Tag Archives: Butterick

Butterick has just published their new patterns for Summer 2015. It includes two Retro Butterick dresses and one vintage inspired Patterns by Gertie top. Let’s take a look.

Butterick 6211

The illustration for this dress makes it look pretty cool and I appreciate them trying to recreate the same look for the sample garment.

But this dress just looks sloppy. Maybe it was poor fabric choice and the lack of a crinoline, but I find it very disappointing. The free edges of the overdress are bumpy when they should be crisp. Very meh.

My thought about the lack of a crinoline is that they are trying to make the dress look like the technical drawings. But maybe they should just include a crinoline pattern.

Butterick 6212

I don’t understand why pattern companies keep reproducing vintage apron dress patterns. I’m just not a fan. I actually love the front of this dress – the sweetheart neckline and the skirt yoke are totally cute. But the back is just unnecessary to me. Check out how adorable this illustration is!

Then look at the sample dress. The best I can say is that at least this one doesn’t look sloppy!

Here’s the technical drawings for 6212.

Butterick 6217

This pattern is for a vintage inspired top in Patterns by Gertie line. I might actually buy this one but I don’t quite understand the boob-dana tie On my adult sized chest this would look ridiculous. I like view B though! View A is actually cute minus the tie.

Spring for Cotton: Butterick 4259

posted by lorene

on 05.01.2015

When Rochelle announced Spring for Cotton I knew it was finally time to sew one of my many vintage patterns! I have a huge stash courtesy of a family friend, but they are all single sized. Since they were also the wrong size, I was reluctant to try to make them but after taking my Palmer/Pletsch class I’m much more confident about fitting and grading!

This was my original plan for the dress. I had picked up this gorgeous fuschia crossweave cotton at Josephine’s Dry Goods before the downtown location closed. It was only 43″ wide to begin with and after washing it shrunk down to under 40″ and so I didn’t have enough fabric. Boo hoo! The funny thing about the pattern is that it’s a Size 18, which is what I use but is sadly from the old sizing system so it still needed to be graded up.

I was looking for a cotton with a little more body than just a quilting cotton and I didn’t want to shell out the money for something really nice until I knew if my grading was successful. I ended up finding red cotton pique in the “Designer Fabric” section of Joann for just $5/yd. Score!

The dress is constructed by first sewing the front and back plackets which are self lined. The dress pieces are then pinned along the stitching lines and top stitched together. Sleeves were added in the usual manner.

For pattern modifications besides grading up a size. I did do an FBA on this dress. I didn’t like how dart looked so I moved the excess into the front gathers. This dress is insanely long,unhemmed it hit me at midcalf and I’m 5’7, so I didn’t worry about the uneven length created by the FBA. I also had to deepened the front neckline as it was nearly choking me. Ladies in the 60’s must have had very skinny necks!

I also ended up edge stitching down the placket. The instructions don’t call for this, but it looked unfinished to me with the edges flopping around. So I did it and I like the way it looks much better. I also omitted the back zipper, leaving the yoke section open and adding a top hook. I’ve come to realize I can pull many of my dresses over my head and zippers are unnecessary.

My favorite part of this dress must be the buttons. I went to the Button & Ribbon Emporium here in Portland to search for the perfect buttons. I pulled out tons red buttons before I came across these beauties. They are slightly translucent/iridescent and I love the swirly design on them. At nearly $3 each I spent almost as much on buttons as I did on my fabric but they were worth it!

I will eventually take some photos of me wearing this dress, but I haven’t had any time. This dress is also my first project for the 2015 Vintage Pledge.

Butterick Fall 2014 Patterns

posted by lorene

on 08.05.2014

Butterick has just released their new patterns for Fall 2014. Let’s take a look!

Gertie has 2 new patterns. I like the back detail of 6094, but probably not with the full skirt. Crinolines are not my thing.

The wrapped jacket in Butterick 6105 is pretty but looks a little too costumey for me.

Butterick 6088 looks like a poor imitation of the OOP McCall’s 6278. Theoretically it should be slimming but the color blocking at the neckline and across the bust just looks strange.

The pleating and top stitching look really interesting on Butterick 6089, but overall it looks a little matronly. I’d be interested to see one of these in the wild and find out if a better fit would make it look more contemporary. The sleeveless version has potential.

Oh, I love when they sew up samples in fabrics that totally obscure the design features! Butterick 6090 actually has a very unique shawl collar that is a nice change from your standard shirtwaist dress but you’d never know from this photo! I like the skirt which I’m hoping is pleated and not gathered, but whoa..that’s a lot of buttons!

Butterick decided to head to Downton Abbey for their Retro Butterick releases (6018 & 6093), which are both interesting but definitely costumes. It’s a little disappointing because usually the Retro patterns are very wearable and with the fall release these seem like they are destined for Halloween costumes.

There are a few more patterns but nothing that really caught my eye. Overall I was rather underwhelmed, with just 2 or 3 patterns that I am somewhat interested in.

Butterick Spring 2014 Patterns

posted by lorene

on 02.05.2014

I really liked several of the new Butterick Patterns.

Butterick 6019 – This is a Patterns by Gertie (Gretchen Hirsch) design. She was inspired by Alfred Shaheen’s 1950’s designs and on her blog you can see some photos of Shaheen’s dresses. I’m going on a family trip to Hawaii later this year and this might be a fun dress to make.

Butterick 6020 – What I like most about this ivy + blu shirtwaist dress is the the stitched pleating on the waistline. I like full skirts but I don’t like the bulk created by gathered skirts.

Butterick 6014 – Like the previous pattern, I dig the pleating around the waistline. The pleated asymmetric peplum is also a nice change, and since its a knit dress it looks easy to wear and comfy.

Butterick 6010 – Because who doesn’t need a strapless romper/jumpsuit???