the small shoulder pattern piece, I chose a big flower to sit in the centre, like a corsage! Ahh.
The one feature of this dress that I liked was the fact that the front bodice was one big pattern piece, and one small shoulder piece, which joins the main bodice piece to make the "faux wrap".
Because of the way the pattern pieces were designed, I had the option of laying the pieces out on the fabric to choose where the flowers would end up (like I did with my V8511 floral/collared dress and my M8545 floral dress) and the with the small shoulder pattern piece, I chose a big flower to sit in the centre, like a corsage! Ahh.
Gathered skirts rock but next time I want to make the wiggle skirt.
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| Butterick 6582 |
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| Faux wrap baby! Faux corsage too, hehe! |
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| Yes, my dress form is wearing a bra. Haha. |
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| Gathered shoulders. |
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| Nice, evenly gathered skirt. I always sew three rows of gathering stitches. |
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| Bodice lining - white sunsilky polyester. You can see where the small shoulder piece joins the main bodice. |
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| No waist stay this time. |
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| Shell: Cotton Sateen Lining: Sunsilky Polyester |
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| I know I said I'd hand sew the hem... forgive me!! The shoddy looking stitch above is enough to scare me back to handsewing my hem next time. Shudders. I think my machine needs a service. Or I need a new machine.... |
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| Can you believe that I still don't have my camera back?? #Dodgy iPhone mirror #selfie!! |
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| I like the back. It's perfect. |
Pattern Review: Butterick 6582, View 3
Size: 6 all the way! Usually I have to grade out to an 8 waist, but not this time! Either the pattern has more ease... or my healthy lifestyle is paying off!
Fabric: 1.5m cotton sateen (Darn Cheap), 0.7m sunsilky lining (Spotlight)
Notions: Dress zipper 18" , Gutermann thread
Time: Can't remember the hours, but it was 4 sessions over 5 weeks
Cost: Fabric $20, Lining $7, Zipper $2
Pattern Modification/Adjustments:
- Fully lined the bodice instead of facings for the bodice
Techniques Used:
- Darts
- Lined bodice (bagging tutorial here)
- Gathering
- Handpicked zip
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| Retro 1960s dress with full gathered skirt <3 |
I love this print! I thinks it's "autumn-y" so I'm keen to experiment with stockings and boots and see if they will suit this dress. It's way to cold in Melbourne to get around bare-legged.
Has anyone else (besides Laika Doll and Dapper Duds) made this dress?? It is such a beautiful dress!
If I had one piece of advice, I would recommend making a muslin/toile because the finished measurements on the pattern seemed large for my bust, but when I tried on the muslin it fit perfectly.
