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Little Letter Dress: McCalls 7743

By on May 13, 2013 in Finished Sewing Projects, Projects

It’s finished! My second version of McCalls 7743 is complete. I’ve called it the Little Letter Dress because that’s what the fabric is called. (So uncreative, I know. This is why I stick to a  theme when naming my patterns. It’s easy to name the next one when they’re all named for Vancouver area places [...]

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A Different Kind of Waist Stay

By on May 10, 2013 in Projects, Tips, Work in Progress

I mentioned the other day that this pattern, McCalls 7743, has a waist stay built into the dress. It’s constructed in a different way than the method I picture when I think ‘waist stay’ so I wanted to show you how it was done. It’s really quite smart, you sew seam binding into the skirt’s [...]

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Surprising Things about McCalls 7743

By on May 8, 2013 in Projects, Work in Progress

This vintage dress pattern has some interesting things in the instructions! For one, you make a bound buttonhole at the top of the back opening. Seems like a lot of work, doesn’t it? In all the years I wore the first version of this dress, I never once had to unbutton the button on the [...]

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McCalls 7743: Revisiting a Favourite Vintage Dress

By on May 6, 2013 in Projects, Work in Progress

Remember this dress? (Perhaps not – I sewed it three years ago!) The pattern is McCalls 7743, a vintage dress pattern from 1965. I’ve worn the first version of this dress (the one in the picture above) so many times that it’s worn right out. The neckline has developed holes, the fabric is fading and [...]

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A Successful Skirt from a Failed Dress

By on March 25, 2013 in Finished Sewing Projects, Projects

Happy Monday, everyone! Check it out, I made a new skirt. The fabric is simple cotton but the print is gorgeous, all floral and spring-like and painterly. It may not be the most interesting sewing project ever, but it almost didn’t happen! In its previous life, this fabric was a failed dress project, doomed to [...]

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Autumn Cambie: Sewing Ugly Fabric Into Something Pretty

By on March 11, 2013 in Finished Sewing Projects, Projects

What do you guys think of this fabric? Ugly, sort of? A bit of a weird print? It’s a cotton twill, slightly heavier than a quilting-weight cotton but much drapier than expected. I was drawn to the autumnal colours when I bought it, but looking at it next to some of the prettier, brighter coloured [...]

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