1960s Dresses - I Want to Be That Girl!

Butterick 4702

 

 

Butterick 4872  I like View A

This weekend I have been fixated on dress patterns of the sixties.  I found a few this week that I just love and would like to find in my new size.  I have some medium weight turquoise I think would be perfect.

It's true I went through a phase of loving the 50s dresses and even sewing a few.  Well, funny thing is, when I lost the 40+ pounds I did this year, my tastes are changing--again.  I really like those "mod" That Girl styles!  I was watching on Friday, she had the cutest little A-line dress on.  Bold geometrics, and solids.  Then when she put on a matching sleeveless dress coat, it was perfect!  So I spent some time this weekend looking at patterns and ideas from the early to mid sixties.  I found some patterns in my own stash that were obviously either my mother's or grandmothers.  Here are a few I found online that I will just have to find and put together.  The pieces look so easy to put together in a day.  I think when regular women sewed regular clothes, there were more patterns that could be put together in a weekend or even a day.

What It Costs To Be That Girl in 2013
One thing I am discovering, however, is some of these patterns--for some reason--are going to $15 and higher.  The Butterick 4702 pattern is going for $16.99 on eBay.  The Butterick 4872 is going for $10.00 on Etsy.  I haven't taken the time to see if they are actually getting $16.99 and $10.00 for their dried up 50 year-old patterns, but I will say this, some of these are rare in uncut condition.  The other thing is the ones that are there are relatively small.  Like 30 and 32 bust.  That's just a little more than my waist, so these are tiny patterns.  I supposed the right seamstress could alter the pattern to fit the size 16 and 18 customer, but having done that many times for other folks of unusual proportions, it is not fun and definitely became a labor of love that I knew I would never be compensated for.

Most of the dresses take about half the material as the 50s dresses I was so obsessed with last year.  I see most dresses taking 2 1/2 to 3 1/2 yard while the full skirted dresses from the 1950s sometimes called for over seven yards.  If I was lucky enough to find material for $5 to $7 dollars at WalMart or online, the dress was still going to get expensive for a novelty dress like a 1950s evening gown.  I'm looking this week for a dress to wear to my son's going away party the end of this month, so I will post some selections as the weeks go by--if I decide I even have time to sew a dress.