More 1956

The little casual suit from Beyer's Junge Mode from 1956 is finished! It stayed on my sewing table in an almost completed state for a week because I was hoping to find some nice buttons for it. Something contrasting, like in the picture. Maybe silver-coloured but light enough in weight so they wouldn't pull too much on my fairly thin fabric... I didn't find any and went with black plastic instead. 

In the magazine, this picture is part of a spread about summer fun in and near the water, so I really felt that it belonged outdoors. Of course, it should actually be worn on the sunny-yet-windswept shores of a lake, while you are getting a small sailboat ready for a day on the water (I'm not a boat person, but I have seen scenes like this). Instead, I took pictures on my tiny balcony where the light is never quite what I'd like. 

Anyway, I made toiles for both trousers and jacket. I ended up taking the trousers in by an amount which is basically one dress size (which gives me a useful idea about Beyer's sizing for bottoms). On the jacket, I only took in the sides at the bottom by 1.5 cm, creating a slightly tapered shape which I prefer over all-out boxy. The jacket is supposed to be loose so although I guess I would also fit me if I had sized it down, I'm fine with the straight-from-the-pattern fit. And I like the drop-shoulder look and fit more than I thought I would. 

There is one alteration I had to make though: The jacket didn't have pockets. That, in my opinion, is, quite simply, ridiculous. I added two simple patch pockets.

I made the suit in my go-to summer fabric: a cotton-linen blend in very dark blue with thin stripes in a lighter colour (I have used this stuff for several things in the past. I liked it so much I bought the rest of the bolt last year. More than 12 m of it...). In the magazine, they used a contrasting, white fabric for the collar a facing. It looks nice but I thought the jacket would be more versatile and easier to mix with my normal clothes if I made it all from the same fabric. 

I am pleased with the end result. The cropped trousers have a nice fit. It's a very retro look but not out of my comfort zone. The jacket is so wide that it will be easy to wear over all kinds of tops and I think it should look good with a lot of my trousers and maybe also with pencil skirts. 

Of course, this is also yet another item for my Vintage Sewing Pattern Pledge. Although I made two garments here, they share a pattern number so I think I should count this suit as one (not that it really matters because I didn't set myself a specific number of things to sew this year). 

Case study

So the plan was to make a a fairly simple top, inspired by those vintage cardigans... And then I changed my mind.
Those two last two outfits I added to Thursday's post were just too tempting. Unusual, partly freeform, clearly 1950's but completely different. 

I'm going to make my version of this suit. I will use this sort of tweed-effect knit which I bought a lot of last year (and used here, here and here) which should make it a bit more comfortable than the original, woven, herringbone tweed. 

All I know about the original comes from the text printed next to the picture:

Black- and-white tweed sheath wearing one of the great new surprises -- a spiral wrap of jacket, its sleeves cut like a pair of charming little capes. This look -- with this degree of jeweling, pale furs, velvet hat -- for city afternoons that shade off, casually into evening. By Tarquin, of Rodier wool

I don't really have such occasions in my normal life, nor any of the accessories. That won't stop me from making this suit though.
Intriguing as the description is, It don't think it is making any sense at all about the construction of the jacket. A "spiral wrap"? Sleeves cut like "charming little capes"?
It's a bolero jacket with sleeves which look like raglan sleeves at the front. 

As usual, I am drafting my own pattern. But this time, I thought I would try and talk you through my considerations about the design.

First, I had a look at the visible seams: One side front seam in the dress, curved seams which form side seam and shoulder seam in the jacket. 

These lines (those the blue arrows point at), which seem to break up the jacket, are just folds. They are caused because the bottom edge of the jacket is closely fitted. They stay in place while the rest, which is much wider, moves about.

To avoid too much bulk and warmth at the chest and shoulders, I want to make the unseen upper part of the sheath dress from a thin black cotton jersey. The rest of it, a skirt and mid-riff piece will be made from the tweed-like knit. 
Based on that seam in the picture, I decided to make it a six panel skirt. The original may have been a princess seam sheath, and this will look like that. It will also work better in my fabric than darts. 
It should be a very fitted dress with some ease for walking added by flares at the back seams.

Of course, the real challenge is the jacket. I'm pretty sure it is completely symmetric and that collar is so randomly folded that I'm sure it is just a simple, straight piece of fabric, turned over, not a carefully tailored shawl-collar. 

To make sense of the jacket, I studied the grainlines. The original fabric is a large-scale herringbone tweed so the grainlines are pretty easy to see, even in the picture. 

These blue lines follow the straight grain in several parts of the jacket. 
It looks like the edge of the collar is on the straight grain line, with the bottom front of the jacket at a 90 degree angle. The sleeves meet the front pieces at an angle. That suggests they are not raglan sleeves. You would normally cut those with the straight grain along the center line of the sleeve. These sleeves are almost at a straight angle to that. I think the sleeves are, in their entirety, cut on the back of the jacket. That would put the front sleeves at such an angle.

I started to draft the jacket using my kimono sleeve sloper but It pretty much drew it free-hand based on those observations. It's an experiment and that's fine. 

That 1950's suit...

Finally! My suit is finished, I've had a haircut, it has stopped raining and E is at home and willing to take pictures: It's time to reveal my new suit.

I've talked about it here before. I drafted my own jacket pattern based on this image, from an issue of Libelle magazine from 1956 and added a half circle skirt which seemed to suit the look. 

Then, I decided to add a hat and after some experimentation with view C, I went with the pillbox which is view D and E from this pattern, V8008.

The jacket isn't heavily tailored. I used a very lightweight fusible (a very thin knit interfacing) throughout, just to give this odd fabric a bit of stability. Making it more rigid would have helped to get that perfect period look but would have seriously compromised wearability. The way it is now, it may crumple when I make big movements but I will be able to make those which means it can work as a real garment, not just an occasional costume.
And because I would like to wear it like some of these vintage suits or two piece dresses were, with not a lot under it, I lined it with thin, smooth cotton rather than with normal lining material. 

The fabric is a bit of an oddity. It looks like tweed, a herringbone weave in black and grey. But it's linen. For that reason, it has some odd properties. Linen, thickish but loosely woven. It's stiff and limp at the same time. In combination with my favorite fusible, it behaves very well. Without it, it's a different matter.  
I'm less than pleased with the way it worked for the skirt. It sort of folds in at the sides, even after hemming. It's wearable but not what I planned. In retrospect, I think I should have cut the skirt in four or even six gores, each with the straight grain along the centers. 

For the hat, I used the same fabric but interfaced it with a mid-weight fusible cotton (although for the bow at the back, I used the same stuff I used in the jacket). I lined it with thin synthetic felt. And to keep it on my head, I used two hairpins put through thread loops at the front sides and one on the back.

All in all, I am quite happy with my suit. And if some element of it ends up annoying me after all, I have enough fabric left to replace it ;)

A spring suit

After last week's post about my to-sew list for spring, I really wanted to get started on that suit. I've thought about making a 1950's style spring suit for two years, it's about time!
However, I was second-guessing my choice. I absolutely adore this suit but I'm afraid it won't work with the fabric I had in mind.

The original was made from jersey. As I mentioned before, I suspect that 1950's jersey is not really like the modern kind. For one, I guess there wouldn't be lycra or a similar elastic fiber in it. It probably didn't stretch lengthwise and may not have had great recovery either. The way it is often sewn up, with darts and zippers, suggests that it wasn't very stretchy at all. If you know more about it, please tell me in the comments. I'd really like to have a bit more of a clue about this. 
Anyway, even with that in mind, jersey is always a knit fabric. So, it would have some stretch and a certain kind of drape. Things which are used in this design.
I may have a fabric in my stash which could work for it (although I'm a bit worried about how thick it is and how that would work with that big drape).

The fabric I used for this dress. It's a not-very-stretchy knit, it might be a bit too stiff but, on the other hand, the design seems to ask for a bit of bulk. However, this stuff is warm. The picture was published in October, the suit was part of a winter collection. This choice of fabric would definitely make it a winter outfit too. I still love this idea and I will make it, but not now, not when the weather is clearly getting warmer.

So, there's been a change of plan (I did mention I'm not one to meticulously plan my sewing, didn't I?). The fabric I wanted to use for my spring suit is the one I used before for this dress:

I know it's a bit dark and doesn't seem like a great choice for spring or summer but this is basically linen tweed. It isn't thin but because of the material, it's quite cool to wear. In fact, I haven't been able to wear that yet for that reason.
Being thick linen, this fabric has a peculiar hand, kind of limp and stiff at the same time. And it creases like any linen. Those qualities make it extremely unsuitable for my first choice of suit but very appropriate for the coming season.

So, I went back to looking for suit inspiration and soon settled on this one (which is also on my Pinterest board for vintage suits):

This drawing was published in Libelle magazine in 1956, as an illustration of an article about the proportions of the new fashion (that's why it has the dotted lines which indicate the length of the peplum). A full skirt like this would work well with my fabric and the short jacket works really well with it. I also really like the shape, with the sleeves and pocket flaps cut in one with the yoke. 

I drafted the jacket pattern yesterday. Because this was a sale fabric and I have a lot of it, I decided not to make a muslin. I've cut it out and I'm really curious to see how it will turn out.

the suit

Ahem. I had a look in my blog archives and I actually made this jacket way back in 2011... What possessed me to wait this long to make matching bottoms? It was the intention all along and I know it has been among my sewing plans for winter for at least the past two years and very likely ever since I made the jacket. It took a lot of time and effort to make this jacket and I am still proud of it. Unfortunately, it's also a rather peculiar shape so it doesn't can't be worn with a lot of different things. The combination has made it one of those 'too good to wear items'... Which is always a pity. 

I hope that finally having a complete suit can put an end to that silliness. 

I already talked a bit about the trousers in my previous post. They are fairly basic: A shape with a slightly lowered crotch and some extra ease around the seat and thighs, tapered legs hemmed at ankle length (I know loads of people don't like that but I do. It somehow makes the whole silhouette a bit lighter and more playful. And I think it may just make me look a bit taller), front fly, narrow waistband at the natural waist, slash pockets at the front and double welt pockets with button loops at the back. 

I tried to get some pictures of the details but the camera didn't agree with so much black. That was even a problem with quite a few of the normal pictures. That and the fact that I was frowning in at least half of them. I don't know why. 

At least you can see the pockets here.

And actually, this suit is fun to wear.

I even did a pirouette...

which is more effective in a wide skirt but I don't think I have to be all serious just because I'm wearing a suit.

Oh well...

Result!

This is just a very quick post.

As I told you before, miss R came over yesterday to pick up her suit... Well, here she is wearing it! It was a very hastily taken photograph in which she was making a weird face and the trousers seem uneven because I've pinned up the hem on one leg but I hope it shows something. Anyway, there were some small thing which I thought could have been better but she didn't notice them even when mentioned. She looked great in the suit and was very happy with it.

P.S. In response to several comments, I will put together some answers and explanations about sewing with leather later this week.

Finally finished

I really wanted to make the drape-neck top tutorial today. Really. But it's too dark to take pictures now. And today was the only day I had this week to work on this: miss R's suit.

The jacket doesn't look good on the dummy but that's because R's bust height is quite different from the dummy's.

Also in this picture: the disheveled state of my sewing room. I usually clean up after each project...

It's a long story. Over a year ago, I asked my friend, miss R, if she would let me make her a suit. As her figure is radically different from mine, I thought it would be a fun challenge. And I had the sneaking suspicion I might be able to make her look better than she does in RTW clothes.

How vain of me...

It was the start of a very long journey.

I drafted slopers. Sewed them up in muslin. Fitted them. Discussed the design (jacket, waistcoat , trousers and a dress, originally). Got a bit frustrated with her desire for a 'normal' look. Drafted patterns for the actual garments. Made muslins. Fitted them. Discussed the final design....

All of this not at all helped by the fact that R is a very busy lady. Who was working hard to get into shape at the same time. And succeeding.

Eventually, we went fabric shopping in May (dress was postponed indefinately at this stage). Fabric bought (she bought it, let's be clear about that), I sewed up the suit as far as I could without doing anything irreversable. (so: no pockets, no waistband on the trousers etc.). Then, I waited until she could come over for a final fitting.

At which I found out I had to take everything in even more.

By then, I had almost lost faith in the entire project. So it was a good thing she 'reminded' me of it a little over a week ago: I just had to get this done.

Today was the final push. Almost. I still need black grommets and a ribbon for the back of the waistcoat. And we'll pin the hem on the trousers when she puts them on with her 'work shoes'.

I'm glad it's done but I can't enjoy it yet. She has to come over and try it all on now. I fear she might have lost weight again. Or will be just too used to having clothes tight is some places (inevitable in RTW if you're not 'standard' shape, whatever that may be). I keep my fingers crossed...

Oh, and I will make that tutorial on Saturday.