Hi :-)

Hi Everyone! My name is Sam and I write a sewing/quilting/vintage blog called All Things Quilty... and Sewy!

I am thrilled to be part of the Sew Retro blog and am looking forward to sharing my sewing projects and vintage finds with you all.

Let me tell you a bit about me :-)

I am an Aussie girl currently living in Sydney. I live with my high school sweetheart of 12 years. We have been married for the last two. We share our home with a silver tabby cat called Prada (I take complete responsibility for the name). I am lucky enough to occupy the spare room in our apartment, and make use of it as a sewing room.

I first began sewing during high school. I hated it. During sewing class a friend and I would hide in the trimmings room adjacent to our classroom. It would always be a good half an hour before our teacher would notice us missing, and this realisation was quickly followed by her bursting through the trimming room door and yelling at us as we ran back to our sewing machines. During the times we would actually stay in the classroom, I would often make stupid sewing mistakes. I remember once painstakingly hand stitching something together, only to get up when the bell rang to find the item sewn to my school skirt...

Time has since past and I am now a fully fledged quilter and recreational seamstress.

I look forward to getting to know you all, and I hope you enjoy my posts.

Sam xox

Australian Sunday Sun 4620

Well it's taken me weeks and a bit of paid help to get this dress finished. In the end I wanted this dress finished more then I wanted to master the pattern and took it off to a seamstress for help. I started it in mid November Here and got stuck, once I to came to the truth (this pattern was getting the better of me) I decided that my pride should not stand in the well of finishing this lovely dress.

While the only person I know who also sews is my mother she was not able to help me, so after some talk we agreed a seamstress would be the best bet to finishing. To see more of the drama please visit me Atomic Mum.
On a different note I would just love to say how much I love this blog and seeing all the lovely clothes people make. It really makes me feel at home. Happy Sewing!

Australian Home Journal 7454

This has to be one of the easiest patterns I've made yet it is from this month "A Look Inside". There was a lot of basting and gathers, still not sure about the way the neck sits but I'm happy with it anyway. The fabric is a cotton and very light, which is good since we are now in summer here in Cairns, I didn't want a too Christmas fabric so I could re-wear the dress thought out next year but something that still had the theme to it.

 All up this was a very easy pattern. It has more of a house dress feel to it then a "Let's go out!" feel but I don't mind as I need a few more of those. I might make this pattern again but maybe with out the neck ruffle and less fabric in the skirt, mostly to save on fabric and cost. 

If you would like to see more on this dress please feel free to visit my blog, Atomic Mum.

My Enid/Ikea dress

I made this dress from my vintage (1950s/60s) Enid Gilchrist pattern book, 'Junior Teens and Smaller Women', and some 2010 Ikea fabric ... I love the mix of vintage and modern :)

I wrote on my blog about it here :)

Linda

Vintage patterns and me

Hi everyone.  My name is Melanie Conomikes, I live in Kew, a suburb of Melbourne, Australia, and this is my first post on Sew Retro.  I have been wearing vintage clothes since I was about 15 (a few years back - the 80's) but just started sewing two years ago.  I was looking for someone to alter a couple of vintage dress finds and decided to learn how to do it myself.  I thought it would just be a good practical skill to have, but I'm hooked!  

This was one of the first things I made in a beginner's sewing class with Lisa at The Dancing Queen fabric store in Richmond.  I made number '3', the green one with top stitching. Unfortunately, the style made me look huge and I've never worn it.  Must alter it someday...

I LOVE this pattern below!  The mid 60's...the era of women with concave spines on pattern illustrations.  What's up with that?  The handbag is described on the back as a 'Burmese Fishing Basket' (obviously pre-military regime and zero human rights in Burma).  And you can turn the hat upside down and it doubles as a salad bowl!  I made view 'A', pants with CUFFLINKS!

My finished version below made with Italian seersucker from Astratex.  I wear these alot in the summertime, even though John calls them my 'clown pants'.  I LOVE wearing something I made that nobody else has!  Did I mention I love these pants?

Next, I made a 3/4 sleeve cowl neck (view '3' the pink one) with a very groovy red, grey and black stretch viscose from The Dancing Queen.  Will take photo and upload.  The cowl neck was a real bugger to get right.  It sat in the 'to do' pile for a few months before I tackled it.

In progress:

1930's Day Dress from the Vintage Pattern Lending Library.  This dress looks almost exactly like my favorite but very worn out stretchy dress from Jeans West.  Classic, wearable feminine styles never fade.  I'm making a modified version without the cape (unless I decide to become a sewing and organic veggie planting super-hero).  Last year when I was in the U.S. I dragged myself to the Vintage Fashion Expo at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium the day after I got off the plane from Melbourne.  Vintage overload and bliss!  Did you know there's a group that gets together once a month and dresses up in vintage clothes and practices vintage makeup, hair, etc.?! Only in L.A. (I would love to attend one of their soirees)!  I found a 1930's rayon that I'm going to use for the dress when I get the toile right.  I do have a good hat to wear with it but I think I'll skip the gloves.

Here's the toile in progress:

Front

Back

Please visit me at my blog: Turnips and Toile 

Mel