Eva Dress Thrifty Thirty's Challenge: E30-4027 1933 Frock in Wicking Fabric

I adore vintage patterns. Xandra of Eva Dress does an excellent job cultivating a lovely collection of unique vintage patterns that she reproduces for us to sew with. They come on strong paper that is easy to alter should you need to adapt to your body.  November 15th she threw out the Thrifty Thirties challenge where we use one of her 1930's patterns and take on the "Thriftiness" that was so very prevalent and necessary in the 1930's.  

I've long lusted after tons of 1930's patterns. I love their fit because it leans toward my athletic trim fit preferences, yet most patterns also have a touch of elegance and flare on top that take a simple garment and elevate it to a "WOW!" garment.  I'm also focused on using my stash and making dancewear for myself. It's rare that I find something in my size that is also colorful and stylish. So I gave up shopping for lent in favor of sewing my own clothes. Ha ha! Seriously though I have pretty much given up shopping all together. 

I chose to use E30-4027 1933 Frock in Wicking Fabric for this challenge.

As you are seeing both here and on Instagram, I love to sketch out the pieces I'm planning. Above illustrates how I am taking a dress and converting it into a shirt length, then switching out the traditional fabrics like crepe and silk for stretchy wicking poly-lycra plus nylon-lycra.  

How am I being Thrifty for this challenge? 

• Both fabrics came from my stash. I originally purchased them from Pacific Fabrics, though at totally different times.
  
• I am supporting local businesses (I want them to stick around!). Why is that thrifty? Because I make a trip to the Seattle Fabric Stores when I can combine it with another errand or with multiple shopping needs. When I bought these fabrics (long before the contest), I did combine the trips with multiple needs. 
• I shortened this to a shirt so that I could wear it with several other skirts and pants that I already have in my closet. Thus making this a dance wardrobe extender!
• I used up the entire amount of fabric
• I had only 1.5 yards of the main body fabric (and the store didn't have more).  I ran out of room to make all pieces properly on-grain. So, I turned the center front and back triangle pieces on the opposite grain (running parallel with the selvedges instead of perpendicular). This worked out fine with this fabric because it doesn't appear to have a nap, it stretches in both directions, and doesn't have a pattern. YAY!

I found that making liberal use of 505 Temporary Spray Adhesive was paramount to my success. Typically I have begun using this in my lingerie making. Because the nylon lycra was slippery and because the binding piece for the back neck opening was very small, I didn't want to fuss over having the fabric slip and then need to seam rip or accidentally tear the fabric  (it's happened!). I was very glad I used spray adhesive. HIGHLY recommended!  Temporary adhesive also is like working with post-it notes. Place, remove, place, remove until you're happy with where you've placed the piece. 

Since the spray adhesive worked so well on the back opening, I used it for the fussy, curved cuff that required a lapped seam (that seems to be a common sewing technique for the 1930's), and also to handle the opening from shoulder to cuff. Worked excellently! 

This spray adhesive only lasts a couple days and I was focused on sewing over several days. So, that worked in my favor. By the time I was done, the adhesive had worn off. ​

Here she is all done. This is how I wore the top out for a night of salsa dancing.  My mom calls my swoon photo on the left below my "Sarah Bernhardt" pose.  The top is designed with a batwing / dolman style sleeve. I found that was occasionally in the way when my dance partners were trying to lead me in closed pose because the point of lead is often the shoulder blade. I also found that sometimes the way I moved that sleeve opening created the perfect opportunity for the lead to accidentally stick his hand in there. Whoops! ​

I grabbed one of my existing leather belts to finish off the look. I'm really glad I did because it pulled the whole thing together.  I made a few other modifications

• shorten the length of the back opening to finish at the top of my bra strap. I mean really, if I can ensure modesty, why not make it work for me? 
• Instead of one single button at the top, I used 4 buttons, spaced 2" apart. The way this fabric sewed up, that opening wanted to splay. A property of the firmness of the main body wicking fabric. 
• The shirt was hemmed, the cuffs were not. The Nylon Lycra was much happier that way, plus it's a very narrow cuff opening. That's great because it stays on, but difficult to sew a hem on.

Modifications I might consider in future: 

• Lower the back neckline to eliminate that wrinkle/bubble. 1930's women / pattern blocks must have had long necks and long distances between chin and shoulder.
• Shirr the waistband area to create an easy, automatic waist line that naturally pulls up to a high waist/near empire waist style. I found that the shirt has just enough fabric that it walks around and gathers in odd ways while being worn. 

So you can see what it looks like without the belt, here are a few photos. This is a straight size out of the pattern. I didn't modify or trace between sizes at all. Pretty darn good fit, wouldn't you say? Though without the belt, it's a little boring and too much day glow cherry/orange for me.

You can see from the photo below that I even did my best to match stripes on the cuffs at the inside seam. Aren't those little V's just lovely? I'm tickled with the results. This was a really fun make that not only fits the 1930's styling, but also fulfills my desire to take vintage patterns to a modern style.