Vintage sewing as an absolute beginner

May 10, 2013 (I'm putting the date here because the date thingy above seems to be broken)

I have been wanting to make my own dress for a long time. The problem is that, aside from fixing a simple broken seem, I have absolutely no sewing experience or knowledge and never thought I would be able to make a dress. But in our modern times with the great (tutorial) source that is Youtube it is so much easier to achieve knowledge about any subject one might think of. One channel in particular that I have been watching eagerly is Professor Pincushion. She (or they?) has lots of wonderful videos explaining all types of things regarding sewing. For instance, I had no idea what a basting stitch was. And when she explained in the basting stitch video 'do this without back stitching' I was thinking: "what? you don't use the bottom thread? No wait, she is using the bottom thread. I don't get it." But then I was watching another video were she was sewing a seam and she said "Don't forget to back stitch" and she moved back and forth and I was like "Ah..". Yes I am that much of a novice. And I therefore do not have much faith in the result of my very first attempt at making a dress so I definitely won't be using any special fabrics. (I'd love to make a dress with one of the crazy Alexander Henry designs. I love bold/crazy/obnoxious prints. Although some Alexander Henry fabrics go too far even for my taste, hah)

Well.. at least they are thinking about the ladies, right?

 



Picking out a pattern turned out not to be so easy. I was debating if I should go with one of the retro patterns that Professor Pincushion had made a video of so that I could follow the steps, but I wasn't too fond of those dresses and I would like to make a dress that I would actually wear. And Butterick as well as Vogue have so many great designs. So I ended up ordering the Butterick 4790 and the Vogue 2961. I will be making the Butterick one first because it was the only (vintage) dress I could find that was listed as Very Easy. The Vogue one I wanted because I love halter tops and really need a nice dress for the summer.

Butterick 4790

Vogue 2961