Friday, January 7, 2011

Butterick 8084 – made up

That heading feels like such a lie… but it isn’t!

Butterick 8084 is definitely made up – and how – but I cannot tell a lie, it was not my sewing skills that got the job done.

Lovely Aunty Bub made this one up some years ago – quite some years ago – and once again its lucky old me that gets to benefit.

Aunty Bub wore the dress for a while, then passed it on to her daughter Yvonne, whose daughter Alicia wore it once before she grew out of it… so its been handed to me… and I just love it.

It’s a tight squeeze but I think its worth it.

So, to refresh your memory (and mine) – here’s the pattern… its the ‘my hips, my arms, my boobs’ one, where Ms View C’s head is bigger than her waist…

CIMG2489

And here’s what happens when Aunty Bub gets hold of some beautiful pink cottonish material that has pink flower sprays embroidered on it. You can just see one near my knee.

Butterick 8084

But seriously – check out the shoes. Original 1940s WHITE suede pumps. The arch in these shoes is out of control but you do get used to them.

Here’s a shoe-tastic Christmas flavoured shot, with two-day-old pincurls and my summer-no-show ghostly tan… :0)

Butterick 8084 christmas

I’ll make sure if I make this one up myself to add a little length to the skirt panels to hide those knees away, but overall it’s a lovely fit.

I really am very lucky – and appreciate the heck out of my family! :0)

Aunty Bub also passed a couple of sweet and simple shift dresses to me when I was about 16 and they are made of a very similar material, again with embroidered flowers on them. Sadly they no longer fit me but I still have them so tomorrow I will dig them out and take some up close and personal shots of those flowers. They are simply lovely.

As are talented, generous Aunties with great taste!!

11 comments:

  1. Its so wounderful!
    It's a dream.
    Greetings from germany,
    Bettina

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  2. The dress is wonderful - icing sugar pink, I love your hair too. The whole ensemble with tree and shoes is fab!
    :-)

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  3. OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH that dress is perfect!! it is beutiful!! lucky you to have it, it fits you very well, perhaps you need a little crinoline, and those shoes are lovely too, I always have seen the pictures from the 40's and thought the arch is tall. Sorry some times I can express my self as I wish , my native language is not english =)

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  4. Ah!! And I want to see the other dresses you say

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  5. What a wonderful dress and all the more special for its history!

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  6. Hi Denise, just discovered your blog through sew retro yesterday and have today gone through all your old posts. wow, love your dancing videos! the music.. the dancing .. the skirt! How fabulous you get to own this dress; sewn by your aunty and passed down through the generations and still loved and admired all these years later. it looks stunning on you. look forward to following your future posts :)

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  7. Thank you all for your lovely comments.
    I definitely feel very lucky to be the newest custodian of this dress - and the patterns - and also to have such nice readers stopping by for a chat! :0)

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  8. Love the dress. But the SHOES. Where did you get them? They are absolutely amazing.

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  9. Longest delay in reply EVER (sorry!) but I actually found the shoes in a secondhand store here in Melbourne about 11 years ago when i first moved here.
    It's funny, but this store was amazing - one of those dark and dingy vintage stores you only ever hear about, never actually find, AND THEN I LOST IT for 10 years!!
    I couldn't remember the name of it or even the suburb - but I accidentally found it late last year and I'm sad to say it had been sold earlier in the year and the woman who bought it cleared out all of the amazing dresses and shoes and sold it as a job lot to someone who idly enquired one day - for a pittance too apparently.
    Terrible timing on my behalf!!

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