Mr Hawaii

In the absence of a new frock, I made my nephew a 50's style Hawaiian/Bowling shirt for his birthday with vintage Barkcloth fabric and smiley face buttons. I think he quite likes it as when asked "How cool are you Leo?", his enthusiastic response was "Very Coooooool".

Studio 54?

I've been invited to a 'party' (more corporate advertising - it's sponsored by Absolut - free vodka being the main reason for going), which has a dress code of 'Studio 54'.


I was hoping that you guys here would have some idea of what styles would signify this theme, and what kind of fabrics would be suitable. So far I've seen soft-flowing flares (I don't do trousers), gold hot pants (only for Kylie nowadays) and strapless dresses (a no-no for me).

Any ideas will be gratefully received. Please bear in mind I'm a bit of a newbie with sewing so the simpler, the better!

Girlie seventies skirt

This one is only a slight "but", I'm starting gently- you know, like when first you look at drawings of spiders, then photos...

My lovely flatmate Alice brought me the fabric back from Japan in August, and it has been sitting on the corner of my desk since then. It has finally made it from a plan to an actual skirt, using this pattern (Style 4167, I think its from the seventies?):

I'm very pleased with myself, not only for squeezing a flippy (albeit short) skirt out of one metre of fabric, but also because the pattern piece for the waistband had gone AWOL, and I redrafted it.
A wee bit more on my blog, as usual.

I no longer have a sewers block!

Wohoo Anna's idea of "no more buts" couldn't have come at a better time! My but wasn't really a project or whatever ... but life, it got in the way and I just stopped sewing for 2 months and I then got that panic whereby you question if you really can do something.

So I pretty much literally threw myself in this weekend and I have 2 new lovely dresses to show for it. I think they are both 60s but quite different - this Simplicity one and a McCalls.

Which make up like so:



And



I am one happy bunny and I think I have my addiction back ... just as well for my giant stash of fabric!

Hannah x

Costume and "but" pattern

I haven't done much sewing for myself lately hence no retro items to show. I recently made this 1770's style dress and bonnet for a friends child who will be going as the American Girl Felicity for Halloween.

And I am making the long sleeved version of this 1940's ish McCall dress in red crepe for winter. I'd been putting it off because it needs to be redrafted to fit my ahem, attributts...I mean attributes ;-) ~ best, Missy

Hello! I'm so glad to be a part of this terrific group of sewers and to have a dedicated place for these kinds of projects. My name is Kathryn and I can be mostly found over at kathrynimmonen.com and on ravelry as KImmonen. Virtually all my sewing and knitting is 1938-45 but that being said... this is my next project, from the terribly modern year of 1956.

I've already made this in white flannel with a redrafted sleeve which terminated in a glove (there's a picture in the gallery pages on the website) and happily, even though I didn't make it to wear, it fits beautifully and so I can just start in with some charcoal wool.

A friend of mine has just recently donated her last pair of pants and is committed to dresses. I aspire! I'm so looking forward to seeing more of what people are sewing.

Hi, everyone! My name is Donna, but I post and am known online as 'angldst'. I live in Alexandria, Virginia. I've been sewing since i was aged 8, and have been sewing professionally for 10 yrs now for my business Original Sin Design. I love vintage and retro fashion and have been collecting patterns from the 30s, 40s & 50s for a long time now. I received this pattern
from an Ebay seller a couple of weeks ago, and I'm making it up the middle version to wear to a wedding this coming Sunday. I had to trace it off and alter it down from a 28 to a 26" waist, and I've done more of a taper down into the flounce, because I like a definite 'pencil' skirt look, and can pull it off well. I'm making it up in a fuschia stretch woven material with an applied black lace overlay, and for the flounce I'm taking the scalloped selvedges of the lace, and using them at the hem of the lace flounce. I'll see if I can get my husband to take a picture of the finished skirt if it turns out nicely.

I also want to thank fellow bloggers here for the tip of searching in thrift & secondhand stores for sheets for reclaimable fabric. I found a marvelous large white cotton sheet with eyelet lace trim-perfect for victorian dainties (I also do a lot of victorian costuming)! Large sheet in great shape for 3 bucks! W00t. So, thanks, fellow sewists!

I have a blog over at Original Sin Sewing that I post in sporadically for my professional work, and I'm on Livejournal as 'angldst'.
Thanks for reading! :)

My First 'But' Finished

I started this dress for one of the themes on here, I don't even want to think how long ago now, but it's been unfinished in my sewing room (new and old sewing rooms both!) for over a year now at least.

This is the pattern:


I bought it from Moms Patterns and it's a 40" bust. The envelope that it came in says Sue Burness, The Peoria Star. There are other dress patterns advertised on it and they also offered a sewing book of techniques apparently. There is no date on the pattern or envelope.

So, I love this pattern and the fabric but....

1. I tried it on while making it and it was too small. It is now much smaller on me as I've had a baby in the time it's taken to be made. I think it will fit a 42" chest (the dressform is set at 41" and the dress is a little baggy on it) and I *will* wear it one day, just not for a while.

2. The exploded diagram instructions were a bit daunting and it told you to construct it in an odd order, for example to attach the very wide skirt and then sew on the neck facings which would have made it really difficult to work with and heavy. Whilst finishing it I didn't read the instructions and just did it in the order I thought it should be done in and it worked.

3. There were no instructions on how to put the zip in the side, it said to see the sewing book they offered. The instructions with the pattern did tell you how to make a placket and put snaps on but I didn't want to do that. In the end after trying to pin in the zip and having no joy I sewed in an invisible zip without it being pinned and it worked out just fine. I was worried before I ironed it that I'd made a real hash of it but apparently not, I was very excited when I saw that it had worked!

4. I couldn't decide whether I wanted the pocket or not. In the end I decided not. This fabric is a bit more formal looking than regular 'house dress' fabric would probably be so I thought the pocket would look odd.

5. I was worried about the neckline. I didn't understand the instructions for the back neckline (something about ending up with a slit that needed a button and loop) so I ignored it as it fit over my head just fine without it. I was also worried about the shaping of the neckline, I always seem to add up with an off-centre neckline when things require shaping, but this time the sewing goddesses were with me and it worked out fine. I top stitched the opening to keep the facing inside and it looks like this (also a picture showing the pattern on the fabric).

So, with all those buts and worries about sewing the dress and putting it off for so long it took a total of an hour and a half tops to finish, including blind hem stitching the wide skirt on my sewing machine. I am very happy with the way it came out and I look forward to wearing it someday!

Anna

ps If you're on Flickr don't forget the Sew Retro projects group which can be found here. Please add your photos!

Butterick Button Down Skirt

Finally an introduction and a finished project! it's taken me so long because I rarely make anything for myself these days. I'm Claire, and I live and sew in Sydney.

So here is my finished button down skirt, made from vintage Butterick pattern 5930, and vintage brushed cotton that I bought at the Op Shop this week. I will be making this skirt again, because as is always the case, the next time the pattern should make more sense!

Vintage Apron Goodness

First a word of introduction: My name is Amanda, and I've been lurking on this blog off and on for a year or so. I finally decided I am ready to contribute. For more info about me you can look at my blogger profile or visit my blogger blog here.

I had this great vintage apron pattern, but I sold it in my Etsy store. Luckily, before it sold (which was almost immediately) I traced off all the pieces and took digital pics of the instructions. Then, at my leisure, I made this cute apron. The colors remind me of pink frosted chocolate cupcakes. With sprinkles.

I may try to do the other views as well.

Hello everyone, yet another new person! I'm Jen from North Carolina, right on the border of Virginia. I've been a sewer since age 9, roughly 40 years (but who's counting, right?).

I have 5 beautiful daughters aged 16, 16 (yes they're twins), 15, 13, and 12. The youngest is quite an original, and has a style all her own, very retro. The younger of the twins is the artist, complete with her own style, and the middle one wants to design fashion for a living. I am completely surrounded by creativity, and have absolutely no excuse not to have anything less than totally original fabulous-ness leaving my house at any given moment.

I sew for all of them and for myself, and have recently discovered that looking great and being comfy has a lot to do with the very old patterns I love. Here's to a full skirt "that can dance!"

I also make purses and love to do dresses for little tiny girls. Now that I've discovered a slew of sites that inspire me to sew what I love (and not necessarily what's in the current pattern books), I'll try and get some photos done.

Thanks for adding me! Glad to be here!

Hello!

Firstly an introduction. My name is Emma, and I've just started trying (!) to sew, having bought my first machine last week. My main reasons are both finding dresses that fit (is it true most fashion is designed for a B-cup?!) and loving vintage designs but not having the money to buy them. I live in London, which means I don't have the luxury of cheap fabric (that I know yet), and by day am editor of a music website called This Is Fake DIY.

I have decided to try Simplicity 3673 - the full skirted version - and have found that while using a smaller size on the skirt (I prefer my clothes fitted rather than with 'ease'), the gather on the bust looks awful, and is about an inch too short. Does anyone have a recommendation for how to tackle the gathering, and would altering the pattern as written in my Vogue sewing book work for the bodice, or am I best just lengthening it, as again, I like the fitted look.

Any suggestions would be great - I have enough to cut the bodice again, but just the once!

Another Newbie

Hi everyone!
Thank you Anna for having me join.

I'm Isabelle and blog at Kitty Couture; I'm French, and live in Paris.

I've been following the Sew Retro blog for several months now and have been meaning to participate for a while. This is such a great community blog. The new challenge for the next few months, No More Buts, is what gave me the final impetus to join. I was hoping to do the vintage contest on patternreview.com, but got too busy to manage and make a vintage dress in time. :(
Now, I don't only sew vintage (far from it), but I'm fascinated with the New Look era - and am a huge fan of Audrey Hepburn.

Posts are always more enjoyable with pictures, so here's a vintage project I completed last spring:

The pattern dates from 1964.
The dress wraps in the back.
The fabric is vintage.


Front --------- Back

I'm really hoping to get more vintage sewing done in the months/year to come... Including making a petticoat to go with my full-skirted frocks!

My next vintage project should be the Simplicity 3673 re-release. I'll be making - you probably guessed it - the full-skirted version.

Happy sewing everyone! Thank you for the wonderful inspiration.

Hello, I've arrived.

Hi all. Thanks for letting me participate in the Sew Retro blog. I have always loved vintage frocks, sewing and fashion and really admire the immense creativity in blogland, particularly on this one.





My first couple of frocks where my first forays into sewing up some vintage patterns. I hope that you like them.

Update: My petticoat arrived!

My petticoat is here! Ordered on the 26th, received the 29th. It arrived a bit scrunched but after a dunking in water and a little drying time (thanks for the heads-up Petula Darling!) it's good as new.

Here are the before and afters:

October-January Project

Once again we will run the project for 4 months as I know we all tend to get a little bit less sewing time around this time of year!

The theme for this project is called No More Buts.....

I know we all have a vintage pattern (or vintage style pattern) that we look at longingly from time to time

...but it needs redrafting as the waist/bust/hips/whole thing are too big/small

...but you don't have just the right bit of fabric to make it

...but it's a little bit harder than you're used to making so it's a bit scary

...but it's a really old pattern and you're scared of ripping it or messing it up somehow

...but you're not sure how often or where you'd wear it

...but

...but

No more buts ladies! If you need a piece of fabric for it go and get it (yes, I am encouraging you to buy fabric, sorry!), if it's harder than you're used to embrace the challenge, if it needs altering and you're not sure how post here and people will guide you or direct you to the resources you need to get it right.

This theme could also apply to fabric that you own and haven't used because of any number of reasons, find a pattern for that lovely stuff and use it up, it's made to be worn not stored away!

I'm really looking forward to seeing your creations and hearing your 'but' stories, make sure you take time to do something you love for *you* (ie sewing!) in the run up to and during the busy holiday period!

Anna