Say hello to the lovely ladies of Advance 8990 – a 1959 pattern for a playsuit and skirt. I did have a momentary pause about making what is, after all, a glorified onesie, but it looked like a useful garment for wearing in the heat. I like that it’s quite a formal-looking romper, what with the collar and turned-back sleeves, but I particularly like the idea of popping a matching skirt over the top so that you’ve instantly got a nice smart dress!
I asked for Paul’s opinion (as I usually do) before I bought the pattern, and was met with an emphatic shaking of the head. Oh dear. To be honest, I think he was put off by the rather alarming hat-and-balaclava combination, which I definitely won’t be attempting to carry off! But honestly. How could I possibly resist a pattern that describes itself as a “Fun-time Ensemble”? I’m only disappointed that it doesn’t list “novelty prints” amongst the suitable fabrics. (Rest assured though – a novelty print version will be forthcoming at some stage.) It could only be better if it had a raglan sleeve.
I was quite excited to discover that the pattern, despite being 56 years old, was actually brand new and still in its factory folds! Unfortunately, it looks as though it perhaps hasn’t been stored in the best conditions, because the paper was incredibly fragile – more so than any other vintage pattern I’ve come across so far. I managed to tear the pieces several times as I was unfolding them and cutting them out, so I think drastic measures are going to be called for. I expect to be using this pattern more than once, so I think I’m going to iron the pieces onto some lightweight interfacing to stabilise them. I know this will effectively destroy the original pattern, but it’s in such poor condition that it’s pretty much ruined anyway. Normally I’d trace the pieces onto stronger paper, but the originals are just going to fall apart in the envelope, so I might as well make sure that I can use them for the purpose for which they were intended.
(The museum/conservation person in me is writhing in horror at the prospect of ironing these pattern pieces onto adhesive interfacing. But I do believe that these things are made to be used, and this particular example is no longer of a quality worth trying to preserve in its original state. So, I’m doing it anyway.)
According to the envelope, the “Front-buttoned flared skirt wears its pockets in side front seams.” I spent ages looking for the pocket pattern, thinking that the piece on the left was some kind of cuff or trim. Nope – it’s the pocket. But it’s tiny! The innermost dashed line marks the seam allowance, which will be the finished size of the pocket – and I can’t even get my hand inside it! What were the designers thinking?! I don’t know what the lady of 1959 was expecting to be able to keep in there, but it must have been very small.
When I make the skirt, I’m going to substitute the pockets from my new Marcy Tilton pattern, Vogue 9112. You know, ones I can actually fit my hands into. I’ll probably add slightly smaller pockets to the playsuit as well, just because. You can never have too many pockets.
I have to say that the instructions for this pattern are pretty sparse. They basically say “cut out pieces; make playsuit”. So when I followed an instruction that said “clip to small dots”, I did so… but apparently in the wrong direction. This extremely neat little triangular hole is at the bottom of the front placket. I can patch it so that it looks deliberate, but it’s not the best place for a hole in a pair of shorts, really! I will now be annotating the instructions on a separate piece of paper, as I go along.
This attractive pale pink poly-cotton was just a piece of left-over fabric sitting in the stash, and I’m very glad that I decided to use it to try out the pattern before cutting it out in decent fabric! These pins represent a slightly unusual alteration, in that I’m taking 6cm out of the length at the too-long centre front, and then tapering it out to nothing at the side seams because the back is the perfect length.
I was a bit confused about this at first – how could the back length be fine, but the front be far too long? However, I think what I’m actually doing here is making a sway back/big bum alteration in reverse. Normally I’d expect to lengthen the centre back to create extra room, but I’d also expected the playsuit to be too long overall, because I’m very short in the body. As a result, the back is fine as it is, which makes the front too long by comparison. It’s all very complicated!
The only other alteration I’m going to need to make is to add a couple of inches of width at the hips. The shorts fit, but they’re quite snug, and it looks a bit out of balance with the rest of the garment being so loose. Adding a little bit of extra ease will give me the space to include the pockets, too.
I have to admit that the temptation to run down to the local fabric shop and snap up five metres of lots of different cheap novelty-print cottons is very high. But I do have some fabric in the stash that I can use up first, and I’m still trying as hard as I can not to buy non-organic cottons. We’ll see how long my resolve lasts.