The Journey Begins- First Stop: Vintage Maternity Wear

If ever there was a time to embark on a dressmaking journey it certainly shouldn’t be in your seventh month of pregnancy with your second child, but alas here I am anyhow. Honestly, while some mothers attest to how beautiful and glorious they feel whilst growing their own little miracle, for me this bloated body is something of an inconvenience. Something merely to be tolerated until the day my beautiful little girl arrives. While I find immense pleasure in feeling her little kicks and softly cooing to her about all the joys I hope life has in store for her, I, myself, am feeling something comparable to that of a beached whale. If ever there was a time in my life when I found myself to be in need of something pretty, it’s now.

At the present time, my body is not my own as it serves as the habitat for our little girl, and it will be many months before I can reclaim it and that of my usual figure. Knowing this, I’ve spent the last few weeks browsing the internet trying to establish a style which I can call my own and will certainly bring me more joy than my current wardrobe in the future. I find myself being rather inspired by vintage fashion, specifically that of the fifties and sixties. While Christian Dior's “new look” is divine in its extravagance, honestly I doubt full circle skirts will ever be a staple in my wardrobe and the thought of trying to squeeze my post partum body into a girdle does not appeal. At the moment I'm leaning more towards a Hepburn look, as I find it both classy and practical, but again it will be many moons before I can see these fashion ideas come to fruition. Rather than sit idly by and dwell on these facts of life and motherhood, I've decided to use this time in my journey to explore these fashion eras to the best of my ability and to experiment with different materials and prints. Ebay has turned out to be a wonderful resource in my current endeavor and I recently acquired a lot of vintage maternity patterns from a seller there, amongst which was Butterick 9951. The pattern envelope was not in ideal shape, and I daresay I only succeeded in damaging it more, but the pattern pieces themselves were in fine condition and smelled wonderfully of history.

While there is no specific date on the pattern itself, my best guess puts in somewhere in the 1960's. Butterick 9951 is comprised of various maturity coordinates. View A is an adorable 3/4 length dress with a precious Peter Pan collar. View B is a short-sleeve top and pencil skirt set. View C is the same top as B with the addition of front pockets and includes Bermuda shorts. Personally, I opted to make the View B top with the sleeves from View A, as it's winter and short-sleeves aren't practical at the moment. Also, being as I have several pairs of maternity pants, and because of the colder weather of course, I opted out of doing the skirt portion. The pattern suggests using silky cottons, faille, surahs, silk linens, denims, and poplins. I chose a simple floral quilting cotton for my construction, as it's a material flush in my stash, and olive green bias binding along with grosgrain ribbon for the finishing details.

Honestly, this pattern had its pros and cons. While the garment came together rather quickly, being completed in just a days time, at points I found the instructions lacking. Admittedly, this is only the second authentic vintage pattern I've ever sewn and perhaps seamstress' of that time were simply expected to know more, or perhaps I missed them in having to jump back and forth between view instructions ( i.e. Follow view A instructions except for....), but the pattern doesn’t actually tell you how to finish the top. For the View A dress it simply said to “install zipper as instructed”, which, fun fact, wasn’t included under suggested notions, and for Views B and C the only clue given is the use of a hook and eye. Personally, I folded the raw edge over, edge-stitched it, and finished with a hook and eye to create a subtle key hole back. When it comes to installing the ribbon ties, the pattern would have you leave a portion of the side seam open and install them last, instead of just having you encase them when you sew the side seams down. This just seemed rather impractical to me. One thing I really did enjoy was the inclusion of numbered notches, which were also included in the first vintage pattern I made. I find these to be extremely useful, especially when you're sewing a pattern you're unfamiliar with and wish modern sewing patterns also included them.

All and all, I believe this first version of Butterick 9951 is going to serve as a wearable muslin more than anything else. I plan to add side loops in addition to the one in front to the second version, in hopes it will add a hint more stability and lessen the appearance of the excess fabric I've yet to grow into. Although I like that the grosgrain ribbon in front allows me to wrap my bump as though she's a her own present, which I suppose she is, I found the bow to be rather cumbersome whilst actually wearing this top. Being a naturally messy person in general, I admit I had a hard time keeping it off my plate at mealtimes, as well as out of the sink when it came to washing up. For the second rendition, I plan to see if a bow in the back serves me better.

Despite using quilting cotton, and a rather inexpensive one at that, I do find this top to be quite comfortable and have worn it on numerous occasions since its completion. I love the darts on the sleeves and find them to be both a fun and unique feature, something I hadn’t seen previously in my limited dressmaking experience. What delights me about this pattern above all else is that I have sewn a legitimate piece of fashion history. Whilst tracing this pattern, because I couldn’t bear the thought of potentially damaging the delicate 50+ year old paper, I noticed where the previous dressmaker had repaired the lengthen and shorten lines with simple pins, long since rusted. I found myself imagining what her version of this pattern looked like. Did she find the pattern troubling where I did? What fabric had she used? Was the seller I purchased the pattern from her child long since grown? Though I’ll never know the answer to these questions of course, sewing this top sparked imagination and inspiration for me in a way that my modern ready to wear garments never could, and that alone brings me immense joy.

Xoxo

-The Dressmaker

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