My name is Colleen and I'm a Canadian living in Louisiana (for now).
I've just gotten back into sewing after almost 20 years away from it. My interest was rekindled by the bloggers I'm seeing that are doing vintage sewing, particularly "Dress a Day".
Not much for my efforts yet, but am close to finishing a few garments, and when I get a chance I will post. I've also been collecting vintage knitting patterns, but haven't had much time to knit vintage with the exception of socks and hats. The climate I'm living in right now just isn't suited to sweaters. But I just love the fit and shaping of the sweaers from about pre-1965.
I'm a Ph.D. candidate in the sciences and it's the recruiting silly season right now, so interviews and company mixers are being interspersed with the usual round of teaching, class work, and trying to get some research done. I'm finally close to finishing one section of my thesis which I have nicknamed "the project from Hell". It was meant to be a short little thing and ballooned into something much larger--partly because I didn't know what I was doing when I started.
I scored some vintage patterns from E-Bay and local thrift shops, but haven't had time to scan and post. 1950-ish to late 1960s. I'm working on a dress right now--a modern design, but a retro feel. It's a wrap dress--fitted bodice and a full skirt with godets to add extra fullness. It's this one from Simplicity--I'm making the view shown in the beige fabric:
Simplicity 3877
The fabric is pale yellow cotton with an orange/black/magenta geometric pattern on it. I think it suits the dress. I bought the fabric on E-Bay for about $1.50yd (including shipping). It took about three weeks for me to get around to cutting out the dress. It then sat for a few weeks. I've done a bit of work on the bodice, but I think it'll be a while before it's completed. Unlike Canada though, I can wear stuff like this nearly year-round here. I've also scored some brand new (as in cut off the bolt but not used) fabric from local thrift stores for about $0.50/yd.
I've really enjoyed reading through the entries in this blog. Very inspiring. It wouldn't have occurred to me to use thrifted sheets or tablecloths as fabric for dresses or embroidered pillowcases for tops. But really, it's all just fabric.
That's it for now.
Colleen