I stopped by Joann’s after work to take advantage of their sale on McCall’s and Vogue Patterns. With the exception of the Colette Macaron pattern, I hearby solemnly vow to not purchase any new patterns for 6 months. It’s getting a little out of control on my end. I live in a *very* small apartment and my allotted plastic bin for storing patterns is *full*. Plus, I have a limited amount of money, so I should probably buy fabric and make some of this stuff instead of buying new patterns. Here’s a little show and tell of what I picked up today.
I got these three designer Vogue patterns. The Chado pattern is a classic shirtdress with a twist. I love love love shirtdresses. The Michael Kors is super sassy, and I’ve seen some cute versions made up. The Rebecca Taylor is summery and fun (possible birthday dress). WIN!
I also got this vintage Vogue reprint. It looks like a nice summer dress, and I feel that halter necks are flattering on me.
I like this coat pattern a lot! It reminds me of the Lady Grey, but it has a hood. I hate how hard it is to find a fashionable coat that includes a hood. I live in Oregon ya’ll! It rains 9 months of the year. I also like hats (prob because of all the aforementioned rain), I’d like to try my hand at making some with scrap fabric.
Here are the rest, mostly just summer dresses and the bustier top (I promise I won’t add the flounce to the bottom EWWW). As for the top left, i know the pattern cover is hideous, but the line drawing shows a nice military inspired jacket. I dig it.
I have three days off of work this week, so I will probably have some actual sewing to show off soon. Until then…
So, I had every intention to finish my cape before I left for my Christmas vacation. Yeah right! That didn’t happen. I’ll get back to work on that this upcoming week.
I did make a few handmade Christmas gifts. Chris and I picked tons of blackberries this summer on Sauvie Island and made jam. Truth be told, he did almost all of the work while I read The Hunger Games trilogy and laid in the sunshine. Our next batch will have a little more sugar and less seeds (I’ll probably help a little more).
I also made a few doll clothes for my little cousin’s American Girl doll. I bought 3 different doll patterns when Simplicity patterns were on sale, so I think I’ll make a few more outfits when the mood strikes. Doll clothes are pretty fun to make. It was nice how quickly it came together, but setting in tiny sleeves can be fussy.
Chris and I traveled to his mom’s house in North Carolina for the holidays. I had gotten it in my head that I would find hundreds of sewing patterns from the 1940’s at the antique stores in town. No such luck, but I am happy with what I found. I bought this delicate beaded collar at one antique store. I’m on the hunt now for a pretty high necked navy sweater to wear with this. It’s so darling! I can’t imagine the hours that went into making this.
I also bought 16 yards of antique lace, a large jar of buttons, and this neat little snap setting tool. It was a very nice trip with family and I have some fun new sewing notions to play with. Bye!
Have you seen the internet meme of Ryan Gosling being the perfect boyfriend? He starts every sentence with “Hey girl… “. He’s a feminists, adorable and he supports us crafty girls. http://handmaderyangosling.tumblr.com/ I was cracking up over these yesterday and showed some to Chris. Today at work, my lovely husband made one just for me. He posted this on my Facebook wall and I wanted to share.
He's cute.
In other news I’ve started cutting out my next project. A camel colored cape with a fuchsia lining. I’m using one of the Project Runway patterns by Simplicity. I’m hoping to be done before we leave on our Christmas holiday. Adios!
Merry Christmas ya’ll! I found a pile of Christmas napkins at the thrift store for $2 and thought I could make something festive for the holidays. There were 16 napkins in total. Half were trimmed in red ric rac and the other half in green. After playing with them for a bit, I decided that a box pleated skirt would be the best way to showcase the large poinsettias.
I used the waist band from Simplicity 2512 as a starting point, I used super crazy stiff fusible interfacing to hold the waistband up. I then folded and pressed the napkins until I found a way that looked pleasing to my eye. I added some red piping between the waistband and skirt (because piping makes everything a million times cuter). I used the remaining three napkins to make a lining, but I goofed majorly on that. I rush head long into things without taking time to plan out the best course of action. I had it hang straight down from the waist leaving no room for my hips or bum. There was no way it was going to fit. Since I didn’t want to undo the piping and invisible zip, and spend even more time on something I can only wear for the next week, I cut up the sides of the lining. This is the most inelegant skirt from the inside. The lining hangs like a loin cloth, covering my front and rear end only. Oh well, the outside is all that counts, right?
This skirt came out a lot cuter than I originally thought. Looking at the napkins, I was thinking it’d be a super cheesy skirt, only acceptable at an ugly Christmas sweater party. This is totally wearable though. I decided to go for a punk-rock Christmas cheerleader look. I paired it with a plain black tee, sheer tights, and my Doc Martens.
I picked up this blouse at Goodwill about a week ago and I thought I would do a quick outfit post. It’s from the 80’s, but is very Edwardian in style. I’ve been watching Downtown Abbey, so that look is in my mind right now. I paired it with some jeggings to balance out the proportions and did a half-tuck to tame the baggy fit. I wore this to a concert and then again the next day to run errands. I love this blouse even if Chris thinks it’s granny-esque. Duhhh, that’s the point.
Now onto a sewing related topic. I don’t care for the nearest fabric shop to my home. It’s very expensive and snooty. The second I walk in there the shop ladies stare at me as if I’m going to shoplift a bolt of wool. It’s also creepy quiet. It has a weird vibe fo sho. Therefore I only go in there when I need to pick up a quick zipper or some thread. Today I had to do just that. I’d run out of plain white thread. How does that happen? Instead of my usual bee-line to the notions area I got distracted by the Burdastyle Sewing Handbook and flipped through it. Boy, am I glad I did. If I hadn’t I wouldn’t have seen the basket of vintage patterns for $2 each. They were hidden in a dark corner waiting for me. I actually squeeled while flipping through them. I picked up 8 of them. It was hard for me to show that much restraint, but I’m broke yo. They’re all unused and in their factory folds.
The Butterick pattern is the oldest. It’s from the 1950’s, but I can’t find an exact date on it. I want to make the little bra top and shorts to ride my bike around Sauvie Island. I’m imagining it in a yellow seersucker. I’ll look like Annette Funicello. Adorable!
These three are from the 60’s. The swing coat is from 1962. I love the cover illustration, but I don’t have any immediate plans to make this up. The long gown is from 1966, I love the strap detailing on the back of view 1 with the bow. The tent dress (Simplicity 7310) is from 1967 and I’m thinking this might need to be my birthday dress. I’m picturing it in a midnight blue with sparkles and my hair piled high on my head. It’ll be an homage to what Betty wore in the episode of Mad Men when they went to Rome.
These three are from the 70’s and I love the silhouettes on all of them. The wrap coat looks so cozy and warm. I love the hair on the girl wearing the white coat. I might have to get my hair cut like that soon. I like the ruffles on the yellow version of the McCall’s dress. It looks like an easy to wear casual dress. I adore the third pattern. I like the 2 mini dresses on the lower left corner. I’m not sure if I’m going to make the version that ties at the neck or the mandarin collar. Eek, so many possibilities!
The last pattern is a romper from 1967. Now that I’m looking at it again it’s my least favorite. My mind might change about it when it’s crazy hot again outside. I’ll revisit it again in the summer.
Now I’m off to read the instructions on all of these and lovingly stroke them (that’s what she said!).
Yesterday was my fifth wedding anniversary and I thought I’d do a quick post of my most favorite dress I’ve ever worn. I didn’t sew it, this was long before I’d learned how. I was a fairly un-fussy bride. I bought this gown off of ebay sight unseen (I just became sick of trying on gowns, pushy saleswomen, and the wedding industry). We were married in Key West on the Liberty Clipper at sunset. It sails between Boston and Keys, so keep your eyes open for it. It’s popped up in friend’s photos of Boston a few times. There just 14 of us (including Chris and I), the day was perfection. Cheers!
Our anniversary was lovely. Chris surprised me with an hour and a half massage and acupuncture. That was super timely since I was hit by a car riding my bike the day before. I’m okay, but my body is very sore. The massage was needed! Now a bunch of photos…
I made this skirt about 2 months ago but never posted photos. I made a second version of the Colette Patterns “Beignet” pattern and I’m in major like with it! This skirt is WARM. I used some soft gray corduroy that I found at the Knitten Kitten (a thrift store for fabric) for the shell. I also used leftover silk habotai for the lining, and some adorable cowboy print quilting cotton (found at the Laurelhurst neighborhood garage sale) for the facings and pockets. I had all of the supplies in my stash, so I can pretend it cost nothing to make.
Using silk as a lining fabric not only feels luxurious, it’s also so incredibly warm. This skirt is a joy to wear in the wintertime. I had no idea that such a thin material could be so insulating. I do a lot of backpacking and skiing, so I’m very familiar with a lot of the synthetic and wool base layers in the market. Now I want to get silk long underwear. That sounds so lush and cozy. I feel like I’ve just discovered a great secret even though silk has been available for thousands of years.
Even though this pattern is an intermediate level difficulty, the wonderful Colette directions make this a cinch to put together. The most difficult part is attaching the lining to the facings. You need to attach a convex curve to a concave curve (or maybe it’s the other way around). I had to rip it out once due to puckers, but it’s sitting in there nicely now.
The only thing I dislike about this skirt, has to do with the fabric. The corduroy has so much body it sits away from my hips and I feel I look a little wide in it. I’m slightly pear-shaped so this is an area of concern for me. Corduroy was a pain to work with as well. It frayed so much and left fuzz balls everywhere. I had to use a fluffy towel while pressing to avoid crushing the nap. It just felt like too much work. I have about 4 yards of brown corduroy I picked up at the thrift shop that I’ve put off working with in the mean time. My trench coat will have to wait until I want to deal with that again. Despite that, I’m very pleased with this skirt. I’ve worn it about 10 times since I made it, so it’s definitely a keeper. 🙂
The Christmas season is upon us and I was inspired to make this shirt for my husband (especially since I never got around to making one for his birthday).
He’s always loved western shirts and I was pretty stoked when I found this legit pattern from 1978 at a yard sale. The pattern, magically, is his same size. YAY ME! I made a men’s size 40 with a 15 1/2″ neck. I used some soft orange plaid cotton flannel from Joann’s, white piping, and pearl snaps. The yoke, front bands and cuff are cut on the bias to add visual interest.
I had a lot of sewing “firsts” with this little shirt. Since this was a gift I really wanted to take my time and do everything right. This is hard for me to do, because I have a hard time planning out how to finish my seams. I think it’s because I can’t visualize how everything goes together until I’m actually doing it.
Chris is incredibly hard on his clothes so I decided to do flat-felled seams for as much as the shirt as possible. However, I goofed a little bit by only skimming the directions in the book I got from the library. Therefore, the pretty flat-felled seams lay on the inside of the shirt instead of the outside, where they would look nicer. Oh well, c’est la vie! I couldn’t figure out a way to do a flat-felled seams on the side seams. Is that even possible? While poking through his other shirts, it appears that most of them are serged along the side seams. So, maybe not.
Chris likes to wear his clothing on the more fitted side. He once to my chagrin, purchased several pairs of stretchy girl’s jeans. I made him return them all due to the appearance of his camel toe. Ick! But I digress, I didn’t need to take out any of the ease, because, well, dudes in the 70’s also liked their clothes supah tight. He doesn’t tuck his shirts in so I shortened this pattern by 4″. I went by the length of a shirt he likes. I didn’t calculate in seam allowances, whoops! So it’s probably an inch too short, but I may just be hyper critical of my work. It’s so hard to step back from something you’ve made and look at it from the macro rather than the micro level.
I originally had planned on using black piping when I purchased the fabric, but I woke up the next day worried it would be too “Nightmare before Christmas”. I switched to white, and I find the result rather pleasing. The white pops against the orange and black and doesn’t make the yoke look like a spider’s web. I was really freaking about that.
This was the first long sleeved shirt I’ve ever made. I became really stuck on the sleeve placket. I ripped it out twice and cussed up a storm at it. I couldn’t figure it out! So I used another style of placket I found in a shirtmaking book. While this is the first cuff and placket I’ve made, I still feel like I need to make another proper placket to be able to say I’ve successfully completed that task.
Another first was using pearl snaps instead of buttons. This was actually pretty fun to do. I didn’t buy a special snap setter or anything. I had to hammer them all on. My apartment manager came up (his office is below our apartment) and asked me to move my little construction site due to the noise. I finished in the lobby which lead to lots of questions, stares, and requests to alter clothes. I’m glad I decided to add another “first” to this shirt by doing snaps. I feel like it’s a proper western shirt with them.
Poor Chris, I made him try it on and realize how awesome this shirt is, so I could take photos for this blog. Now, I’ve hidden it away and he can’t wear it again until Christmas. I’m a mean wife.
In other news, we saw Other Lives last night at Mississippi Studios and they were rad. They’re also pretty groovy and western. You should give them a listen.
I’ve begun work on my mister’s Christmas gift and I thought I would put together a quick how-to. I had originally planned on adding black piping, but I realized with the orange and black fabric and the “spider-webiness” of the yoke design it would look Halloweenie. And by realize, I mean that I woke up in a panic thinking about how I was making a Halloween shirt for Christmas. What would Michael Kors say? Oh the horror!! The solution was simple, switch to white piping.
When you purchase store bought piping there are two sides. One that is flat and one that sticks out. You want the part that sticks out to be on the right side of your fabric. The best way to attach the piping is to hand baste it to your fabric. I have used machine basting as well as tried Wonder Tape and you just don’t have the control you need to get around tight curves. Hand stitching is the only way to have total control of where your piping will lay on the finished garment. I like to use an obvious mismatched color so that it can be removed easily later.
Once your piping is basted on and you’re ready to start sewing on your machine. It’s easiest if you switch to your zipper foot. This foot allows you to get as close as possible to the piping. Go slowly around the curves, and make sure that you always leave the needle in it’s down position whenever you lift the presser foot.
As soon as you’re are finished sewing your piping in with the machine, it’s time to pull out your handy dandy seam ripper. I’m intimately acquainted with mine. Get to work removing your hand basting. Go slowly and try to not catch any of the fibers of your fabric.
Voilà, you have perfectly placed piping.
In sad news when I got around to basting the front band to the sew-in interfacing this is what I saw. Yikes! The bias really is stretchy. Now the band is about 2 inches longer than the pattern piece and about half an inch too thin. It’s now too skinny to work as the front band so I will have to recut those pieces tomorrow morning (yuck! I *hate* cuting). Good thing I bought a little extra fabric. I definately reached the end of my sewing patience when I saw that. Adios!
I got these three designer Vogue patterns. The Chado pattern is a classic shirtdress with a twist. I love love love shirtdresses. The Michael Kors is super sassy, and I’ve seen some cute versions made up. The Rebecca Taylor is summery and fun (possible birthday dress). WIN!
I also got this vintage Vogue reprint. It looks like a nice summer dress, and I feel that halter necks are flattering on me.
I like this coat pattern a lot! It reminds me of the Lady Grey, but it has a hood. I hate how hard it is to find a fashionable coat that includes a hood. I live in Oregon ya’ll! It rains 9 months of the year. I also like hats (prob because of all the aforementioned rain), I’d like to try my hand at making some with scrap fabric.
Here are the rest, mostly just summer dresses and the bustier top (I promise I won’t add the flounce to the bottom EWWW). As for the top left, i know the pattern cover is hideous, but the line drawing shows a nice military inspired jacket. I dig it.
Dapper Duds 