Many years ago, I made a cute ruffled sleeve top from a McCall's pattern. At the time, cash was short. I was living on a grad school assistant salary -- half went to my rent, half to food. If there was any left over at the end of the month, I bought a pitcher of beer for my friends. Those were my halcyon days. All I could afford in the way of fabric for the top was muslin*. Yes, actual muslin that is used to make mock-ups of patterns. I splurged on some lace for one of the ruffles--or maybe I salvaged that from somewhere--I am not sure. Once the top was finished, and often worn on hot summer days, I was surprised by the number of compliments it earned. I don't know where that top went. Worn out and tossed, I assume.
And, many years later, the pattern went the same route. As a working mom, the only sewing I did was mending and alterations and a few drapes and such for the house--and lots of Halloween costumes. I finally came across the pattern a few years ago when I was cleaning out a closet. I posted a photo of that pattern, along with several other old patterns on IG, asking if they had any value. When no one responded, I threw most of the patterns away and deleted the post and the photo. You have seen the ones I kept, since I used them when I started sewing again after the pandemic. Those were simple patterns, straight skirts and such that don't go out of style. As I learned the value of vintage patterns, I came to regret the loss of the discarded patterns, especially that one for the much-complimented top. To ease that regret, I tried looking for a copy of the pattern in eBay, Etsy, and vintage pattern sites.
Without the pattern number, searching for the pattern was a long and frustrating process. I spent a couple of years searching now and then, looking for "smocks with ruffled sleeves" or "square-neck smock". It wasn't until I left out "smock" and just used adjectives that I found it again. In a size 6. (I wear 12 to 14 now, even 16 or 18 in some patterns). I decided not to buy the too-small pattern. Then I found it in a 10, but priced a little too high. Too small and too expensive put me off an immediate purchase, but I reasoned it wouldn't hurt to make a low offer, like a little more than half of the asking price. I wasn't surprised when I got no response. That was last spring. Last month I was astounded when my low offer was accepted. The seller waited four months to accept my offer. I didn't even know that was possible. However, she wanted to sell it, and apparently no one else is nutty enough to want this old pattern.
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| McCalls 3526 |
But I have it now, and I am making--you could have guessed--a "muslin", with leftover fabrics.
There was not a lot of leftovers, forcing me to cut the body pieces shorter than the pattern length, about 22" long. To adjust for the shorter length, the pockets sit a little higher and the hem is only 1/2" deep. The fit is snug, even though the shoulder seams were sewn at 1 mm (3/8") to drop the neckline a bit.
A solid version, with lace in the ruffle, would be nice for the Spring. That one should be improved by: marking the corners when sewing the facing to the top neck, so that I don't have to guess at the turns when sewing; cutting the armholes 1/2" deeper; and basting the ruffles together, gathering them in one unit. Once it has been worn a bit, other modifications will be apparent, such as making the shoulders and the yoke longer. As far as technique, it will be nice if the yoke facing would cover the ruffle seams. Those are unfinished seams exposed in the armhole, just stitched twice and cut close to stitching. The seam is a little uncomfortable.
The side seams in this one are French seams. Serging, bias binding or Hong Kong finish would also work.
The back yoke sits a bit low, and the back seam, as is often the case in my shirts, is a little narrow for my shoulders.
The fabric for another version could be a lightweight cotton, since this shirting worked very well. The shirting and the black sateen, both lightweight, are better for the ruffles and body than the heavier printed cotton. The printed fabric made a great yoke, but not so great pockets and less great ruffles. Still, all three of them are lighter in weight and more loosely woven than quilting cotton.
This does bring back memories. It's my halcyon top.
*That's why they're called "muslins". I prefer to call them toiles. To me, muslin is a good fabric.
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