I've wanted to take part in one of the many many Instagram sewing challenges that keep popping up, but don't seem to be able to find one that works with my current sewing plans. Then when the #sewOver50 organizers announced the #so50Visible challenge, I decided to make more of an effort to participate. The challenge is aimed at raising awareness and calling for pattern makers to include older models on pattern covers and in other marketing for their patterns. To participate, you post a make of a pattern that features an older model in the marketing.
I started watching the #so50Visible tag on Instgram and browsing the list that Sue Young put together of pattern companies that use older models. My criteria was to find something that was cold weather appropriate so I could wear it now, not require too much fitting, and use fabric I already had.
Eventually I found the Presto Popover Top by Naughty Bobbin Patterns. It's a knit top — so easy to fit. It's got a collar to keep my neck warm, which I like, and long sleeves. And there are quite a few positive reviews on Pattern Review. But I didn't have any appropriate fabric. Fortunately I was about to place an order at Gorgeous Fabrics and she had a knit pattern that I thought would work.
Oct 6, 2016 - Lion Brand® Wool-Ease® Thick & Quick® Popover Top.
And here I am, on the left, modelling my new shirt and attempting to pose like Coco Savage, the pattern designer, on the right.
About the pattern: It's got a clever construction where you cut 2 fronts, sew them together vertically along center front, then connect this to the back using the 'burrito method' to get a completely enclosed neckline. The instructions are quite minimal and there are no diagrams or pictures — so I did what I do with Burda patterns and made a doll-sized version of the pattern using scrap fabric to work out the construction. To make the doll-sized pattern, I enlarge the pattern drawings in the layout page of the PDF, cut out the fabric, and use a 1/4″ seam allowance when I sew it together.
I made a size medium, after comparing the pattern pieces to pattern pieces of a t-shirt I'd made previously. And I made 2 alterations: lengthened the sleeves by 4″ to get bracelet length, and shortened the body by 4″ as I wear shirts untucked and most of my pants and skirts are high-waisted (I'm 5'3″).
For next time, I would raise the v-neck a bit (there are 2 options for the v on the pattern, and I made the higher one).
Because the top requires 2 fronts, it uses more fabric then a conventional t-shirt. And I had to do a bit of pattern matching along center front where the 2 fronts meet.
- A popover shirt is a woven garment made with 100% Egyptian cotton that has 3 or 4 buttons at the top of the shirt. The 1 quarter placket stops at the center of the chest. Since the popover does not have a full placket with buttons going down the front, it must be 'popped over' your head and shoulders to be worn.
- Popover Top (Crochet) SKU: L40608. Download Free Pattern Share. More information View images. Sk 3 ch, dc in last st. Row 2: Ch 6 (beg ch counts as a dc and ch 3 on this row and on all the rows of this pattern), turn,.V-st in ch-1 sp of next V-st, ch 3; rep from. across, dc in 3rd ch of beg ch. Rep Row 2 for 5 more times.
- Popover Top (Crochet) SKU: L40608. Download Free Pattern. Ch 6 (beg ch counts as a dc and ch 3 on this row and on all the rows of this pattern), turn,.V-st in ch.
I've worn the top 3 or 4 times already, so it's definitely a keeper. And I've been keeping my eye out for fabric to make a second one.
Presto Popover Top Pattern
Have you seen the movie American Hustle? Oh honey, in the 70s, I was there. The knit dresses cut down to there. The men with hair everywhere. The whole feeling of 'Vietnam's over, the feminist movement's started, and we have birth control. Let's dress up and have a party!' We would go to the disco and dance for hours. The scene with the two leads in the Studio 54 bathroom stall? Totally could have happened anywhere in the US during that time.
I'm not sure how American Hustle will translate into other eras and cultures, but everything in it resonated with me, particularly the wardrobe.
In one scene, Amy Adams tries on an instantly recognizable Diane Von Furstenberg silk jersey wrap dress, which looks like this:
DVF's wrap dress design is now celebrating it's 40th anniversary. http://www.harpersbazaar.com/fashion/fashion-designers/dvf-wrap-dress-0214 I was happy to see that the reissue of this dress is made of the original silk jersey, which makes these dresses a cut above the countless polyester knock-offs we've seen since.
Seeing that wrap dress reminded me that DVF did a number of patterns for Vogue in that era. So people like me who were living on a shoestring could make their own. That led me to Etsy, where I bought this pattern last night.
I like how they show the dress as reversible.
A lot of people make fun of 70s, but it was a great time for design and for sewing. In the early 70s, Butterick's 'Young Designer' pattern series allowed teens like me, living in the midwest, to make dresses by new designers like Betsy Johnson, whose clothes we'd only seen in Seventeen magazine.
Trust me, no one had done slinky tank dresses like this, and there certainly weren't patterns for them. I had spent all of my grade-school years in uncomfortable dresses with crinolines and smocking, then freezing cold, constricting mini shift dresses. In junior high, I made this dress out of Quiana polyester with pale roses on it. I LOVED it! The Young Designers line also had patterns by new youthful designers such as Kenzo, Mary Quant, Clovis Ruffin, and Willi Smith. The clothes were fun and comfortable.
By the late 70s, everyone in the country had heard about Studio 54, and what a fabulous, hedonistic place it was. Though in reality, it was probably more like this:
That's the designer Halston on the left, Bianca Jagger in some odd hoodie next, some other guy, Liza Minelli, and yes, PREPPY Michael Jackson. Were they really having fun? I don't know. The whole era got to be too much after awhile.
Speaking of Halston, in the late 70s and early 80s, he designed some great patterns for McCalls:
Very Amy Adams in American Hustle.
I've wanted to take part in one of the many many Instagram sewing challenges that keep popping up, but don't seem to be able to find one that works with my current sewing plans. Then when the #sewOver50 organizers announced the #so50Visible challenge, I decided to make more of an effort to participate. The challenge is aimed at raising awareness and calling for pattern makers to include older models on pattern covers and in other marketing for their patterns. To participate, you post a make of a pattern that features an older model in the marketing.
I started watching the #so50Visible tag on Instgram and browsing the list that Sue Young put together of pattern companies that use older models. My criteria was to find something that was cold weather appropriate so I could wear it now, not require too much fitting, and use fabric I already had.
Eventually I found the Presto Popover Top by Naughty Bobbin Patterns. It's a knit top — so easy to fit. It's got a collar to keep my neck warm, which I like, and long sleeves. And there are quite a few positive reviews on Pattern Review. But I didn't have any appropriate fabric. Fortunately I was about to place an order at Gorgeous Fabrics and she had a knit pattern that I thought would work.
Oct 6, 2016 - Lion Brand® Wool-Ease® Thick & Quick® Popover Top.
And here I am, on the left, modelling my new shirt and attempting to pose like Coco Savage, the pattern designer, on the right.
About the pattern: It's got a clever construction where you cut 2 fronts, sew them together vertically along center front, then connect this to the back using the 'burrito method' to get a completely enclosed neckline. The instructions are quite minimal and there are no diagrams or pictures — so I did what I do with Burda patterns and made a doll-sized version of the pattern using scrap fabric to work out the construction. To make the doll-sized pattern, I enlarge the pattern drawings in the layout page of the PDF, cut out the fabric, and use a 1/4″ seam allowance when I sew it together.
I made a size medium, after comparing the pattern pieces to pattern pieces of a t-shirt I'd made previously. And I made 2 alterations: lengthened the sleeves by 4″ to get bracelet length, and shortened the body by 4″ as I wear shirts untucked and most of my pants and skirts are high-waisted (I'm 5'3″).
For next time, I would raise the v-neck a bit (there are 2 options for the v on the pattern, and I made the higher one).
Because the top requires 2 fronts, it uses more fabric then a conventional t-shirt. And I had to do a bit of pattern matching along center front where the 2 fronts meet.
- A popover shirt is a woven garment made with 100% Egyptian cotton that has 3 or 4 buttons at the top of the shirt. The 1 quarter placket stops at the center of the chest. Since the popover does not have a full placket with buttons going down the front, it must be 'popped over' your head and shoulders to be worn.
- Popover Top (Crochet) SKU: L40608. Download Free Pattern Share. More information View images. Sk 3 ch, dc in last st. Row 2: Ch 6 (beg ch counts as a dc and ch 3 on this row and on all the rows of this pattern), turn,.V-st in ch-1 sp of next V-st, ch 3; rep from. across, dc in 3rd ch of beg ch. Rep Row 2 for 5 more times.
- Popover Top (Crochet) SKU: L40608. Download Free Pattern. Ch 6 (beg ch counts as a dc and ch 3 on this row and on all the rows of this pattern), turn,.V-st in ch.
I've worn the top 3 or 4 times already, so it's definitely a keeper. And I've been keeping my eye out for fabric to make a second one.
Presto Popover Top Pattern
Have you seen the movie American Hustle? Oh honey, in the 70s, I was there. The knit dresses cut down to there. The men with hair everywhere. The whole feeling of 'Vietnam's over, the feminist movement's started, and we have birth control. Let's dress up and have a party!' We would go to the disco and dance for hours. The scene with the two leads in the Studio 54 bathroom stall? Totally could have happened anywhere in the US during that time.
I'm not sure how American Hustle will translate into other eras and cultures, but everything in it resonated with me, particularly the wardrobe.
In one scene, Amy Adams tries on an instantly recognizable Diane Von Furstenberg silk jersey wrap dress, which looks like this:
DVF's wrap dress design is now celebrating it's 40th anniversary. http://www.harpersbazaar.com/fashion/fashion-designers/dvf-wrap-dress-0214 I was happy to see that the reissue of this dress is made of the original silk jersey, which makes these dresses a cut above the countless polyester knock-offs we've seen since.
Seeing that wrap dress reminded me that DVF did a number of patterns for Vogue in that era. So people like me who were living on a shoestring could make their own. That led me to Etsy, where I bought this pattern last night.
I like how they show the dress as reversible.
A lot of people make fun of 70s, but it was a great time for design and for sewing. In the early 70s, Butterick's 'Young Designer' pattern series allowed teens like me, living in the midwest, to make dresses by new designers like Betsy Johnson, whose clothes we'd only seen in Seventeen magazine.
Trust me, no one had done slinky tank dresses like this, and there certainly weren't patterns for them. I had spent all of my grade-school years in uncomfortable dresses with crinolines and smocking, then freezing cold, constricting mini shift dresses. In junior high, I made this dress out of Quiana polyester with pale roses on it. I LOVED it! The Young Designers line also had patterns by new youthful designers such as Kenzo, Mary Quant, Clovis Ruffin, and Willi Smith. The clothes were fun and comfortable.
By the late 70s, everyone in the country had heard about Studio 54, and what a fabulous, hedonistic place it was. Though in reality, it was probably more like this:
That's the designer Halston on the left, Bianca Jagger in some odd hoodie next, some other guy, Liza Minelli, and yes, PREPPY Michael Jackson. Were they really having fun? I don't know. The whole era got to be too much after awhile.
Speaking of Halston, in the late 70s and early 80s, he designed some great patterns for McCalls:
Very Amy Adams in American Hustle.
I remember making this knit top and skirt in the early 80s, when I was first working as a television producer:
I wore it on a field shoot, one thing led to another, and the guy I was interviewing and I ended up at the Plaza. Those were the days, my friend.
You can see more Halston patterns on my pinterest page: Make Your Own Vintage Halston. The patterns are not too hard to find on Ebay and etsy.com.
Let's get back to the wrap dress. Diane Von Furstenberg is known for 'inventing' it, but it was around for a long time before that:
This rare early 50s Claire McCardell pattern, released by Spadea, was drafted from a retail McCardell dress, like this: Www bob evans listens smg.
The bodice is cut on the bias, a technique McCardell learned by deconstructing Vionnet dresses while she was a student in 1920's Paris. She had wrap dresses in her line from the 40s through her death in the late 50s, though she called them 'popover' dresses. More on this design later.
These dresses never really go out of style. Just today, I spotted this new Vogue pattern from Donna Karan:
Bias cut, very nice. Here's the link: Donna Karan Vogue Wrap Pattern. Many of Donna Karan's early sewing patterns (including the ones she did for Anne Klein) were influenced by Claire McCardell's designs.
Presto Popover Top Pattern
Hm, I think I have some wrap dresses in my sewing future…after all, when Mad Men returns it will be in the full-on 70s.
Talbots Popover Tops
What do you think of 70s fashion? The life of pablo m4a. Thumbs up or down? Any fashion memories, good or bad?