This dress almost ruined Christmas 🎄 Making a 1970s dress for #GunneSaxmas

so here's the thing i already have a perfectly acceptable cute vintagey handmade christmas dress so do i really need another one i'm gonna make one anyway so i made some very irresponsible decisions with regards to my health at the beginning of october and i went to a ball and while it was a lot of fun it did mean that i spent the next two months sort of like this and while i don't regret it it does mean that i miss out on several halloween collaborations that were happening here on youtube one of which was gunny saxoween and this was hosted by my mate gwen from gwen shenanigans and the idea was to reinvent these 1970s prairie style dresses made popular by this designer gunny sacks and transformed them with a spooky twist and i was really sad to miss out on that collaboration but then i heard we're doing it again for the holiday season and i could finally take part this time the collaboration is using the hashtag gunnysaksmuss but that is just because that xmas pun is too good to waste please be reassured you do not have to celebrate christmas to take part in this collaboration personally i am half german half british and therefore christmas is basically compulsory for me but honestly i'm really not a fan i've worked too many temporary retail positions and of course in britain we have this christmas theater tradition called pantomime which is incredibly stressful and difficult to explain so just trust me on that one so generally i'm not really a fan of christmas however i do really appreciate having something fun to look forward to to get you through the cold dark wet miserable disgusting british winter so that is kind of what i want to bring to my dress design i want it to be a sort of celebration of that light in the darkness sort of feel to the christmas period the original gunny sex dress that i'm using as inspiration is this one although i'm not trying to recreate it exactly the elements that i wanted to keep for my dress are the knitted lace collar the princess seam bodice with velvet panel and the ribbon trim because i thought i was going to be making a halloween gunny saxon spy dress i actually bought myself a pattern which is this one style 3992 and it's quite a generic 70s dress but i was hoping to adapt it to be more of that prairie style so because i've got this pattern i think i want to use that again just to save time and energy the christmas dress i already have is red but we decorate our house in shades of blue silver and white and so in all the christmas photographs i stand out like a sore thumb i clash with the decorations so i think i want my dress to be more blue silver toned and also that way as well it will be a little bit less on the nose christmas kitsch which i don't particularly like i don't like to wear and so it will be firstly more wearable as well i can wear it throughout the winter without it screaming christmas day and it will just be a bit more my taste so i've got my phone i think i'm going to start looking for fabric and see what i can find while i waited for my fabric to arrive i worked on the knitted collar for this i used a vintage pattern from a 1940s magazine that i had in my collection which is unfortunately missing the first few pages [Music] and this creative lemme yarn from ricoh as usual with vintage patterns the information was vague so i wasn't entirely sure what weight of yarn i would need so i estimated based on needle size this pattern called for old style uk tens which actually as i look at these needles now look like they're not a pair i cast on the required amount of stitches and got to knitting following the pattern instructions there was quite a few unusual techniques in this pattern such as these long stitches and they were all made a lot more difficult to do by this frankly horrible to work with lemay yarn [Music] i think there was also a mistake in the pattern because on one of the pattern rows i ended up with more stitches than it said i should have but i definitely did it right once i had finished the collar or half of the collar as this was supposed to be i drafted a collar stand to add to the pattern and compared the knitted collar to the paper pattern to see if it would fit it was much too small so when i knitted my second attempt i doubled the number of stitches half a collar was supposed to make a cuff but i have no idea whose wrist this cuff is supposed to fit because even mine were too big for this pattern now the last time i used one of these 1970s style patterns you may remember from my robin hood video that the fit was terrible and so this time i made sure to make a twirl i am in fact making this twirl from one of the many unsuccessful twirls i made for my 18th century cornwall dress i traced the pattern off so that i could make potential alterations easier and cut the fabric out before marking on all the balance marks and sewing lines having the sewing lines marked in makes it easier to adjust the scenes later and helps with sewing everything precisely [Music] unlike the robin hood bodice this pattern actually fit me really well especially through the back which is almost unheard of for me the princess seam stands away from the body over the chest so i knew i needed to adjust that seam but i didn't want to make the side piece any smaller so i took all of the width out of the center front panel and just moved the seam line over i then marked approximately where i wanted the velvet panel to go i wasn't particularly confident about doing this on myself so i studied the original dress for guidance and then began transferring all those alterations to the paper pattern by this time my fabrics had finally arrived i was really pleased with this snowstorm effect sparkly cotton and i chose quite a stable velvet because i really did not want to have to try and deal with the admittedly prettier but more awkward to sew drapey kind i was confident my altered pattern would fit so i began cutting it from my fabric the only other alteration i made was to lengthen the bodice as this pattern had a raised waistline and i wanted mine to fall at the natural waist so i've cut everything out now but i've been scratching my head a little bit over this because i am changing this pattern from being a center back zip closure to being a shirt waist essentially having buttons down the center front and i have done it before i think but i can't remember and so i think i've cut it right i think i've got all the pattern pieces right but i have um just remembered that nikki from liam did this on one of her projects a caption america dress that she made so i'm going to go and watch nikki's video to remind myself how to do it and double check that i've got it right so nikki to the rescue looks like i've done it right so everything should be okay i just have to remember i might have to come back to this video about the point where i haven't explained this very well have i but i don't want the skirt to open all the way down to the hem that's kind of pointless i don't need it to open that far i only need it to open so i can get it on so i want to do like a false opening at the bottom and then a proper opening for the through the bust in the waist so there's a point where it has to change from being open to being closed and i can't remember how to deal with that but nikki describes it really well in her video so i should be all right once i knew what i was doing i could mark all the pattern pieces up and begin the construction [Music] to prevent the edges fraying i overlocked them all just using the black thread i already had on the overlocker because life's too short and i didn't have enough blue thread then i could begin pinning everything together i had to tackle this tricky angled seam with the added complication of the velvet so i began by pinning below the corner first of all and then snipping into the corner on the cotton layer so i could then swing the rest of that seam around to match the velvet as this seam was also a little bit curved i had to ease everything in and use lots of pins this is definitely going to need tacking but before i started on the tacking i did some more pinning as i like to batch similar tasks together for energy efficiency i pinned in the shoulder darts on the back pieces and pinned the two halves of the back together at the center back then i went back and tacked that tricky angled seam with the velvet i used a matching colour thread in case i couldn't remove the tacking later with as much pinned as possible i began sewing [Music] when i got to the seams with the velvet i carefully took the tacking out as i went to avoid sewing over the tacking stitches which can make them really difficult to remove especially on velvet [Music] so my bobbin just ran out and i was like oh okay oh i'll rewind it i've still got some sewing left in me for today and i've just spent five minutes being like what the hell is wrong with this bobbin i couldn't get the machine to sew it kept jamming then i realized i um i hadn't threaded up the top i had literally just hadn't put it through all the different up and downy bits i just threaded the needle and was trying to sew so i think it's time to call it a night i've made up my front pieces because of course they're made of several panels now and i've got my lovely velvet panel with the awkward corner and i got so excited that they they were successful that i did up the next seam as well and i completely forgot that of course the um the waist tie can you see the waist tie is sandwiched in that seam i haven't made up the waist ties yet ah so that's probably what i'm gonna do first thing tomorrow but i can't bring myself to unpick it just yet so i think it's gonna have to wait so here we are day two before i finished last night i put everything it's just pinned in place on the stand to sort of see it coming together and i got out the ribbon that i bought and mocked it up to follow the seam lines but i think the ribbon is too wide i am i pinned it on flat first of all and then i folded it in half and pinned it on and i like it both ways and i don't know i think it's going to depend on how i feel when i try it on because i'm quite small and i'm quite narrow very wide vertical stripes as well with my scoliosis can be uh distracting to say the least i've ordered narrower ribbon and i'm basically just going to have to wait and see until it gets here because the other thing i hadn't realized about this ribbon i thought was going to be solid all one color but it's quite transparent and i don't know how i feel about that so the one i've ordered is completely transparent no completely opaque sorry i am also got this out to play with now that i have finished knitting the collar just because i wanted to see like maybe perhaps i could do the the trimming in this or i could crochet or later trimming or whatever but uh that's too much effort so decided against that i've also had to check the instructions because you know i had to unpick this seam and put the ties in but i wasn't sure how the ties worked because it's said to cut two which is what i did but then i was like but am i supposed to fold them in half and make her make a loop and pull it through or are they supposed to buy them together in which case i would need four uh no they just have you hem the edges so because my fabric is a one-sided print i'm not sure how i feel about that but it is quite quick and easy so i might just do it and live with it whereas it might be quite nice because i've got the contrast of the velvet and it'll be at the back let's just do it it'll be fine so the order of today i don't know how far i'll get because i want to put the ribbon on before i do up the side seams because then i can cause it it goes up over the shoulder and down onto the back on the photographs i've been able to found with the original gunny sacks dress so that would be much easier to do with the bodice out flat so i don't know how much i'll get done today because i've got to wait for this ribbon i suppose i can make up the sleeves we'll see we'll see what happens i began by double checking how these ties work confusingly they had seam line on when it was really a hem but i transferred the markings for the pleats and such and then remembered that for this cheaper brother machine i'm using because my benina is kaput i have these rolled hem feet so i thought i would give them a go [Music] i think it's working i spoke too soon [Music] i did eventually get the hang of it but i'm not sure if it was any easier than just rolling as you go with an ordinary presser foot you have to start it off yourself and then sort of hook the hem into the presser foot and even then you still have to roll the fabric over manually the foot just seems to keep it in place i don't know i'm not convinced [Music] i machine tacked the pleats in place and then unpicked just the bottom of that seam to insert the ties [Music] then i carried on with as much construction as i could without doing up the side seams i made up the skirt on the collar stand and then began on the sleeves sewing in the gathering stitches of the sleeve head and then joining the sleeve seams with all the sewing done i started pressing all those seams batching my tasks again so i don't have to constantly check if i remembered to switch the iron off i then worked on adding the elastic to the sleeve cuffs but i will talk more about that later [Music] so i've gotten as far as i can now everything all the units so that makes sense are made up so the sleeves are ready to be set in the skirt is ready to be attached the collar i'm i made this collar stand because the gunny sack dress i was copying had one but i'm not sure i'm gonna need it because this is more of a peter pan style collar so i might have to change what i do at the neck opening and i can't do any more i can't do any more until i make a decision about my ribbon and obviously my narrower ribbon hasn't arrived yet so i think i'm gonna have to pause everything on this project i have tried it on to check it's gonna fit it's gonna fit i quite like it it's just a lot it's a lot of all over print and i'm quite a petite person so um it's a statement i had a bit of trouble with the elastic in the cuffs i had to use like my lightest weight elastic because this is quite a heavy quilt cotton caught in cotton it didn't want to gather down with the elastic and i kind of glanced at the instructions but i thought oh it should be it should be tight the elastic should be tight around your wrist to get that blouse effect which is what's kind of happening in the pictures uh however as uh you may know if you've been on this channel for a little while i have a notoriously tiny wrists you know like 15 centimeter wrists they're so small so i cut my elastic to be the length of my wrist no ease and then i i couldn't i couldn't get it i couldn't get it out of the casing again to sew it shut so i had to make them bigger i think i've made them too big but i've machined it up now so oh well yeah so i don't know what i'm gonna do for the rest of the day i might just rest really that would be sensible wouldn't it [Music] so my narrower lemay ribbon has finally arrived took its time and i've just been playing with it on the stand and i definitely think i prefer it to the wide ribbon i think it's just so much more in proportion with the shape but as there is ribbon around the hem as well and this is quite a long hem i think this is going to be too narrow so what i think i'm going to do is this for the bodice and then the wider more transparent ribbon around the hem i've got to take all this off the stand now and then i think i'm going to probably just going to tack it on for now because i don't know what i'm doing about the back because in the original that i've sort of been copying it's got ribbon and then it comes down into like a square shape at the waist doing a really great demonstration there aren't i but yeah so it does that on the back and i don't know how i feel about that so i think i'm going to tack it on first of all and then go from there in the end i didn't tack the ribbon on i just chalked on where i wanted it to go and then pinned it over the chalk lines on the front i centered the ribbon over the seam and then top stitch it on with my top stitching foot and a coordinating thread i used a very light blue which worked surprisingly well i stitched down both edges of the ribbon carefully pivoting around the corners [Music] once all the ribbon was on i could finish off the construction i joined the side seams and then attached the sleeves i always machine my sleeves in two halves sewing the underarm half with the bodice facing up and the sleeve head with the inside of the sleeve facing up i made an entire video about this method which i shall link to if you'd like an in-depth tutorial once the sleeves were in i joined the skirt to the bodice i usually would put the collar on first but because of the nature of the center front opening on this dress i had to join the skirt first which meant it became a bit of a pain to get this dress under the sewing machine but needs must as this was quite a heavy skirt i decided to add some additional top stitching to the waist seam to reinforce the seam this is always where my dresses wear out first so i wanted to try and prevent that happening on this dress next it was onto the button plackets i joined two strips of the cotton right sides together and then pressed that seam open before pressing under the seam allowance on one edge of the button stand so i'm about to start work on my button placket and so you can see here i've got it seamed and this is going to be the inside and i've already pressed under that seam allowance to make top stitching it easier later so it will roll around like that eventually this is the underside so what i've got at the bottom here i've kind of made this is going to be more like a skirt placket i suppose then a button traditional button stand so i've just bagged out that corner so i've got a nice neat edge i've got this mark here so what i'm going to do is i'm going to stitch to that mark and then slit this part so stitch diagonally to there and then i'll be able to roll this around to the inside and stitch it in place hopefully and then the other side i'll do the same again so i'll end up with a little triangle here which i will be able to catch down and so it doesn't fray and then the other side so at this side rather than flipping everything around to the inside what i'm actually going to do is i'm going to lay it on top and then all the way down to the hem this will be like um a fake button stand is the idea let's see if it works [Music] i stitched the first half of the placket in place sniping into my mark where i had finished stitching and then repeated for the other side of the opening making sure to reverse at the bottom to keep everything really secure once i had snipped that second corner i could flip the under lap to the inside and fold that little triangle of fabric into position [Music] i then stitched a little square with a cross through the center to hold both the triangle of fabric and the underlap in place this was tricky to do with having to manage all the fabric of the skirt but it did work in the end [Music] i could then pin that folded long edge of the placket into position on the inside to enclose the seam allowance and top stitch it in place i also topstitched the outside edge of the placket mostly so that it would match the other edge but it also adds strength to that area which will get a lot of wear for the lower fake half of the button stand i machine one side down to the hem and then trimmed away the inside half of the placket and pressed the top edge into position i pinned the unsecured edge and then top stitched it in place to match the functional part of the button stand i could then work on adding the collar i decided that i did want to use the collar stand i had made so i whip stitched the knitted collar onto the top edge of the stand by hand i then attached one half of the collar stand to the neck edge of the bodice then fold it under the inside to enclose the seam allowance which i snipped to get everything to line nicely around the curve and top stitch the fold to match the top stitching on the button stand with the collar on i tried the dress on to check the fit and i hate it i really hate it oh god part of the issue is that this collar situation uh is it's too it's too big it stands away from the neck so much and that just looks really to be honest and makes my neck look really short it looks like an elizabethan rough you know it's not supposed to look like that should we make it a pie crust is that better [Music] okay so let's just pretend like yesterday afternoon didn't happen ah this dress right okay plan for today rescue this dress i'm going to cut the collar stand off and just bind the raw edge well i'm going to turn it under with bias tape very similar to what i did on that 1930s dress that i made and hand sew it down on the inside and then i will hand stitch the collar on flat like the peter pan collar it's supposed to be i'm also going to see if i can't press it out to be a bit lacier i'm worried about melting the lemay so i might have to do a test but then hopefully it will just look a little less like a rough and a bit more like delicate lace then once that is done it's just a hem and the buttons and buttonholes i think there's only one thing for it really time to dive right in having sorted out the collar i moved on to the hem as i was going to machine trim over the hem i just machined the hem in place i made tucks every now and again to accommodate the gourd shaping in the skirt another one of the bonuses of using this cheap brother sewing machine is the automatic buttonhole foot so i just had to figure out the spacing for the buttonholes and then sew after doing a sample of course i chiseled open the buttonholes and stitched on the buttons which i didn't film for some reason and then i just had to machine on the wider ribbon at the hem i decided to live dangerously and i didn't even pin it on what a rebel but with the hem trim on the dress was complete and i was ready to photograph my blue christmas dress next to our blue christmas tree only not a blue decoration in sight i went to a really dark place making this dress and now i don't even match the tree it turned out my mum had gotten bored of the blue and silver tradition and had instead gone for all white oh well i did still do my best 1970s hair and makeup and film next to the tree for while i didn't match the decker as i had hoped at least i didn't clash i did eventually find this blue nusnaker tucked away at the bottom that i could coordinate with so christmas wasn't totally ruined but in a way i feel that this dress with its ups and downs actually captures what i feel is important about this time of year it's a reminder that even in the darkest of times life perseveres and the light will always come again thanks for watching see you next time

Channel: Retro Claude

Views: 4,261

Keywords: #GunneSaxmas, gunne sax, 1970s dress, christmas dress, making a 1970s dress, style 3992, 1970s sewing pattern, sewing a 1970s dress, 1970s dress tutorial, gunne sax dress, gunne sax dress diy, gunne sax dress pattern, making a gunne sax dress, making a christmas dress, this dress almost ruined christmas, 1970s sewing tutorial, sewing velvet fabric, DIY christmas dress, holiday dresses 2021, vintage holiday dress, DIY retro Christmas dress, vintage christmas, retro christmas

Id: gEberg7CiDk

Length: 25min 4sec (1504 seconds)

Published: Sat Dec 18 2021