Final Photos and Recap of Vintage Butterick 2315

This morning I had an opportunity to take final photos of the Vintage Butterick 2315, as I decided I would wear it to work today. So here you have it, Spanx pulled up to the neck, hairs did, and face on:



And from the back:



Overall, I am very happy with the way the dress turned out. However, I did learn a few things over the course of my fitting adventure:

1. I don't really like kimono-style sleeves. I much prefer the appearance of set-in sleeves. To me, the wrinkles that are simply unavoidable I find distracting.
2. I would also lower the bust darts somewhat. My taking up of the shoulder in fitting also raised the bust darts. They don't look bad, they just don't look the way I want them to. But, it also serves to illustrate that if you take fabric out somewhere, you have to add it back in somewhere else.
3. I have a forward shoulder. The shoulder seam sits slightly back on my shoulder, and if I did this pattern again, I would add about 1/2 inch of tissue to the back, and remove it from the front.
4. I would also do a very, very small sway-back adjustment were I to make this again. I never noticed the need before, but then...I never sewed anything that was this fitted around the waist, either.
5. Finally, would switch the way that the gathers at the top of the skirt are distributed. Following their markings, they gathers extend about one inch past the bust dart. If I were to do this again, I would confine those gathers a bit more so that they extend only as far as the bust dart. I would also finish the shirring on the side with a bit left to go before the waist to prevent those gathers from getting caught up in the waist seam, something that I had to pick out a seam to prevent. You can see the gathering in the photo below:

If you are interested in the "Complete Adventure," the old blog posts can be found here and here, but I'll summarize what I did to the pattern so that all the information is in one place.

The first step was to trace off the pattern. Since it was a vintage pattern, I wanted to preserve it should I want to return to it, or pass it on later. This pattern had never been used, was in the factory folds, so it was very easy to work with. I traced it off using soil separator cloth because it was easy to see what I was doing that way.

Once the pattern was traced, I began doing flat pattern measurements. The pattern was an 18, so overall it was very close, I did not have extensive alterations to make. However, I did read through this website, which gives complete instructions in how to grade up (or down, but lord knows I'll never need that!!) a pattern. Had this pattern had set in sleeves, I might also have considered pulling out a multi-size modern pattern and tracing off a sleeve and armscye, rather than trying to wrap my brain around how to re-size a sleeve to fit into a re-sized armscye.

To determine your flat pattern measurements, start out by taking your actual measurements and then adding the amount of ease that you want in the pattern. Since this dress was not only fitted, but made of a stretch sateen, I was a bit stingy with the ease. I added 2 inches of ease on the bust, 3 inches at the waist, and 4 at the hips.

When doing flat pattern measurements, don't forget to subtract 5/8 of an inch for every seam you cross. For example, in measuring the front and back for the bust measurement, I took out 1 1/4 for the back and 1 1/4 for the front...this accounts for each side seam.

The waist was a little trickier. I had to take out 1 1/4 for the back side seams, and additional 2 inches for the for the back darts, but then also 1 1/4 for the side seams at the front, and an additional 2 1/2 for the bust darts. Confusing, right??? Not really, just keep a pad of paper handy to write down what you are adding, and what you are subtracting and you will be fine.

Next, I actually added this additional tissue to the pattern. Here are some photos of the soil separator fabric on the muslin pattern pieces.

An additional inch went into the skirt. Based on flat pattern measurements, I needed 4 additional inches to go around the hips, but since you cut your pattern pieces in pairs, you must take that into account....4 inches...4 separate pieces (two back, front cut on fold)....1 inch in each pattern piece will make 4 inches total:

The top was a bit more difficult, because I needed to lower the bust point as well as add some width to the waist. When doing multiple alterations to a single piece, it is best to start with the top and work down, so I started by adding tissue to lengthen between the armpit and the bust dart. I then split the pattern vertically and added a wedge of tissue extending up from the bottom:


From there, I actually constructed the muslin and discovered that there were some additional changes and fine tuning that needed to be done. Here are the changes to the bodice illustrated, and all the changes are documented in a previous blog:



You can see that I shortened the bodice slightly below the bust point, added some tissue so the sleeves wouldn't bind over my chubby little arms, took out some fabric on the sides to make the waist fit more closely, and took out some fabric from the top of the shoulder. I also tapered the skirt and shortened it. When you do these alterations, it is important to add and subtract the bulk of your tissue in the middle of the pattern piece, and when you do this you have to make sure that you add or subtract in the same place in both the top pattern piece and bottom. Otherwise you run the risk of making unintended changes to the nice details of the pattern, such as the kick pleat or where they have perfectly aligned the dart in the back of the bodice with one of the darts in the skirt:

And a little trick for setting the invisible zipper? I always have trouble doing the seam above or below, depending on which I have left open. I always have problems avoiding a little bubble at the top or bottom of the zipper and extending the seam so there is not a gap between the bottom of your zipper and the start of your side seam.

My solution? Your regular zipper foot. One of the reasons I have problems with those seams is because the regular presser foot pushes the zipper tape out of the way and shifts the seam over. So, use your standard zipper foot and you can get right up close without the foot itself trying to shove anything out of the way.

Overall, I am very happy with the way that this vintage pattern turned out. The dress is not readily identifiable as "Vintage" and looks contemporary with the changes that I made (shorter, more pegged skirt, trendy color). While I may not make this particular dress again, this has definitely given me the confidence to not only delve into some of the other vintage patterns that I have, but also to be braver with the alterations that I make to modern patterns.

If anyone reading this blog is at all hesitant to give these kinds of things a try, I say go for it! If I can do it, anyone can. Start by tracing off your pattern rather than altering the original, and make a muslin from some dollar a yard uglies from the sale table at the fabric store, or even some sheets from the Goodwill. Come on! What is the worst that could happen? You still have an intact pattern and you throw away the muslin in the dead of night so no one can see the atrocity you made? On the other hand, you could come away from it with a nice dress that is nothing like you can purchase in the store, and a greater level of confidence in your sewing skills.