30's trousers and a...70's top!

Wearing History's Smooth Sailing trousers, I love them, they are perfectly snug around the waist! Big fan of the pattern set.

Just hangin' 'round the light switch

Not very many days after finishing this I got a crummy oil stain that will *not* wash out. Note the strategically placed brooch pins.

Similar collar.

The top is actually a 70's pattern that looked very 40's. Cropped at the waist with puff sleeves. I've even seen the same collar on a vintage sweater. I wanted to explore knit fabrics and I love the stretchy T-shirtyness of this top. The downside of this pattern is that it was poorly made and I had to make heavy modifications to the pattern to make it work and I'm pretty sure it had nothing to do with shape of my body! The shoulder seams were a good 2-3 inches WAY FAR BACK. I also had to take out a large chunk of the shoulders and it is still too long, the sleeves could still be a little higher. Also the collar ribbing was to be stretched a little to fit the neckline as per instructions which I thought nothing of it until I was trying to figure out why I had all this creasing and bunching around the neckline. Well I guess if you have ever had to stretch any kind of ribbing or elastic to fit your fabric you would know that it has a bit of a gathering effect eh? Note: Cut collar out a little longer.

Argh.

30's blouse, love it!

I made a blouse from Wearing History's Smooth Sailing pattern. I've made this blouse before and I loved how easily it went together and how well it fit.....and no bust darts! Can you believe it?? Maybe I will post a picture of that one SOMEDAY. The plaid fabric is very thin and lightweight and is from a stash of vintage fabric a gal I know gave to me. Two boxes of fabric that had been sitting in storage since the 70's. It's nice to come across cotton apparel fabric that is not the heavy quilting cotton.

Sorting through buttons in front of the fire.

The buttons are vintage and I found them in an antique store on the cheap. Seven buttons still on the card, sometimes it's hard to use your vintage buttons even though you want to!!

I've made the trousers from this pattern as well (not pictured) and they are my favorite pair of pants! I made them out of black twill so they don't stretch out like my denim ones do. The denim ones need to be taken apart and have the waistband reinforced with some heavy interfacing because by the end of the day they stretch out and are not quite high waisted pants anymore! Notice I've got some small holes in my pants that I made from an Evadress pattern. I have no idea how they got there, although the denim is pretty thin.

I ordered a pair of 50's trousers from Evadress to go with my 50's inspired knit top I made...

The top looks much like this: The collar and sleeves in black, the main fabric in teal.

The trousers I will most likely shorten to look more like pedal pushers....we'll see how it goes!

Christmas makings...

I am by far the worst blogger. I don't even know why I do it! Mostly I want to document the things I make I suppose.

So...that's that then. I'm not going to be fussy or feel obligated to post, I'm going approach blogging as more of an online portfolio.

For Christmas I applied my artistic abilities and made gifts for almost everyone...

Warty Fish - This guy was made of Sculpy and painted with acrylics. I liked him so much I didn't

really want to give him away!

"The Daughter You Never Had" - Mixed media painting

Reversible Star Wars Quilt - I really enjoyed watching my brothers reaction. He loved it!

1940's pajamas - I found this pattern at an estate sale and since it's a 32 bust I made some for my skinny minnie girlfriends :)

Mandella Quilt

IMG00618.jpg

Feels like rayon!

I got two boxes of vintage fabric from a gal I know. She said all this stuff has been in storage since the 70's. Lots of cute fabric in there waiting for the ideal sewing pattern to use it on!

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Hollywood 525

I must say, it's my favorite dress so far. To my surprise it was much easier than it looked! I tried bound buttonholes but I know I didn't do them correctly...I can't seem to find a good video tutorial of it cause I'm a visual learning kinna broad.

I got these vintage buttons from a crabby old lady at the Portland Antique Expo a couple of weeks ago. Why are modern buttons so boring?!

I'm definitely more in love with the 30's!

30's dress

Coming together pretty quickly! I'm so excited!

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Agatha Purse

Made from the book Making Vintage Accesories. My shape is a little wonky but it's not bad.

Simplicity 1016

1940's dress complete. Very quick and easy to put together and the fit is very flattering on me. The fabric is yet again a cotton quilting fabric which works very well for this particular style. I will be making this one again with a sailor inspired look.

What I'm thinkin'.

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Yum yum purses

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Neat book!

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Butterick 7752 - 50's dress

I am still playing catch up with my projects. Meaning I've been posting projects I have finished a little while ago as well as projects I have just finished.

Sometime in May I finished this 50's dress. My first dress project with Butterick 7752 that I purchased off of Etsy. In theory the dress was not that difficult to put together, but since it was my first dress project I struggled with it to the point of losing my motivation to complete it. How many times have you started a project with the best intentions of following the directions and doing your best to be neat a professional about it only to experience the opposite? I know I tend to lose my motivation on completing a garment that I feel I constructed sloppily. But then, I'm new here.

I made this dress with a gingham seersucker. I probably should have followed the pattern fabric recommendations but for some reason my brain insisted seersucker was on there. I ran into too many issues to list, but on a positive note there were many "firsts" for me. Hopefully the next dress I make will come together smoothly lookin' less homemade.

I need a slip for this so I think that's what my next project will be as I do have a 40's slip pattern!

30's and 40's

It's quite amazing to me how much stuff I can do in a day when I get up early!

I got up early this morning to check out a dressmakers storage sale. Most of it was upholstery fabric samples. There were a few boxes of patterns where I picked out the vintage ones. Not much interested me fabric wise. I got some fabric that feels like rayon, not too crazy about the print but it was cheap. Also several yards of bridal type of white fabric (I don't know my fabrics too well yet) that I figured would do me good for making slips and maybe even those 40's pajamas you can see down there! I few of the 60's patterns were in my size but everything else I will have to bore myself to death with resizing.

After this I got some coffee and a cream cheese bagel at Grendels, boy I had to scrape a pound of the cream cheese off, they really are liberal with the stuff. Dapper Dan walked in. I don't know who Dapper Dan is, I saw him for the first time two days ago in a Plaid Pantry right by where I live (in Vancouver) and now there he is again (in Portland). Well I haven't named him Dapper Dan for nothing. Very dapper fella who wears a bowler (or was it a derby?). It's just odd when strangers make repeat appearances in your existence.

After getting jacked up I went and did my weekly climbing at the Rock Gym, and since I was in the neighborhood I stopped at the Barley Mill Pub to check out the artwork. A beer in hand to make me feel less like a moron while wandering around the pub. My sweetheart submitted his artwork so I had to find it and vote on it. In all honesty, I do think his was the best piece of artwork in comparison to the others.

Upon glugging the rest of my beer I started towards my car and felt mebbe I was a tad too buzzed to drive just yet so I walked a bit down the street to Lounge Lizard where I found a scarf with my name on it for 3 bucks! Some old bat named Virginia used to wear this and now it's my turn! Awwww!!

30's and 40's
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50's and 60's pattern.

I'm going to have a really annoying way of posting things. Because I'm too lazy to make one big post. I prefer to do it on the fly. Like snapping pixures with my blackberry and send them to blogger.

50's and 60's
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A scarf! My name!

A scarf! My name!
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Barley Mill

There it is! Look honey, I came to vote!

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Simplicity 4757

Front

Back

1950's blouse, View 3

Here is the pattern that I did my first pattern resize on. Hunh! Well waddaya know? It worked! By following the tutorial from Sensibility I took a bust size 32 up to a 38. This is also my first button up type shirt so I made a lot of mistakes and took way longer than it should have. The buttons ended a little too soon so I had to add in another set of two. It doesn't do so well tucked in as demonstrated in the picture below. I wonder if that is because of my choice of fabric?

Tucked in...not so much.

Made out of 100% quilting cotton leftovers. Now there was something called saddle stitching I was supposed to do for the armholes. I couldn't figure out how I was supposed to stitch the sleeves on to get that pointed look. Oh well...I got tired of fussing with the sleeves and just sewed it on.

Looks kinna like a bowling shirt eh?

Evadress Overalls.

My second project was a 40's overall from Evadress. Kind of ambitious huh? I used brown cotton quilting fabric with tiny white polka dots on it. I had many problems though. The waistband was way too short as I found others had this problem so it wasn't just me. I checked her website to find that she had made in error with the halter part so I still need to email her for the update. Maybe that contributed to some issues I was having but I also did not yet have a dress form. How many times I climbed into those things and try and make adjustments on them I don't know. I'll just say it's pretty ridiculous to be doing that, go buy a form. I fudged the hem up by whacking too much fabric off, then I had to add on a cuff. My boyfriend was concerned that pant part was too juggalo and I told him that was the style......right? I did the button placket wrong because I didn't understand the directions. Currently the overalls are stuffed in with the fabric stash with most of the buttons raped off it.

But that's okay, because now that I am a proud parent of a dressform and after a few more projects under the belt I made the trousers from a lightweight denim. It was...EASY (the waistband still needed to be cut longer) and the results...CUTE and COMFY! This was the fist project I used my new buttonholer foot that I bought from Nancy's Notions, it worked really well and with some practice made neat and tidy buttonholes (haha, I first spelled it buttholes). I love these pants to death. I wore them three days in a row, I couldn't help it. I will be making another pair in RED with black buttons!

Gah! I was so giddy I made something I loved! I'm also very pleased that I can wear an assortment of tops I quit wearing. You know the ones that get all lumpy over the waistband of your jeans? Also! How can they use the term "waistband" for modern pants when everything sits around your hips these days? This post must end...

Vintage.

Did I mention I love vintage? 20's, 30's, 40's, and 50's. My love for vintage started at an early age when my mother frequented antique shops. She mainly used to collect old bottles, picked up some furniture here and there including an excellent Art Deco I hope to inherit someday. When I was 16 my mom popped in a Big Band cassette tape in the car. She had bought a set for Grandpa for Christmas before realizing she sent him that set last year. So she kept the duplicates and that's how I started listening to Big Band music, but secretly of course since I was a 90's Nirvana grunge girl then. Couldn't let my peers know about that! Sometimes I think I enjoyed the music as much as I did because it reminded me of my beloved Looney Tunes. Oh the many mornings I sat slack jawed in front of the Looney Tunes cartoons with the voice of my mother yelling out for the third time,

"PUT YOUR SHOES AND SOCKS ON YOUR GONNA MISS THE BUS!!!!"

Anyway...the music really spurned my fascination with those particular by gone eras. Nothing like the happy swinging tunes of the 40's to balance out the teenage angst music of the 90's!

Off to the next thing!

I've been spending too

many hours perusing the internet for sewing patterns for a bust size

38. Usually when I find a good one it's a bit out of the price range I want to spend for a pattern. But I saw this one and I said "Come home to mama!". Isn't it something? Maybe it will be well worth the clams. Maybe it will look so damn good on me that the buyers guilt will drain away (yes I'm a little bit on the cheap side). This will be my first 30's pattern. Have you seen the HBO series called Carnivale? Okay...another post maybe. If you've seen it, you know where my mind is.

Also today I tried my first pattern resizing with a 50's blouse pattern I got at an Estate sale. Talk about boring work, tomorrow I will try a muslin and see how it works ::crosses fingers::

Bloomers

Behold my very first project. Don't ask me why but I really wanted to make bloomers. In the end I think what I was actually looking for a 1920's pair of knickerbockers.

I used Simplicity 2777 Arkivestry. I used a size 16 according to my measurements, but they turned out HAAAYOOOUGE. I recall going back and stitching a large seam allowance on the crotch so it wouldn't be so juggalo. I did a muslin in a 14 and it worked much much better, so for Halloween I made a pair in 14 with a spooky Halloweenie quilting cotton fabric.

Here I am flapping my wings like a stooge.

The ribbons tie in the back and is quite cute but not very functional. I had a difficult time cinching the ribbon while I tied it so it would slink down my hips some. When I make these again I will do my own version of the waistband (more confusi

ng than it needs to be) and use elastic. If I want the cute ribbons in the rear I will make them decorative rather than functional.

My first pair was made in a comfy

green flannel, but since it was falling apart (machine was skipping stiches everywhere) I stole all the lace off it for the Halloween bloomers. I plan on fixing the waistband and finishing the edges so they are wearable again.

Check out these 1920's bloomers. Aren't they cute? I wouldn't mind having a version of these. I'd wear this ensemble in public and wonder how many people would know I was wearing 1920's underwear.

1920's knickerbockers. Pictures are from a book called Flapper Era Fashions From the Roaring 20's by Tina Skinner and Lindy McCord.

The sewing revolution begins...

In October of 2009 I was laid off from a job I worked at for 9 years. Instead of freaking out, I started collecting unemployment and decided to do some things that my wacky work schedule could never support. Sewing was one of them. I took a class on basic sewing and have been plunkin' away since. I tell ya what, the internet has been good to me as far as resources. Without it I wouldn't have accomplished very many projects! Isn't the Information Age awesome? My boyfriend often tells me to "Ask God" aka Google it. Google the All Knowing.

I will start by introducing Jimmy. Jimmy is a Morse Fotomatic 4100 that I got cheap off the internet. I meant it to be a parts machine for my other Fotomatic, but it turned out this machine was in better condition that my original one in both exterior and interior. He just needed a new motor that I swapped. I know most machines have a gals name but he has a guys energy and I can just imagine him with a greasy pompadour. I love Jimmy, he's so handsome!

The only thing that doesn't work on Jimmy is the "Push Button for Width Increase" which is used for making buttonholes. I can still accomplish this by manually turning the stitch knob. I suspect that whoever last serviced Jimmy didn't put everything together correctly. Jimmy needs to be serviced but I am a bit afraid to take him in. Do people still know how to work on a 30 pounder mechanical machine? I've read reviews of people who take their machine in and walk out with it in pieces. That would make me very upset.

Car insurance is not a right to Idiocracy.

Got rear ended by a broad with a nice car in office clothes. Andre was driving his car because mine is scheduled to go to the shop. WHAM!!! And my thought was "No!! Not again!!!". We pull into a parking lot and the broad steps out of her car with no shoes still stuffing her face with a hamburger or sandwich, and when I see this, it makes me really angry. Not only was she being very casual about it but now I'm led to believe she was distracted by eating and driving at the same time! Lots of people do it and it just isn't smart folks!! I wish everyone would put down their food, cell phones, and quit rummaging around the seats while on the road. I used to be a distracted driver too and one day I realized I had got "lucky" too many times and that I was really pushing it. You want to ruin your life? Go ahead, but it's just not fair to take others with you.

Andre was polite to the lady but surely spoke his mind. Pointed out to her that the POS car he was driving was due to another broad rear ending his last vehicle "The Last Of the Good Toyota pickup".

Something that bugs me is when people will say "Oh don't worry, I have insurance.". Ok, yea cool...gotta have the insurance, but are you thinking that your car insurance gives you the right to be a sloppy driver??? Like, is that your safety net or something?? Do you think that giving someone whiplash and having back pain is something insurance nullifies? No, I'm sorry...it does not. Maybe someday someone will actually rear end you instead of the other way around and you will know.

Karma sees all.

Nobody was hurt (we think, only tommorow will tell), neither car was damaged. We are grateful.

-V
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