What a Wonderful Weekend! Part 1

Before I start, I just want to thank everyone for all the comments on my last post.  I have read them all but I haven't commented on each of them.  At the end of the day I wish the pattern companies would put the measurements of the finished garment on the back of the envelope so we can make an educated decision when we choose which size to buy.

But now, on with today's post!

I had the most marvelous weekend!!!  I am part of an Australian sewing group on Facebook, made up of a small group of ladies from around the country, some of which I already knew from my LA trip last year.  One of the ladies - Kim, who organised the LA trip - decided to host a get together at her home just outside of Brisbane.  I wasn't going to let an interstate trip stop me from getting together with a bunch of like-minded people, so I booked my flights and off I went.

The lovely Kim offered to let me stay with her family AND they even picked me up from the airport!!!  As well as that she organised a night out with some of the Brisbane ladies from the LA trip, and some other vintage loving gals.

This is us at Lefty's Old Time Music Hall

Love that place!  Can't wait to go back!!

Saturday was the sewing group lunch.  Kim has an amazing collection of Home Journals from the late 30s through to the late 50s, vintage sewing books, and vintage pattern books amongst other things.  We spent the first part sitting on the verandah in the sun going through the books, drinking tea and champagne and talking all things sewing.

 Look at Bree and I using our acting so it looks like we are reading that catalogue while that photo is being taken.  We totally pulled it off!

Seriously, I died over these catalogues.  Thankfully (for Kim) they were too big to put in my handbag, and my suitcase was already overweight...

Mz Vicki (who writes a blog over at Rayon Dreams in a Cheesecake World), brought a couple of things she was part way through sewing that she had questions about.  With the experience around the table were able to help her out (I may have been called a seamstress guru...!!!)

 We had an 'Ellen-Selfie' moment...

This is Bree - I met her while we were both part of Miss Pinup Australia, and we've been friends ever since.

This is Mz Vicki - we hadn't met before but had come across each other a lot on Facebook... but now we're friends in person too!!!

 This is Janis.  Lets take a minute to talk about Janis

I met Janis on the LA trip last year, and she is a lovely lady.  After spending time with me in LA she knows me pretty well, and knows exactly what I like... which is why she brought a whole lot of VINTAGE BORDER PRINTS and gave me first right of refusal.

Janis gifted me a hat to go with this one - the colours are an almost perfect match!

These pots alternate along the length of the fabric!

Cowboys chasing bison!

This may well have been intended for curtains but WHO CARES!

I think this one is my favourite by a very close margin - FOX HUNT!

I didn't refuse any of them...

I LOVE YOU JANIS!!!!!!  I know have about 7 border prints I'm intending to make skirts from...  I'm seeing a weekend making skirts in an assembly line fashion in my future!

After several promptings from Kim, we managed to tear ourselves away from the books and moved to the dining room where the chat continued while we ate delicious food and sweet treats (and drank more tea and champagne).  We even started planning possible future get togethers!

THEN we moved to the other side of the verandah were we had put the things we brought with us, and it was time for the sell and swap part of the afternoon!

 Rummage time!

Even Kim's puppy Milly got involved by guarding the stash of things that Kim had grabbed.

I gave away some of my things, and picked up a few patterns that I plan on using for bribery.  More on that at some point (if my bribery is successful!!!)

Kim had anticipated that the lunch would end at 2pm, but I looked at the time at this point and it was 4.30pm and everyone was still having an amazing time just hanging about and chatting!  It really was wonderful to spend time with such like-minded ladies!

Keen-eyed readers will have noticed what I'm wearing.  I decided to debut my Peplums and Cocktails dress and it was super comfortable to wear, fit well, and garnered many compliments!!!  Thanks Mz Vicki for being my photographer.

Isn't it lovely when you see a photo of yourself from behind and you think 'gee, my bum is nowhere near as big as I thought it was' !!!

I did have to do some very last minute sewing as I was packing my bag.  I realised that I hadn't made the belt for the dress!  The 1920s brass buckle had arrived and I'd put it down and forgotten about it!!!  Luckily making a belt takes about 10 minutes.  Just don't inspect the hand sewing too closely.

I just realised that this post is quite long already, so I'm going to leave the second half of my weekend to my next post.

Have any of you attended or hosted a meet-up like this?  Would you highly recommend it too?

Beccie
xxx

Vintage Pants from a Modern Pattern... plus... A Rant!

Some time ago, Lucky Lucille did a post about pants and referenced a modern pattern - Vogue V8836 - suggesting it was nearly identical to pants from the late 1930s.  I had been looking at pants patterns, because I wanted to make some comfy wide leg pants, so it was almost like she had read my mind.  Vogue happened to have a sale, so I purchased the pattern online.  Here it is:

When deciding what size range to buy, I looked at the sizes on the website and chose the one with the size 16 as it had a 30" waist, and I have a 29" waist.... close enough I thought!

I also jumped on to fabric.com and purchased some micro brushed twill fabric in navy and grey.  I hadn't heard of it before - it was also a suggestion from Lucky Lucille - but I find its quite denim like, but with a softer feeling surface which is probably due to the brushed bit.  But its quite heavy so good for winter pants.

So I had a spare afternoon last weekend, and I thought the perfect way to spend my time was on comfy, easy-to-sew pants.  I cut them out and did gathers and darts and pocket flaps etc.  All went well until I realised I didn't have a 7" zip in my stash.  Why is it I never have the right zipper???

Anyway this was as far as I got:

Two back pieces with darts and pocket flaps (no I haven't sewn that button on, and I've since bought a better button, so its a good thing I didn't...)

Two front pieces with pleats and pockets done

I happened to be driving past Spotlight on Monday, so popped in to get the zipper, and then when I finished work I went and put the zip in.

Never having put a fly in a pair of pants before, it probably took me a little longer than it should.  This could be because instructions for modern patterns don't seem to make much sense.  Does anyone else have this issue???

But it went in without a hassle, and looks like this:

 From the inside...

From the outside

I then sewed all the pieces together and made the pants minus the waistband.

They were looking pretty big, so I measured them...

Multiply that by two to get an all around measurement, and you get 33.5"

That's 33.5 inches from a pattern that is supposed to produce pants for someone with a 30 inch waist!!!!!!!!!!!!!

You probably heard me cursing from wherever it is in the world you live.  I was not happy!  With vintage patterns there is wearing ease of about an inch, but this, this is ridiculous!  I think anyone that sewed up pants that were this much to big for them would feel just the same!  Vintage patterns just seem so much more reliable in their instructions, and their sizing. 

Have patterns started doing the vanity sizing thing???  Is this some weird anomaly, or are all modern patterns like this???

So I now have to unpick the pleats on the front and re-do them to take in some excess, and take in the back seam, and maybe a little from the side seams (if I can do it without affecting the pockets).  What should have been a simple job of just putting on the waistband has turned into a massive pain in the behind.

Can you tell I'm not happy???

Has anyone else experienced similar issues with modern patterns?

Beccie
xxx

It Doesn't Get Much Cuter Than This.....

A little while back my friend Renee asked me to recreate her favourite vintage dress (you can read about it here).  I made a test version first, which fit her perfectly, and then I made her actual dress out of this amazing Llama fabric we found.

When I sent it to her I said that it would be great to get some photos of her wearing it... but I didn't expect her to go to all this effort!

Every time I posted a photo of the fabric there is a lot of interest, so I imagine that the photos from the shoot she did for me with ACTUAL LLAMAS will go off the charts!

Miss Renee - you are divine.  I love you!!!

 Marley's fluffy ears make me melt!

As well as thanking Renee for organising this fabulous shoot for me, thanks must go to Renee's daughter Talitha who had to be the photographer.  Darling, you did a spectacular job!

It really doesn't get much cuter than that, does it?

Beccie
xxx

Cocktails and Peplums - almost done!

And when I say almost, I'm so close to finishing I could pretty much say it is done.  All I've got left to do is sew in the shoulder pads and make a belt.

But I'm jumping forward.

When I last talked about this make, I had just put the bodice together and had hand rolled the peplum pieces.  The obvious starting point was putting in the sleeves.  Every time a pattern calls for setting in sleeves, I always do everything I can to the sleeve piece before I set it in. Especially the cuff/hem.  Doing that bit when its already attached to the bodice can be fiddly because there is so much more fabric to manipulate.

And yes, I should have taken a photo, but I didn't...

I must say though, I've had a bit of trouble setting in sleeves with the past couple of patterns.  There has been too much fabric to gather into too small a hole.  Not this pattern however!  This one went in like a dream!

Not a wrinkle or a gather in sight!

I noticed once I had the sleeves in the bodice that the sleeves were way longer than the pattern envelope gave me the impression they would be.  Now, we all know that pattern envelopes are notorious for lying, but I really liked the look of the shorter sleeves, so I folded the hem up as short as I could and left it at that.

Then I worked on the skirt.  Which meant working on the peplum first.

I pinned and sewed the gathers, and ironed them and was very happy with how it looked.

These two peplum pieces are attached to the front skirt piece before the skirt is sewed together.  One is sewed at the waist, and the second one is sewed in a diagonal line about half way down the skirt.

I pinned the lower piece so the raw edge would be underneath the peplum with the dress was being worn, and I pinked the raw edge to stop it unraveling.

I then sewed the skirt front and back together (easy) and sewed the completed skirt to the bodice (also easy!).  And I had a dress that was pretty much finished when you ignored the fact in needed a lot of hand sewing!

But I realised this dress was going to need two things to really be complete - shoulder pads, and a self covered belt.  A while I ago I bought 10 vintage self covered belt kits on Etsy that I have been hoarding for very VERY special projects.  This is a very worthy project, so I broke out a kit and set the belting aside to flatten out - its been folded up for a very long time.

I also broke out a pair of commercial shoulder pads, but they are really ugly, so I covered them with some of the leftover fabric.

It was really simple - I cut circles of fabric, wrapped them around the shoulder pads, and stitched so the line of stitching caught the edge of the shoulder pad, and finally pinked the raw edges.  Ta-daaa!

much less ugly!

Then I took everything down stairs and outside onto my sun-lounge to enjoy the day and get my hand sewing done.  I had to:

• Hand pick the zipper
• Roll hem the neckline and stitch down to the back of the neck and at the V
• Sew down the hem of the sleeve
• Sew the hem of the skirt
• Sew in the shoulder pads

That is a lot of hand sewing!  I got almost all of it done, just the shoulder pads to go.  And the belt, which I will get done this weekend.

It was so relaxing!!!

I'm going to a sewing group meet-up interstate on the 3rd of May, and I've decided that I will debut this dress at the meet-up!  As well as having lunch we are having a pattern and fabric swap, so I'm really excited to go!  And because its interstate, I'm going to a vintage festival the following day - Garterbelts and Gasoline - so I'm planning on making an outfit this weekend to wear to that.

I'm going to use this pattern, which I just realised is from 1938!

I'm going to make the version on the right (with the two different fabrics).  I recently impulse purchased some amazing flamingo print RAYON at Spotlight, and went back to find a contrasting rayon for the bodice.

I posted this photo on my facebook page to ask which colour I should use, and the response was really divided.  I had hoped (like I always do) for a clear answer, but I didn't get one so I'm still one the fence a little bit.  So I figured I would ask here too! 

Pink or Blue?????

I can't guarantee I will make what you choose, but I will listen to all your arguments!

Beccie
xxx

Cocktails and Peplums

One of the things I enjoy doing when I'm relaxing at home on the couch at night in front of the TV is wade through the oodles of 1940s and 1950s vintage goodies on Etsy on my iPad.  You see, my husband (love him) is a remote hog, so I don't get a look in on the programs we watch.  Thank goodness he doesn't watch sports constantly!

Anyway, one night I found this fabulous pattern, in my size!!!

And I knew immediately that I had the perfect fabric, but still I hesitated, and it was only after some (minimal) arm twisting when I posted the picture on my facebook page that I purchased it.

I was drawn to the dress on the right - version 2 with the double peplum - and the perfect fabric in my stash was this vintage rayon that I purchased on Etsy some time back.

Its covered in martini glasses!!!

I was so excited about this project that it jumped the queue of all my other projects and I just had to sew it next.

My first few stitches on my sewing machine were not happy ones however.  It kept jamming and it was tearing holes in the fabric... eek!!!  I did some investigating, and:

*cough* maintenance is not my strong point *cough*

I got this much fluff and yuck out of and around the bobbin casing:

Ugh!

That seemed to solve my problem, and I sewed up the bodice with no more jamming.  Its actually a fabulous, easy to sew design!

Here is a close up of the gathers in the V neck:

I am debating removing some of the fullness at the waist, but thats just going off how it looks on my headless helper, I haven't measured it yet.

The next job was working on the peplum pieces, as they are sewn into the right side skirt seam.  This involved a new skill for me - ROLLED HEMS!

I actually found a brilliant Youtube video that explained it really well (you can find it here).  Its long but very informative.  Here is my short, non-video version.

1. Insert a needle about 1/8" from the edge, fold the fabric over, and make the pattern shown in the picture below starting with a stitch over the fold down to the edge of the fold, take a teenie stitch through the underneath fabric only, then go back up to the fold, insert your needle and take a big stitch so the thread goes in between the two layers.  Repeat ad nauseam.

I've outlined the thread path in pretty colours.  GREEN is the stitches you can see, YELLOW are the little teenie stitches you can see from the other side of the fabric, and PURPLE are long stitches in between the two layers.

2.  Once you have a bunch of stitches done (I was working to about 15) you tug on the thread and it all rolls up neatly, like magic!!

3.  I then ran the back of my needle under the roll to neaten everything up:

Its a tad blurry, sorry.

I found it handy to do this on a pillow on my lap, because I then put in a pin at the second to last stitch to secure the fabric to the pillow before I did my next 15 stitches.

It was actually quite a relaxing process, and a good repetitive stitch that was perfect to do in front of some trash TV (I love trash TV)

And that's as far as I've gotten on this one.  I hope to have it finished to wear to a sewing group meet-up that I'm going to on the 3rd of May.  I figured I should wear something that I've created.

So, what's you're favourite TV show to hand-sew or do other chores in front of?

Mine is anything relating to girls trying on wedding dresses, Don't Tell The Bride - where the boys plan the weddings in 4 weeks without any help or contact from the girls, the UK version of Come Dine With Me - the announcer is hilarious, and How Do I Look - where people with truly tragic and misguided fashion are convinced to undergo a makeover.

Beccie

xxx

Making Adjustments to Vintage Clothing

I am of the firm opinion that altering vintage clothing is a no-no.  If its made it 60 or 70 years in its original form, who am I to change it?  And people who do 'upcycle' vintage should be hung, drawn and quartered.

Here is an example I recently found on Etsy.

That awful octopus is heat fused on there, so there is no going back.

And its not even a happy octopus - its frowning!  It doesn't like it either!!

However, repairing vintage to make it wearable again, and in doing so maintaining the integrity and style of the original dress is just fine.  For the above example, if there was a giant nasty stain or a hole where they stuck that octopus, I would have patched it, or covered it with SOMETHING SUITABLE AND MID CENTURY!!!  Not a giant bloody turquoise octopus!!!  Who on earth is going to wear that now!!!

*deep breath Beccie*

It makes me so mad!

Anyway, lets talk about the dress I adjusted on the weekend.  This discussion will not involve octopuses (octopi???)

Recently I purchased a lovely dress from the facebook group for buying, selling, and swapping mid century clothing - Ooh La La.  When it arrived I noticed that it was VERY yellow, had a few minor spot stains, and had a faint odour.  I decided that it was nothing that a good soak wouldn't cure, and I was right!  There is hardly any yellowing left and the spot stains have gone too!!  But gee the water was a revolting colour, and stank to high heaven!!!  I wish I'd taken some before photos... and had a way to record and play back the smell...  Actually, no I don't.

I put it on and realised that although the bodice was the perfect length, the skirt was not.  It was sooooo long - mid calf on me, the 'dowdy length'.  Even with quite high heels it still didn't look right.  Here is a before photo on my headless helper:

Isn't she gorgeous!  You can see why I completely fell in love with her!

I don't have a before photo of the dress on me, because I didn't wish to be looking dowdy even if it was for illustrative purposes.  So the photo above will have to do.

I loved the dress and wanted to keep it, so the skirt needed to be shorter.  And since there is a border design, I couldn't hem it.  Instead I would have to unpick the skirt from the waistband, make my adjustments and sew it all back together the same way to make it look original.

I was also going to be limited in the amount that I chopped off, due to the placement of the buttons.  To keep the distance between the buttons the same, I decided to cut the skirt at the first button down from the waistband. 

This would shorten the length of the skirt by 2 1/2 inches, from 30 inches to 27 1/2 inches.  Whilst I would have liked to get it to 26 inches, I figured that would be good enough.

So I started very carefully unpicking the skirt from the waistband, and started thinking about the dress itself.  I had decided from the shape of it (and I'm no clothing historian) that it was from the 1940s, and I had inspected the dress thoroughly and there was not a tag to be found.  I assumed it was an expertly sewn home job, but when I unpicked the skirt and noticed the 1/2" seam allowance, I was convinced.  This is because patterns printed in the 1940s were made with a 1/2" seam allowance!!  Does anyone have any further opinions on this?  Or have seen the pattern maybe???

I also enjoyed unpicking the parts of the waistband that went through the centre of a flower, because you could see just how much the print had faded over time.

The colours would have been so bright when she was new, but I still love her in all her faded glory.

Then came the moment of truth, when there was no going back.  Cutting off the excess inches.

I drew a line so it would be straight-ish, and went at it bravely.

Then I gathered and pinned and sewed and ironed and top-sewed, and put it back on my headless helper.

It is definitely shorter!

All I had to do to finish it was sew two buttons (one I cut off by mistake - oops!) and a hook and eye back on and I was done.  All in all a much easier project than I anticipated!  It is one of those icky jobs, but it was perfect for a down-in-the-dumps Sunday afternoon pick-me-up.

And I wore it yesterday with pride!

Its still long, but you can imagine how much longer it would have looked before...

This project was such a success that I've realised there are a few other dresses that could benefit from the same treatment!  However, I think they have zips in the side...which would make it much more difficult.  On second thoughts, I think they'll just stay as they are.

Please feel free to have your say about upcycling in the comments section!

Beccie

xxx