Verity Vintage Studio

Colorblock 1940s Maternity House Dress

According to my blog history, I have made this pattern now 5 times - twice as a robe, three times as a house dress. But by now one of them has worn out, so I mainly wear this one a lot and knew I would get a lot of wear out of another version, both for maternity and after.

 

I wanted to make it look different, though, and I knew I wanted some blue contrast to pull out the blue in the print. I had to change my idea several times when I went to cut it out once I saw my fabric limitations. I originally was going to do blue yoke and sleeves, but as you can see it didn't end up that way. :-)

 

This is one of my favorite repro prints suitable for dresses, released last year by Riley Blake Designs. I wish it came in more colors, but now I have a dress in both prints. The brown version is definitely still a favorite!

 

I used some vintage green buttons from my stash. I found I have very few green buttons to select from, but these almost mirror the print, which is fun. 

 

With making a simple pattern this many times, it was super fast and mindless. I made most of it in one day. The only hand work was the hem and stitching down the facing. 

 

I don't plan to do much maternity sewing this time around, but this is one of the exceptions, and I've added yet another iteration of this pattern to my closet. While I don't think it's my top favorite version, I'm sure it will get a lot of wear!

Early Easter Dresses with My Favorite Things by Poppie Cotton

Poppie Cotton comes out with lots of cute fabric each year, but this has to be the best yet, by someone who is quickly becoming a favorite designer. My Favorite Things is aptly named as it has all of MY favorite things too! Vintage prints, florals, roses, adorable novelty prints with teacups & roses & ice cream sundaes, lovely candy colors...

 

I had so much fun sewing with it. So far I've made a quilt (can't show you yet!) and the projects you see here.

 

I had intended to make a different set of dresses for my girls for Easter, but when I saw how cute these turned out, I decided to save them for Easter instead. So you get an early look at what they will be wearing.

 

For my 3 year old, I used the blue novelty print and a vintage pattern, paired with my favorite little floral for the yoke, and some vintage lace. 

 

I altered it to button the whole way down the back, and inserted the belt in the side seams instead of doing a front sash, but otherwise followed the pattern. And I was very pleased with it - I'm finally figuring out how to get a good fit for girls' sizes. 

 

My 3 year old adores the dress. She kept checking on its progress, and loves to pick out her favorite things in the novelty print (generally the little animals, of course). She was SO excited to try it on for photos.

 

For the 1 year old, I used a 1930s pattern that I've made before and is one of my favorite size 1 patterns. It has a curved yoke in the front, and little tucks in the back.

 

Naturally, it was difficult to get her to sit still, so just had to grab what photos I could get! Hopefully on Easter Sunday I can get better pictures of the two together.

 

She is still pretty small for her age, but thankfully these loose fitting dresses are pretty easy to adjust.

 

I love how they coordinate without being completely matching! 

 

While the dresses were my main project for this blog feature, I also decided at the last minute to make something else that would show off more of the fabrics, since I had a lot of favorites not used for the dresses. A simple patchwork runner was the perfect quick project!

 

I cut a bunch of 2" squares and simply alternated them randomly with white, added a border, and then hand quilted in a contrast thread on just the white squares. I love how it turned out. I often gravitate towards the simple classic quilts rather than the more impressive, complicated ones. 

 

I didn't fussy-cut the squares (though you easily could) but it was fun to see some of them turn out as if I had!

 

There have been so many pretty projects showing this gorgeous fabric, during the blog tour. I hope you check them all out!

Monday, March 6	https://www.elealutzdesign.com/
Wednesday, March 8	https://www.cloverandviolet.com/
Friday, March 10	theredfeedsack.blogspot.com
Monday March 13	http://prettybyhand.com/
Wednesday, March 15	http://www.linenbouquet.com
Friday, March 17	Faith Essenburg
Monday, March 20	http://neverlandstitches.blogspot.com/
Wednesday, March 22	https://verityvintagestudio.typepad.com/my-blog/
Friday, March 24	https://goodvibesquiltshop.blogspot.com/
Monday, March 27	http://www.gigisthimble.com/
Wednesday, March 29	https://www.nannygoatquilts.com/
Friday, March 31	http://www.abrightcorner.com/

 

1930s Adjustable House Dress in Blue

It's that time again...to break out the maternity friendly patterns! We are being surprised by a small son this summer, so for the next few months any sewing that I do for myself will have that exciting event in mind.

 

This time I was intrigued by a 1930s coat pattern. It's waistless, and belted in to fit at the waist. I didn't want to tackle a coat any time soon, but I thought it might work as a house dress instead if done unlined in cotton - and I know from experience that I do wear this sort of dress after pregnancy too. So I pulled out some busy 1930s repro cotton from Connecting Threads and gave it a try. 

 

I added white piping to outline the front closure, which is the only dress detail and might otherwise get lost in the print. Definitely the right choice.

 

It was fairly easy and fast to make, even with the adaptations I needed to make a dress out of a coat pattern. The raglan sleeves are very comfortable!

 

I opted for buttons the whole way down the front, and also like that choice. 

 

Shown here with a baby bump, it should work well for the nursing-friendly fluctuating postpartum sizes as well. I'm not sure that I will fit in it for all 9 months, as it is still a narrower dress, but it certainly is much more comfortable than most of my other recently outgrown house dresses - yet without looking obviously "maternity".

 

This is the first garment I've made since early January, since I've been on a sustained wintertime quilting binge. But I enjoyed making a dress again, and have a few more planned for myself and my girls especially as we approach Easter!