Current dresses with retro flair and with the distinctive keyhole neckline
Lilly Pulitzer's Jubilee Kelby dress with a keyhole neckline and 3/4 sleeves in silk twill, Saks' Fifth Avenue, $378
A paisley mini dress from the Pyramid Collection for $49.95. Hmmmm. Note the subtitle of the website in which this dress appears. The subtitle should read "The Ultimate Source for Personal Dress Shortening..."
Fads of the "me" generation. My mom got upset when I begged her to buy me a mood ring when I was 9. I could have asked her wear one to see if it really worked.
Once I saw this pattern on-line, I had to get it!
Pattern Description
From 1970: "Simple-to-sew* Misses' Jiffy* Dress in Three Lengths: The dress with back zipper, set-in sleeves and slightly lowered round neckline features "keyhole" opening fastened with loop and button. Maxi-length V. 1 has nevlty braid trim. V. 1, 3 * 4 have short sleeves. Midi-length V. 2 has long sleeves. V. 2, 3 & 4 may be worn with self fabric tie belt or with puchased belt. Mini-length V. 3 & 4 have optional button trim." The pattern is suitable for wovens and jersey knits.
After sewing my first "jiffy", a tie top, I became hooked on sewing more jiffies.
Some music for you to get you into the 70's 'mood':
Starting with a little montage of his youth and the span of his career, performing his 1970 classic covered by Ray Charles, The Carpenters, Donnie Hathaway, and even Cher, to name a few, A Song For You, live in 1981. Leon's vocals are pure and gritty (more raw in a 1971 footage) and he's a master at the piano. This guy is still going strong 40 years later. His other hits include "This Masquerade" covered by George Benson and "Superstar" covered by Karen Carpenter.
Getting funky with
a 1970's Funkadelic (Parliament) groove. They don't make funk like that anymore! I remember from middle school/jr. high the popular "One Nation Under a Groove" from 1978. American Idol's soft pop version from 2005.
Size
Misses' 12, bust 34.
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Fabric
A poly/lycra/knit called "Bubbles on the Waves Jersey" from GorgeousFabrics.com that I purchased exactly this month last year. After I sewed Heather's kindergarten graduation dress in this fabric, I used the remaining fabric for my dress.
Favorite Features
* Keyhole opening below the neckline
* Mini, midi, or maxi lengths
* Short or long sleeve options
* I liked the longer, more angled bust darts
* Darts below the shoulders at the back help eliminate or minimize the puffiness in the upper back area
* 'Jiffy' pattern with two main pieces (front and back), sleeves, front and back facings.
* Seam dotted lines are conveniently printed on the pattern pieces
* Pattern worked nicely with the knit
* There is nothing or nothing much to dislike about this pattern, except for a tad extra ease at the sleeve caps. I chose to set-in the sleeves and had to undo a few stitches and re-stitch to remove the little 'bunchin' in the front. The short sleeves came out longer than I had originally anticipated. Maybe they were drafted that way.
Directions
The directions are sufficiently clear in an easy-to-read format, with reliable and detailed illustrations.
*I changed the order of construction by adding fusible interfacing to the front and back facing, before stay-stitching the neckline and sewing the front and back darts. I transferred the keyhole marking onto the interfaced side of the facing piece. I sewed the front facing to the back facing at the shoulders and finished the lower edge with a tiny 1/4" seam.
*The keyhole neckline was very easy to create. After I stitched facing along the neckline from one front end to the other, I followed the stitching line on the front facing(in the shape of a teardrop), ending to the point where I started sewing along the edge of the neckline. I trimmed the seams at the neckline and along the curves that form the keyhole opening. I pressed the facing to the inside.
Modifications
* Omitted the zipper and the vertical back darts
* Shortened the given mini-length 2"
* The directions "make a thread loop" was not clear to me. I did it my own way by creating several horse shoe-looking loops over each other large enough to accommodate the size of my button. To reinforce the loops as one solid loop, I sewed a thread in a coil-like or helix-style fashion.
Conclusion
I really like this pattern and plan to sew another one in a knit and another in a woven. This pattern could easily be shortened to a top, thus increasing its versatility.
I recommend Simplicity's JIFFY classics for being not only being really simple to sew (unlike current patterns labeled easy), but still very fashionable in a "no-frills" sort of way.
For you Cher fans as myself, here's her version of A Song for You
