Vintage Sewing: Advance 9245, Infant Pinafore

Truth: I sewed and/or started these dresses back in 2015, but had cut out 3 and one remained unfinished, until last weekend. I started the Strawberry dress first, then cut out two floral dresses and left one unfinished until now. The other was finished, and gifted to a friend in 2015.

Typical me, the only thing this last one needed for the past ~3 years were buttonholes and buttons, but I have an avowed hatred for hand sewing. I'm trying, and failing miserably, to get over it. I often try to get around hand sewing by using set-in snaps or zippers instead... or just never finishing the projects that require it. 

Last weekend when I sought to set lovely vintage, western-style pearl snaps in the shoulders of the tiny dress, I found the prongs were corroded and snapped right off. I was very sad, as I have ~4 cards and realize now that I won't be able to use any of them. Being unable to set them also meant I needed to change the set-up of my Bernina* rather quickly because I was down to the last minute and trying to rush out the door for the 45 minute drive to their house. I accepted my fate, did a quick change of needle, presser foot, and bobbin thread, adjusted the tension a bit and did one practice buttonhole since it's been a while. Things worked out just fine, until I sliced through the stitching on one side of a buttonhole with my seam ripper (SERIOUSLY SELF, STOP THAT), but I just restitched that part with step 1 and step 6 of the automatic buttonhole knob and all was okay.

Confession: I sewed on the buttons at the baby shower. I was slightly embarrassed, but nobody paid any attention to it and since it's just hand sewing two buttons (oh really? Now I don't see it as a big deal??) it went rather quickly. I love this dress, I really really do. I sewed these dresses in size 6 months, and coupled the gift to my friends with a little newborn cardigan I knitted. 

I used vintage Jantzen buttons on both floral dresses-- one with white buttons, and the other with blue.

The fabric is very sturdy and I expect it washes/wears well, which is perfect for the messy hands of children. I've sewn two of this exact dress, and gifted them both to close friends with daughters. The fabric was a lovely find at an estate sale in a country farmhouse, and I picked up close to 10 yards of this fabric for a song. 

"Dellwood Park" 961509, A Waverly Bonded Fabric

The pattern itself is pictured below. I didn't show the blouse or bloomers that accompany the pattern, because I assume that parents often prefer to dress their babies in cozy knit leggings and long sleeve tees, rather then collared shirts and bloomers sewn from woven cotton.  

Advance 9245; 1960

The Strawberry Dress remains in my box of clothes for a future baby girl if we have one, otherwise it will be gifted to someone near and dear to me someday. The fabric was found at an estate sale, and I had juuuuuust enough to squeeze out the tiny, fruity pinafore/dress. I had to piece together the back facing, otherwise there were no modifications.

So, that's what I sewed most recently and also very long ago. I'm trying to get back in the swing of creating and writing about it, because I've taken too much time off. My work has been very stressful for the past many months, and I need to find better work/life balance. The never-ending push of it all keeps me up at night and I'm not enjoying the things I used to. Hopefully, you'll see more of me posting here and keeping track of what I love to do-- instead of me focusing mostly on what I'm paid to do. I do like my work, but it's all a bit overwhelming with massive deadlines right now.

PS: I've also been using Textillia to track my sewing projects, and I really love it. It's similar to Ravelry, esp. the early Ravelry days when users had to enter and contribute materials to the database, but the platform is great and easy to use. You can connect with me there as 'mandolin' -- and also on Ravelry with the same username, for that matter. 

*About the Bernina: I want to love my Bernina 1008 and sometimes I do, but I find that it consistently gives me heartburn over the tension-- which I detailed in my last post about the TMNT knit t-shirt I sewed. At the point that I needed to finish the dress on Saturday and was racing the clock, it was threaded with a jersey twin needle, a walking foot, and woolly nylon in the bobbin for finishing/hemming the last bits of a matching dress project that my step-daughter and I have been working on. I really didn't want to change my setup, because I had it adjusted perfectly for sewing knits, but my daily driver doesn't have the proper throat plate for the buttonhole attachment(s) I have for it. As annoying as the tension issue is with the Bernina, it does a *wonderful* and *consistent* and *easy* buttonhole, which isn't easy to find.