Happy Wednesday everyone! I know I typically post on Mondays, but I’ll be switching to Wednesdays from here on out. I like to think of it as a mid week pick me up for myself. Hopefully, our little community doesn’t mind. I’ve been intrigued by vintage patterns for awhile and quite honestly, I have a drawer full of them. Simplicity reissues vintage each season. I believe my recent post: Kicking it Old School: Mod Prints in Modern Times is a reissue. In an odd way, the vintage patterns are so “sacred” to me that I haven’t had the courage to make something…until now. One thing that I appreciate about vintage patterns are the directions. That’s no different with Simplicity 5729. The instructions are generally one page and super clear.
Pattern Description
Simplicity 5729 is a longer than usual mini dress with a front yoke and two sleeve options. The front yoke has three decorative buttons and the general front is cut on the fold. There are two back pieces closed with a zipper. Of course, there are facings fro the front and back neck. I do like that the pattern is no frills and has the standard pieces that come with a dress. I opted for view 2, which is the bishop sleeve version.
Fabric Choice for Simplicity 5729
Since it’s very cold in New York, I made the dress in a wool rayon blend from Mood Fabrics. While on the subject of it being cold, I really don’t care for the winter. It was 20 degrees when I shot the dress. However, to get the full effect of the dress, I took of my coat for a few minutes. There aren’t enough synonyms for “freezing” to describe the agony I was in. But, I digress. I’ve had this wool fabric for a few months now and I wasn’t quite sure what to do with it. The wool rayon blend sews beautifully, but frays quite a bit. I had fun playing with the different design elements of the fabric. Thank goodness for a serger.
Garment Construction of Simplicity 5729
Let’s chat about the actually sewing now. I made a toile of the dress in muslin before I cut the wool fabric, so I was pretty prepared to make this dress. The main issues I had with the construction in this fabric were attaching the front yoke to the dress front and attaching the cuffs on one of the sleeves. When I made the muslin, I had zero issues with the yoke. My thinking is that the wool rayon isn’t as malleable as the cotton muslin. There’s some slight puckering, but you live and you learn. Other than that, it’s a quick and simple dress to make if you’ve made a dress before. Another thought I had was that the front can be cut on the fold. Stitching the front pieces together feels like an unnecessary step here. Those are a couple of things to keep in mind. I would love to make this again in the summer in a cotton poplin though. The sleeves don’t shine as much in a drapy fabric like thus one.
Thank you all for reading. See you all next week. Happy Sewing!
