My 1975 Ditsy Floral Dress -Work in progress 2

Hooray I had a day off today and actually got some more done on this dress.  I was hoping to have finished it but best laid plans and all that.  This morning I went to see an exhibition at the local college which my friend had photography work in.  They also had some dressmaking bits including a really pretty 1950's poodle skirt.  It was interesting to see what people had made from this course as I decided against it last year as it was one evening a week and by the end of the year you had only made one outfit.  I know I can make a dress in a few days so I wasn't that impressed though I did think maybe it would be a really good quality outfit and maybe there would be things I could pick up that I wouldn't  have learnt through teaching myself.  Then I looked at the inside seams of the garments.  Completely unfinished and left raw and the hem was all done on machine.  Hmm.  Glad I didn't take it now as I am not sure I would have learnt anything new.

Anyways, on to the current project, my 1975 flowery dress.  I decided to make the dress with the neck facing from the instructions as the original suggested rather then lining it as the fabric is not see-through and I don't want it to be a bulky summer dress.

Inside neck facing before pressing

I also finish all my seams with my overlocker.  It's quick and easy and I am not really that worried about retaining the vintage feel by using French seams as I use vintage patterns because I like the designs not because I want to be historically accurate. 

Pressed facing from inside dress

The pattern suggested stitching along the top of the facing but I thought top stitching might keep if folded down better so I top stitched around the neckline through the facing.

Inside of sleeves

Next I sewed up the little puff sleeves, these were quite straight forward as they were the same method as a Burda shirt I made a few years ago.  It leaves the cuffs looking all neat and pretty inside.  I had to reduce the seam allowance by half a cm on each underarm seam as they were feeling a little tight on my arms when I tried them on.  (I hope other people do this, walk around with disembodied sleeves on their arms!)  I top stitched the cuffs to match the neckline too. 

Puffy sleeves!

The pattern calls for the zip to be put in before the facing and sleeves but as I plan on adding some trim (which you can see around Ann's neck) and thought it would look better if I can hide the raw edges when putting the zip in rather than have them showing.  I don't really see why you have to put the zip in first.