I knew what pattern I wanted to make, the Butterick Vintage Wrap Dress (4790). I’d had it for a while and wanted to give it a go. It’s from their Retro Collection, has only 3 pattern pieces - darted in the front and back, with back waist and shoulder seams. Back wraps around to the front for a sheath-and-overskirt look. It was originally Butterick 6015, manufactured back in 1952. It was dubbed the 'walk-away' dress, because it was so easy you could "Start it after breakfast... walk-away in it for luncheon!". It was a sales phenomenon because of its simple, flattering wrap design and easy construction. In fact, at one point, Butterick ceased manufacturing of all other patterns, and only the 'walk-away' dress was produced until all back-orders could be filled. The pictures below are of a 1952 White Sewing Machine ad that featured this dress and me wearing my finished product. I was so so pleased with how it turned out and got lots of compliments with asking me where I bought it. Now with the information above – you can make your own and yes, it really was very easy and fast to make. So much so that I want to make another one in another fabric. So back to the event itself, we went for the racing the night on the Thursday night which was a bit dull if you weren’t betting or drinking like weren’t. It had promised music and fashion shows, there were many pristine vintage cars but that was about it. Nobody had really made the effort for the event so we stood out quite a lot and kept being asked if we could have our photos taken. Very flattering but got a bit annoying after a while and who knew that smiling all the time made your face muscles ache??? We both wore Vivien of Holloway dresses and had done our hair and makeup, for a change I was more 1940s and Shara more ‘50s.
After getting a bit bored at the racing, we decided to walk back to the hotel. The security guard we asked at the gate said it would take 90 minutes, hah I scoffed, we’ll do it in 20! Well, I’m sure it would be take 90 minutes as the hotel was MILES away from the race track. Heels came off about 10 minutes in and then the sun came out. We were walking through the Goodwood estate and the scenery was breath-taking so we wandered off the path, took loads of photos and stumbled in to the hotel about 2 hours later. We got some great photos though which I will add to flikr with a slideshow link on here somewhere!
Friday morning was nice and bright, I was actually worried about leaving the hairspray on the car in case it blew up. I worry about these things – don’t judge me ;-) The signs got us there easily and then we reached the queue to get in, not too much of a wait though. We parked up thinking we were early but the car park was already filling, it was a fair old walk to entrance where we were given very cool wristbands of hologram watches. Some kind of marketing I’m sure but it was lost on me as it was so pretty!
As you entered the woods to the site it was like a secret party, there were little twinkling lights in the trees making it feel very Alice in Wonderland. There were afros, hot pants, gorgeous ladies wearing their original clothes from the 1960s and us – Shara in a stunning skull print Viven of Holloway and me with my homemade dress. Once the trees opened out, a red carpet lead you into the festival itself. More vintage cars and photographers. The first thing you saw was the makeover place where loads of people were getting their hair and makeup done. There was a queue first thing, we both wanted to take the makeup we had with us and help out – even had the hairspray in the car hehe! We spent most of our time in The Torch, a lovely marquee that kept the rain off and dancing going. White linen table cloths covered the tables surrounding the dance floor where you could have something to eat but more importantly afternoon tea. Both of us got dehydrated that day as we were rushing around trying to see everything. The music in The Torch was brilliant all night; Mike Sanchez is just incredible at the piano and the dancing made me wish I could jive even half as well as the couples on the floor. A highlight of the evening was seeing Kitten Von Mew who has such a sweet voice then turns into a feather welding vixen!
Like I mentioned, we didn’t go for the bands so didn’t see any. There was so much going on that I wanted to do instead such as sewing classes, dance classes, a mini beach, the fair ground, a roller disco, and the land girls’ allotment.
Other highlights were meeting the lovely girls from Now Voyager, where I bought such a flattering pair of high waisted Freddie jeans, our ride on the ferris wheel which was actually scarier than I thought it would be and finally, me scoffing the long awaited fish and chips. It was well worth the wait.
We met some lovely people that day, made some great little finds like Shara’s lipstick vanity case and generally had a ball. I would say that the atmosphere was lacking. It had the feel of a village fete and that all the locals had just come to see what it was all about. Again, not many people had made an effort and we had our photo taken A LOT, it didn’t bother me that much but I’d rather people came up and had a conversation with me rather than just asking for a photo liek we were an attraction at a museum. I thought this event was for the people who had a passion for their chosen style but assume that they just come out once a year to Goodwood Revival or others thought this event too commercial and stick to their weekenders. I think that anything new that encourages vintage should be supported and tried at least once. I’m sure that word will spread next year and the organisers will take notice of the criticism and make it something very special next year.
All I can say is that we only went for the Friday and had a ball. I came back totally energised (good thing too really, having to drive home 200 miles at midnight). The weather wasn’t great but it gave me a reason to buy a wonderful Lulu Guinness birdcage umbrella. We will be going back next year so I better decide what to make now J
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