ooobop! sleeveless blouse

I feel like I'm slightly cheating by not having created this from a vintage pattern but I'm convinced the end result has a 40s twist to it. I have been drawling over vintage patterns and dreaming of my next dress but a reality check reminded me that I need some wardrobe basics to replace the tatty ones that come out year after year! This pattern was actually from a Burdastyle magazine, September issue. Very simple to put together, in only a few hours. The little flower buttons were a fabulous find from a local vintage fair a few weeks ago. They were begging to go on a blouse like this! The pleats on the neck/shoulder are very interesting and quite flattering for a minimal bust! The yoke extends from the back section and joins the pleated fronts. I used a bias trim to edge the armholes. More details on my blog

ORANGE you jealous of my retro mod dress??

Orange is such a vibrant, happy, summery color... check out this awesome mod fabric and the dress I created with it using vintage Butterick pattern 5913. More on my blog, Just Five Minutes More.

My Very First Giveaway!

Hello all, I just thought I'd let you know that there's a great giveaway going on at my blog A Few Threads Loose.

The giveaway includes a lovely vintage pattern, a vintage edition of Work Basket Magazine from 1960, some great retro fabric, and some cute buttons to top it all off.
The pattern is really cool.  It's called a "Scoop Neck Skimmer" and it's printed by McCall's for mail order.  It's a size 10-12, Bust 31-32 and is uncut and in factory folds. (Don't you just love being the first person to use a pattern?)

Stop by and enter to win!
Happy Weekend!

vintage-inspired circle skirt

I finished a circle skirt this week!  I really really love my 1950s circle skirt patterns, but dang if I can ever find one that doesn't require creative altering for my "bum".  So...I cheated and used a modern circle skirt pattern.  (Drafting one is pretty easy too).

The lace trim was inspired by a pinterest photo.  More details on construction et. al. on my blog!

Butterick 2564 - Vintage Overblouse

I saw this pattern in the Stitches & Loops store and just had to have it. I imagined owning the entire suit and being just as chic and professional as the model. Well, I now have one of the three items concluded. This little top is what was described back then as an overblouse. It could also be worn over a sleeveless dress to expand wearing options. More elegant versions in satin or crepe would be worn over evening gowns.

What I loved about this design and that of the jacket is that the darts mimic each other on the pieces. I also found in construction of this top that the shoulder darts and french dart on the side add flattering shaping to the top.

For the top, I used a lovely drapey red cotton twill that I'm also using for the Colette Patterns' Oolong dress. I then added four white 1-inch pearlized buttons from my late mother's button stash.

For the jacket and skirt, my dream would be to find a salt and pepper boucle with maybe a hint of another color running through it. But for boucle, that means I have a bit of a weight until they are in season again. Never mind, I have plenty to wear this red shirt with right now.

For a complete pattern review, click here.

Vintage Shirt ReStyle

Not sure if this counts in Sew Retro terms? But I was so pleased with the outcome I wanted to share! It's a vintage shirt restyled in a preppy retro style?? I picked up this pale denim shirt dress, for £1 at a charity shop. It looked so shapeless when I tried it on, that it's been shoved in my "to sew" pile for nearly a year. (I kid you not!). But I really loved the light coloured denim and it's so lovely and soft. I knew I wanted to do something with it, just not what.

I didn't want to post the whole thing on here as it's quite a long "how to" post. So if you want to read more it's over on my blog. :)

Wool Wiggle Dress finished!

I finally put the finishing touches on my new wool dress this morning and wore it this afternoon. You can read a bit more about it at my blog!

A very tardy Halloween post...

I just put up a post on my blog, The Year 2050, about the trials of creating this year's Halloween costume, as well as the joys of wearing it.

For more photos and rambling on about constructing my costume and one of the great events I attended, head over to my blog.

Peggy Dress Unveiled

The Peggy dress is complete! It's been a long and bumpy road, but despite a few tweaks along the way, I'm very happy with how it came out.  Read more about the progress on my blog: What's Up, Cupcake?

Make & Mend Month: Minty Apron Conclusion

Finished an apron for my friend. She likes it! :)

Finished images on NVL.

1940s suit giveaway

What? Another giveaway? I must be crazy! Head on over to my blog to enter!

Not into the 1940s? I've got more non-1940s patterns coming up soon in this series of giveaways!

From the Reel Screen to Real Life

A while ago, I wrote about the green silk dress from the movie Atonement and how it was created. Well, Gemma commented here and on my personal blog that her wedding dress was inspired by that movie costume and that she had pictures. So, of course I emailed her to send those pictures to me. After I saw them I knew I wanted to ask her some questions on why that dress and how. Here are some gorgeous pictures of her completed dress and please enjoy the rest of her answers on my blog.

I'm Gemma McCrory from Belfast, Northern Ireland but now living in London, England. Any spare time that I have I love to shop! Depending on my mood I either like trawling through vintage shops and warehouses or searching on the high street for vintage styled pieces. I am not very good with my hands so am a bit hopeless at actually making my own, but what I am good at is finding vintage patterns and emailing them to my sister-in-law in Belfast to make for me. It was Marie, my sister-in-law and 1940s fanatic, who actually alerted me to Lsaspacey's post about my wedding dress.

Were you influenced by the movie Atonement in choosing your dress or was it a coincidence?

I watched Atonement and hated the movie but instantly fell in love with the dress, when my husband proposed I knew that I had to get that dress made. Being 6 feet tall I knew that any 'off-the-peg' dresses just would not do. Also being a lover of 1920s/30s clothing, the dress ticked all the boxes!

How did you find your dressmaker or did a family member/friend make it for you?

My dress maker was the wonderful Lucia Silver based in London. Believe it or not I just googled "1920 wedding dress maker" and up she popped! She has an amazing studio in Notting Hill which is dripping with vintage gowns, clothing and jewellery, as soon as I walked in I knew that she was the one for me. There was a hand made flapper dress hanging in every panel in the bay windows- stunning! When I arrived Lucia was just as excited as me when she saw the pictures I had brought with me as she was just about to start designing a dress similar- so I guess I was the guinea pig. She now uses the dress (a.k.a the goddess dress) on the main page of her web site, The State of Grace.

Did they use that same Vogue pattern to make it or did they copy the dress from pictures? How many tries (muslins) were made before the final dress?

No, they made the dress from a block which they drew my measurements on. From this they were able to make one toile then finito! Experts!

What fabric is your dress made out of? It moved so beautifully in the wind.
It is made from pearl crepe-back silk satin bought from Morocco.

Did you buy or make the fascinator/headdress?

The hatlette was also made by the same team it is made from the same fabric as the dress with hand stitched silver seams. The feathers and veil were also hand attached. Lucia also made some vintage single drop rhinestone and pearl earrings which she gave me as a gift.

The happy couple!

Join me in wishing the McCrorys the best in their life together and thank you, Gemma for sharing your story!

Images: property of Gemma McCrory, Focus Features Films, State of Grace

Vintage Pattern, Modern Look

I just recently made a dress for myself using a redrafted 1940s pattern. (Some of the original pieces were missing, and the skirt was made fuller.) I made it in blue leopard print for a funky modern look.

For more head to my blog! http://emmadestruction.blogspot.com

The Atonement Dress

I just wrote about this on my blog, but thought that the Sew Retro readers might be interested in this too.

Jacqueline Durran's design

I'm sure everyone who has seen the movie Atonement has already oohed and ahhed about Cecilia Tallis' (Keira Knightly) green silk dress, designed by Jacqueline Durran. Well, I just saw the film for the first time.

However, over a year ago, I was reading through the archives of The Costumer's Guide (a fabulous site on film costuming) and read about the dress. The page on the dress includes detailed closeups of the dress after it was placed on display and anything else you might want to know about the choice of that particular shade of green to any details on Cee's other costumes is there or a link is provided to other sources. One of those links was to a great post on the creation and maintenance of the many dresses used in the film at Sunday Couture. It detailed how delicate the original dresses were because of their laser cut detail work.

The dress is fabulous and there have been many copies sold and some patterns made resembling it, the closest would be Vogue 7365, still being sold today. Eva Dress and the Vintage Pattern Lending Library also offer one with a similar feel but not as drop-dead sexy or exposed; Eva Dress 5941 or Z5941.

Vogue 7365

Eva Dress 5941

A New York Post interview about the dress.

Images: The Costumer's Guide, Vogue Patterns, Eva Dress

Greetings from the Shirred Skirt Test Lab

Shirred Skirt Fabulousness from the 1949 Sears Catalog

In between muslining my Sencha blouse, schmoozing over falafel with the fabulous Bloggers and Blogettes (more on this later!), fighting off a nasty cold and decluttering the apartment for Cartoonist Baby, I've been working out the pattern-free pattern for my reversible shirred-waist full skirt:

This skirt is the foundation of my spring mini-wardrobe contest plans--like the no-elastic yoked knit skirts I've been making, it should be stretchy enough to accommodate the most pregnant of bellies, but will still work just fine post-maternity.

But, horrors! As you recall I hit a roadblock recently when I discovered that my purchased Burda shirred-yoke skirt pattern was a circle skirt that just Would Not Do with my vertically patterned purple cotton lawn.

What I really needed was a pattern for a full skirt, like this 1950s number:

Or like this RTW reversible Gap skirt (the reverse side is a solid). It's not a maternity skirt at all, it fit me just fine before I gained 30 pounds of belly, bustage and baby, AND it is still quite comfortable in my third trimester!

Except no pattern is really needed at all for a dirndl/full skirt--as Gertie revealed in her tutorial on a non-elastic version, it's just a bunch of gathered rectangles. All you do is choose how full/gathered you want the skirt to be in relation to your hips (two times? three times?), "draft" a waistband piece, gather, cut and sew.

Construction is a bit different for a reversible elastic-shirred version with a deep yoke instead of a waistband, of course. And I've never shirred a stitch before in my life. So here's a peek at the Mikhaela test lab:

As you can see I've worked out some measurements and a likely construction sequence and cut out my (wearable) test garment pieces in a small-scale gingham ($1.50 a yard from Fulton Fabrics!). Right now I'm playing with different elastic shirring techniques on some muslin--none of my sewing reference books are very detailed on the subject, and online tutorials and advice differ widely on ideal stitch length/tension and how tightly the elastic should be wound on the bobbin.

I don't know yet if the test tube version of my shirred skirt will be a success, but once I achieve World Shirring Domination I promise not to take it too far:

(Crossposted to my blog, Polka Dot Overload).

Where to Start?

From top left: 'Ya'll Can't Walk No Line' outfit, Pin Dot Dress, Poppy Dress, Wildwood Flower Dress, Border Print Skirt Outfit

My fabric is organized, my patterns are ready (this one arrived yesterday - yahoo!), but I have a dilemma. Which one do I sew first?

Hop on over to my blog and vote in the poll. I'll sew the outfit the majority has picked, with pictures of the finished product posted here, of course. ;) Thanks sew much for helping a girl out!

Circle Skirts and Vertical Stripes? Ask the Sears Catalog!

What was I thinking? Last night I sat down to wash the fabric and tape together the skirt pattern for my mini-wardrobe contest entry--it's an elastic-shirred waist circle skirt in a purple lawn print, which I planned to make reversible by lining with a black dotted swiss cotton lawn. Here are the flats and planned fabric again:

As I ironed the fabric dry last night, I realized that the bold motifs ran in vertical stripes down the fabric--how would I ever lay this out with my bagel-shaped pattern pieces?

In my doubts I turned to one of my favorite fashion reference books, "Everyday Fashions of the Fifties: As Pictured in Sears Catalogs" (second in my heart only to "Everyday Fashions of the Forties"). My worst fears were confirmed--there was nary a vertically-striped (or otherwise vertically patterned) circle skirt in sight, though there were a few horizontal or chevroned striped numbers. All the vertically-striped gals were wearing full or fitted skirts:

I trust the Sears catalog ladies, so I'll be "drafting" a full skirt (i.e. taking a big rectangle and gathering it around my pregnant "waist" with shirring elastic.)

As a bonus, how much fun is the 1952 children's circle skirt spread the top image came from? If I ever do make any circle skirts, I will be sure to take every opportunity to pose sitting on the floor with my perfect circle spread out around me!

I'd love to be proven wrong here, by the way--have you ever made or seen a workable vertically-striped circle skirt? Am I just not thinking creatively here?

Cross-posted to my blog.

What Goes Around...

Over 15 years ago I made a brown wool crepe dress from a Style pattern that I truly wish I hadn't thrown out. It was lovely and I did a great job with it; if I say so myself ;). Unfortunately, it just looked ridiculous on. When I made the dress, I had really miscalculated on the size and I was swimming in the dress. One thing about the design that didn't help at all was that it required huge shoulder pads. Imagine this: huge linebacker shoulders and then a sack (a heavy wool sack!) of a dress swimming on a then-tiny girl. However, because I loved the design and was proud of my work on it, that dress has been with me ever since. Even though it was only worn once or twice.

Last year, I decided to try it on along with a few of my older vintage pieces. While none of the ones I actually used to wear could even be zipped up (or get past my hips!), this one FIT!!! Yes, and it fit like it was always supposed to. Amazing. Fifteen pounds heavier and with my bust, waist, and hip measurements all three inches larger...it now fits. See for yourself:

Forgive me, the dress had not been pressed when I took these pictures.

Notice the interest at the neckline with the pull-through tie detail, the dolman sleeves that become narrower towards the wrists, and the trumpet shaped bias skirt. There was definitely a 1930s influence in the design of this dress.

P.S. Does anyone know what Style pattern this was? It's from the early 1990s and I would love to find it again or at least get the pattern image and number for my Patterns Lost Flickr archive. Thanks!

My first ever apron!

A success, I think, and the first of many more aprons:

A little more commentary here....