Sewing The 1930's

Back in January I needed to throw something together for a 1930's party I was hosting. I ran out of time to do something truly amazing . . . but managed to pull together the jumper and blouse in about six hours. I chose the above pattern from the archives, because it looked like it would whip up pretty quickly. Don't let the "Size 20" alarm you - it's vintage sizing and the actual measurements were for a 38" bust, and a 41" hip.

The sleeve on the right looks a little sad because there's no arm on the dressmaker form to poof it out - but I think you get the idea. Both of the fabrics came from my in house stash. The blouse fabric is a light weight cotton with blue berries and green leaves that match the green in the jumper. The jumper is actually made of boiled wool. Which probably wouldn't be the fabric of choice in the 1930's - but it matched the color in the blouse too perfectly to pass up. The outfit was suppose to have a finished belt with it - but I ran out of time - so I just cut some of the blouse fabric to make a sash. The little "sliders" on the shoulders are belt buckles, that I just picked it because they looked "deco" to me.

Despite the fact I ended up throwing it on just before party time . . . and had to quick baste the front of the blouse (no time to put the buttons on), it looked very appropriate for the time period of the event, and garnered some nice compliments.

For more details about my on-going vintage sewing projects and to see larger photos of the above outfit visit my blog!

Hello Sew Retro!

Hi everyone, I'm Shannie. I've been a long-time reader of this blog and I finally decided I have news worthy of contributing my own post!

I'm so excited to announce that one of my vintage patterns was chosen for the Vogue Vintage Pattern Search!

The original pattern is Vogue 4743, a Vogue Special Design from the early 50's.

And the reissue is Vogue 8729. Which is a gorgeous gown, even without the dropped waist.

Thanks so much Pattern Junkie for letting us all know about the pattern search!

Did anyone else submit a pattern that was chosen?

Mod Mini Skirt Project: Green & Pink Bubble Skirt

Another mod mini skirt project! This time with green and pink bubble print polyester. Click the picture for a closeup of the vintage fabric.


And if you'd like to read more about this project, you can find it on my blog Sew Sixties.

Happy sewing!
Astrid

Vintage Festival, London July 2011

There will be a Vintage Festival at the Southbank Centre in London 29-31 July.

For more information check out the website here.

Anna

Hi!

Hi Sew Retro readers! I'm new to Sew Retro and I'm delighted to be a contributor here.

I started sewing a little less than a year ago because I could find a particular skirt in any stores (a black, highwaisted full skirt). Since beginning, I've made mainly dresses and skirts - most are either from vintage patterns or have a vintage feel.

I have my own blog Florals and Fairybread, though I don't post as often as I should.

I hope you enjoy my posts and projects as much as I enjoy reading the blog.

1931 EvaDress Suit

Hi everyone!  I wanted to share my most recently finished outfit!  I made up this 1931 suit from a reproduction EvaDress pattern:

I absolutely love how it turned out:

 

Check out more pictures on my blog.

Made the muslin work... then made a dress!

It worked! Of course I could not help myself but to test my new muslin made from the 50's pattern book (with a little help from another constructing book on the mathematical parts of making a pattern from scratch...).

I jumped at a very small piece of vintage fabric and made this little number! Very sixties, very much legs (that would be because of the major shortage of fabric), very much me. :)

More about it and more pictures here on my blog!

A Little Circle Skirt

My little sister had been wanting a circle skirt for a looong time, so I made one for her birthday!

Just a simple circle skirt with an elastic waist, but she loves it! As always, it's also on my blog.

Semi- Edwardian style wedding dress

I have been working on this wedding gown for a few months and finished last night Yay! And my one year old didn't get any stains on it!

This dress has a little bit of an Edwardian feel but we didn't want it to be too costumey so I tried to make it a more subtle influence. It was a pretty much self- drafted pattern based on a photo of an Oscar De La Renta Dress. If you are interested in learning about making a wedding dress I have several tutorials on my blog sewcountrychick which I used and link to.

Here is a turorial for this randomly pleated sash.

Also, here is some info about tea dying lace.

Some info about making invisible lace seams

And last but not least this french bustle tutorial thanks to Sew For Dough.

The One That Got Away, Reunited!

I posted about it over at my blog. Complete with soundtrack by Peaches & Herb.

I'm THRILLED. Thrilled I tell you. Especially since I don't have to spend $58 for the only other copy on the interwebz.

My copy is a wee bit more banged up though...

The One That Got Away

I used to have this pattern. I made an awesome playsuit with it. But I didn't care for it properly and now it's gone. Can't find it anywhere. And I'd LOVE to make it again.

If anyone has a copy they'd like to part with, I'd be ever so grateful. I'd even just copy it and give it right back!

50 + Follower Giveaway

Hello lovelies!
Over on my blog I'm celebrating getting up to 50 followers and so am holding a giveaway with a vintage magazine and a few lovely vintage and new patterns up for grabs!
Please Visit and say hello!
Stevie xx

http://beebeesvintagedress.blogspot.com/

Vacation Playset!

I made this play set with a tie front blouse and highwaisted shorts pattern. Made from a light linen fabric, perfect for my upcoming vacation to Hawaii.


See more at SewIThought...

Full Skirt 50's Dress

Made this dress to wear on St. Patty's day. I got tons of compliments and will definitely wear it again and again.





See more at SewIThought...

skirt and matching wallet!

A matched pair for the fun of it, check out more on my blog http://vintagegirl68.blogspot.com/

Sprechen Sie Deutsch?

Does Anyone Speak German? I'm working on a lovely vintage pattern from a 1930's German pattern magazine and the instructions are always such a hurdle. 

I'm using  Google translate but my biggest stumbling block is the beautiful old script that German used to be written in. I have a hard time figuring out exactly what to type into Google translate so I only have bits and pieces of the instructions figured out.

If you can help,  I'll be eternally grateful! I'd even love to have short little tips like which characters to type up in place of the older German ones.
This is a fun, new kind of challenge for me. It's like a puzzle, and I get pretty, pretty lingerie out of it!
I'll be checking back here at Sew Retro for any comments, or you can comment on the original post on my blog A Few Threads Loose.
Thanks in advance!

Simplicity 4203

I just got around to finishing this dress this weekend after getting frustrated with the collar a month or two back, but now it's finally done!

So ultimately I really like this pattern, my only difficulty with it was the collar. It worked out though!

I really love dresses with embroidery on them and I used the embroidery pattern that came with the dress pattern.

I originally meant for this to be more of a winter dress which is why I at first used the longer sleeves. I cut them shorter though and I think I'll be able to get a lot of use out of this dress all year around.

I loved the fabric I used for this so much! I have no idea what it is anymore, though I know I got it at Joann's a while ago. It's a stretchy dark blue with a sort of shine to it.

See more at my blog!

vintage sweetheart jewelry

not sewing related per se, but all about the accessories. i discovered "sweetheart" jewelry this weekend while reading janie bryant's (janie is the costume designer for "mad men") book on style.

does anyone here have experience with this style of jewelry? know some of the history? i know by the late 40s and through the 60s it was more traditional, the sort of thing you gave your 'steady', while in the early 40s, during the war, they were more related to the different branches of the armed services.

EvaDress 650 blouse

I've  wanted to make a pussybow blouse for ages and, half way through cutting out this pattern I decided to have a go at altering the collar. All I did was to add about 50cm onto each end of the collar and sew it into a tube. It was surprisingly easy, though I dare say I could have done it more professionally, but this works for me! This blouse is great. It's so simple to sew and looks great, I'd recommend it to everyone!

EvaDress650

More details and pictures on my blog

I Need A Little Help

This is Muslin n° 2 of Butterick 9214, a 50's housecoat pattern with which I want to make a great big red wool winter coat.
I am not entirely dissatisfied with the muslin save from the fact that it's way too small for a winter coat. How do I add the necessary ease? How much? Where? Do I cut through the middle and widen it? I don't know how to do this, so I'll take advice if you have any, or a link.
You can visit my blog for more information on the project. Thank you all so much in advance.

Patterns!

I got a hold of a 1956 book about pattern cutting! How lucky can a girl be?

More about it on my blog!

catalog Sunday

This Sunday for the last catalog Sunday of Man Month are separates.

Wherein I Sew a Flight Cap

Recently I was lucky enough to add a really great World War II era flight cap sewing pattern to my collection. I had so much fun sewing it up for myself. I think I'll be making it again soon in a mini fascinator size!

I didn't have any 'olive drab' colored fabric in my stash so I went instead with a thick, black cotton and a yard of vintage gray double-fold bias tape.

The hat was a breeze. It came together perfectly within an hour, and had really great finishing instructions for the seams.

You can read more and see more pictures about this and my other projects on my blog A Few Threads Loose.

Happy Sewing!

Candy Stripes

This is my front wrap candy striped frock made from Simplicity 7715 from 1970.  I have totally bodged the hem, but this is fixable, other than that, I love my sweet little candy dress.   For more mishaps and photos please visit my blog.

Two Muslins

This past week I tried my hand at a couple of vintage patterns, with pretty good results:

The pattern I used for the polka-dot blouse is from 1976, and the t-shirt pattern is from 1977. They were really easy to put together and not at all hard to understand.

As far as muslins go, I think they turned out very well. As usual, you can read more at my blog.

Summer Reverie Blouse and Shorts

I refashioned this blouse from a vintage dress, and made the shorts from a vintage pattern.

Here is the before picture of the dress.


If you are interested in reading about the process, please feel free to see my blog post.

Butterick 7762 Tunic, Version 2

I made another version of the tunic from Butterick 7762, this time in a knit. For more details, please visit my blog.

I'm also having a stash busting fabric sale! Click here to see what's available. :)

Spring Daffodil Dress

Last week, I felt inspired to sew a new dress. I didn't want this one to take a million years (like it usually does...I am still learning, and I have a one year old!), I just wanted to sew it up, sew it up right, and have it done before it became tiresome. Well, I finished most of it in two days, and then I spent a couple more slowly putting on the touches that I like. The dress was spring inspired, and it is spring-y. It is a daffodil dress.

I made it using Simplicity 4491.

More about sewing it up using thrifted materials on my blog, Farmhouse Garden.