Search...
Home Subscribe
Pie
Home Subscribe
Recent topics Flagged topics Hot topics Best topics
Search...
Search within sewing Search permies
Advance search Google search
Register / Login
IC.org Better Wood Heat DIY Rocket Mass Heater DVD Permaculture bootcamp with people wielding tools GMC website Clean with Cleaners You Can Eat - Free ebook
  • Post Reply Bookmark Topic Watch Topic
  • New Topic
permaculture forums growies critters building homesteading energy monies kitchen purity ungarbage community wilderness fiber arts art permaculture artisans regional education skip experiences global resources cider press projects digital market permies.com pie forums private forums all forums
Full online Permaculture Design course and Appropriate Technology Course video Better wood heat kitty purple Build your own rocket oven! IC.org SKIP=SKills to Inherit Property PEP Permaculture Experience According to Paul cooking
this forum made possible by our volunteer staff, including ...
master stewards:
  • Carla Burke
  • Nancy Reading
  • John F Dean
  • r ranson
  • Jay Angler
  • paul wheaton
stewards:
  • Pearl Sutton
  • Leigh Tate
  • Devaka Cooray
master gardeners:
  • Christopher Weeks
  • Timothy Norton
gardeners:
  • thomas rubino
  • Matt McSpadden
  • Jeremy VanGelder

how do I find a pattern similar to a photo I like?

 
Leigh Tate
author & steward
Posts: 5316
Location: Southeastern U.S. - Zone 7b
3097
5
I like...
goat cat forest garden foraging food preservation fiber arts medical herbs writing solar wood heat homestead
posted 2 years ago
  • Likes 4
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
    Send
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator


I have no idea how to find a pattern similar to this dress. There are thousands and thousands of patterns out there, so is there any other way than spending hours scrolling through them? Suggestions?

Blog: 5 Acres & A Dream
Books: Kikobian Books | Permies Digital Market

 
Anne Miller
steward
Posts: 16099
Location: USDA Zone 8a
4280
I like...
dog hunting food preservation cooking bee greening the desert
posted 2 years ago
  • Likes 4
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
    Send
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
That dress reminded me of this thread based on rectangles:

https://permies.com/t/154258/sewing/fiber-arts/Clothing-patterns-based-rectangles

Looking at that basic pattern, the shirt would be extended to dress length, an a-line shape, and the sleeves shortened, there would be no cuff or collar.

The neckline would be squared with a matching facing.

I understand some folks' sewing skills require a bought pattern.

Do you own any patterns that have a square neck that you could use to get that part right?

Maybe someone else will come up with something better.

Invasive plants are Earth's way of insisting we notice her medicines. Stephen Herrod Buhner
Everyone learns what works by learning what doesn't work. Stephen Herrod Buhner

 
Leigh Tate
author & steward
Posts: 5316
Location: Southeastern U.S. - Zone 7b
3097
5
I like...
goat cat forest garden foraging food preservation fiber arts medical herbs writing solar wood heat homestead
posted 2 years ago
  • Likes 2
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
    Send
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator

Anne Miller wrote:I understand some folks' sewing skills require a bought pattern.


I would love to learn how to design my own clothing and patterns, but it isn't going to happen this winter!

Good analysis, though Anne, and thank you for the link to that thread. I have patterns stored away somewhere, but I don't recall if any looked like this. I usually go for crew necklines, but this dress looks very comfortable and suitable for my lifestyle.

Blog: 5 Acres & A Dream
Books: Kikobian Books | Permies Digital Market

 
May Lotito
gardener
Posts: 1813
Location: Zone 6b
1132
I like...
forest garden fungi books chicken fiber arts ungarbage
posted 2 years ago
  • Likes 9
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
    Send
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
Leigh, I rushed to make a mockup with some thin woven fabric. It will look better in soft linen. And from the picture, picot trims were added to the hems to elevate the dress and stabilize the edges. The patterns are very simple you can try drafting from your own measurements.

I used the top from the vintage simplicity 6411(1984 version, Etsy has one for $5), turned a rectangle into a skirt and gathered into the waist seam.
P1180929-(2).JPG
[Thumbnail for P1180929-(2).JPG]

Zone 6, 45 inches precipitation, hard clay soil

 
Anne Miller
steward
Posts: 16099
Location: USDA Zone 8a
4280
I like...
dog hunting food preservation cooking bee greening the desert
posted 2 years ago
  • Likes 3
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
    Send
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
I ask google for a "square neck pattern"

Most patterns have a fitted waist or the neck is cut too low.

Here is one I found that is similar though not the same:

https://ithinksew.com/mocha-kimora-dress-pdf-pattern-2-styles




Invasive plants are Earth's way of insisting we notice her medicines. Stephen Herrod Buhner
Everyone learns what works by learning what doesn't work. Stephen Herrod Buhner

 
Anne Miller
steward
Posts: 16099
Location: USDA Zone 8a
4280
I like...
dog hunting food preservation cooking bee greening the desert
posted 2 years ago
  • Likes 2
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
    Send
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
May, that dress looks just like it.  You are very talented.

Is that a gift or did you have some sort of training?

Invasive plants are Earth's way of insisting we notice her medicines. Stephen Herrod Buhner
Everyone learns what works by learning what doesn't work. Stephen Herrod Buhner

 
May Lotito
gardener
Posts: 1813
Location: Zone 6b
1132
I like...
forest garden fungi books chicken fiber arts ungarbage
posted 2 years ago
  • Likes 7
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
    Send
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
Square neckline is hard to lay flat for this style. Crew neckline if high, needs opening in the back. Or you may scoop it large enough to slip on.

Here is one of my favorites dress for summer with cut-on sleeves and a v neck, gathers at shoulder seams give some bust ease so the whole dress can slim down a bit.

I have no formal training but learn from books, internet and lots of practice.
P1170451-(2).JPG
[Thumbnail for P1170451-(2).JPG]

Zone 6, 45 inches precipitation, hard clay soil

 
Leigh Tate
author & steward
Posts: 5316
Location: Southeastern U.S. - Zone 7b
3097
5
I like...
goat cat forest garden foraging food preservation fiber arts medical herbs writing solar wood heat homestead
posted 2 years ago
  • Likes 2
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
    Send
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator

May Lotito wrote:I used the top from the vintage simplicity 6411(1984 version, Etsy has one for $5), turned a rectangle into a skirt and gathered into the waist seam.


Anne Miller wrote:I ask google for a "square neck pattern" . . . Here is one I found that is similar though not the same: https://ithinksew.com/mocha-kimora-dress-pdf-pattern-2-styles


May and Anne, thank you! I'm comfortable making some modifications for variations, but prefer to have a set pattern to start. I'd really like to do some sewing this winter (other than much needed mending).

Blog: 5 Acres & A Dream
Books: Kikobian Books | Permies Digital Market

 
J. Graham
gardener
Posts: 3132
2095
posted 2 years ago
  • Likes 2
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
    Send
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
Do you know what year the picture was taken? Due to fashion fads, searching by the time period could turn up many similar designs.

“It’s said war—war never changes. Men do, through the roads they walk. And this road—has reached its end.”

 
Leigh Tate
author & steward
Posts: 5316
Location: Southeastern U.S. - Zone 7b
3097
5
I like...
goat cat forest garden foraging food preservation fiber arts medical herbs writing solar wood heat homestead
posted 2 years ago
  • Likes 3
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
    Send
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
Jordan, good question, but I have no idea. I found it on a 'memes and memories' post on a blog, but there was no information about any of the photos. That's a good clue though, and considering the length of her skirt, I may be able to narrow a search like that somewhat.

Blog: 5 Acres & A Dream
Books: Kikobian Books | Permies Digital Market

 
Carla Burke
Rusticator
Posts: 8593
Location: Missouri Ozarks
4560
6
I like...
personal care gear foraging hunting rabbit chicken cooking food preservation fiber arts medical herbs homestead
posted 2 years ago
  • Likes 2
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
    Send
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
Her hair style *may* also help narrow down the time frame.

"The only thing...more expensive than education is ignorance."~Ben Franklin
"We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light." ~ Plato

 
Jane Mulberry
master pollinator
Posts: 1028
Location: East of England/ Northeast Bulgaria
389
5
I like...
cat forest garden trees tiny house books writing
posted 2 years ago
  • Likes 6
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
    Send
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
I know I have seen similar drawings in vintage homemaking and dressmaking books from the 1920s and 30s - women sewed their own simple and easy-to-wash cotton house dresses, and I think that's what this would have been called. During the depression, the flour and animal feed mills printed floral patterns on their calico feed sacks so poorer women could turn them into dresses - so everything had very rectangular lines. Though her dress is seersucker not calico, it's probably from the same era.

But I haven't been able to find a better pattern than May's. Unfortunately all of the patterns I've found are fancier, the original ones for women who probably had more money than the woman pictured, the repro ones for a fantasy version of a vintage house dress to appeal to modern (Hollywood-based?) ideas of what women wore then.

The bodice is the trickiest part, as the skirt is just gathered rectangles, so if May's dress used the bodice pattern without modifications, I think it would be readily doable even for a sewer who prefers to follow a pattern for the whole thing.

I'm only 64! That's not to old to learn to be a permie, right?

 
J. Graham
gardener
Posts: 3132
2095
posted 2 years ago
  • Likes 3
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
    Send
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
I did an image search and it also suggested the 20's. The hair matches that as well, I think. It was apparently pretty cool to have one's picture taken feeding a flock of white chickens during that decade. There's several of them. But most of their dresses were rather different, often covered by an apron. Most had those big, white collars.

“It’s said war—war never changes. Men do, through the roads they walk. And this road—has reached its end.”

 
Leigh Tate
author & steward
Posts: 5316
Location: Southeastern U.S. - Zone 7b
3097
5
I like...
goat cat forest garden foraging food preservation fiber arts medical herbs writing solar wood heat homestead
posted 2 years ago
  • Likes 1
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
    Send
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
I didn't find May's vintage Simplicity 6411 on Etsy (yet), but I learned that pattern companies recycle pattern numbers. I did find a couple of possible options.





They both have the neckline and basic shape. I like that 7181 has the additional v-neck option.

It's a lot of fun to look, at any rate.

Blog: 5 Acres & A Dream
Books: Kikobian Books | Permies Digital Market

 
May Lotito
gardener
Posts: 1813
Location: Zone 6b
1132
I like...
forest garden fungi books chicken fiber arts ungarbage
posted 2 years ago
  • Likes 1
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
    Send
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
Tessuti's Athina top is a basic woven top with cut-on sleeves. It's a free PDF pattern(PayPal asked 1 cent to process the order).

Zone 6, 45 inches precipitation, hard clay soil

 
Feb-ROO-airy. I can't stop saying it this way. Help me tiny ad!
permaculture and gardener gifts (stocking stuffers?)
https://permies.com/wiki/permaculture-gifts-stocking-stuffers
reply
reply
    Bookmark Topic Watch Topic
  • New Topic
Boost this thread!
Similar Threads
More...