60s fashion elements - The Drop Waist

Well, another dress down and a new one already lined up! I'll of course take some photos for you all this weekend, but in the meantime I'm making plans to use this modern pattern to make a deep red drop waist dress with white buttons and bias binding

In my research for an inspiration image I came across a reoccurring trend of 60's drop waist dresses, so let us delve a little deeper shall we?

60s fashion elements - The Bishop Sleeve

Some of the things about 60s clothing tend to catch my eye when trawling through Pinterest or Tumblr. Certain elements that you begin to notice as integral parts to the look that was being worn by the Dolly Birds and Dandies of the time

In this set of blog posts, I want to explore the different elements of clothing that we often associate with or were popular in the 60s

I'll try to explain the construction of these elements and show some examples of these styles

There are many features that became popular in the 60s - most of which already existed in some form and were adapted for modern youth wear, or were invented from scratch through the genius of designers like Mary Quant or André Courrèges

This week we are going to have a look at Bishop Sleeves. Read onto the end for a little tutorial.

Why hello there!

Welcome to what I hope is the first of many posts on Sewing the 60s!

I’ve been obsessed with the 60s since I was a little kid, dressing up like a flower child and listening to The Beatles and Pink Floyd with my dad. I used to watch Peter Sellers movies and Get Smart and dream of wearing the beautiful dresses and outfits those pretty dolly birds wore. My mother once passed onto me a vinyl beach bag covered in multicoloured daisies and as much as I wanted to use it, I also decided not to because even at that young age I knew it was a treasured token of my mothers childhood and of the 60s.

Fast forward 20 or so years and I finally have the skills and historical knowledge to make those charming outfits for myself. I may only be making replicas of those delicious garments  but ill try to do so with the same spirit and freedom of that wonderful decade. 

So join me on this journey through sewing the 60s. I may also slip in some Craft, Fashion and Social history (another love of mine) as well as venture into some other decades of which 60s fashion would not have existed without!

Thanks and Welcome to Sewing the 60s!