Joni

So there I was minding my own business when I thought, “Hey! That bright purple stretch cotton shirting in my stash would make a GREAT wiggle dress!” Of course I had to do it. The Sewing Gods must be obeyed. I combined two patterns in my stash – I put the bodice from 5808 (dated [...]

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After my resolution post yesterday, several of you pointed out that separates might allow me to fit more vintage sewing into my decidedly non-vintage lifestyle. An idea so genius it’s no wonder I didn’t think of it myself. So I hauled out some fabric originally earmarked for dresses (dresses that weren’t going to get sewn [...]

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The only kind of New Year’s resolutions I make are sewing resolutions, because those are the only ones worth keeping.  I’m not talking about grand sweeping statements like “I’m not going to buy any more fabric” or “No more vintage patterns! I mean it!” because those are utterly silly and will be broken by the [...]

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Hello all! I’ve got two projects to share with you. One was a last minute Christmas gift for my 4 year old cutie. I made both dresses – girl and doll – in a single day, it was right before the kids got out for Christmas break so I had to hustle! The girl dress [...]

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Have you heard about the Liberty of London Lifestyle line? Liberty prints on quilting-weight cotton at a more affordable price? I was all over that as soon as I found a shop that had them in stock. I got 4.5 yards in the teal/mustard/fuschia colorway and  they are DIVINE. I couldn’t let these glorious prints [...]

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The mouse disease dress is completed! I suppose I should have shown you the pattern on my previous post, so you’d know why it was so important to me to salvage it. Cute, isn’t it? The material is actually a vintage bed sheet from a thrift store – I love sewing with bed sheets, especially [...]

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On a whim, I decided my daughter needed another dress, and by amazing coincidence I like to make dresses! Who knew? I had a perfect pattern from a huge eBay lot, and while all the pieces were present, when I opened them up I found that… SOMETHING had been nibbling on the pattern tissue! Gross! [...]

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As promised, here is my second new dress in as many weeks! I started with McCalls 5808, dated 1961, and a gloriously retro-looking Amy Butler print. I love peonies – and they are the state flower here in Indiana! The construction of the dress, while simple, was pretty interesting – the bodice is faced, the yoke [...]

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This is one of two vintage dresses I’ve made for myself this month (the second is awaiting a belt). I had a pair of vintage spectator pumps, and really needed something to wear with them. This was my first time using a Retro Butterick reprint. You might not be able to tell from the finished [...]

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(inspired by this piece of awesomeness that I saw on the internets) Do you guys have this problem? I sew quite a bit, for myself and for my daughters, and I have a sewing business making specialty items for which I am fairly well compensated (not a gazillionaire by any stretch – but I make [...]

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