#s1609

I bought an assortment of upholstery fabric cuts from someone on Facebook Marketplace a year or two ago, and among them was this fun, fall-toned, late-60s-inspired floral fabric and I knew immediately that I wanted to make a mini shift dress out of it.

Two questions immediately arose: "Was there enough fabric?" and "What's with this weird interfacing stuck on the back?"

To deal with the second question, I started by cutting a swatch of the fabric and scrubbing it with hand soap in the sink. After it dried, there was no visible change, so I put the swatch in a delicates bag (so I wouldn't lose it) and threw it in the wash.

That didn't seem to make a difference, so I took a chance and threw all of the fabric into the wash (by itself, just in case). The fabric came out with a rippling that followed the woven-in design of the fabric (which I tried but couldn't quite iron out). The weird interfacing remained intact, if slightly softer.

The Pattern

I decided to use Simplicity 1609 for the pattern (and got it on a great sale). It's a reprint of of a vintage "Jiffy" dress pattern, so it's got those classic late 60s darts, and it should work up quickly in a jiffy!

I cut a straight size 12, but decided to cut the front piece on the fold (and without seam allowance there) so that I would have one less seam to sew.

I also knew from some reviews that the skirt turns out a bit longer than you'd think, especially for borderline petite people like me, so I knew I could sacrifice a bit of length if necessary.

I laid the pattern out on the fabric, and had juuuuust enough (though I did lose an inch or two in the hem), so the answer to my first question ("was there enough fabric?") was a relieved "yes."

Because of the weird interfacing and the fact that this fabric is almost definitely 100% polyester, I decided to fully line the dress. I cut the pattern out of a random brown quilting cotton that I got for free. That meant I could skip the facing pieces that the pattern calls for. I skipped the interfacing too, since the outer fabric seems to have its own.

Construction

There are bust and french darts on the front piece, and the back has fisheye darts and tiny neckline darts. Those took awhile to mark, pin, and sew. I tried chalk tracing paper for the first time in a while, with mixed success.

I pinned the center back seam and one side seam of the outer fabric and tried it on.

The dress was way longer than expected (past my knees, despite sacrificing some length to fabric constraints) and there was a lot of extra room in the bust which caused a lot of gaping and weird wrinkles in the front. I probably could have cut a size 10 instead of 12, but I made up for it by just bringing things in at the side seams. I have pretty wide shoulders, so the extra width there wasn't a bad thing.

With both layers prepared, I placed them right sides together and sewed around the neckline and armscyes, making sure to clip my curves when I was done. I turned the dress right side out by pulling the back (which is in two separate sides) through the shoulders to the front, then ironed the neckline and armscye edges.

Next it was time to put in the zipper. On a whim, I opted for a centered, or railroad, zipper insertion. Here's a link to the tutorial I followed. I only attached the zipper to the upholstery fabric. I'll take care of the lining later.

Then, each side seam was sewn in one continuous line - starting at the hem of the outer layer, going up to the armscye, and then on to the hem of the lining layer. I trimmed the corners near the armscye and pressed the seam allowances open.

Now I went back to finish the zipper edge of the lining. I marked the seam allowance on the lining and also marked where the zipper ended and one inch below that point. On my machine, I sewed from that one-inch-below mark to the hem along the seam line and ironed it open.

Above the zipper end mark, I folded the lining fabric to the wrong side as far as the line and then a bit more (to account for the zipper teeth) and ironed the fold. In between that and the sewn-up area, I did what I needed to do to make the folds meet as one continuous line.

Then I carefully lined up the folded edge of the lining up so that the ironed, un-sewn edge was a little under a quarter-inch away from the zipper coil and pinned it in place. I also made sure the sewn part of the seam lined up with the same seam in the upholstery fabric. I hand sewed the folded edge of the lining fabric to the zipper.

I tacked the lower end of the zipper to both the outer and lining fabric because it pulled weird when it was loose. I also went ahead and hand sewed a single hook and eye to the back opening above the zipper. I think that's always a nice touch.

All that was left was the hem!

The skirt, even with the bit of length that I sacrificed to make this fit the available yardage, was just past knee-length on me. I opted to hem it at fingertip-length (about mid-thigh) instead, since that seems to be a common length in fashion photos from the late 60s.

I ironed the hem of both layers to the wrong side in such a way that the lining was about half an inch shorter than the outer fabric. I pinned the two layers together, making sure the seams and center front lined up, and hand sewed the two layers together with a whip stitch. (As long as you're only catching threads, not tying to go through the interfacing, it's not too hard to sew.)

Final Thoughts

Considering the weird fabric choice and the fact that it's been a really long time since I sewed a zipper, this turned out really well! Actually, I think the worst part is where I sewed the hook and eye on above the zipper. Not my best work, to be sure.

The final length is a bit past my fingertips, and because the fit is skimming and the fabric is stiff, this is a bad dress to bend over in.

The fabric, both in terms of pattern and stiffness, makes this piece decidedly a costume piece for me, not an everyday article of clothing. That was always the plan, though, so I don't mind! I think it would be really fun to wear for a night out dancing (so there's this discotheque my friends have been wanting to go to...) or layered with tights and a turtleneck for a cute daywear look.