Man that Laura Ashley ensemble takes me right back to high school in the 80's! The petticoat would be worn as a skirt more so than under the skirt. All us San Francisco kids were looking very much lost on the prarie! The Gunne Sax outlet was nearby. Exciting times! 😊
Omg my mom refused to buy me Laura Ashley or Gunne Sax so I saved up my baby sitting money ($1 per hour back then!) and eventually was able to rock the prairie look with huge Aqua Net styled hair. My sister and I would have fistfights in the morning before school over using up all the hairspray before the other one had a chance to use it.
I'm loving the loose fit jumpsuit. It just looks like something you can live in, comfort-wise, but also always look pulled together. Has a lot of dress it up, dress it down potential. And I do see it for pajama/lounger potential with snaps rather than buttons. A fit-along would be fabulous!
I hear so many people recommending to size down in so many patterns. What is a person to do who is already swimming in the smallest size? I don't know how to grade a pattern to lines that don't exist. I'm getting so tired of this excessive ease that everyone seems to have glommed onto. 😢 Anyway in 1973 I had an outfit that consisted of a mini dress and a pair of matching pants that I could wear under the dress. I also had a cute little polka dot fit and flair mini dress that had matching panties. I loved it. I used to twirl around hoping that folks would catch a glimpse of them. 😅
I remember those matching bloomers that women and girls wore under their mini dresses! I always thought the girls who wore them looked so sharp. When miniskirts came back in the late 80's (before I learned to sew) the careful maneuvering necessary to avoid showing underwear had me wishing so much they'd bring those bloomers back! When I learned to sew in the 2010's, all my miniskirts had attached shorts or matching bloomers!
I wasn’t sure so I asked my IG followers. Their reqs suggested not bothering to size down as the shape will get weird. Instead, shop indies like itch to stitch and jalie. Burda was mentioned for having smaller sizes as were French and Japanese patterns! Hope this helps!
the vest shirt is a total yes for me. not much else. I think the gathering on the blue bias cut gown is what was making it appear to not fit well. If you look closely at the line drawing it shows a fold coming from the gather.
Thank you! The skort romper, the quiet luxury set, the free people lounge jumpsuit are super cute! The 70s were fun times to dress, many of us had to consider what was under our Short Skirts! Laura Ashley, classic.
I'm sure I wore a version of that Laura Ashley outfit in the 80s. It does look very "bunker chic" now in the calico. I hadn't seen the potential in her other pattern until you pointed out how cute the dress is without the jacket. I love the striped asymmetrical dress so I will buy that one. Thanks sew much for another excellent video.
Thanks for review. I’m with you on the romper-skort , love the pleated version. Everything else I might fancy, I can duplicate with better versions and better fit from my Burda magazines. I remember the princess seam dresses from 90’s (I guess longer versions of 70s) as you say, incredible swirl and easy to wear. I am glad fit, shaping and waist seems to be creeping back into designs. A fit along is interesting plan, less effort from you and less organising on our side. Appreciate as always your time in creating these videos.
First I would make a basic / sloper pattern top and skirt that fit. Subsequently I would use it as a master . Thereafter I would use the commercial patterns as inspiration and apply the necessary changes to a copy of the master. Start by placing your master over the smallest size to generally see what needs to change. It saves time and aggravation if you have to adjust after the fabric has been cut. There are video's showing how to measure yourself first , compare with the pattern taking account seam allowance and ease, etc. and also look at proportions. You can also try to size down by comparing sizing down applied by the pattern makers L to M to S.
The first thing that came to me during that leggings and crop top pattern: I started learning to sew because I'm tired of plastics in my fabrics and poorly constructed garments with fitting challenges on my pear shape. Why would I buy patterns that would still give me these problems _and_ not cover my tummy?
I love a narrow waistband elastic on my leggings. But I prefer it inside a broad band so that my whole tummy is in the band but the tiny elastic keeps the band from rolling. Nobody got time for a 3/4 band on badly fitted leggings
Anything Laura Ashley was showing privilege back in the day but Laura Ashley was big in the 70s so I think that the petticoat was more of a fashion statement than a status statement. Although again, Laura Ashley was itself a status thing. It was really expensive. I thought that the vest was just giving “no”. I don’t need to try to justify it. Id just skip it. I totally love the blouse. It’s gorgeous and the skirts are beautiful and now I know how to do pintucks so yay.
I made this pattern in the 70's. the dress was really short and the panties where made out of the same fabric. It was called a sizzler. this also rushed the era of hot pants.
