I discovered a Vintage Patterns catalog on wikia. It has images of hundreds of commercial patterns from the 1920s to the 1970s. It's interesting to see how women's styles from the later decades make reference to earlier decades. I particularly enjoy the Guy Laroche patterns for Vogue. Think early 1960s when women still wore skirts and dresses to attend church or throw dinner parties.

On the topic of vintage patterns, a woman stopped by my sewing class a few months ago to drop off boxes of old commercial patterns from the 1960s to the 1980s that had belonged to her mother. Sadly, her mother could no longer maintain a large house and was moving to a smaller place. But we were grateful to receive the donation of out-of-print patterns that her mother had used to create beautiful dresses, skirts, and blouses for her daughters over two decades. Here are the few I chose.

I love the 1960s wedding gown with the empire waist and cap sleeves. They remind me of old photos of my Mom in 1969. She was 25 and had just met my Dad when they were interns in Chicago.

Obi sash

My friend Ann got married last fall. She and her husband held their ceremony in their front yard, and her mom did a ton of work to landscape and decorate the space. My contribution was making sashes for the flowergirl dresses to match the wedding color.

I made a cumberbund-style front with long ties that could be wrapped around and tied in front like an obi or just tied as a bow in the back.

Lemon Skirt Photo

Lemon Yellow Skirt

My youngest brother got married last summer, and the invitation suggested ladies wear sundresses since the ceremony was outside. I wasn't in the sundress-making mood, so I made this yellow pencil skirt instead.

I used stretch cotton twill from denverfabrics.com. I drafted my own pattern, put in a lining, a back slit, and an invisible zipper. It was great practice. The best part - it's machine washable!

However, I should have made it a little tighter. The fabric stretched a little more than I expected through the day, and it wrinkled quite easily.

I was incredibly flattered when my sister-in-law complimented the skirt, and when I told her I made it, she offered to pay me to make one for her. She was expecting at the time, and now she's probably shedding pregnancy pounds, so I have some time to plan.