Treating myself to pockets, part two ⋆ Polka Dot Cottage

So, I’m back. A week or so has passed since my last post, and in that time (among other things) I’ve sewn a new shirt and a new dress, and had six inches cut off of my hair 😁

Today’s show-and-tell is brought to you by vintage linens.

After my last sewing session I thought I would be done with the sewing for a while. But it was a hot day. And I was wearing shorts. And I was starting to feel like maybe having my legs out all summer would be a nice thing. I used to wear skirts constantly (remember that?). And then somewhere along the line, I started feeling like shaving my legs was too much work, and none of my t-shirts looked good with my skirts, and blah blah blah. I’ve spent the last several summers pretty much living in jeans, except on the really, really hot days where I just can’t take it anymore. I still think shaving my legs is a royal pain in the neck, but I can probably be convinced to go above the knee maybe once a week, and put on something nice 😁

Anyway, I dug through my vintage sheet stash and found two things that grabbed me right away: a set of pillowcases that were in excellent shape and had a bold mod floral design, and a green 60s/70s era sheet that was still in the package.

It took me a couple of evenings to get everything washed and cut out, and another couple to do the sewing. But eventually the pillowcases became a shirt, and the sheet became a dress. Also with pockets 🙂

Rambling Thoughts on Terminology

Like before, I used my self-drafted Barefoot Summer Sheath pattern, 2024 edition.

As an aside, I am thinking I may need to rename this design. It’s gone through so many iterations at this point that the dress is becoming more A-line than sheath. And when I make the shirt version, can I really call that a sheath? I mean, maybe I should just leave the sheath name in the past where it started 11 years ago, and consider this thing I’ve been making for the last two years something else entirely 🤔. On the other hand, I created this pattern for me, to fit only me, and what I call it is probably of very little interest to anybody else…

Moving on, how about that show-and-tell?

Mod Floral Shirt

I love this design. To me, it gives off Vera Neumann vibes, but I haven’t confirmed that it’s one of her designs.

I didn’t do anything special with this, aside from making sure I would have enough room in it across the chest before sewing it closed. And I zig-zagged around the seam allowance to help prevent any more seams-popping-open mishaps like I had with last week’s orange gingham shirt.

A bit of the black bias binding is peeking out on the neck. That wasn’t intentional, but it doesn’t bother me, and I couldn’t convince myself to fix it anyway. (Sewing the neck and arm holes are my least favorite part of garment sewing.)

This is definitely coming with me to the beach later this month. Probably will bring the sweater, too, since there’s always a little chill in the air there 😁

Green Floral Dress

I was so happy to find this sheet in my stash – still in the package! I have had bits of this design in blue before, and I’ve used it in my beach quilt, but I never had it in green. And you probably know how I feel about green… 💚

So, it became a dress with pockets, just like the one I made last week. And also like last week, the pocket openings are a bit wonky. I may need to watch that video again, because I think I’m doing something wrong. Still, they are functional, and I don’t think the wonkiness is noticeable.

Being fresh out of the package, this sheet was kind of crispy. Not very nice for dress-wearing. But I washed it twice before cutting into it, and then I washed the finished dress a few times, too, and it’s getting better. It’s going to take a while to completely break it in, I think.