Forest Boat Neck top: Betsey Johnson for Butterick 4426

 This top came about from a generous offer of some fabric from UK knit/jersey fabric specialist Girl Charlee and a vintage pattern lucky find at a local stitching fair, both in the same week!  The pattern is a classic Betsey Johnson knit design for Butterick design, I made the top  (view B) which I shortened, straightened at the sides as I didn't want to wear a belt and  straightened the bell shaped sleeves.   The fabric is Girl Charlee cotton/poly blend 50/50 which I was interested to try as many of their prints are on this blend and I usually stay away from anything with polyester in as manmade fibres can irritate my skin and in all honesty, I am a fabric snob!

 This is Fawn Silhouette on Forest Green Cotton Jersey Blend.  It is mid weight- it makes me think of T shirts- and has 25% stretch.  That means that 10" of fabric will stretch to 12.5" maximum which is quite low so it has stability and the edges of the fabric don't roll when you cut it.    It is soft and it drapes nicely.   Mark warned me that I would need to wash it first as it feels a little stiff straight off the bold which it did when I first unwrapped it but it softened just as he said and knits should always be pre washed and dried flat to allow for shrinkage.  It seemed a good fit for this style, it matched the stretch gauge on the reverse of the pattern.   If you are new to knits, this blend is a good fabric to start with: it's easy to handle for cutting and sewing and there are lots of prints to choose from.   It's a jersey fabric that lies flat and is suitable for a style that doesn't need a lot of stretch so something like a Megan Nielsen Briar top or a Tilly & the Buttons Coco top/dress is good.  It doesn't work for close fitting styles like leggings or tight tops as it has no lycra so the recovery is mechanical rather than specific stretchy fibres. 

 This is a mid 1970s pattern guessing from the style and these tend to stress MODERATE STRETCH knits on the front of the packet.  Manmade knit fabrics were a very 1970s phenomenon,  I remember as a child wearing crimplene everything- trousers, tops, dresses, coat, and cotton/spandex blends were in still waiting to happen in the distant 1980s and 90s!  Occasionally, I will see original knit fabric garments and fabrics from the 1970s on my carboot sale and charity shop visits and although the styles are great, the fabrics are so artificial compared to what's available now.  I notice in the new series of Fargo, the costumes reflect the authentic clothing of the time rather than the stylised version of the 70's currently on the high street.

It's a simple pattern.  The neckline is the same front and back and is horizontal- no curve.  The front and back are slightly angled at the shoulder where the two cross over.  You have to go with the bra-straps-on-view look as it's unavoidable with this style!

With vintage patterns, the methodology is often different to what we would do now.  I would usually opt for a double needle hem finish  but instead, this pattern called for two lines of straight stitching.  I experimented- see below and I opened for the 0.7 zig zag as I tend to pull tops as I take them off and on!  In hindsight I think the double needle hem would've been better with some knit stabiliser tape to stop the tunnelling or bunching up of the fabric between the stitching rows. 

I added the sleeves flat but they were eased stitched and I tried to avoid stretching the fabric as I sewed them in on the overlocker.  So I avoided distorting the fabric but it dos look a little puckered around the armhole.  I used a moderate heat on the iron for pressing because of the polyester content and it worked fine.

The degree of stretch in knit fabric is such an important factor when matching up fabric to pattern.  Girl Charlee is one of the few online shops in the UK that includes the percentage stretch for each fabric.  Other shops write some beautiful descriptions and include fibre content, width and all the other info but it would be so helpful to have this extra information. 

I'm adding this into my #vintagepledge as an extra- I still have a Betsey Johnson jacket to make which is waiting for me to buy a walking foot for my Bernina!  See my other makes for #vintagepledge here and here. 

My Betsey Johnson Pattern Collection

For a frequent dress maker, I have a modest number of patterns.  I tend to keep only what I will realistically make, patterns that are my size or close or the occasional patterns that is so beautiful/kitsch/of its time that I feel bound to hold on to it.  I have more vintage patterns than modern and my favourites are from the 1970s.  I was born in 1970 so the aesthetic is one I grew up with and I like a little homespun ditsy prairie look with a nod to 1940s and 1900s so Betsey Johnson is my perfect pattern designer, this is my collection.

Lots of the big name pattern houses featured young designers in their seasonal collection.  There is an excellent blog post here showing Buttericks range of young designers, collated by vintage enthusiast and collector Lizzie Bramlett- she now blogs at The Vintage Traveller.  I have been collecting mine from Etsy and Ebay for a few years.

Butterick 3292 was my missing link, a pattern that I had seen here at Gold Country Girls a while back in a glorious three part feature on Betsey Johnson at Butterick, had to have and was scouting around for ever since.  I randomly came across it recently in Canada on ebay and stayed up for a late night bid.  I was prepared to pay big bucks but I got lucky, no one else bid and it was under £5.  What can I say?  I love them all, every item, the colours, everything about it.  I have some mustard corduroy on order and plan to make the jacket first.

Butterick 6535 was another lucky purchase.  I bought it with a couple of other designer Butterick patterns for very little- again on ebay. There are no instructions but the cutting layout and all the pieces are there.  The shirt and maxi skirt would be my choice on this one.  You can see them made up for the original pattern promotion here.

I think this was an Etsy purchase on a bit of a whim.  I do like an Empire neckline and princess bodice- both features that work well for me.  I am not usually a short dress wearer though. I would have to lengthen this but that is easily doable.  The shoes remind me of the new Orla Kiely range for Clarks.

I bought Butterick 3848 from Etsy last year- maybe around £10.  When I took part in Me-Made-May'14 one of the highlights on the Instagram tag feed was a photo posted by someone who made and wore it first time round.

I have made view C wrap skirt (longer length) of Butterick 4089 and have worn it extensively.  I was inspired by Ruth's version and she inspired me again with her broderie cotton lace interpretation of skirt E.  This is a pattern I shall definitely revisit.

I can't remember where Butterick 6534 came from but I do know that I didn't pay much for it and I see it for sale at a high price tags- £15-20ish.  You can see these patterns sewn from the original catalogue here.  Betsey Johnson produced a lot of stretch knit patterns for Butterick.  These tops are high on my to do list.  I might lengthen them a little but I have used the pockets before and they are a really cute addition to a top.

Butterick 6838 has a rather fragile envelope but the contents are complete.  I am a little unsure about the long  knit coat/jacket option, and I wonder how successful the tank top would be but the shirt shape is good with great yoke details front and back.

As a spur into action, I have been over to A Vintage Sewing Odyssey and joined in with The Vintage Sewing Pattern Pledge.  

"I, Kerry of verykerryberry, pledge to make 3 garments from my Betsey Johnson 1970s pattern collection in 2015".

Want to join? Visit Marie, or her co host Kerry of Kestral Makes to find out more. 

Betsey Johnson 4089 Swishy Skirt

 This skirt has been on my 'to do' list forever.  A 1970s vintage wrap around maxi skirt with extra details designed by Betsey Johnson, Butterick 4089.  Once I saw Roo's version here, I was totally smitten.

Betsey Johnson has had her ups and downs over the years, including bankruptcy but she is still designing. Her heyday was definitely the 1970s.  You can read more about her and other Butterick designers from 60s and 70s at Fuzzy Lizzies .  There don't seem to be so many designer partnerships with bigger pattern companies, especially up and coming designers although I do enjoy Cynthia Rowley's patterns for Simplicity and I guess these days, indie pattern designers represent the new direction of clothing patterns.  The joy of these vintage patterns is the details are so well executed and the finished garment looks exactly like the drawing (although my leg length has some way to go to match the model).  Such vintage patterns are much sort after- I think I paid £10 including postage for this one which is pretty good and it was uncut, but more popular styles go for £20 upwards. 

I needed to size up my pattern- the waist was 25 1/2" and I am 27" so I added 1"on the centre front and centre of the back pieces.  You can read more about resizing vintage patterns here and more here- it is more straightforward than you may think.  Something to bear in mind with any pattern is that traditionally all patterns start off size 12 (USA 8, EU40).  See conversion for different countries' sizing here.  Pattern sizing is not like shop ready to wear clothing which is often vanity sized- you know the sort of thing- a size 12 in Fat Face is not equal to size 12 in Topshop, and indie sewing pattern designers tend to have their own individual sizing which often refelcts the pattern designers body shape.  Colette patterns have a bust cup size C, Sewaholic patterns tend to have a smaller bust and larger hip in the same size.  All patterns start off at a size 12 and this is a small 12 in the way we would think of it.  The subsequent sizes are drafted off this standard upwards and downwards.  It does mean that the sizes that are more than two jumps up or down from a 12 risk losing something in translation and the pattern companies should make extra tweaks to make sure all the details still work and fit is maintained. 

I digress, this was a dream to make.  I used chambray from Merchant and Mills which has a lovely handle and the drape essential in such a style.  The wrap round involved two mirror image whole back sections so there is no danger of flashing and the double layer adds warmth. It does take a lot of fabric because you are effectively doubling up for the back piece- I needed almost 3 metres.  

I do love a long skirt.  I hate tights/pantyhose and I don't get on brilliantly with leggings plus I love the romance and freedom of a long swishy striding skirt.  I opted for a length inbetween the shorter and longer styles on the pattern pieces.  The shaped high waist at the front is interfaced as are the ties that are round the waist- but the parts that finish as a bow are not interfaced so the bow is soft and flops nicely at the front.   The pockets are functional although as they are stitched to the front you wouldn't want to over fill them and look like you are wearing saddle bags. All these little details add up to a garment to be very happy with. 

I followed the top stitching as directed in the pattern and used Sulky Cotton 30 which is cotton, has a silky finish and is thicker than the standard dressmaking Sew-All gutermann.  There is a lot of top stitching, I used a full bobbin and the acufeed foot which I always use for large areas of top stitching as it makes the fabric feed through so evenly.

For the buttonhole which allows the ties to wrap around without bulk I wanted to try a simple bound method as I thought a standard buttonhole would fray and gape too much.  You can find the method here although I used the trusty Reader's Digest  Complete Guide to Sewing

It went pretty well.  I did have a slight freak out moment as the buttonhole is made on one part of the waistband- once I joined it to the facing which sits on the inside I realised the buttonhole was closed at the back.  This is normal, you have to finish the facing separately.  Its been so long since I've done a bound buttonhole I had completely forgotten.  Panic over.

 I always use Fray Stoppa/Fray check on buttonholes- just a little painted on the area that will be cut. allowed to dry and then cut through.  The Clover double fork pins are also a boon for dress making in areas that you don't want to shift, not even a tiny bit.  Penny put me on to these and I am forever grateful.  I bought mine from ebay, pricey but worth it.

This is another Betsey Johnson pattern in my stash, I am thinking about a shirt although the pattern pieces look pretty tiny and there is a little work to do to get them up to size so that I could at least move my arms!  And when I want to really be inspired by a little vintage, I go back and visit Gold Country Girls blog and there three part section on Betsey Johnson for Butterick- one, two, three.  

I think I need to wipe a little drool from my chin, those styles slay me every time.  Feel free to share your thoughts on sizing and vintage styles, or tell me your favourites, I'd love to find something new to love.