Finished 1951 Blouse and New 1960s Basic Sheath Dress

It was a real pleasure working on this blouse and being able to wear it today. Some of the changes I made to the original pattern ~

* original pattern was a size vintage 12, bust 30" I re-sized the bodice to a size modern size 10, bust 36"
* I found out the length was to short in the bust area after I cut it out, so I added a 2" insert at the shoulders to drop the gathered bodice down more.
* The original pattern was missing 3/4 length sleeve pattern piece I wanted to use so I used the 3/4 sleeve from a vintage 1950s McCalls dress pattern. I did not need to make any adjustment to the sleeve pattern, it fit perfectly.
* After several fittings, I did need to take the midriff in several inches, just so it wouldn't hang to loosely, I wanted the blouse to fit close around the midriff for a definitive shape.

It is very comfortable to wear and I feel I have a creation like no other.

I wear this over a white stretch cami because the fabric is see-through.

A side shot, blouse has a zipper on the left side.

A back shot, back has four dart pleats at waist.

Now with the blouse finished, time to work on my next project, a 1960s sheath 'wiggle' dress in a lovely large flower print fabric. the dress is in a size vintage 18, bust 38". I don't normally wear large prints, except for a Hawaiian print here or there. So, this dress may be for a sample sale. I still plan on opening another Etsy store with just my handcrafted jewelry, clothing and home decor designs, just not sure when that will happen.

Because of the print on the fabric, I'll need to place the pattern pieces so that pattern of the fabric will fall very similar to the way I have it pinned on the dress form.

This is the 1960s McCall's 5395 dress pattern I have decided to use for this particular fabric.

The dress has a back zipper and is a very easy to sew pattern. I plan on making the hem an inch or so above the knee, so I won't need to add a back kick pleat.

If I really like it when I am finished I may take it in a bit so it will fit me, otherwise it is one of my sample dresses I  am making because I have lots of fabric and patterns and just love to sew and make things ; ) And, what better way to spend my time. I tend to watch movies while I am sewing, so if there are any good movies to watch let me know. I was finishing the blouse above while watching the recommendations from Amy at Wildfell Hall Vintage, thanks Amy great movies.

Here is a little blurb about my fabric buying ~
I am currently working with inexpensive fabrics, the blouse fabric and flower fabric both came from Wal-Mart at $1.50 yard. Wal-Mart carries mill-end fabrics that are manufactured in several different countries. Not all of the stores carry the same bolts. There are only two places in my area that carry inexpensive fabrics and they are Wal-Mart and Jo-Anns. There is an independent fabric store in Ashland with beautiful fabrics, but a bit out of my price range for now. Newberry's in Long Beach, California use to be my very favorite fabric store, but they closed eons ago and I no longer live in California.

So, off to work on the dress and watch some great movies in the process. If you know of some movies to recommend I would love to know, thanks.