Greetings from the SNOWY south ya’ll! I have been stuck inside for two days with my husband and very bored teenager so you can imagine how happy I am to be able to share my latest make with you.
This is my third version of the Peony dress from Colette patterns. I used short sleeves on the first one and the second one was a sleeveless version but I wanted this one to have longer sleeves so I could wear it through the winter. The fabric is from Art Gallery’s Splendor 1920 collection and is called Adorneament in Royal. I love the vintage Downton Abbey look of the fabric and plan to wear it for a Valentine’s Day dinner with my husband if the weather eases up long enough for us to get out of the driveway! I bought this fabric last year from Hawthorne Threads along with the fabric for my Date Night dress. I also still have three lengths of fabric from that order waiting to be stitched up so I hope to show you some more lovely dresses soon!
I did my normal modifications to the pattern:
- Graded up to fit 47″ bust
- Used bias tape instead of facings for the neckline
- Lengthened the skirt by 4 inches
- Sewed a lapped zipper instead of using an invisible zipper
This time I also opted to add the contrasting sash which was a pain to get a good fit. Since my waist-to-hip differential is so large and I am short waisted, it is hard to get belts wide enough to accentuate without riding up above the hip fluff. I did manage to get this one to fit after a couple of attempts by using snaps instead of a single button.
Another thing I did when the power and internet were restored was visit my favorite blogs for new sewing inspiration. What I found was not “new” inspiration but “vintage”. Marie of A Stitching Odyssey has decided to challenge herself to finally use some of her vintage patterns instead of merely collecting them. She challenged other sewists to also use their vintage stash and I have decided to join her Vintage Sewing Pattern Pledge by committing to use at least three of my vintage patterns this year.
While searching through my vintage pattern stash to determine which ones I plan to sew, I realized I have way TOO many and will not possibly get around to sewing them all. I hope to finalize my vintage sewing list soon but in the meantime, there is a good way to share my love of vintage sewing with you by sending these four patterns to one lucky sewist. Just leave a comment by Wednesday, February 19th and I will choose a winner next Thursday.
Congratulations to the winner of last week’s yarn giveaway: Cathynd95! Cathy, please email me your address and I will get the yarn in the post!
