Back to the 60s

Events, Nähen, Socializing

Weren’t the 60s a wonderful time? I feel quite often drawn back to them, the music, the styling, the dresses. Let’s revisit the era with a quickly sewn A-line dress from Simplicity.

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Here another confession: The sixties are my time. The mid-60s to be precise, just about the time beat music from the UK was big and hippies just started to conquer the world.
I guess I have to thank my father for that, growing up with Beatles songs, a Beatle inspired name (Derived from Julia Lennon. I am serious that is the source of my naming.) and a full-frontal hit of the Mersey beat.
And I still love it. It is my go-back-good-time-summer-music.

So obviously I was overwhelmed when I heard the theme for the New Years Party 2015 of my former company: Beat Club.

Just a bit of history in between and then I will continue on to the most important parts, which are of course our costumes!

First of all, this party is the company’s way to do its xmas party and is usually held in February. I think this is a really smart thing to do with xmas usually already being quite busy.
Secondly, with the company’s roots in Bremen it was just perfect to chose the Beat Club as a topic. This TV format was the first one of its kind in Germany and originated as well from Bremen.
It aired between 1965 and 1973 and showed all the hip beat bands they could get hold of, a lot of them even German, like “The Lords”.

It took us some time to figure out the costumes we would be wearing though, we only knew, we wanted to look like a group. After a lot of research we went with an simple A-line dress from Simplicity which as well fit all our sewing experiences, from beginner to advanced.

I guess, I now have to address the issue of the download option at Simplicity. *sigh*

It is quite different from the digital pattern experience that I had before. First of all, you have to install a secured pdf-Software to look at and print the pattern. You get a licence and can use it on one computer. I have not yet tested what happens when you want to use it anew, but I need to try it soon since I upgraded my laptop.

Then you can only print it three times until the licencing runs out and furthermore one problem for me: I don’t have a printer. I cannot go to the copy shop with the pattern and print it there. Simplicity is not the most comfortable solution to print online patterns, I sadly have to say. I was actually quite disappointed with the whole process.

I do understand that they want to prevent the reselling and so on of the pattern. But I pay double as I would for a printable pattern at Burda and I have so much more restrictions and problems with it. Therefore I am not sure if that is really worth it or if I should not just wait for that printed pattern to arrive in my letterbox.

Well, anyway we went to the “Stoffbörse Berlin” in Spandau and looked for the perfect fabric. At the end we decided for three different colors in cord for the three dresses.

dress_cord

And then the usual started. Printing pattern, cutting and gluing the paper, cutting the fabric and sewing the dresses. The dresses were pretty quick and easy to make, though my colleague would say otherwise. 😉 And as always, I had my troubles with the hidden zipper. We also worked mostly in the office, using our meeting room as a working space. This way, it was easier to combine our experiences and of course, it was an overall splendid time working on the dresses together.

sewing_in_the_office

Finally at the end of the work, we were quite happy and the party was wonderful. The company even organized this crazy 60s scenery where one could take pictures that looked like directly from the era.

But before we went, there was still the question of learning one dance that would fit the theme and our dresses. So I will leave you with the “Wiggle Twist” which you can learn, as we tried, from the lovely “Ehepaar Fern” in this incredible diamond of TV history.

 

back_to_the_60s

6 Responses to “Back to the 60s”

  1. Irene

    Toll, Eure Kleider! Das klingt wirklich nach jeder Menge Spaß schon in der Vorbereitung!Ihr Seht klasse aus! Ich mag diese Art von Kleidern auch sehr!

    Liebe Grüße Irene

  2. SaSa

    Tolle Kleider, vielen Dank für’s Teilen! Die Vorbereitung und das Nähen haben wahrscheinlich genauso Spaß gemacht wie das Fest selbst.
    Liebe Grüße, SaSa

  3. deUhl

    LiebeJulia,
    nun bin ich doch schneller bei Dir,als ich dachte.
    Die Tanzschule Fern gab es jeden Samstag im Fernsehen und bevor ich die Badewanne musste….konnte ich mein ersten Tanzschritte lernen.:-)))
    Viel Spaß beim Kleider ausführen.
    Herzliche Grüße zu Dir,Sabine

  4. Yvonne

    Göttlich, da stimmt einfach alles, die tollen Kleider die Kulisse und dieser Wahnsinns Tanz 😀
    viele liebe Grüße Yvonne
    http://by-yvonne-mania.blogspot.com

  5. Julia

    So ein informativer Beitrag! Dass der Beat Club in Bremen entstand wusste ich gar nicht. Und die Kleider (und die passende Kulisse) sind echt einfach toll! Beim ersten Foto dachte ich wirklich erst, es sei ein Original aus den 60ern.

    Liebe Grüße
    Julia

  6. Onychophora

    Sehr tolle Kleider! Ich mag die 60er Kleidungstechnisch ja schon.

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