Modern updates for a vintage 1940s dress pattern

Butterick 4838 - 1940s

The camera arrived! I haven’t figured out all the bells and whistles, but managed to shoot some photos of the dress I finished on Monday. I started with Butterick 4838 from the 1940s and made some modern edits: shorter hem, lower neckline, and no collar. Plus, because I dislike sewing buttonholes, a back zipper instead of front buttons.

Like a lot of midwesterners I belonged to a 4-H club as a tween. My first 4-H project was called “Joyful Jumper”. It was the early 90′s okay? I promise jumpers were sorta cool. Anyway, I don’t recall it being an entirely joy-filled experience (temperamental sewing machine, stuffy upstairs bedroom, confusing pattern directions) but the one good thing I took away from it was learning how to sew a blind hem. That jumper had crooked seams and wonky armholes, but the hem was beauuuutiful.

I busted out my old 4-H skills and blind hemmed this dress while watching a movie.

If my hemming is reliable, my zipper installation is not. Sometimes they’re great and sometimes they’re awful. Pardon my boasting, but this was one of my Top 3 Zipper Installations EVer. Here’s my new and improved set of steps:

1. Using the largest machine stitch size, sew garment together as if there’s no zipper. Press seam open.

2. With a seam ripper to (carefully!) open the seam where the zipper will go.

3. Place the zipper behind the seam. Don’t spread the seam open- keep it lying flat. Using a contrasting color of thread, hand-baste both sides in place (this worked better than pinning it, so it’s worth the extra time).

4. Using a zipper foot on your machine, stitch the zipper in place.

My new shoes came too! They’re keepers.

Kickoff to the Summer Schedule

Yesterday kicked off the start of my summer work schedule – longer hours but only 4 days a week. I’ve never had this setup before, and I want to make the most of a summer full of Mondays.

I think they’ll be perfect for tackling that elusive middle range of the to-do list continuum (see below). This portion of the continuum, located somewhere between “feed pets” and “take a ride on a hot air balloon,” is made of adventures and projects that have been waiting on the back burner. What’s hanging out there on your continuum?

First I took Sam on a rainy walk through Middlesex Fells, a huge swath of previously unexplored green on our Boston city map. It was beautiful and peaceful. Now that Sam’s getting on in years he doesn’t run off long animal-tracking detours anymore; just trots behind me on the path, sniffing.

We met an older gentleman and his golden retriever Cider, and they escorted us down their favorite path to the prettiest pond. The man – I never did get his name – wanted to talk about 3 things: Cider; hiking; and his very favorite movie, Anne of Green Gables. That VHS tape got a lot of play in our house growing up, so I quoted him my favorite lines which went over really well. Haha.

Middlesex Falls (c) MaryMactavish

After lunch I started pinning and cutting out pieces for a vintage dress pattern. I can’t remember if this one came from Gramma or an antique store, but according to this pattern cheat sheet it’s from the 1940s. It illustrates how far vanity sizing has come…Size 12 for a 30 inch bust?? I had to beef up the size of the pieces.

Once my camera gets here I’ll take photos of the finished dress. I shortened the hem, lowered the neckline, made the front one solid piece (I hate sewing buttonholes), and added a zipper to the back.

Butterick 4838 - 1940s

And finally, I pledged a small monthly donation to our local public radio station, WGBH…something I’ve wanted to do for a long while. I mean, how great is public radio? Every week when they play the latest StoryCorps on my drive to work I’m guaranteed to cry (try listening to this one…but watch out, I warned you).

It was just the right timing, because among the many gifts new donors could select, I saw Markets of New England! I’ve been coveting this book since it came by Whipup on its blog tour. Now it looks like I’ll be visiting some markets on my Mondays.