New patterns en route!

I "accidentally" stumbled into the Past Patterns catalog a couple of days ago, and talked myself into ordering a few new patterns ;P. I ended up with three 1920s patterns, and already have the fabric picked out for one of them. They should be arriving in the middle of next week :). 

 This is #2307 "Ladies' and Misses One-piece dress with vest front: Circa 1923-24"

 This is #3110 "Ladies dress with Separate shirt waist: Circa 1922-23"

This is #9412 "Ladies' skirt with hip pocket effect: Circa 1920" I have some lovely brown wool in mind for this skirt. 

An actual finished project!

Here is an actual finished project for you to marvel at ;P. I actually finished this some months ago, but decided to share it with you anyway..

This is also a Past Patterns pattern, #8340, entitled "Ladies' House Dress: Circa 1921." I really do like Past Patterns, and I think it's mostly due to their enormous collection. This pattern came with nearly no instructions..it was a single sheet that, at some point, was torn in half, so that I only received half of the directions. This was noted in the catalog on the Past Patterns website, as it is for a lot of her Vintage Revival patterns. I have many more patterns that I plan to pick up from her in the near future.

This one was a bit difficult, partially due to it being my first pattern of this era, I'd only sewn Civil War garments up till this point, partially because the instructions were half gone..and also because I made a terrible fabric choice. I chose a very lightweight, gauzy cotton, which was a real pain to work with. I'm ambitious, what can I say?





 The bodice is made up of 3 pieces: the back, and two front pieces that attach to the back at the side seams. I ran a gathering stitch along the bottom of all three pieces.  I laid the bodice out on the form, lining up the shoulder seams and neck opening (also making sure to lay the left side down first, as this dress closes on the right). I pinned down the back of the bodice to the form, and then pinned the side seams to the side of the form to hold it in place. I also pinned it down at the shoulders and around the neck to insure that it didn’t move around. I then pulled the gathers on each piece of the bodice individually to fit the waist of the form (which is always set to my measurements). I then promptly went to the sewing machine and sewed down the gathers so that I don’t have to worry about them loosening or tightening on their own. The next step will be to attach the skirt, which is also three pieces. I sadly did not get any photos of this stage of the process, but it went about the same as the bodice. I, of course, attached the three pieces to each other, and then lined up, pinned, and attached the skirt to the bodice. 

 
Here are a few photos of the finished project on my dress form. You can see that I opted for a white white eyelet fabric, which is also a gauzy cotton, for the collar, belt, and cuffs. I also used a set of pearl snaps for the closure. Were I to make this dress again, I would most likely go with buttons, as these snaps are really heavy for this light of fabric. The flower decoration I made myself from ribbon, using directions from a .pdf pattern I downloaded from eVINTAGE Patterns. I believe it was this pattern.

 

I should note that the waist for the pattern was originally 26 inches, so I had to alter it up to 34 inches. This was my first experience with significantly altering a pattern.

And here is a photo of me wearing the dress (I forgot the flower decoration). We took this while on a day trip to Birmingham to see the Vulcan statue. 

Preview of upcoming, soon to be finished projects!

I have been so terribly busy lately, as we are about to be moving..but! I wanted to give you a little sneak peak at a couple of projects that are nearly finished.

This is pattern #6611 from Past Patterns. It's entitled "Dress with Waist Yoke: Dated 1931." I actually started this dress in October of 2011, with the intent of wearing it at my brothers wedding in November, but as is my usual custom, I rushed it, and was not able to wear it to the wedding due to the arm holes being entirely too small..needless to say, I was pretty frustrated with myself, and so put the dress aside. I recently made a pact with myself to finish a few unfinished projects before I could start working on projects from the VPLL Titanic Sew Project, and so I have finished the dress. Photos, and a narrative of the construction will come soon, just as soon as I have the opportunity to do so.

This is pattern #7696 from Past Patterns, and is entitled "Ladies' One-piece bathing suit: Circa 1922. I began this project in January of this year, with the intent of wearing it while my sweetheart and I strolled along Tybee Island during our trip to Savannah in February, but sadly I was not able to complete it in time..I even took my sewing machine along with us! But it was not to be..so it too got set aside for a bit. However, I recently picked it back up again, and have only to attach a few buttons for it to be complete! I will be posting photos of it pretty soon (hopefully ;P).

Date day

A couple of Sundays ago, my sweetheart and I decided we needed a date day..we both work a lot, and it's hard to find time to spend together, so we dedicated the whole day to each other. We did dinner and a movie, so I decided to dress up for the occasion. I had planned to wear a newly finished 1930s dress, but it was pouring out, so I decided to save the dress for a nicer day, but.. I did break out one of my great grandmother's hats, and made an attempt at a vintage up-do :). (Note: I did wear a plastic rain hood while we were walking around outside as to not ruin the hat).

The hat was a pretty big hit, as was my hair, which was pretty flattering. My hair has become fairly long and it's making it difficult to achieve many vintage styles, but this one turned out pretty well. I also broke out one of my vintage brooches and some simple screw back faux pearl earrings.

This is the photo I looked at as I worked on my hair. :P

New Shoes!

My long awaited Astoria's from American Duchess have arrived! My sweetheart bought them during the pre-order as an anniversary present back in February, and boy, were they worth the wait. I love them. They are super adorable, and super comfortable. 

Please excuse the awful photos, I just couldn't wait to break out a better camera to get photos of these beauties. :P

Beyond the obvious excitement of new shoes, I'm also excited because I now have shoes to wear with my future 1912 Titanic Sew Project garments! 

Pompadour Shoe Pre-order!

Check out these amazing new shoes now available for pre-order from American Duchess! These beautiful shoes feature hand sewn pointed toes and custom made Louis heels. Available in black and white!

A little shopping therapy

I've been feeling a bit under the weather lately, so I thought a little shopping at my favorite local antique store might do the trick, and it did :P. I came away with quite a nice collection of new (old) things, and am quite pleased.

I picked up these two patterns, for a grand total of $3! My first two Advance patterns, and also my first time finding patterns that I liked at an antique store. Typically I only find patterns from the 70s and 80s, which are not my favorite decades. The one on the left is a pattern from the 60s and the one on the right is a pattern from the late 40s.

I picked up these two fashion plates for $2.25, I thought they would be pretty framed and hung on the wall in my sewing room :).

I also picked up a ton of lace for $10. I haven't measured it yet, but it's quite a lot. I'm thinking of using some of it for a lace insert on a 1910's blouse pattern I bought from Wearing History.

I picked up 2 silk and 1 rayon scarf, for $5 a piece, and they are beauties. I plan to hand wash them soon to get the seemingly permanent folding lines out of them.

 I've been eyeing these 1920s shoe clips for a couple of years..I always manage to convince myself that I don't need them, but who doesn't need 1920s shoe clips? I got these for the swell price of $15.

And last, but not least, I got this adorable sterling silver brooch locket. I plan to remove the old photos (which I'll keep because I'd feel too guilty tossing them) and put in a photo of myself and my sweetheart :).

And so ends my adventure to the antique store for this week.

I have recently finished a few projects, so I'll be making some clothing posts soon!

New dress form

I got pretty lucky recently and acquired a new dress form at a pretty great price. Yay Craigslist! (my old one was a hand-me-down from my sister and didn't crank up to quite the right size)

It's a foam dress form that comes with a cover that allows you to stuff and add to measurements to fit your measurements exactly. Lucky for me, the dress form as-is is exactly my measurements. I got it for a swell price of $50..

I've already been putting this new toy to good use, and hopefully will be posting some newly finished projects soon. I have perhaps a dozen or so laying around unfinished..

"You are amazing"

These are the words my grandmother uttered as she incredulously turned in her hands one of the corsets I recently finished.

This is my Granny, not the best photo..

This last week my grandmother came to visit, or rather, was brought to stay for a bit, while my aunt and uncle went on a long awaited beach trip. I'd talked to her on the phone quite a few times about my sewing ventures, but she'd never seen any of the fruits of my labors.

"I am so proud of you," she said, as she looked at me, beaming. "I remember wearing girdles, but we never considered making them." I explained to her that corsets/girdles are not as easy to come by as they used to be, and that the most practical way for me to acquire the proper corsets for my expansive historical interests was to learn to make them myself. She just couldn't believe it. I don't think I've ever been so happy as when she said those words to me.

I thought that I would share this experience in my debut post on this blog because it really inspired me to put even more in to my sewing. My grandmother (a.k.a. Granny) is my only living grandparent, sadly, and so it means a lot to me to be able to share this with her. I envy her in many ways, having lived through so many historically significant decades, to which I'm sure she would laugh and say "hmm!"I think it's so neat to be able to call her and ask her opinion on a cuff for a particular dress because she may have had a dress very similar.

Hopefully I will be sharing with you, and my Granny, many completed projects in the future!