Puttin' on the Ricci

1969...
"...Shapes. Some people called it the year of the body, not because more anatomy was on display than even before, but because body-hugging clothes made the headlines. Gentle jersey shirtdresses went snug and were tied close at the waist or slimmed down with smocking. Long sweater-jackets slunk closer...", from
Paperpast Yearbook's 1969 recap of trends. There's also a cute pic of a young Lauren Hutton and a pair of "Roxbury" looking guys, hee hee hee. I thought this is an informative and entertaining fashion yearbook detailing trends from 1950-1979 by a click on a year.


The roll neck collar dress is back in full swing:

Barrie Pace dress in metallic thread jacquard regularly for $218:


Barrie Pace longer sleeved version in ponte knit


Sara Campbell's silk dress at Amazon.com regularly for $248





Vogue Paris Original by Nina Ricci

Pattern Description
From 1969: One-Piece Dress. Loose fitting straight dress has short kimono sleeves and square seaming detail on front and back. Stand-away bias rolled collar. Slanted welt pockets. Purchased or self fabric belt. This design came out when Ms. Ricci was 86 years old.

"...Working directly with the fabric on a mannequin, Nina Ricci created elegant, sophisticated clothes in classic style. She was noted for her high standard of workmanship and became a popular designer for older society women.
She was skilled at making the most of a print, cutting a plaid for an evening dress on the bias, echoing the X-cross in the skirt pattern in the surplice, crossed-over treatment of the bodice. One daring dress in 1937 had a halter neck open between the breasts from neck to waist. Day and evening dresses alike drew attention to the figure, by being fitted to below the waist and featuring much shirring and drapery..." Ms. Ricci was definitely ahead of her time!

More of Nina Ricci biography

Wiki list of Nina Ricci sewing patterns



Fabric
Floral Fantasy Stretch Cotton - Red/White from GorgeousThings.com




Did it look like the photo/drawing on the pattern envelope once you were done sewing with it?
Yes, except for the wild floral print I used.

Likes
* 60's shift/aline style
* Interesting front of bodice where there is a top yoke attached to the rest of the dress, resulting two inverted "v" seams at each end joined by a straight seam in the bust area.
* Cap sleeves (extensions of the upper front and back bodice and thus, no need to set-in sleeves!)
* Welt pockets
* Unique collar (cut on the bias and folded outward)

Dislikes
*Construction of welt pockets. Vogue did a fine job of detailing the construction, but I would have preferred to use Kenneth King's method described in his Cool Couture book.

*Sized for regular not petite figures. The dress for me necessitated a petite adjustment between the armscye and waist.

* Difficult to ease the upper front and back yokes to the corresponding upper edges of the remaining front and back of the dress. I hand basted the yokes to the lower part of the dress before machine stitching. My inverted "V"'s points were more rounded than pointed.

Were the directions easy to follow?
Absolutely and even better with the helpful illustrations. I read the entire directions before cutting the fabric, noting all of the marked symbols and the various corners to be clipped prior to basting and sewing. Since, I wanted to stay true or almost true to the original construction, I followed most of the directions as noted in the modifications below.


I did not even mind hand-stitching the collar to the inside seam and self-facing the short sleeves.


Modifications
*Omitted the "underlining" or what seemed like lining pieces individually to avoid further bulk. I did not want to relive my experience from a previous vintage Vogue when I "underlined" an entire jacket, when I could have just simply "lined" it as usual.

*Used an invisible zipper

*Omitted the belt carriers. I actually like it without the belt

*Added back darts below the shoulders to take in the back

*If I plan to make this next time, I would make a 1 cm petite adjustment betweem the armhole and waist.

*Shortened the length of the sleeve facings to be able to encircle the sleeves

*Removed a total of 5" from the bottom hem.

*After trying it on, I decided to reinforce the seams with bias tape.



Conclusion
Overall this dress was not that difficult to construct, but not a "quick" sew. I like the silhouette of the dress and the collar, but I'm not so certain that the collar's style really suits me. Although this pattern is 40 years, this or a similar styling is very wearable today. I highly recommend trying any of the vintage Vogue designers series (i.e. Vogue Couturier, Vogue Paris Originals, Vogue Americana). Today's styles seems to have many elements borrowed from the past.....

Ex-Seam Makeover

First and second versions of Burda top

Oh Renegade, you got it hand-made....

Before version of staff t-shirt:

My school ordered for our staff t-shirts with the "Got 800?" slogan and our school name below it to motivate students to do well on the upcoming state standardized tests. "800" is the maximum scaled score or API (Academic Performance Index) for California schools.

After a recent small group meeting regarding administration of the standardized exams, the t-shirts were distributed to each teacher. My initial reaction was, "Uh-oh, here is another t-shirt that I do not like to wear..." I could immediately tell that this embellished Hanes "beefy-T" is simply not my style (snooty me....) with its unflattering sleeves and ribbed neckline. When I brought this home the same day and tried it on, my daughter arrogantly said, "You look like a man." Then I was certain I had some sort of "deer in the headlights" expression. Heather is not afraid to say what's on her mind. After looking at myself wearing this navy blue shirt in front of the mirror long enough, I agreed with Heather and decided that I would not wear it on Friday as requested by my school's administration. But then, I did not want to be perceived as being a fuddy duddy for not having school spirit.

Then, a light bulb flashed in my mind! I resolved to "refashion" the beefy-t! I have been inspired by PR creations that were reincarnated from garments that were outdated, had improper fit, or had not been worn for some time.

After version of staff t-shirt:

Modifications
* Since the original top had no side seams, I cut through where I estimated the side seams would have been, separating the back from the front. I also cut along the seams of the armscyes, separating the sleeves, which I used later.

* I pinned the front piece of Burda WOF, January 2009, #106 onto the front of the beefy-t and cut around the piece. I raised the neckline about 1/2" so that the number "8" would be recognizable.

* I omitted the front and back facings

* I finished the neckline with a narrow zig-zag stitch.



* I traced the back piece from the same Burda WOF pattern onto the back piece taken from a man's striped polo shirt (still having its original tags). Since my husband lost 80 lbs within the past year (why do men have an easier time than women in losing weight?) he was not able to wear this striped polo shirt that I purchased from Kohl's a few years ago. It has been sitting without purpose in a drawer.

* I did not use the flounced sleeves and did not alter the length of the original sleeves of the t-shirt. I did cut through the original seam so that the sleeves would lie flat before attaching. To smooth the jagged edges after cutting them them from the shirt, I trimmed the cap at most 3/8" tapering to 0" to the lower edges. I kept the original double stitched hems. Then I sewed the sleeves in flat to the revised front and back pieces attached at the shoulders. It's interesting now that the sleeves hang differently with the change in the curve of the armscye and the slope of the shoulders.

Conclusion
Several female students noticed the neckline of my shirt beneath a blazer I was wearing (chilly classroom) and complimented on it and the entire shirt. Suprisingly one of my male students who is the most likely to not pay attention to fashion thought what I did to my shirt (modifying the back of the shirt) was "cool". He also thought sewing your own clothes was cool. Hanes, my way....

One of my colleagues asked if I do alterations after getting a kick out of my shirt. Non-committable me said "No.".....

Let's Make a Teal!

I'll be blunt, my original result from this pattern screamed, "Up, up, up and away in my unusual balloon....". This pattern seemed to be drafted much above anyone's size, based on the measurements printed on the back of the pattern envelope.

I made several adjustments to achieve the look in my most recent pic.

Pattern Description
I made the blouse with the tie-front.

"Good times indeed in these flattering and versatile pieces, inspired by a great collection from Diane Von Furstenburg, and designed for drape-y knits like merino or cashmere wool, viscose, rayon or silk(y) jerseys. Relaxed-fit styles have a slightly dropped shoulder, back boat neck and a gently shaped waist. We’ve given you three different sleeves, necklines and lengths for maximum fashionablity. Sleeves can be cap, below elbow or wrist-length with a ruched cuff, and choose from a classic boat neckline, the half placket or tie-front.Top finishes on the high hip with a deep band;Tunic ends at mid-thigh; and the Dress hits *just* below the knee. Tunic & Dress have deep stitched hems, optional side seam pockets and tie or in-and-out belt. Wear these lovely pieces year-round: in light weight jerseys for the Summer, layered over a skinny sweater or T-Shirt for Spring or Fall, or in heavier weights for Winter. Fabulous."

Size
6-26. I made a "12" instead of my usual "14" from the big 4.

Even after sizing down, I found the blouse very, very roomy and obviously did not look like the illustration. I would not agree that it was relaxed fit.



Fabric
"Italian Teal Ovals", a two-way rayon-lycra knit jersey from Emma One Sock, which sold out moments after I placed my order about a month ago. I like the texture and the drape. It sewed very nicely.


Favorite Features
* Tie front
* Neckline depth is non-Burda-esque
* Ruched sleeve above the wrists. From the inside, a 5 1/2" piece of 1/4" width elastic is stretched and sewn on the top seam of the sleeve, between two markings on the lower arm.


Not-so-favorite Features
*Notches are faintly marked.
*Before my modifications, nothing like the illustration! My top turned out much longer and ballooned out quite a bit. I should have had my 6 year old daughter snap a pic of how the top looked before my needed alterations. Her first reaction was "Mom, am I having a brother or sister?"

*Top had no shaping, was boxy and voluminous.

*Due to my short torso, the top's original length looked like a tunic on me.

*Some bunching between upper arm and front upper yoke. I am not certain if the top was drafted that way.

*The shoulder seams of drifted away from the neck, widening the v-neck, whereas in the illustration, they hugged the neck more.

*Sleeve construction: The sleeves consists of the same piece used for the front and back, forming a top seam. The top of the sleeve is straight and is sewn flat to the straight edge formed by the upper front and back yokes, continuing to the sides of the front and back, past the armscye. There is some bunching below the arms that is not depicted on the pattern envelope.


Pattern Pieces
I re-acquainted myself with the fact that HP Patterns unlike the big 4 and Burda do not have pattern piece numbers.

I cut the pieces the night before I started the fabric cutting and sewing. I referred to the cutting layout to make sure I was situating the pieces on the fabric correctly. The triangular notches were not well defined and the line segments marked on each piece showed the stretch of the fabric, not the straight grain. However, I intended for the upper front yokes to go in a different direction.

* Upper front yoke (with ties): 2
* Upper back yoke: 2
* Lower back on a fold: 1
* Lower front: 1 on fold. Oops! I mistakenly cut two and made a center seam which worked fine.
* Sleeve: 2 pairs. Each sleeve consisted of a front and back piece which will be joined to form an upper seam.
* Hem band: 2 on the fold. The bands will be sewn to from two side seams and folded lengthwise.

Geez....... I felt that the cutting alone was more extensive in comparison to my previous project, my Burda knit top with flounce sleeves.


Modifications
* Took in the side seams by at most about 1". My Burda knit top with flounced sleeves served as an inspiration for the contoured side seams.

* Shortened the top (above the hem band) 1 3/4"

* I ended up decreasing the width of the hem band by 1/2" when I re-attached (for the second time hand-basted and machine-stitched) it after taking in the side seams, shortening, and slightly gathering the lower edge of the top.

* I lengthened the tie by 1", which I did not have to do in the first place.


Directions
On a scale from 1-10, a "5". There were some areas that I understood fine and others that were an enigma. For the steps that I abandoned or did not understand, I used "intuitive" sewing. Some of the bare-bone sketches seemed like rebuses due to the + symbols between the pieces, showing what needed to be shown together. I did not follow half of the steps because they did not make sense to me, especially in the area of attaching the back yoke to the lower back piece. There were also steps missing (maybe automatically assumes the sewist knows) such as applying a little interfacing and/or reinforce stitching at the little gap below the ties.


These seams go on when I close my eyes...
--------------* Here are the general steps that I used *--------------
* means a step listed in HP
** means a step that replaced a HP step that I did not understand or that HP did not include.

*Sew upper front yoke (contains the tie) to the back yoke at the shoulders. Also sew the other pair which will be the facing.

**Sew the upper yoke facing over the visible portion (from previous step), right sides together, at the neckline but CONTINUING (not mentioned by HP) to the the upper parts of the ties until the little vertical notch which determines the center of the upper yoke and the lower front.




* Turn the upper yoke and facing inside out.

* Gather the top of the lower back piece between the notches

**Sew the visible upper back yoke to the gathered edge of the lower back. I did not "get" what HP meant by rolling the yoke into a sausage not a patty, which sounded like breakfast terminology to me, so I used my intuition again. Then I slip-stitched or handstitched the facing to the inside over the seam.

*Gather the lower front between the two pairs of notches, one for the left side and the right side

**Sew this gathered front to the visible upper front yoke and handstitch its facing to the inside seam.

**Reinforce the little opening below the ties (not mentioned by HP)

*Sewed the front and back pieces of the sleeve together and attach the narrow elastic along the inside seam (between placement lines)of the lower arm.

*Sew the sleeves in flat and sew each side seam as one continuous seam

*Create the hem band and ease the lower edge of the blouse to the band.

There was no mention of gathering the edge prior to attaching the hem band. After I attached the hem band and tried on the top, the hem band looked odd serving no purpose.


Conclusion

My original rating was "pattern not drafted as expected and so did not work on me" (not on the list of PR ratings). My current rating is "it now nearly works after several changes, but I am not fully sure about the style on me..." The back gathers do not flatter my frame.

Since this style is distinctive, I plan not to sew the top again, with my goal of pattern stash reduction.

If you are interested in giving this pattern a try, I would recommend making a muslin or a wearable muslin to suit your personal preferences or to make it look like the illustration.




We just came back from two days of fun (and not so much sun....) at Disneyland. We visited the California Adventures and Magic Kingdom theme parks. I have not been to Anaheim's Magic Kingdom since the mid 90's. Much has changed. I miss the Disneyland of yesteryear. Heather and I also had fun wearing our RTMW outfits.



RTMW: Right from The Magical Wizard.

The Magical Wizard: a.k.a my sewing machine.

Red-D or Not!

A top with lantern sleeves from Newport-News.com



A silk cashmere top with "balloon" sleeves from Spiegel for $89 (edited Dec 2009)

Update from summer 2009. Here's my fourth version of this Burda WOF flounced sleeve top from the January 2009 issue. I used the border print of a Maggie London poly jersey along the arms.

Here's my third version in poly jersey fabric also from EmmaOneSock.com. I wore this for the first time during our visit to Sweden.



The reviews on this pattern in PR were more inspiring than when I first saw this pattern in the magazine:





I recently decided on a whim to trace, cut, and sew it. Randomly I selected an issue, January 2009, and voila, I found it! I chose cheap $1/yd rib cotton knit, and surprisingly did not encounter any major challenges even when using a sewing machine instead of a serger.


II was inspired by the happy PRers who previously reviewed this flounced-sleeve top!

If you are interested in something inspirational and uplifing, check out this updated version of a 1981 classic which is needed for this day and age...
Don't Stop Be-Sleeving...Sew beyond the ceiling...


Pattern Description
Non-Burda description: Knit top with v-neck to be edged with front/back facing. Each sleeve consists two pieces: the upper center piece and a much larger piece that consists of the front and back sleeve portions transitioning to a flounced cuff. The upper center piece is flanked by the front and back sleeves, and is sewn to the gathered upper edge of the cuff.





Size
I cut and sewed a Burda WOF '40' with seam allowances.

Fabric
First version: $1/yd red cotton ribbed knit.
Second version: $1/yd cami pink/purple/white mystery poly/lycra knit. I'm trying to reduce some fabric stash.


I made Heather's Butterick 4970 dress before my top. She reminded me about this fabric to which she refers as the "Girly Cow Fabric".


Favorite Features
*Flounced sleeves, with actual gathering below top center piece of sleeve.

Depth-eche Mode
* Neckline depth (I raised it 3/8" center tapering to 0 at shoulders, just in case). I discovered that for this pattern, Burda drifted from its usual plunging necklines to a very tasteful and flattering neckline for any woman.

* I actually liked the finish of the neckline due to using a front/back neck facing. I used this facing for my first version in the ribbed cotton knit and omitted the understitching since I was using a less stable type of knit. For me, much iron pressing was needed to keep the facings in the garment before tacking them to the shoulders and the front. I was surprised that the neckline stayed more intact than I expected. I encountered very little droop after wearing the top for an entire day.


Other Features
* Tall sleeve caps. Is this typical of Burda WOF? I took about 1/2" from the top center tapering to 0" at the lower edge of the armscye.

* I would need to lower the armscye a tad.

*Large, strange-looking compound pattern piece (shaped like a " |_| ") that consists of a front and a back sleeve joined by a rectangular section at the central bottom. This rectangular section would be the flounced sleeve, with gathers between the two marked dots. I did not have a problem stitching the central sleeve piece between the front and the back sleeves. The tricky part for me was making the pivot at the corners where the upper center portion of the sleeve, either the front or back portion of the sleeve, and the gathered edge of the sleeve merge.

Modifications

First version
* None


Second Version
* Omitted the front/back neckline facing in favor of turning the facing under making a narrow zig zag. It's about time to leave the No Serge to Urge Yetters and to purchase a serger to simplify matters. Even my hubby thinks I should do so...

New Order
* I changed the order by preparing and attaching the sleeves before sewing the side seams and finishing the neckline.

Don't Stop Be-Sleeving
*Separated the flounced sleeve detail (central bottom rectangle) from the awkward front/back sleeve compound piece. Many thanks to Belinda's (a.k.a. Sew4Fun) cool review for making this possible. She included a link to her modified pattern pieces. Yeah, I avoided making that awkward pivot!

* Sewed sleeves in flat, instead of setting them as directed.


Conclusion
And I Just Can't Sew Enough, and I Just Can't Sew Enough...
This pattern is great for beginners and as a nice introduction to knits. I plan to sew a few more in more upscale fabric now that I am better acquainted with this pattern. My next version will have short sleeves with little cascading ruffles situated along the neckline, similar to a top I that I saw in a catalog.

I also definitely recommend making a wearable muslin to determine fit, neckline depth and style preferences.







I could use more dresses...