A New Year's Toast To Fellow Sew-ers

Best Sewing wishes for the coming year!

May your sleeves go in with perfect ease (in both sense of the word)

May your plaids always match

May your zippers go in perfect (on the first try).

May your bobbin never run out in the middle of your stitching

And may your sewing machine run forever with no problems

Happy New Year!

Gorgeous Vintage 1920's Dress (Pic Heavy Post)

I'm going to take a holiday break from blogging (I'll be back at the New Year) and wanted to leave you with something stupendous, so I ever so carefully got out this knockout 1920's dress.  It's orange!  I love it!  And no beads, no fringe --it doesn't need them with those eye catching velvet flowers on a semi sheer background.  Plus the chiffon sleeves and skirt panel are dramatic in their own right.

This is a view of the back.

This is the right side (if you were wearing it).  The skirt is one large rectangle of fabric that comes around the body and is sewn into a chiffon panel that is on the left.

Here's that chiffon panel.  It too is a rectangle that is gathered up at the dropped waist.

And at that waist is this beautiful buckle.  I'm not sure what it's made of...maybe bakelite.  I actually took this buckle off the dress years ago and attach it to other belts to wear occasionally --it's too beautiful to be put in storage.  I reattached it to the dress for the photos.  On the dress it's on the ends of a skinny rectangle of fabric that is sewn into the front waist and partially the back to form the belt.

Underneath the outer dress is a built in slip of red silk. As with many vintage dresses the opening is on the left side. Here the underslip snaps together and then the dress is snapped (no zippers yet). The belt buckle covers this area.  Sadly this dress is deteriorating, especially the underslip. The fabric is simply disintegrating as old silk does. It was not easy to slip it over the dress form, but it should be seen and enjoyed before it fades away.

 Here's a view of those flowing sleeves.  They are not sewn together underneath but left open.

Now, some construction details.  The neck is bound with bias cut from the chiffon.  Also, although the dress is orange all the thread is tan.  I don't know if it was this way originally or if it faded --I tend to think it was always tan.  Either way it blends in well.

I expected French seams but they aren't.  They're a basic seam that takes advantage of the selvage edge of the fabric to keep it from ravelling.  The photo is a bit blurry but perhaps you can see the chiffon edges have a rolled hem.  The other section of the skirt has a regular turned under hem.

The sleeve...this is hard to describe.  Take a look at the bodice and note that it is simply a loose tank top.  To the side of the bodice an almost rectangle piece of chiffon is sewn into the seam (like a princess seam except it isn't fitted).  It's the same on the back.  The chiffon piece is also sewn into the waist.

I'm holding the edge of the sleeve on the right side straight up so you can see under it.  Its sides are sewn together from the waist up for several inches then left open --for maximum flutter effect.  (On the left side the snaps hold it together).

This is the dress inside out where you can get an idea of the underslip.  It's pretty basic with the skirt being made of two rectangles and almost the same on the bodice with straps.  The skirt rectangle has pleats at the waist.

Those are some of the spots where the dress is aging.  You might have noticed the stain on the bodice; it's been there the entire time I've owned this dress.  I bought it about twenty-five years ago at a garage sale my neighbors were having.  I also bought the flapper dress I showed before at the same time.  I think I got both for $5 because they're damaged.  Nobody could see the point in having damaged old dresses (except me!)  The belt buckle alone was worth it.

So what does one do with vintage dresses that are fragile and falling apart?  I stood perfectly still with my arms up while my husband carefully placed the dress over my head, adjusted it, and snapped up the side.  Then he took lots of photos. 

Some of which we turned black and white or sepia tone.  By the way, if you drop by my house and think those old photos sitting about are family photos...they're not.  They're me having fun in my vintage and vintage style stuff!

Oh, this dress feels fabulous!  So flowing!  And the silk is so luxurious even if it is old.

A ridiculous pose that shows this dress better than the dress form did.  Look at those sleeves!  And the sheerness of them is divine!  Needless to say, this dress had a lot of lovely soft movement as I walked around in it.

Hopefully you enjoyed a peek at this vintage beauty (the dress not me).  I think it would be an easy design to copy, so if some 1920's fashion lover copies it, I'd love to see the results.

Happy holidays!

Vintage McCall 3273 Nightgown Pattern

This nightgown could have so easily been a granny nighty but eluded it with style.  I think it's that waist that saved it  --that upward V that is such a classic 1940's look.  It still mildly amuses me that clothes designed decades ago for sleeping in are more beautiful than many of the modern clothes made for dressing up and going out in.

A New Skirt in My Compost Colored Wardrobe

I haven't shown much that I've made lately, but I have been sewing --just not photographing.  I did snap a quick, not too good photo of this dark green skirt I made last week.  I have a lot of knee length skirts and wanted something longer and warmer to wear with boots.  This bias cut McCalls 5524 was exactly what I had in mind and made up. 

Super simple.  I didn't make any changes except shortening it a bit --it came to my ankles.  It's supposed to have a bias piping around the yoke which I did cut but couldn't find when it was time to sew it, so I skipped it.  I later found it had slithered off the back edge of my sewing table and fell behind a box.  Oh, well.  The skirt is fine without it.  I definitely skipped the weird pocket thing on the model.

I like the skirt so much I might make it out of some brown fabric too.  Which leads me to my color choices in fabric.  If you look at the sidebar you can see my stack of fabric for my winter wardrobe.  The green fabric I made the skirt from is in there.  Here's some fabric I bought in early fall:

I dress in shades of greens, browns, and black.  I do buy blues if I can find the shades I like, but mostly I dress in the colors of a pile of compost.  I'm ok with that...I look good in compost.  That piece of white fabric?  It's cotton that I bought with the idea of experimenting with dyeing it.  I'm thinking maybe a shade of green.

Notches In or Notches Out

Do you cut your notches in or out? --was a question I was asked by a beginning seamstress a few weeks ago.  Out, always out.  Why?  I remember asking my mother the same question years ago when I was beginning and had a used pattern that the previous owner had cut with the notches in.  I was told to cut the notches out so that if I needed to let the seam out any I had plenty of fabric there to use.  Makes perfect sense.  And that was how I explained it to the beginner who then pointed out to me that the notches are made to look like they are cut inwards.   I hadn't noticed that but they are sort of, aren't they?  Especially on modern patterns.

In or Out?  I'm sticking with out.

Dress with Bows Pattern

I think the neckline on this dress would make it a nice party dress or special event dress.  The little bows on the neck and waist are nice for some but definitely not me --you'll never catch me wearing little bows!  Not my style!  Still a nice dress though.

Making Clothes Out Of Steel Wool

Lately I've seen numerous beautiful coats and jackets all over the sewing blog community.  Well done all you sewists!  Most of the coats I've seen are made of lovely woolens.  But try wearing wool when you're allergic to it and the closest thing I can think of to compare is wearing steel wool against your skin.  Old rusty steel wool.

Polyester

I used to wear wool stuff.  I love wool plaid skirts, and tweed makes my giddy!  But no more.  About four years ago I was hit with some bizarre allergies.  It even has a name:  Adult Onset Allergies.  I became an allergy geek.  Wearing wool hurts.  It gives me a red rash and, hmmm...it doesn't actually itch it just irritates.  The kind of writhe around irritation that makes me want an oatmeal bath.  I've had to purge my wardrobe of wool  --this is devastating to a vintage enthusiast seamstress like myself.  Nothing compares to wool.  I can't even knit and felt with it anymore.  I gave away a costly amount of wool yarn. 

So what are the substitutes?  Honestly, who wants to take the time and effort to tailor a polyester jacket.  It's polyester!...truly like putting lipstick on a pig.  Polar fleece isn't quite what I want.  And I'm not going to wear a coat that makes me look like the Michelin tire man! (I still actually wear my twenty-five year old pea coat --I put a scarf around my neck so the wool can't touch me.)  I have a glorious full length vintage coat I can wear because it's made of cashmere, but cashmere is out of my budget for sewing.  What about a velveteen coat?  Is it socially acceptable to drape myself in velvet?

I have to say I'm already getting tired of winter sewing (I've only made two skirts).  Polyester isn't cutting it for me.  And corduroy is ok, but meh.  I prefer sewing for spring, summer, and early fall when I can use cotton and linens.  If you don't have wool allergies breathe a sigh of relief.

Colorful Little Quilt

I made this baby quilt months ago and don't recall if I showed it finished or not.  If I did, this is a rerun.  As you probably guessed by looking at it, it's made of the scraps of many of my previous quilts along with my favorite green polka dots for the border.  It's on its way out this morning to be a gift for someone that admired it and has a grandbaby now.  (You know who you are --Mr. S has it for you).  Edit:  No, Mr. S doesn't have it --he forgot it this morning.  I'll send it tomorrow.