I'm a bit scared of vintage patterns. There I've said it. I heard rumours their sizing is different to modern day. I'm scared old paper will fall apart instantly with my touch. I'm scared old symbols mean the opposite of new symbols. With this in mind tho I do always have a rifle though the old patterns in vintge shops and charity shops, never knowing what you might find.
This pattern was inculded in a bundle in my local charity shop alongside other retro work-out patterns. Without being able to delve in and check all the bits were there I bought the bundle, confident that whatever I found inside I would be able to do something with.
The McCalls 6469 was instantly my vibe. Lil shorts, sporty polo neck, customisable joggers and a hoodie to match. I set to work having a look what was inside the packet. Everything was still intact, but ohh no, that's right, multi size patterns were still a thing of the future when this pattern was made. OK check the size guide........ bust size looks good, hips look err, narrow OH WAIT it's a junior's pattern haha!
Undeterred by this revelation, I decided to pull out some of the stretchiest rib knit in my stash, take some careful measurements and proceed with caution. At the very least I'd get to have a bash at making that polo neck placket, even if I ended up with a garment too small.
As I was likely going to be lengthening the pattern anyway, I decided to throw caution to the wind and extend the top into a dress. I added length and, I won't lie, completely estimated what hips looked like - erring towards overestimating so that I had enough to pin when the dress was on, and find my fit.
Before we get to sideseams though, let's chat about that placket. What a joy to make. The pattern doesn't mention using any kind of interfacing at all - is this just a vintage pattern thing where they assume we are all interfacing everything all the time anyway? Not sure, but I didn't have any stretch interfacing so I thought what the hell and swiftly glossed over the idea that we might need some stabiliser in the collar. Maybe the placket could have been a little crisper with the addition of interfacing, but there is no way anyone is going to be looking at it and thinking this. I am honestly delighted with the entire neck. When it came to pressing under seam allowances I was super super careful so as not to stretch out the fabric, and I handstitched the inside of the placket and collar so there was no chance of stretching.
What else is great about this neckline is. No. Buttons. No. Buttonholes. Absolute party time! Can we just take a moment to celebrate how symmetrical that X is at the bottom of the opening? Pretty lush eh?
I stitched the side seams by pinning them wrongsides together at 1.5cm then trying on and altering the pins as necessary. I'd got a really nifty fir at the front, but had the same old classic small back fit issues that I have with every single garment. So I did what any 2022 seamstress would do, and I totally cheated by adding a centre back seam/dart, starting beween my shoulders (widest part) then extending all the way down to my bum. There's potentail to overfit here, so I kept in my minds' eye what I wanted. Tight around the hips but still a little sway in the skirt. I spent a long while shifting pins around and puncturing my underarms in the process, but I got there eventually!
I took 8cm off the length of the sleeves, hemmed them while they were flat with a zig zag stitch and used pattern paper under the machine foot to prevent over-stretching. I tapered what was left of the under arm seam inwards to prevent gape. Was this cheating or is this what sleeves do? I don't know but either was I was really pleased with the outcome.
I stitched the hem in the same fashion as the sleeves, but this time used pattern paper on the top and bottom of the fabric to really get a glide. I was way too committed by this point to lose it all to a wonky streched hem!
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