Never outdress the bride... but get close!

This is Sue, and she wanted a stunning dress for her best friend's wedding in Manchester. I have to say, getting a bespoke dress for these kind of events is THE best way to not only get a gorgeous dress that fits perfectly and is comfortable for a long day, but to also make sure you never have to deal with the often-dreaded scenario of someone else wearing the exact same thing!

Work in progress

We started by looking at vintage-style dress patterns. Sue (like many ladies) wanted sleeves and a tea-length hem. She chose a Vintage Vogue style with a faux wrap bodice which gives a gorgeous neckline, and short sleeves that I lengthened for her.

I created a mock-up of the bodice part of the dress so that I could make all the adjustments needed to ensure a perfect fit, and Sue choose this beautiful cotton fabric with printed gold highlights.

And doesn't she look divine? Swamped with compliments on the day, she now has a unique and personalised frock in her wardrobe on hand for any event.

Circle skirt making workshop

Learn how to make your own made-to-measure,1950's style circle skirt in a day!
You will learn essential sewing skills including how to turn your measurements into a simple pattern, how to hem a curve, how to create a comfortable waistband with button fastening, and will leave wearing your very own custom-made, fabulous skirt!

Whether you are an advanced beginner or have never sewn before, I will talk you through every step of making a circle skirt in detail to leave you with skills that will help with your future projects.

Sunday 19th March 10am-5pm

Location: Nim Burgin Studio, 27 Murray Street, M7 2DX
Workshop cost: £40 including refreshments throughout the day

Please send an email to nim@nimburgin.com to book your place.
Workshop sizes are kept small to ensure a high level of personal tuition.

You will need to bring:

• Sewing machine (limited number available if needed)
• Basic sewing kit (thread, scissors, pins, etc)
• 3 meters of your chosen fabric (non-stretch)
• A button (small range available from me at no extra cost)

Circle skirts

Pinstripe prettiness

The 1957 Clare McCardell dress pattern has been sitting with my patterns for far too long. When I heard about the competition from Evadress I knew it was the perfect time to stop procrastinating and make myself a fab dress. It takes a fair heft of fabric to make and sadly the bold monochrome print jersey I originally planned for it was short by about a metre! I ummed and ahhed over the pinstripe but I'm really glad I went with it. The grain in the raglan sleeves works beautifully and there's something very pleasing/potentially slimming about the diagonals meeting centre front and back.

It was all a bit of a dream to put together to be honest, the zip was probably the fiddliest part, as zips are wont to be, and I learned an interesting new technique inside the underarms or protecting the clipped curves with a small bias covering. It makes sense when you think about it, with no armscye seam allowance to protect it, that's an area of high stress to have just a clipped seam on.

The dress itself is wonderfully comfortable (I've been wearing it at work all day today - and I got so many compliments!) and the fabric is quite an easy-care and resists creasing quite well. The front of the skirt is a fairly straight pencil skirt look, it's the back where all that fabric went! A mass of pleats at the back give it a brilliant swish when walking and pulls the whole thing into a really flattering shape. I would have liked the sash a bit longer for the bow at the back but that's easily fixed for the next incarnation, which will almost certainly be in jersey this time!

Wedding season is upon us.

A regular client of mine wanted something special for the social whirlwind of summer weddings that is racing towards us all this season.

Having decided on a scarlet pencil dress with halter-neck tie and gathered sweetheart neckline I toddled off to the shops and bought some thick, rich duchesse satin. The weight means that the finished dress has such smooth lines when worn, and suited the fitted style very well.

For the bodice I used plastic boning over the princess seams on the bustier part, and at the back, just to keep everything in place. Metal boning would have been too stiff, and as the boning ends just above the waistline, we should be safe from the 'lampshade' effect that plastic boned corsets sadly encounter.

The finished dress was very beautiful, and after some very last-minute adjustments looked both elegant and glam.

Ice Cream Sundae

I managed to finish my latest 1950s style dress in time for my birthday celebrations! It's the same dress I mentioned in my previous 'Drafty' post. I was really pleased with the cute little cap sleeves - the printed polycotton was just the right stiffness for it and although I was right about the pattern matching being a bit of a nightmare (horizontal bands of pattern), it was just about possible.

The drafting process wasn't too hard, though it took a while to get the sections to be gathered just right, I was really pleased with the fit of the final piece.

I really didn't have a great deal of fabric to work with, and I used every spare inch that I could while keeping the stripes level.

The sweetheart neckline was created with a centre front gathering, and the whole of the upper front panel was faced with the same fabric. The back was faced with an interfaced crescent. I decided to insert a side zip rather than a centre back one in order to keep smooth lines.

Sadly for the blog photos my friends decided to cover me with tacky birthday badges and a sash at the very start of the evening! (Bless 'em!)

Drafty....

Once all the festivities of Yuletide had calmed down I sat down to some long evenings of drafting. There's a few things on the pad at the moment, including my everlasting pursuit of the 'perfect' french knicker pattern. I'm getting close, but lots of Christmas cheer has made for a bit of a fluctuating waistline which is slowing things down a bit!

I'm also working on yet another 50's style dress, this one with small cap sleeves and a gathered sweetheart neckline. I've got some fabric in mind for this which is a bit on the pink side and might turn into a bit of a pattern-matching nightmare, but will look super cut if it all goes well.

I've also done a pattern for a friend who wanted a yoked blouse with bishops sleeves with a capped top which I can't wait to see. I was so annoyed with myself when I found out I'd drafted it to the waist and not the hip, but it's (hopefully!) easily fixed and I won't make that mistake again!

I'm still working on my tailoring skills too, though it's a slow process! I'm still ploughing through the 1945 tailoring book I found, though I'm having to stop and google every 5 minutes as the language is occasionally foreign to me! I've made some 1940's trousers for me though which I'll get some pictures up of soon.

Happy belated New Year! xxx

1950's for the younger generation!

Recently a friend of mine asked if he could employ my services for his daughters 13th birthday present of a handmade dress. He wanted her to choose the design and the fabric, and plenty of space for it to be let out as she inevitably shoots up over the next couple of years!

The new teen in question is really into her rockabilly style so I dug out some of my 50's patterns and she chose the one I'd made for myself back in January (as seen here.)

In terms of design it was perfect for modifying for the young lady's needs: I turned the neck straps into a tie halter for easy adjustment, and the gathers on the bustline and the sweetheart line over the lining panel give it just the right amount of femininity without being too revealing for a 13 year old!

I made the dress with 1 inch seam allowances and a 4 inch hem that should keep her in it for a good while yet! I've never made anything for someone quite so little so I had to measure her every single dimension but it fits really well, and with the petticoat underneath she looks ready to rock and roll!

2 and half hours well spent!

I'm rather pleased with this. I picked up 3m of this fabric for a song last week with the vague intention of turning it into a circle skirt one day. Yesterday, I got home from work and decided to get started on it while my dinner was in the oven. I started by getting to grips with pi all over again.

2.5 hours later (not including a break to feed my face) I had this skirt made of 2 semi-circle panels. I've not used a zip as I wanted it to have a cleaner look and feel. The button has enough overlap that you can't see anything you shouldn't through the placket!

The only problem is that it's a smidge see-through! It should be ok with the petticoat underneath it, though I'm a bit nervous of UV lights... I'm currently trying to convince the world (or myself) that the petticoat size is perfectly appropriate day-wear, so far I've only knocked a couple of small light objects off shelves, had several Marilyn moments in the breeze and taken up a seat and a half on the bus!

Kitsch... I think I can manage that...

Well it's been a busy month or so behind the sewing machine so hopefully the drought of blogs will be replaced by a tidal wave. Starting with this one.

This was my outfit for the kitsch-themed Dystopia night. I had to find quite a lot of fabric for decorating the venue so was in a good position for getting myself some perfect prints. In the past I've been rather reticent about buying fabric online - "you need to feel the schmatter" as a good friend of mine would say. However, despite a slightly annoying colour mix up it was a very successful venture, including this rather funky cotton tattoo print.

The dress pattern is a Butterick Retro Collection pattern - retro patterns re-drafted for the modern seamstress, a godsend! The pattern and instructions were simple and easy to understand, and the sizes were much more modern too. I had originally intended to make the wiggle dress version which is what I made for my mock up, but at the last minute I decided a full skirt had more kitsch value. It took about a day and a half - not bad at all.

The contrasting corset has been made with the pink tattoo print on the reverse so hopefully it will function as a reversible corset. This will make the busk a little weird I think, but I'll see how it goes - I only finished putting the grommets in an hour before the event so it wasn't able to do up very tight sadly, it's based on the simplicity 9769 which gives such a wonderful curve to the waist. It has a bit of a strange height (about mid nipple) which works quite well over the top of a dress but not on it's own.

As for accessories, I made a facinator with a kitsch-tastic button and a healthy amount of white veiling. Sewing into memory foam is always a bit risky for tearing, but I made good use of UHU too :) There was also a matching croissant handbag that sadly I have no pictures of, based on a 1940s pattern. I made it from the pink fabric with a rose decoration made from the blue fabric of the corset.

I was a bit concerned it was overly demure for the event, but the entire outfit went down very well and I received a lot of compliments which was really lovely.

I also performed at the event, and created a couple of little gems that I will post about as soon as I get some pictures.

Such austerity...

I think this is a 40s or 50s pattern. It is one of the one's salvaged from my grandmother's house. She must have been fairly waif-like back in the day. This pattern is for a size 14, which falls somewhere between a modern day UK8 and 10.

With some pattern modification and inserts though, I managed to make this.

It's made with a really light and floaty dress fabric bought on a 13m roll, so expect to be seeing more of it! They didn't exactly go too low with the necklines - this is the more daring v-neck style! The pattern asks for shoulderpads but I just couldn't bring myself to do it...

I need more and more dresses as summer approaches and I have a few old patterns to keep me busy!

Quilting from the heart

Ok, so this isn't one of mine, I haven't reached that point of my life yet. All my attempts at quilting lie in various carrier bags where they have been abandoned as my attention wandered to other projects that offered so much more in the way of speedy gratification.

No, this beautiful quilt and cushion have been painstakingly pieced together by my loving mother. Fabrics chosen to reflect my devotion to 50's kitsch, including some genuine 50's pieces from a recent clearout of my (passed) grandmother's house.

I love my new quilt, it makes quite an impact in my living room and is spurring me on to paint the furniture I've been wanting to do for a while, namely to make baby blue and pink a bit of an accent. Apparently the cushion was run up for a workshop so was a bit of an added bonus for me, hurrah!

That dress finally!

I completed this dress a while ago but I've been slack about getting the picture up on here. I decided not to put the featherweight bones in in the end as I didn't want them getting creased and looking rubbish. It does roll down a little at the back, especially when wearing a corset, but I think that could be fixed for future incarnations. It needs a decent petticoat which means I need to spend some time with my Ultimate Ruffler! In this picture I'm wearing it with my longline white underbust corset which looks great on the waist. It is wearable without a corset though, which is lucky for dancing :)

Thanks to Chris W Parker for the photo x

1954 Halter Dress

January's effort has been to make myself this dress.

I found some lovely dark navy cotton with a small and busy cream paisley pattern that I picked up for a song. (I'm trying to branch out beyond black, red and white!) It's really light and floaty - perfect for dancing in! I've faced it with some plain navy sheet-weight cotton.

The wide halter straps are really flattering and I like the modesty of the insert behind the sweetheart neckline. The bust and strap sections were quite fiddly but will be much easier when it comes to doing them again I think.

I've pretty much finished except for hemming and some finishing touches. I'm still trying to decide whether to add the featherbone stays the pattern calls for at the front, though it definitely needs the ones at the back to stop it rolling down...

One thing I did not expect was how true to the picture it would be! The insanely waspie waists of the illustration were merely artistic licence thought I - not so! Good job I'm not averse to a corset as the hip/waist/bust ratio is a bit extreme! I love a dramatic waistline as much as the next woman, but I will be modifying this for future incarnations of this dress.

I hope to finish it tomorrow and I'll post pics asap :)

1950's Keyhole Blouse

I started last night, and finished this afternoon. I did take some progress photos but silly me forgot to put the SD card in the camera so they've been lost to the ether.

Quite chuffed with it as a first punt at the pattern. The fabric is fray-o-liscious and I should have done more overlocking but it will not exactly be hard to make myself another one. The pattern was a tiny bit small for me but some tweaking to the seam allowances and button placement have cleared that up. The collar was fiddly, but I'm yet to meet a collar that isn't. (And yes, the photo is taken in my bathroom - the lightbulb in the hallway has blown!)

Apparently my mum made a very similar blouse for a school project back in the late 50s/early 60s but without the diagonal front.

At first I thought the raglan sleeves were making it sit oddly baggy across the shoulders, but I've realised this allows a great range of movement which will get tested at lindy hop tonight :)