This is my second Vogue 8811. Made from a beautiful navy blue based Japanese cotton lawn.
Western Sydney has had weeks of over 40ºC and this dress is perfect. High jewel neckline and kimono sleeves to protect from the sun, and a lovely tea length to stop behind-the-knee sunburn.
The only seriously mod was to omit the sleeve facings, I did a narrow hem instead.
Swing by my blog to for more details and images!
A couple weeks ago I stitched up Vintage Vogue 9280, which was a recent reproduction pattern that was released this past year.
No doubt about it, this piece is a jour-neeeeyyyy in the amount of hand sewing and moments when you think the project is nearly done… until it isn’t!
But then again, if you’re into vintage sewing, chances are the hand sewing is no biggie!
Even with princess seams, inverted darts, and multiple smaller shaping darts, getting the sorted muslin wasn’t too bad. I focused specifically on shortening the bodice and getting the princess seam taken care of, which were the primary fitting points.
Even though on the exterior there are only four visible bound buttonholes, there are actually a total of eight! The removable collar is stitched up in the same way as the bodice collar, with bound buttonholes matching up on the interior with button links.
I go into them more in depth over on my website, but essentially it comes down to that open collar design feature.
Pictured here is a 1940’s (or late 1930’s) outfit that I sewed up using the Wearing History Smooth Sailing Sport Togs Shirt and Trousers pattern. After surfing all my hearted patterns on Etsy, I just kept coming across this pattern and thinking about it. Then I started seeing other versions of the same pattern popping up on some of the people I follow on Instagram. The trousers looked good on everyone, so I decided to give it a spin.
This pattern is available in paper form or as a digitally downloadable file. I chose the downloadable file because it was less expensive and I would get it delivered right away. The later being more important. That’s funny, actually, because I did not end up sewing it right away. Ha! assembling the pages to create the pattern was clearly explained and took me about 45 minutes to complete (both top and pants).
LOVE, LOVE, LOVE!!!! This pattern is great. I would and will make this again, maybe adding pockets to the pants and also adjusting the fit in the armholes.
For more photos and my complete pattern review, visit the post on my blog.
Until Next Time, Happy Sewing!
Modern with retro flair! The Colette Penny was my last summer hoorah before I transitioned over to Fall and Winter pieces.
This particular October in San Francisco has been super warm, so I’ve gotten the opportunity to wear this dress more frequently than I anticipated!
to add hooks, rather than snaps, to the cummerbund “belt”, especially since it ends right where your arm might pop off the belt (having the hooks there just makes more sense to me, anyway!)
After watching the brilliant documentary The True Cost, about the human and environmental impact of fast fashion, I decided to try and make a completely ethically-produced dress. I chose to make it using an original sewing pattern from 1946 that I had won in a competition on the Vintage Sewing Pattern Nerds Facebook group. It’s a little later than my usual style dress (1930s to early 40s) but, as it looked like it could easily be from the late 1930s, I decided to go for it.
The fabric I used was 100% organic cotton gingham from the Organic Textile Company. They produce this beautiful soft cotton in two different sizes and both in three different colours, red, blue and black. As I loved both sizes so much I chose to use both in red and use the smaller one on the bias. Of course, each of the pieces I cut in this way had to be stabilised with straight cut facings.
All of the trimmings I used were either vintage pieces or items I already owned, even the ivory cotton thread I used to sew the dress up. This all adds up to an almost totally ethically made garment. However, there is one thing I did have to buy new, and it wasn’t organic or ethically-produced, so I can’t quite say this dress is 100% ethical.
Head on over to my blog to find out what this item was and, if you want to know more about why it isn’t ethical, have a read of the comments at the end of the post.
Hello, everyone!
Long time since I’ve shared a project on here, but I haven’t been sewing too much lately 😣
Anyway, the last thing I worked on was the Gertie Keyhole blouse from the New Book for Better Sewing.
It was a transformation from the Bow Tie blouse from the same book.
Essentially, you have to move the bust dart to the shoulder, and gather the shoulder for a cute rusching detail.
Five rows of gathers, and a keyhole cut out from the neckline- super 40s!
Absolutely LOVE how it came out– I’ve worn it at least once a week since I made it haha!
Anyway, more photos including a sewing tutorial (!!) over on my website.
(Definitely recommend it for daily use! I wanna remake this in some yummy silks!)
This Dress was a long time coming. I started working on it in November of last year. Originally, I intended to make it from a wool crepe and that the red rayon would be a wearable muslin. Using the Colette Patterns Oolong Dress pattern (purchased for 1/2 price, when they were discontinuing the pattern), I decided to make one modification – add godets to the skirt in the princess seams to give it a little flip and flare. That version was not so exciting, in fact, I was so disappointed with the fit, I put the dress back on rack to wait for some inspiration or divine intervention, whichever came first.
Earlier this summer I needed a dress to wear to a tropical themed Art Deco party, so I pulled the dress and pattern out of storage and decided to see what I could do. Necessity is the mother of invention, right? Well I ended up combining 3 patterns to make this one look – the Colette Oolong, Colette Parfait and the 1930s Ladies Afternoon Tea Frock – Reproduction Sewing Pattern #T3221 from Vintage Pattern Lending Library.
In the end, I’m pretty happy with the results. I don’t think I will make it up again, but If I did, I would fit the skirt a bit differently and make the godets come up higher. I’ve worn it twice now – once to the tropical event and once to a local production of Castle Happy, a play about William Randolf Hearst and Family.
If you are interested in seeing HOW I worked with the fitting and the patterns, visit my Blog for the full post.
Until Next Time….Happy Sewing!
