make do and mend 1940s suit

This isn't so much a straight-up sewing project, but I felt it would fit with the spirit of the Sew Retro community! I recently was asked to participate in a collective refashioning project by Portia of the Miss P blog. The premise was to take a mystery (thrift store) garment she sent me, and rework it. The challenge would be taking something ho-hum and making it into a garment I'd be excited to wear! I was sent a rather dowdy floral suit, several sizes too large. However, having been on a bit of a 1940s "make do and mend" kick lately, I was inspired by the idea of completely refitting the suit and making it into a cute 40s-inspired number. (Note: in the "before" picture below, I added a few clothespins to the suit to get it to fit my dressform a bit better--it was far too big!)





I've gone over some of my details in the post I wrote for Portia's blog here, but a quick break-down:
- refit the jacket completely, including removing the original sleeves, recutting those and sewing them back in. I also eliminated the original pockets and sewed those shut (the placement would have been grossly off when the jacket was refit).
- cut a new neckline that was distinctly inspired by the 40s.
- added some snazzier buttons; two vintage glass ones from my stash.
- added a bow to the neckline I made from what was originally the jacket collar!
- recut the skirt into a shorter a-line style; refit the waistband too.





I love how it came out--definitely am going to be wearing this over the last few weeks of September while I can still get away with it! I'm really inspired now to tackle a few more 40s-inspired "make do and mend" projects. Because as much as I love sewing a dress from start to finish, sometimes it's just as enjoyable (and challenging!) to rework something with a few well-placed stitches and seams to bring it back to life.

Be sure to stop by my blog!

Introduction to Sorbetsurprise

I have just joined Sew Retro which I think is a fab blog and I just love browsing through the vintage patterns, vintage fabrics, vintage inspired outfits etc!  A little about me, I live in Wales and enjoy spending time sewing, dressmaking and generally collecting patterns.  I prefer to sew dresses more then any other garment and enjoy using vintage patterns and adding my own modern twist. 

So here are a few examples of my retro work so far:

1950's Vogue Pattern

Pretty pink cotton slub and floral buttons, I made this for my halfway-to-50 party last year and it is a firm favourite. 

1975 Style Pattern

My most recent retro dress with cute puff sleeves and ribbon wasitband.

Simplicity 3780  a reissue of a 1950's pattern

I love this dress!  I made it for my sister for Christmas and I think I will have to make myself one too.  I am currently working on Vogue 2960, another vintage reissue.  If you want to see more please visit my blog
 Sorbetsurprise xx

Betty Draper Summer Dress

I was inspired to make a summer dress by Betty Draper and Tasia from sewaholic.net's version of a Betty Draper picnic dress! (Here's Tasias version)

I drafted this pattern, and tried many new (to me) techniques with this dress, like a hand-picked zipper, catch-stitching the facing, underlining etc. I'm proud of how the inside looks (for the first time! :))

The fabric is from a children's duvet cover that I found at a thrift store.




More pictures of the finished dress (inside and out) and WIP pictures on my blog.

Click here to see all posts related to this dress.

Simplicity 4168

This pattern looks like it's from the early to mid-60s. I loved the cowl neckline when I bought it, and determined to make it for a special occasion. I found some rather fabulous floral viscose discounted online, and raced against the clock to complete the dress in time for a friend's ordination last July. I did everything but sew down the lining - even hemming and adding the zip - but then realised it wouldn't work. It wasn't lying right on me, the colour wasn't quite perfect; it was a dressmaking fail. I cast it aside in disgust. It lay in my unfinished pile for nearly a year, then my friend from Oxford came to stay, saw it in my room and had it pulled out and tried on faster than I could say "that might fit you, actually". It did fit her - all the issues I had with it were resolved on a slightly different body, and the flowers really popped with her colouring. More than happy to get rid of a failure to a loving home, I quickly stitched down the lining, tidied up the top of the zip, and sent it home with her. She loves it, and wore it to a dinner at Christchurch this week - excellent modelling, I hope you'll agree. I could wish she had shown us the back, which has a funky red exposed zip (just to stop the floral being too sugary) but hey, I think it still looks pretty good!

Sound of Music Bubble Skirt

I bet you never thought you'd hear "The Sound of Music" and "bubble skirt" in the same project title...

I had this fabric that I really loved, that totally reminded me of a fabric that Julie Andrews would have had a skirt or dress made out of in "The Sound of Music."

But I have tons of straight and a-line skirts, so I decided to try my hand at making a bubble skirt.  For more info on how I made the skirt as well as pictures, check out my blog:

Five Minutes More, Please!

Shannon :)





Calico Sundress

So over the weekend I finished up this little dress which is perfect as I live in Arizona and its already heading towards the 90s this week! Yuck.


It is based off of this unprinted catalog pattern from my stash.


Overall I'm quite pleased with the shape but I'm not quite sure about the buttons. I like them up close but from a distance the pockets blend in and I appear to have two weird pink polka dots on my hips ( just what I wanted, extra attention in that area)
See more here with bigger and better pics!

70s floral dress reconstruction and new vintage patterns

Hello all! I just wanted to share some of my recent blog posts.

I reconstructed this floral dress from the 70s. You can read more about it here.


I also wanted to show and tell some of the vintage patterns I acquired recently, like this one:
The page below appears to have been a part of a mail order catalog from the 40s.


See more of the patterns and catalog pages here, if you'd like. The pages are a great addition to my inspiration book! :)

The Picnic Dress: Simplicity 3965

Hello everyone! I just finished a delightfully feminine 1950's dress, nicknamed 'The Picnic Dress.' I was inspired by a dress Betty Draper wore on Mad Men. The fabric is a vintage floral acetate print, and the pattern is vintage as well.
Here's the original pattern and fabric:And here's my finished dress!
For this dress, I made a waist stay, and hand-picked the zipper. Detailed tutorials for both techniques are on my blog so you can use them in your next retro dress project!

For more on the Picnic Dress, check out my blog here. Or if you just want to see my photos, stop by my Flickr account. Thanks for stopping by!

Summer Playsuit

In about April I saw a few playsuits in shop windows and became obsessed with the idea of making one. I found a pattern that I liked - Simplicity 2567 - although it was for shorts and T-shirt separately. I was able to use the most fantastic floral fabric by taking apart a pleated skirt (handmade) I found in a charity shop. It was a bit of a squeeze to get the pattern out of the one skirt: I had to use a contrast fuchsia pink for the pockets and neck facing, and I had to reuse the skirt's original waistband as the waistband of the playsuit. I did an exposed zip at the back since I'm still loving colourful exposed zips and Barry, the nice man who runs a fabric stall on the market, was able to source me lots of vintage metal zips with different coloured tapes. I absolutely adore wearing this - so comfortable! so summery! - and have already cut out another one.

Introduction - Sew I Thought...

Well hello there.

My name is Angie. Im a nursing student in Arizona but I would much rather be sewing or crafting any day! I blog at SewIThought.com. I just finished up Simplicity 7458 this weekend. I also added on a couple of previous vintage items I have made. Im excited to be an addition here and to start working my way through all of my vintage patterns!

Wildflower-ly Gorgeous!

My fabric arrived for my Wildwood Flower dress! Oh me, oh my! It's even more stunning in person and worth every penny I paid ($9.50 US per yard!).

Inspiration dress*

The colours are amazing and very saturated. The print is spectacular; the large peonies (the orange flowers) are at least 5" across. Yum!

Please visit my blog for more photos, the pattern, and chatter about this dress and my June, June, & Junie Project.

Sarah :)

Floral Party Dress

Hi there guys! I agree with Miss Emmi, cotton party dresses are a MUST for us Australians. I thought I took a photo of the pattern, but can't find it anywhere, but it's a 1959 - 1961 vintage one I got at the op shop somewhere... and it's a beauty, as I've made this version (with the full skirt too) a few times for me and my friends.

 

It's a vintage shabby chic style cotton floral fabric (thrifted too) that was totally see through, so I lined the whole dress with another light vintage white cotton material that I was given by the shop assistant at my local op shop (she insisted I take it because I should line my things, lucky I did take it!) so it fits and looks perfect now!

And a vintage button from my stash too, I love doing zippers according to the vintage instructions they come with, so the flap is a common style ... what's it called? Blind Zipper? Hidden Zipper? I collect a LOT of op shops things, and they are always useful further down the track!

I blog my days at Veronica Darling's Crafty Adventures!

Teenaged girl for my Mad Men entry

Hey guys,

I've unfortunatley been working interstate for most of Sept, and had planned on shaking it all about in a wiggle dress (or 2!), but instead here is a teenage girl dress, but who'd be wearing it on Mad Men?





Maybe Peggy to church? I cut it shorter so that I could wear it, so Peggy wouldn't really wear it that short hey?

Perhaps if I made the jacket to go with, it'll be more like darling little Sally (gosh she's growing up!):


My blog is Veronica Darling's Crafty Adventures if you wanna check out how currently uncrafty I am, but there will be more stuff there soon! I've got to get one more entry in before the end of Sept!

1970s 'Teen' dress!

Hey guys,

Yesterday I made a McCalls teenage pattern, with GREAT success! Don't know the exact vintage, but it's so adorable!



As I'm a refashionista and thrifting queen, the fabric is a bedsheet, creamy cotton with an interesting floral print. I'm going to team it with tights and tshirts until springtime comes, cause it'll be a perfect spring dress!

More hilarious pics from the photoshoot (and some crazy facial expressions too) on my blog, Veronica Darling's Crafty Adventures!

Oh, and even the zip was vintage:



See ya!

Vintage Sewing Weekend: Part V (bonus dress!)

After successfully finishing a dress on Day One of my friends' and my Vintage Sewing Weekend, I decided to attempt the dress that I had originally wanted to make. The full story of the completed dress and more photos are here.