AFSM (Away From Sewing Machine)
I’ve decided to throw my hat in the ring for Pattern Review‘s Vintage Pattern Contest! I love PR’s reviews and massive bank of expertise, but I find the site intimidatingly cluttered, so I mostly ignore it, meaning that I only heard about the contest a few days ago through the buzz over at Sew Retro. On reading the contest rules, I found I’d been following them without knowing it! This is the pattern I’m using — Bestway 19665, straight from the British home front:
I’ve been stitching away at it since the 22nd. I’m making it in navy cotton pique from Fashion Fabrics Club (fabric $24, shipping to the UK $35!), and it’s all but finished — it just needs hemming and trimming.
My travails with vintage Simplicity patterns had been making me question whether I was meant to sew at all, but Bestway is restoring my badly tattered faith in my own abilities. This dress has gone together wonderfully. The softness and pliability of cotton pique is very forgiving, and because the pattern didn’t have any major design problems, I could concentrate on fitting and construction. Hey! Turns out I don’t have a freakishly deformed body! And I’m not a terrible seamstress after all! The sleeves eased in first time, the bodice met the skirt without violence and even my first bound buttonholes didn’t faze me. Bestway showed me that making a dress could actually be a pleasure.
The only snag in my plans — and it’s a pretty major one — is that I’m in Strasbourg at the moment for work and won’t be returning to London and my sewing machine until late Friday night, the day the contest closes. Which means I’ll be spending the wee hours of April 30th frantically hemming and trimming to get my dress finished before the deadline of 11:59 EST! This’ll be just like the old university days of sprinting across campus at 4:28 pm to submit my essay at the philosophy department offices before they closed.
Wish me luck!
a dead line helps me sew faster and maybe get it done but I can NEVER meet the deadline. LOL I don’t know what it is, but I always end up completing the project later.
can’t wait to see the dress and hear how the Best Way pattern is! Good luck on the marathon hemming
At least the EST deadline will give you a few extra hours 
I always need a deadline if I’m to finish something, even if it’s just the next dance night or some other not too rare event. A competion seems like a nice little challenge =)
Good luck on your sewing on Friday!
Sometimes the last minute sewing projects are the best ones, imho!
Even though they drive you mad and you loose sleep–they’re fun! Like you, I had no clue that PR was running this contest; the site is just too overwhelming for me half the time. Anyway: good luck and happy sewing! 
I have every confidence in your prodigious abilities and shall eagerly await the next installment of the vintage simplicity pattern saga!
Oh! Good luck! I love plucky 11th hour deadline sewing. I like your dress, too, and of course you’re meant to sew. By the way, I’m really intrigued by your rationing. I have toyed with the idea of doing it with food, but somehow clothing never occurred to me.
Time to rummage through my “to be sewn” patterns and see if I can turn out a little 11th hour work myself…
PR is incredibly cluttered. I think it is a testament to its age.