The Battle of the Stitches - a 70's dress!

Have you heard that the 70's fashion & style are back? It's all about flare, flounces and bo-ho. Today I am sharing with you a girl's dress I made using a vintage pattern from the 70's for the Battle of the Stitches, a sewing challenge hosted by Olu, who blogs over Needle & Ted.  This battle started between Olu and Toya, who blogs over Made by Toya, and this time two guests joined it - me and Nina, from Fliegfederfrei. Make sure to stop by over their blogs to see what everyone made! 

Today is the round three of this battle, and the theme is "a stitch back in time". The challenge was to make something (girls or women clothes) using a vintage pattern or inspired by some vintage era's fashion.

Going through my small vintage pattern stash - one handful that I inherited from my granny and another handful that I was lucky to purchase online for a bargain - this was my pick: a girl's dress from the 70's. 

Pattern
Simplicity 8715, size 6. Published in 1970.

Fabric
Burnt orange baby wale corduroy (the same I used here, on my first Small Fry Skinny jeans).

I also looked on a couple of sewing books I have from the 70's (can you tell that I love this era? maybe because I was born in it... :) ), looking for additional inspiration on style, fabric and color. I could easily find some common details:

• The dresses were mainly made in color blocked fabrics. I could found some florals but not many.
• The main colors used were: yellows and oranges, greens and blues.
• Lace trims were very popular.
• The dresses were styled with high knee white lace socks and shinny Mary Jane shoes.

I guess this was an early 70's style since we can see a lot from the 60's style still in there. The mid/late 70's style was already slightly different, and influenced the early-mid 80's style. 

Here are some photos from the books:

Details
This dress is an A-line dress, softly gathered on the front inset, with a high round neckline, back zipper and lace edging trim. The pattern offers three different views: sleeveless with a stand-up collar, set-in long sleeves gathered on the armholes with an elastic casing forming self ruffles at the edge, and short sleeves.

I wanted to make the long sleeve option but I also wanted to use the corduroy. Since it doesn't have enough drape to make those gorgeous flow-y sleeves I ended up opting for the sleeveless version so she could wear it with some layers underneath for the colder weather. I guess I'll have to make another one for Spring/Summer using a lightweight flow-y fabric, right? :) 

The instructions were thorough and easy to follow, with the exception of a few sewing terms that (I guess) are not so commonly used nowadays, but it was easy to figure out what they meant within its context. I was surprised that the instructions have lots of step-by-step clear diagrams. 

This was an easy sew and I loved making it! 

I did had to change a few things though: the neckline was awfully narrow... It wouldn't fit this girl's neck so I had to widen it. I also had to widen the armscyes since they had a very small opening... Either than that the pattern was perfect and the fit is great!

I just had to add this photo... Love it so much! Can you tell that she is flying? This girl... <3 

Happy sewing!