Peacock 1977

Polyester Peacock fabric, in the sunshine

I found this shiny, knit, polyester fabric at Goodwill for $2.99. I picked it up, giggled, and put it back. It was clearly from the 1970s - not a throwback, actual stashed fabric that's at least 35 years old. How do I know? It proudly proclaimed "100% polyester!" in the selvedge. Plus, peacocks.


I knew the texture couldn't work for me as a top, dress or pants, but I thought about it for a second - why not a bathrobe? Past Goodwill forays have yielded more than one bathrobe pattern. Why not?

At home, I dug up Simplicity 8275 from my stash. Stardate: 1977. A match made in polyester heaven.

Awesome. Something to swan around the house in, for about $3.50. I serged all of the seams, then pressed them to one side and topstitched with a straight stitch. I'm going to go ahead and call that a super-fake fell seam.

I reinforced the sleeve seams with twill tape. I don't know if it would have stretched out, but I figured it was better to be safe than sorry.

I had EXACTLY enough fabric, with almost none to spare. I shortened the sleeves a bit so that I can cook in this robe in relative safety. No long robe sleeves for me - I saw The Sopranos.

Travel Bag

This little hanging bag is from Kwik Sew 3748. (I think it's out of print?)

A LOT of my patterns are out of print, and not just the vintage ones. I think this is because I get about 60% of my patterns at Goodwill and another 35% were grabbed up when the Hancock fabrics near my house was closing (as were they all). 

Anyway, for anyone out there who has this pattern - I like it! I only interfaced the outer fabric. The inner fabrics are quilting-weight cottons. If I ever make it, again, I'll interface everything. It feels a little wimpy, as it is. 

The hardware at the top was one of the more difficult things to find. I ended up buying a smaller, somewhat ripped-up bag at Goodwill and scavenging the hook from that. It was cheaper than anything else I could find, and had a swivel, which I hadn't seen in the two fabric stores I checked.