Sew Retro: February 2008

Flapper Dress

This is not exactly a vintage pattern, it's instead a new pattern, but in 20s style. I have an upcoming performance set in the 20s and needed appropriate attire. It's a little (a lot) shorter than what I'm used to, but I think it looks nice.

I Can't Decide

For my ASG Red Dress/Garment sewing challenge that is due in October of 2008, I can't decide which pattern to use.
So I am asking for some input. It has to be Red, I'm not totally sure if it's to be all red, or if I can incorporate another color. I was thinking of pattern #7676 or #7242. I was wanting to make it for the summer and then present it in the Fall at our October meeting.

Attempted Skirt

I’ve posted a new sewing-related post on my “home” blog. Perhaps with (potentially) 140+ pairs of sewers’ eyes on me, I might feel a bit more responsibility to actually sew a skirt this weekend. Oh, right, and do my pesky taxes...

Introduction and my latest projects

Hi, everyone! I'm Peregrine, and I'm a librarian by day, vintage pattern junkie by night. My mother taught me to sew when I was about 10, but I haven't done much sewing for a few years, and I just discovered vintage patterns last summer. I've been lurking here for a few months now, and I'm really excited to be joining the blog!

Here's my latest projects, a kimono style robe (McCall's 3274) and pajamas (Simplicity 4312):

I made them out of a great old bed sheet from before I upgraded to a queen bed :)

I'm very happy with the kimono (still need to make a sash for it; that's a scarf in the photo). The pattern's sash is a cummerbund with boning, which I think is a little much for something I'll never wear out of the house.

The pajamas are comfy, but the super high waistband will take some getting used to! I wasn't watching the clock very closely, but I finished all of this in one weekend.

I have a few works in progress that (hopefully) I'll be sharing soon!

Further back than Retro

(Click to enlarge)
Hey folks,
I haven't vanished, but my sewing projects of late have been time-consumingly ambitious and from about 100 years earlier than the 1930s-1960s styles usually shown on this page... but what the hey? Here's a couple variations on Simplicity 4400, which is intended for Civil War re-enactment, but which I used for working at the Great Dickens Christmas Fair in San Francisco this last holiday season. The upper-class dress, which is being worn over a corset and a set of hoops, I call the Thistle Dress. I used the pattern for the skirt (the shiny, green striped silk) and the bodice (which is a shiny indigo-purple cotton). For this one, I did include those odd little "bust pads" that the pattern calls for, to fill in the space in the armpit-chest area, and to conceal the ridge of the top of my corset. I invented the over-skirt using four identical wedge-shaped panels, which join to create the diamond "windows" and allow the green stripes to show through. This dress being a great excuse for many tassels, I hung one at the top of each diamond and from more places on the bottom of the over-skirt. I used the pattern again for the shiny green under-sleeves, but altered the puffed over-sleeve from the pattern into a more Victorian London bell shape (from which I hung tassel fringe). The thistle leaves on the front of the bodice are appliqued using Wonder Under and an outline stitch, with some ribbon embroidery for the blooms and some leaf details. The Fair folk gave it a positive reception overall, though one friend remarked with disappointment that there weren't nearly enough tassels. ;)
The tarty, lower-class dress, also being worn over a corset, is the result of marking a square neckline on the muslin I made of the bodice pattern. The resulting top needed only some darting at the shoulders to fit correctly. You can't see because of the shawl, but the sleeves are similar bell-shapes to the other dress, also covered in tassel fringe, but with no under-sleeves. The skirt was made from tiering strips of trimmed fabric like bed-skirt ruffles. And my hat? Bits and bobs of ribbon sewn to a covered shoulder pad. Seriously. Quite obnoxiously Victorian indeed.
Next time, a 1940s inspired Vogue Coat....
Cheers!

V&A Couture pattern

Has anybody tried the (free) dress pattern offered by the Victoria & Albert Museum in conjunction with their Golden Age of Couture show? I’d love to see it as created by members of this group.

Hello Everyone!
Ande here and I am very flattered to be a part of the group! I love to sew vintage patterns and some of my work can be seen over at the blog, Knit and the City. I look forward to posting my future projects here!
Cheers All!

Hello, it's so nice to meet you.

I’m AmpersandRanch (also tiddleywink), and I started sewing back in high school. I also stopped sewing back in high school. I picked it up again about a year or so ago, and I’m still muddling my way through, but at least the few items I’ve made haven’t fallen apart yet. My most recent project was a dress for a vintage-Hollywood-themed New Year’s Eve party, which I based on the red, sequined dresses from Gentlemen Prefer Blondes:

Above: Original dress, as designed by William Travilla and worn by Marilyn Monroe and Jane Russell.

My version, based on McCall’s M5519 and, um, enthusiastically altered, in that the dress had to be lengthened and the neckline slashed, but it also fit like a TENT the first time around and needed some serious taking in around the waist. And for future reference, that faux-sequined material would REALLY benefit from a lining. It’s itchy!

I have a whole slew of vintage and vintage-repro/vintage-inspired patterns that need attention, but I get distracted by just about anything else. I’m hoping that this blog group will get/keep me inspired to be more productive with my sewing! Thanks for letting me lurk in the background for so long. It’s good to be here.

Returning!

Hi everyone - just wanted to jump in and introduce myself. I'm "Ang" over in the sidebar, although my website is now www.evilgeniusatwork.com. I joined in the beginning, completed a few projects, and then disappeared. I was kidnapped by life, but I'm back and looking forward to sewing some retro projects again!

I moved cross-country, and moved in with my BF. Our place is pretty small so sewing projects tend to take over about half the house and have to be very well planned. He's a good sport, though. My last sewing project was in August (a costume for a party) and during the course of that one... my sewing machine table broke! It wasn't repairable, so right now I'm trying to figure out how to handle the situation. I'm thinking about a sturdy TV tray from IKEA - that's what I did a while back when I was transitioning from one home to another. It's a good temporary measure, but if anyone has any recommendations for a sewing machine table (needs to fold up!!!), I'm all ears!

Thanks!

Better Late than Never

Well, February 1 came and went -- how's Feb 15 for an extended deadline?

I finally finished Simplicity 3763, my first project for myself in forever. I'm somewhat pleased with it, although I have to say this pattern was difficult to fit. I lengthened the bodice by 2", and probably could have done it by 1" and been fine. I may cut the thing apart and fix it at some point in the future -- but for now, at least it's done! Although the tracing and fitting and cutting took a couple of hours the other day, I started and finished this (sewing only) yesterday in about 3 hours.

Things I changed:

I placed the center front of the skirt on the fold instead of having a center front seam.
I put in a 14" zipper center back that goes from mid-back to below the waist (it was all I had in my stash and I didn't want to go to WalMart for a 22" zip)
I lined it completely (pattern only calls for lining the bodice) with crepe-de-chine from my stash.

I think I would leave the center front seam in next time, if I ever do this again. It lends itself to all the darts/tucks in the skirt.

Ready for Spring!

I finally made something for myself, a cute Mod dress. The fabric isn't vintage but has a groovy look to it. I had some trouble with the front curve but it worked out after a few tries. I also made my own sleeve pattern since they are always too small and I made the length between the two options on the pattern, now it just needs to warm up!

Finally finished something!

Did anyone else finish S3673 before February 1? Sadly, I did not, but not for lack of trying. The first dress just didn't work out, but the second try hit the jackpot:

Here’s my “action” shot, trying to recall the poses on the pattern envelope:

Sadly wrinkled after an afternoon, but you can see the fit is pretty good. I was so happy to have a bit of sunshine to take photos that I might have gotten a little silly. Sadly, my photographer was laughing too hard to get *every* shot! More on my blog...

Next up is Simplicity 4238, a vintage pattern I picked up on eBay:

The pattern came already cut out, fabric included. Happily, the pins didn’t rust and the fabric irons out pretty well. Whoever cut this one out had a *very* shaky hand, though - there's not a straight cut to be found. I've already straightened up the edges and am just about ready to start sewing. Finally some forward sewing progress!

inspiration..........finally lol

I cant believe I havent made anything in such a long time! While painting the kitchen the other day I was feeling jollied up by the colour so I popped down to the fabric store and came home with the pattern and materials to make this dress

I wanted something different to wear to the late Valentines 'do' I'm going to on the 23rd and as its school holidays next week I think I have a fighting chance of getting it done. I'm still not sure if I'm a pink person but a splash of colour never hurts now and again :) wish me luck ladies!

Faux Retro

The pattern for this jacket is not vintage, but it has very vintage lines, and was partially inspired by Livebird's post on here a week or so ago, so I thought I'd post it. I'd been waffling back and forth over whether to make the band collar view or the peter pan collar view, and the contrast collar on her so-cute dress decided me.

The jacket is made of black fleece with the contrast collar done in a grey and black houndstooth flannel that was left over from a jumper that I made in October (details on that are here, if you are interested). The pockets are also lined in the flannel, and the front is edged in it. that was a "design element" that I had to come up with on the spur of

the moment when I realized that I'd messed up the facing. I made this jacket unlined when it is designed to be lined, and I didn't realize the full ramifications of that. Overall I'm not so happy with the way it turned out, but it's really only a wearable muslin for a planned version of the jacket in corduroy lined with minky.

I lengthened the sleeves a bit, as I actually wear jackets to keep warm, and thus the 3/4 sleeve jacket just doesn't make sense to me. Together, the flannel jumper and the jacket make a very cozy winter ensemble.

The best part to me is the buttons, which I got at a local fabric store. They're giant pound symbols.

Themes

Unbelieveably we are now at just over 150 members! I never thought when I started this blog that the number would grow so high, thank you all for joining and for sharing your projects and retroness with everyone!

I am throwing open the themes this month to all of you, I would love to hear what direction you would like the themes to go in or whether you think that we should do away with them entirely. Please post a comment and I will compile a list from there to use in the poll (or polls if there are a lot of them).

I look forward to seeing many more projects from everyone and I apologise for my slowness in inviting people and dealing with the new theme, I'm going through some personal things at the moment (aren't we all?!?!) which have slowed my sewing and online activity down a little bit.

So, what would you like to see everyone make and post about? Anything retro sewing related goes so put your thinking caps on!

Thanks to you all for taking part, keep sewing retro!

Anna

Vintage Book

I got a charge out of the "Consumer's Victory Pledge".

Also in the book was a clipping about Aprons, that I thought was very neat to read.

Judy @ Mid-Life Bliss

Vintage Sewing

I came across the Sew Retro blog while searching for vintage sewing patterns, although I probably have plenty already, haha, as if that's possible. Any way I have been sewing since I was little and have always loved making things. I started collecting vintage sewing patterns since I began working in a vintage clothing shop about 3 years ago and I have made some really fun stuff. I look forward to sharing my projects with you and seeing all of yours!
Esther

Finally not lurking any longer.

Thoroughly enjoying sew retro for about a year now, I thought it would be nice to join. I am a busy Mama to four (soon five) littles and find time late at night to sew. Vintage patterns are my favorite, especially now that our daughter is seven. In store fashions, seven seems to be the magic age when little girls cease to be little girls and turn into teen agers wearing lycra and mini skirts. I'm not into that.

This is one of my latest projects in cream linen found on clearance for $2 a yard. The pattern I found on etsy.com. It is wishful thinking for a post baby summer. Right now I have the opposite of a waist!
More projects can always be found here.
Blessings,
Hannah

I am So Excited...

to be here. My name is Judy and I have been sewing since I was about 10. My mother first taught me and then in Middle School and High School I took sewing classes.

Here is a vintage apron that I have made. I gave this to my daughter who loves to cook and bake.

I love to sew aprons the most, especially vintage ones. I have a blog that is my sewing/life blog.

http://www.midlifebliss.typepad.com/.

I do love to knit, crochet, and I have taught myself how to smock. I am so happy that I have renewed my love for sewing.

A Finished 1940s Cashmere Sweater and a WIP 1970s dress

Hello!

My name's Cassie - I love to sew and knit... particularly from vintage patterns. Alas, I don't have the time to do this half as much as I'd like to.

So, by way of an introduction, here's some pictures of a 1940s (?) knitted sweater which I finished in 2007. (I haven't really tried taking photos of myself before - sorry they're a bit blury!)...

Overall I was pleased with how it turned out (except the back of the neckband, but that's hidden by my hair!)

It was a real pain to knit though - each panel/band at the top is separated by ribbing, so to keep the elasticity, I couldn't carry the light yarn between the panels and I used a separate ball for each panel. I spent more time untangling than knitting!

And here is a 'work in progress' that I started last autumn. It's based on a pattern from the News of The World from the 1970s(?) (the News of the World is a rather trashy UK newspaper - did it really once give away dress patterns!?).

I just need to finish attaching the bottom band but I've stalled... partly because I don't think I'd ever wear it. Peter pan collars and puff sleeves are a bit tricky to wear when you're in your 30s and want people to take you seriously!