Sewing

Patterns, Techniques, Articles, Blogs, and other resources to learn how to sew

Tutorial: 1960s pillowcase style shift dress

by 8 Comments

Tutorial: 1960s pillowcase style shift dress

Tutorial: 1960s pillowcase style shift dress

This vintage 1960s pamphlet from Coats and Clark shows how you can make a shift dress.  It’s made like a pillowcase dress, but in adult sizes and with a narrower fit than a typical child’s pillowcase dress.  The Pattern Patter blog shares it as a free download, courtesy of Etsy seller Retro Monkeys.  The pamphlet shows how to make the dress and gives ideas for embellishing with ric rac appliques.  The appliques would also be cute on little kids clothes or on vintage-inspired kitchen linens.  They suggest making it from a terry cloth as a swimsuit cover up, but this would also be nice out of a knit fabric or even a lightweight woven cotton.

Click the link to view the pamphlet:

Free pattern – Shift for yourself, available at Pattern Patter blog

[photo credit Coats & Clark via Pattern Patter blog]

 

Looking for more Swimsuit sewing patterns? Check out these patterns for swimmers, bikinis, board shorts and swimsuits. Wanting a hard copy style pattern? Check out these Swimsuit sewing patterns we found on Amazon.

Looking for swimsuit cover-up patterns and styles? Check out these sewing patterns on Etsy.

Don’t forget to come and join our very own Facebook Sewing group with over 70K members sharing patterns, tips, and advice.

Next Pattern:

Comments

Have you read?

Learn All About Sewing Velvet Fabric

 

I’m always tempted by the pretty velvets at the fabric store.  So much texture!  And the way the fibers catch the light!  But sewing on velvet is trickier than you’d think.  That nap that lends beautiful texture also likes to slip and crawl.  That nap can also spell disaster if you cut a piece the wrong direction.  That isn’t to say you shouldn’t use buy that velvet and sew it into something gorgeous, you just need to go into your velvet sewing project prepared.  And Melissa at Melly Sews has a post that takes you step by step through sewing on velvet. 

Velvet is such a luscious fabric, especially for winter sewing projects.  Of course there are velvet Christmas sewing projects – stockings, tree skirts, santa hats – but velvet is beautiful for all winter.  Think of all the gorgeous velvet dresses, evening bags, hair accessories, even pillows and other home décor that you see all winter long. 

Melly Sews’ post gives you the tips and tricks you need to know in order for your velvet sewing project to end up a success.  There are types of projects better suited for velvets, and kinds of projects to avoid.  She describes the different types of velvet available.  And she also tells the best way to lay out and cut your pattern pieces from velvet fabric.  Her tutorial also covers marking, pressing, and of course sewing that beautiful fabric.  There’s also a video included in case that’s your preferred method for learning.

Head over to Melly Sews to learn how to sew on velvet fabric. 

And if you want to learn more about that lovely blue velvet dress shown, she has a post that tells more about it including 2 ways to style it depending on if you want to be more dressy or more casual.

[photo credit: Melly Sews]

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *