More Vintage Reproductions from Butterick!

Butterick 5748

The Early Summer Butterick Pattern Collection is here, and there are two more vintage beauties just crying out to be made up in some crisp cotton.  Do I have any seersucker in the stash?  I am going to have to check on that  . . .

This one would look absolutely perfect on Joan Holloway, don’t you think?  

Butterick 5747

I am generally drawn to the full-skirted view of a pattern, but the straight skirt looks too perfect with that collar.  LOVE IT!  And I want need that hat.

Oh dear, now there are two more vintage frocks to add to the queue.  And what about all of the others waiting their turn?  I am going to need more time devoted to sewing, that’s all there is to it.

The new Simplicity patterns are also out, and I may have to grab the Cynthia Rowley looks.

And now I must get back to the sewing room, because there is so much to do, so little time!

The Anti-Valentine’s Day Red Dress, Part 2

Here is my new red satin dress – perfect for any day excepting February 14^th!  I realize that it is silly, but I absolutely refuse to wear red on Valentine’s Day. 

I love this pattern (from The Vintage Pattern Lending Library), and I am sure I will make it up again in a less formal fabric.  

I think that the pattern would make a fabulous skirt, as well.

The peplum looks like a little apron to me.

And the sleeves!  I am so pleased that I managed to squeeze the long sleeves out of my yardage.  I went with a bound buttonhole, with matching covered buttons.

My hat was found at an antique store in Sonora, CA.  It was a very dingy white with a turquoise bow.  It had definitely seen better days, but the wire form was too good to pass up for the price.  

With some leftover crushed velvet, I decided to spruce it up a bit with some ribbon and beads.  This chapeau is one of my favorites, but I believe this is the first time it has made an appearance with its matching coat!  

And I did not notice my matching ensemble until looking at the pictures.  How silly!

Now that I have finished this project, I am getting to know my new Bernina!

Dress:  Made by me, Vintage Pattern Lending Library #7725

Coat:  Made by me, Simplicity 4403

Shoes:  Via Spiga “Unit” in Black Suede

Hat:  Re-Made by me

Gloves:  Borrowed from mom

Earrings:  Vintage

Necklace:  Restrung from two separate necklaces

Fishnets:  Simply Vera

The Anti-Valentine’s Day Red Dress, Part 1

Here is a sneak peek of the project that has been keeping me from my new sewing machine!

This lovely rayon satin fabric was a lucky find at a Bella Notte Linens warehouse sale.  I found a 3 yard piece of the 57” wide fabric, grabbed it, and promptly added it to my immense stash. 

Looking through my closet, there is not a whole lot of red.  There is plenty of burgundy, pink, and rose, but not very much red.  Well, I decided to do something about that. 

The red satin kept nagging at me, and low and behold, I came across this vintage reproduction from The Vintage Pattern Lending Library.  In my mind, they were a match made in heaven.  A couple of years later, I finally got around to purchasing the pattern, and when Mena announced this week’s “Red” challenge, I figured the timing was perfect.

Time to pull out my fabric, give it a wash, and get going on my muslin.  While ironing the freshly washed yardage, I discovered two large patches that had not taken the red dye very well.  Aargh – the long-sleeved version that I had hoped to sew requires more than 3 yards of 52” wide fabric, and I was going to have to avoid two large sections of fabric.  Good thing a challenge only makes me more determined!

For vintage reproductions that are printed on bond paper, I like to trace the pattern onto muslin and mark all symbols in a Sharpie pen.  The paper is extremely durable, but does not drape anything like rayon, so I prefer to work with a fabric pattern.

This time around, I decided to sew up a muslin version of the bodice to check the fit.  (I really did not want to waste any of this fabric!)  I added a bit of length to the bodice, took a skosh out of the sleeve length (next time around I might take a bit more), and was ready to get to the fun stuff.

The pattern instructions include five pages of cutting layouts!  I generally avoid them because I figure I can come up with a more efficient way to save on fabric, and this time was no different.  Although I had to get a bit creative, and I had to cut some of my pieces in a single layer, I managed to avoid the marred sections of fabric.  Hip, hip, hooray!

Once again, my beloved Hug Snug seam binding came in handy.  This fabric likes to fray (as does every fabric choice I seem to make!).  This rayon is more mid-weight than light-weight, so instead of turning under facing edges twice, I used seam binding.  This was especially helpful on the sleeve facing and the lower edge of the peplum. 

Thanks to a tip from a recent Threads Magazine blog post, when inserting my zipper, I placed my pins at an angle rather than horizontal to the edge.  It really does work better!  And I remembered to hand baste a strip of silk organza to the zipper seam for a bit more stability.  (This probably would have helped my blue velvet.)

I was a little unsure how a lapped zipper application would work with a center back zipper, but I am very pleased with the look.  I definitely has a vintage feel.

Like other vintage patterns I have come across, the instructions suggest applying the neckline interfacing (I used a cotton remnant from the stash) directly to the wrong side of the fabric, and then sewing the facing to the bodice pieces, right sides together.  I am not sure that I like this application as much as using an interfaced facing, but I will have to try it with other fabric choices before I abandon it completely.

To help with the vintage silhouette, I made my own shoulder pads out of cotton quilt batting. 

I barely had enough fabric to make a self-fabric belt, and it would not have been the end of the world if it did not work out (at some point I think I would like to wear the dress with a black belt) but I do like to have a matching set!  I used a ruler and some chalk to mark the edges on my fusible interfacing and ironed it to a leftover fabric scrap.  This also makes cutting a straight edge a whole lot easier in a fussy fabric!

And to finish off the belt, I do love Maxant Buckle Kits, and I need to get more!  When working with buckle and button kits, I always fuse interfacing to my fabric so that the metal of the buckle/button form does not show through the fabric weave.  I also find that this cuts down on the amount of fraying while you manipulate the fabric over the forms.  A quick drop of Fray Check at the cut corners also helps to keep things neat and tidy.  Just make sure that it does not permanently discolor your fabric before you use it on any project!

More picture of the finished dress will follow . . .

Beautiful Blue Velvet

This project had been living in my closet for about a year, needing a zipper re-do (I am really beginning to distrust those invisible zippers) and a hem.  In honor of the Sew Weekly's UFO challenge, I decided it was time to finish it once and for all, even if I never wore the darn thing.

And look - it seems that other people had blue on their mind!  Why is it, exactly, that everyone over at The Sew Weekly was feeling blue?

I am not terribly happy with the finished result, but it is a relief to have one less unfinished project making me feel guilty.  (Yes, I will admit that there are quite a few abandoned items living in my sewing room, and I really need to do something about it.)

What really gets me down is that I feel that I have ruined a truly lovely length of washable silk/rayon velvet that I was lucky enough to find at a warehouse sale for Bella Notte Linens. 

How did I manage to make a mess of the project?  Well, I was in a rush – it gets me in trouble every time.  Now, don’t get me wrong, deadlines are fabulous things.  However, working with a challenging fabric, in a pattern that requires a bit of grading, in a style that may or may not work is just no fun when you only have a couple of days.

The first problem I had with the pattern was the size.  This was one of the first Vintage Vogue patterns I purchased.  

The Simplicity and McCalls that I was familiar with had ridiculous amounts of ease built in, so I assumed a size 10 Vogue would be fine.  However, this particular dress is very fitted and I needed to add width throughout the entire dress.

I started this dress about a year ago, with only two or three days to complete it before an event.  Well, after quite a bit of hand basting and fighting with my seams, I decided that the whole thing was a lost cause.  I even managed to crush the velvet right at the center front seam of the skirt while applying my seam binding - FRUSTRATING FABRIC!  I hung it up in the closet to keep from destroying the pile of the velvet (if I ever had the chance to re-use the fabric at some point).

When the Unfinished Objects challenge came along, I knew that I would pull this dress out and do my best to finish it.  But my first choice for the challenge was another dress entirely – one that I had previously cut out and then abandoned when I realized I would not have enough fabric.  I decided to piece together a couple of different patterns and add a contrasting color, but it is back in the UFO pile once again, to be finished at some point in the future.  Oh well, two projects in one week was asking a little too much.

At least I finished something, right?

Dress:  Made by me, Vogue 2610

Shoes:  Seychelles “Little Owls” in Navy

Fishnets:  Simply Vera

Snood:  Made by me, Perky Snood

Necklace:  Grandmother’s, borrowed from mom

Earrings:  Made by me (originally buttons from Britex)

Clutch:  Banana Republic

Serendipitous Spider Silk

Every few years I get the urge to re-read certain books.  One series on regular rotation is Anne of Green Gables.  I simply adore the books.  Well, growing up, I can vividly remember my little blue bookshelf, where quite a bit of space was taken up by a collection of Nancy Drew books with yellow spines. 

Nancy Drew & Friends

About a year ago, I happened to pick up a novel from my local library whose characters were obsessed with rare Nancy Drew books.  This reminded me that I had my own (not so rare!) editions and they would be fun and easy reading.  They are hilarious!  The books are incredibly formulaic and are sure to mention past books in the first chapter, and the upcoming title on the last page to whet the appetite.  I guess publishers were all about selling their product even in the 1930s (or could this be part of the updates made to the original texts?).  

Nancy Drew & Friends

It turns out that revisions were made when these books were re-published.  Doing a quick bit of internet research reveals that the texts were changed during the 1950s to alter her age and to take away some of Nancy’s independent spirit and moxy and make her a bit more dependent on others.  Shame on them!  I would love to read the original.  I mean, how outspoken and pushy could she possibly be?!  Today there are hundreds of books that have been published, and instead of Nancy's "little blue coupe" she now has a cell phone and hybrid car.  Well, I will stick with my "old" updated version, thank you very much - the thought of Nancy Drew with a cell phone is just too much to take!

Image from nancydrewsleuth.com

Last night I pulled out The Secret in the Old Attic.  Part of the story line involves a spider silk formula and a nefarious character who steals the secret to make his own silk fabric, using black widow spiders!  (The bad guys are easy to spot because they always enjoy scary things like killer spiders and dark attics.)

Well, imagine my surprise when Threads Magazine added an online article about spider silk!  How does this happen!?  Coincidence, fate, serendipity?  Whatever it is, I love it!

Image from booktryst.com

And I adore the original cover art from the 1930s and 1940s illustrated by Russell H. Tandy!  Nancy Drew never seems to age, but her hairstyles and clothing transform dramatically over the years.  It is a fascinating looks at how teen fashion changed throughout the years!  And now I think I may have to find myself some 1930s patterns . . .

Baby Bernina has Arrived!

Guess who has finally arrived home?!

Yes that's right . . .

Yesterday I picked up my new Bernina 330.

There is a footprint on the box!
I promise that no one will ever have the opportunity to step on my sewing machine again.

And no, I have not stitched anything quite yet, although I did take everything out of the packing box to admire every pretty little attachment.

There are a couple of reasons.  First off, I am in the middle of a project, and I know that learning a new machine is going to slow me down a bit. 

Next, I have not broken the news to Ms. White quite yet, and I don’t want to startle her into retirement.  She deserves to finish the project herself, after all, she has been a fabulous and steadfast machine for many, many years! 

And, of course, I will admit that I am a just a little bit intimidated (although I plan to get over that very soon). 

I am a one machine kind of gal.  I have not touched another machine since college, when a plethora of models were available (almost as many as Peter’s menagerie!).  So it is going to be hard to let go of my old friend.

Thank you, again, to everyone who helped me win this beauty.  And just as soon as I get up the courage to plug her in, I will let you know if all the fuss about the Bernina brand is true!