Car Shift

My current re-commitment to Fake Burda 6401 led me to decide to finally use a silly vintage automotive print fabric I thrifted in 2014.

 

 I do not regret this decision.

The fabric is 36" wide, and I was surprised to find that the print does not repeat from selvedge to selvedge.  I was trying to find the same graphic element across the width, to get an idea of how on-grain it was after being ripped, and...there weren't any same graphic elements across the width!  It never occurred to me before that someone would design a print for narrow fabric like that, but it makes sense, given how narrow it is.  The vertical repeat is pretty large, too.  I suspect someone had fun designing this.

 

36" wide also means this is very vintage--my guess is fro the '50s or '60s, but it could just as easily be later (or earlier.)  I had always thought I would use it to make something equally vintage, but my recent ponderings about 'what I make and why' convinced me that it would be perfect for a Fake Burda 6401.

 

I didn't notice the slub in the fabric until I was getting ready to sew the shoulder seams.  I do have enough of his fabric left that I could easily have cut another bodice front, but it doesn't bother me.  Hair will very likely always cover that spot, whether the hair is down or in braids.

I felt like white thread would be optimum for this, with white top stitching making a nice contrast with the ground color and coordinate with the car outlines.

 

 The fabric was lovely to work with, going through the hem roller with no problems.

 

Of course there are pockets, outlined with the brown thread still in my serger.  I decided not to serge over the selvedges inside the skirt, so I serged all of the pocket bag edges individually before attaching them.

 

And the back!  I didn't get the facing attached to the neckline perfectly--I think when I tried to pull the neckline over my head after sewing the shoulder seams (because I raised the neckline from the pattern and suspected it might have ended up a bit small--and it was...) I may have distorted it on the curved bias a bit, causing it to grow larger than the interfaced facing neckline opening.  It's fine.

(and if it comes out of its first wash Not Fine, then I guess I'll be re-sewing the neckline.  Which will be fine.)