Village Frock

Etta James song 'At Last' is resonating in my head right now as finally, or rather, at last, I have a pattern for the much coveted Village Frock.

It went out of print years ago and of course once you can get something inevitably you want it desperately.

There are plenty of images of the pattern pieces on the internet to make your own pattern like here. 
Also here ( for some reason I can't find the images of the pieces as I'm posting this) but they are on that site, somewhere.

There are blogs that list several sources for making  pattern versions of the dress such as this blog.
And there are blogs that offer tutorials on the dress such as here.

There is a blog that has just recently recreated a very similar version of the dress and the pattern is downloadable for free here.

The Village Frock dress I made is size 4 and it's a possible wearable muslin.  The fabric is a beige/gray linen.

The neckband is too loose I think.   It'll be a week before I can try it on Caitlin to see how loose it is.

Oh, and I stuffed plastic bags up the sleeves to fill them out so they kind of look weird.

Thanks to everyone who helped me with this pattern.

Apple Picking Dress

Thanksgiving is next week and while this fabric was originally earmarked for a smocked dress for last Thanksgiving, time was on my side yesterday and I was able to finally use it.

(It looks much better in real life.  I can never seem to get a good photo of anything I sew, ever!)

It's an Oliver + S pattern. Size 3.

The pattern calls for 10 buttons but I only had 9. Doh! So I fudged the spacing and put on 8.

To make buttonholes, I use really thin crochet cotton.   Cutting off a length, I wrap it around the sticky-out part on the back of the button hole foot, and then pull it forward and hold it taught.

Then step on the gas and do the buttonhole.
The buttonhole attachment in this photo isn't the same as the one in the above photo because on this one, the sticky-out part is hidden with the automatic buttonhole contraption doohickey.

You end up with a nicely crafted buttonhole that keeps it's shape after many buttonings (is that a word?) All it needs is a little snipping to remove the tails of the crochet threads.

 I also like to use piping wherever and whenever.  In this pattern, the piping get's sandwiched when the right and left placket gets attached to the dress front sections.  I also put it on the cuff.
Maybe I should have put piping where the skirt meets the bodice?

Is this photo any better?
Naw.
No better.

It's supposed to be warmish next week so this little cotton dress will do just fine.  Some years at Thanksgiving it's rainy with even some snow in the air. This year we'll be outdoors in the sunny weather collecting fall leaves to decorate the cottage while the turkey cooks in the oven.

Notes to self: Neck tie could be another colour. Maybe the plackets and cuffs too?  Make the hem longer. Put piping between skirt and bodice.