This Vogue Designer Original out of print pattern was designed by Tom and Linda Platt. I bought it on Ebay.
I liked the pattern because the silk tee shirt seems to have good proportions, a little bit dressy, with interesting sleeves. The pattern includes a dropped shoulder simple wrapped jacket that could be made out of very light silky fabric - potentially useful. The dress and skirt look well-designed. The model looks very classy in the photos on the envelope. So far, so promising.
You
immediately are aware, if you're at least my age, that the design of
this pattern falls several years after 80s shoulder pads, and heading
out of the shapeless with leggings era.
Turns out, the pattern is very simple. In fact, the garments are mostly made out of two three pattern pieces:
The sleeves of the shirt are simply built into the shirt itself, like kimono sleeves, but narrow, with a pointed top.No darts. The back can be cut in two pieces with a zipper, but there's no reason to. I decided to make it one piece, but split the top back for egress. So the top is simply a two piece pattern, front and back. I bound the back split along with the rest of the neckline and sleeve edges with a bright complementary bias tape for a little glimpse of color.
Here is the sleeve shape.
The first time I used the pattern, I made a silk tee shirt out of some very odd silk I also bought on Ebay some time ago.
Just two
seams, with bias tape binding at neck, sleeve edges, and three inch
opening in the back, topped with a hook and eye. It takes about as long
to sew as it does to cut the pattern.
This was fun, so the next time I made the two piece pattern from a rayon jersey knit. I altered the pattern by extending the sleeves, tracing the lower sleeve from the dress part of the pattern. There was no need for the back slit with stretchy fabric. Instead of the inside bias tape, I used vintage rayon seam binding and did an outside trim finish. So this one was two pieces of fabric, three seams, hems and a binding.
This turned out just fine.
Vintage Wrights rayon seam binding is one of my favorite notions, when I can find it.
It comes in many sophisticated colors, is very soft and flexible, completely washable, and beautiful. It looks like taffeta ribbon trim.
I'm happy with the knit shirt. The neck and sleeve interest adds some style to a plain tee.
Next time out with this pattern, I made the three piece jacket. This was also easy as pie. The sleeves are not eased. The neck and front edges are finished with bias tape. The sleeves and hem are finished with a narrow machine hem.
It's hard to tell from the pattern picture, but the jacket comes in two lengths. I made the shorter one - the red one on the pattern envelope.
This was made from a paisley (LOVE paisley) silk from Joanne Fabrics that I watched over a few months get marked down and marked down until I had to buy it. The woman at the cutting counter called it "scarf silk" and told me most people bought a small cut to make a scarf.
I also made the tie belt, but think it's too much pattern. I prefer the skinny leather belt. I think I'm just not girly enough for the bow with the paisley, though it looks good on the dress form.
A third way to wear it closed is with a little magnet/button that I bought in a boutique. It is a high quality gold button with a magnet back. An additional bar with the opposing magnet secures the button wherever you want it. This is great for this kind of thing, or anything without buttons that you might want to close once in awhile.
Here it is on the jacket. With this button, you can close it loosely, like a brooch on a scarf, but no holes and less droopy because of the support of the bar.
I liked the pattern because the silk tee shirt seems to have good proportions, a little bit dressy, with interesting sleeves. The pattern includes a dropped shoulder simple wrapped jacket that could be made out of very light silky fabric - potentially useful. The dress and skirt look well-designed. The model looks very classy in the photos on the envelope. So far, so promising.
Turns out, the pattern is very simple. In fact, the garments are mostly made out of two three pattern pieces:
The sleeves of the shirt are simply built into the shirt itself, like kimono sleeves, but narrow, with a pointed top.No darts. The back can be cut in two pieces with a zipper, but there's no reason to. I decided to make it one piece, but split the top back for egress. So the top is simply a two piece pattern, front and back. I bound the back split along with the rest of the neckline and sleeve edges with a bright complementary bias tape for a little glimpse of color.
Here is the sleeve shape.
The first time I used the pattern, I made a silk tee shirt out of some very odd silk I also bought on Ebay some time ago.
This was fun, so the next time I made the two piece pattern from a rayon jersey knit. I altered the pattern by extending the sleeves, tracing the lower sleeve from the dress part of the pattern. There was no need for the back slit with stretchy fabric. Instead of the inside bias tape, I used vintage rayon seam binding and did an outside trim finish. So this one was two pieces of fabric, three seams, hems and a binding.
This turned out just fine.
Vintage Wrights rayon seam binding is one of my favorite notions, when I can find it.
It comes in many sophisticated colors, is very soft and flexible, completely washable, and beautiful. It looks like taffeta ribbon trim.
I'm happy with the knit shirt. The neck and sleeve interest adds some style to a plain tee.
It's hard to tell from the pattern picture, but the jacket comes in two lengths. I made the shorter one - the red one on the pattern envelope.
This was made from a paisley (LOVE paisley) silk from Joanne Fabrics that I watched over a few months get marked down and marked down until I had to buy it. The woman at the cutting counter called it "scarf silk" and told me most people bought a small cut to make a scarf.
I also made the tie belt, but think it's too much pattern. I prefer the skinny leather belt. I think I'm just not girly enough for the bow with the paisley, though it looks good on the dress form.
A third way to wear it closed is with a little magnet/button that I bought in a boutique. It is a high quality gold button with a magnet back. An additional bar with the opposing magnet secures the button wherever you want it. This is great for this kind of thing, or anything without buttons that you might want to close once in awhile.
The bias tape finish shows when you wear it open, sometimes, as the fabric swings, but that's okay because it is merely a black line. I think, if I did this again, I'd look for something a little softer - maybe even try to use the vintage rayon seam tape.
I think the jacket looks best open, with a belt under it. That way it is scarf-like and not at all bulky, because so flowy and thin.
Next time, I'm going to make the tee shirt out of a lighter silk like this, with the short pointed sleeves.
But first I'm going to tackle another vintage Vogue Designer Original a little more challenging. Vogue 1839 by Oscar De la Renta
Stay tuned.
