sewing saturday.. beginning a valentine's day velvet dress

Sewing Saturday! Earlier in the week, I received a few sewing patterns I ordered from Vintage Core Patterns, a lovely Etsy shop (they're having a fantastic 50% off sewing notions sale - check them out!). I was so happy to open up my package and find out that Maggie from Vintage Core had sent along some free dress patterns - which made my decision on which dress to sew for the holidays way more difficult (aren't they all perfect?).

In the end, I chose the pattern I had originally ordered (Simplicity 8158) and opted to put the rest in my stash to use at a later time. The other patterns - 1970s wide legged trousers, a bow blouse, and 1950s high waisted tap shorts and peter pan collar blouse - are all pieces I can't wait to make in the future. I already bought a couple of yards of lightweight mauve broadcloth fabric for the 50s blouse.

The lace, eyelet, and crocheted trim is all from Grandma's Quilt Shop in Lebanon. While I know most of the tiny lace will be used to trim detachable collars, I'm contemplating adding some cream trim to my holiday dress.. that, or the little pink roses in the photo below. Or a peter pan collar. What do you think?

And I'd love to make the crocheted lace into a collar.. but I have absolutely no idea where to begin.

Back to the project at hand. The dress I'm making is a 1970s drop waist mini with a sleeveless fitted bodice and gathered short skirt. It's a pretty simple project with darts at the front and back and a zipper at the back neck. If you've never gathered skirts before, I'll definitely be sharing some strategies.

What you'll need for this dress - the standards (including pins, iron, pattern, marking pen, a good pair of scissors, measuring tape, etc.), as well as two yards of fabric, an 18 inch zipper, matching thread, and optional trim. My friend Lauren just introduced me to a new method of gathering skirts, which is way more efficient than what I normally do - this method calls for a piece of crocheting thread.. but I'll tell you more about it next week.

This weekend, I finished up the basics.. lots of ironing, cutting, and pinning.

First, I cut out the pattern pieces and ironed them flat. Then, I laid out the fabric, right sides together, and ironed the fabric.

Then, I pinned the pattern pieces to the fabric according to the instructions (matching straight edges and specific pieces on the fold - in this case, both the skirt front and bodice front were pieces placed directly on the fold of the fabric), and cut them out!

Easy but time consuming work. Next weekend, I'll have more progress to share with you.

Hope you all had a great weekend!

tennessee prairie. a gunne sax dress in floral and velvet

Vintage Velvet Gunne Sax Maxi Dress - Tennessee Antique Mall

Brown Wood Wedge Sandals - Madewell

Wide Brim Straw Hat - Forever21

What a weekend! Right now, we're in St. Louis nearly on our way home to Nashville. We came to Missouri yesterday for a wedding of one of Neil's high school friends, and we ended up staying out til after 3 this morning smoking hookah and hanging out with good people on the Loop. Today, we celebrated Father's Day with Neil's dad by going to the Science Center and eating a big brunch at Rooster. Friday, I had a chance to go to the Frist with lovely Nashville friends and check out their latest exhibit, all about the golden age of couture. Before that, I did some thrifting for the Etsy shop and then spent time with a great lady who sells vintage for a living, having a good talk over coffee and picking her brain for wisdom, and after, Neil and I had dinner with some family who were visiting Nashville for the weekend.

And today, I am tired.

Finally I get a moment to show you these photos! This outfit post is another blog anniversary celebration.. I originally bought a cute chambray mini dress with a white ruffle collar and sleeves to celebrate in, but when I saw this 1970's era Gunne Sax dress at an antique mall earlier in the weekend, I had to buy it. I'm short, so I never, ever wear maxi dresses.. I don't think they look good on me. But if I were to make an exception, it would be for Gunne Sax. Especially a navy and coral dress with a velvet bodice, ribbon detail, and floral skirt. I REALLY love this dress, you guys.

This is also the first photoshoot featuring my new Canon XS! We're still getting used to the camera, so we're using the Auto feature much more than we should be. The more we play around with it, the more we learn how to manually control the photo, so hopefully it won't be long before we have a good handle on things.

As life has been filled with a good kind of craziness, my Sewing Saturday post is again postponed til Tuesday.. this won't become a trend, I promise! Tomorrow will remain my shop update, and later in the week, I'll show you photos of my Frist visit!

Alright, we've got to hit the road for home. What have your weekend plans been like?