Sew Retro: sewing

Showing posts with label sewing. Show all posts

A trio of dresses

I just finished up three dresses this week and thought I'd share them with you all. Two are from Butterick reprint patterns, and the third is essentially self drafted. This is the third one.

There are pictures of all three and information about patterns, etc on my blog. Have a good weekend!

-Evie

Catching up on a few "new" projects

I haven't shared any of my recent and not so recent projects here so this is catching up.
The latest one was Simplicity 4731, which I finished a while ago but didn't like. I then shortened it last weekend and finally transformed it into a wearable piece.

More pictures here2 weeks ago I went to a friend's wedding in Germany and of course had to make myself a new dress to wear. It turned out a little different than intended s I had to butcher the petticoat I sewed in and terribly messed up, but I love the final result.

More pictures here

I also made this little 1960s inspired number for a customer of mine.
More pictures here

My friend Charis got married in a little cotton summer dress I made for her.
More pictures here
To the same wedding I wore this dress

blogged about here
I also made a bunch of dresses I took on holiday, like this one

blogged here

another shirt waist dress
here

and a little sun dress
here
I am not sure if I have caught up on everything "new" since my last post
I hope you have enjoyed my little vintage-y sewing adventures. Thank you for your time. I'd like to hear your thoughts.

New to Blog Intro Post

Hello, everyone! I'm really excited to be participating in this blog--I've been a long time "lurker" but finally decided to take the plunge and actually give a little back.

I got a late start sewing--I didn't actually start until I was a junior in college and began exploring in the costume shop of my undergraduate theatre program. I quickly became hooked, got a Master's degree in it, too, and then started working professionally in regional theatre costume shops. Eventually I spent 10 years teaching at the university level, and now I'm on my own making my own stuff! If there's one thing I've learned it's that you can't cheat or skimp just because you're making a costume. In real life, no one wears the same outfit 8 times a week doing dance routines for 3 hours! We had to learn to do it right, do it well, and do it for real. And in some cases, do it better than real because real clothes wouldn't survive!

Most of my experience in costumes has been in reproducing one vintage look or another, and I've had the pleasure of working in a variety of different periods on lots of different types of clothes. But every time I see a new post from Sew Retro, I'm inspired once again to explore even more! Recreating fashion from the past is so different than sewing contemporary styles--I find it to be much more demanding but therefore more rewarding as well. The patterns themselves seem to have more personality and style.

I have been reproducing some vintage looks and putting my own "spin" on them. I made a 1950s jacket (Vogue 2934--by the way, their patterns are currently on sale for $4.99 through May 22!) but put fabric painting on it and modified the front closure to incorporate a silk scarf.

I've also been playing with a Poiret inspired Cocoon coat (from Folkwear #503) of velveteen with some hand painted fabric flowers along the collar.

Right now, I'm making an unusual Frock coat out of silk brocade with an Asian motif. It's going to be quite unusual!

Anyway, I'm thrilled to be joining this blog, and I plan to post my new creations as my retro sewing experience continues! It's been interesting making women's clothing--no one has ever tried on any of my stuff! I'm a guy! Haha! So I think I may have to turn my attention to menswear a bit more, unless I can find some models! I have three sisters (I actually made my sister's prom dress years ago) so they're set for Christmas. : )

But regardless of gender, there's nothing like sewing patterns from history and recreating that retro look. I'm enjoying creating garments I simply can't find in stores. It's fun! And I've been enjoying seeing what you all have been making--I look forward to much more!

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

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. :)

Butterick 9474 and Circle Skirt

I'm just about finished with my new plaid ensemble. It's Butterick 9474 and a circle skirt that I made to go with. The fabric is also vintage. You can read more about it at my blog.

1930s Draping Book Scans

Just wanted to share some of the images from this 1930s draping book I picked up at my university library. The illustrations (well some at least) can be found on my blog. Here's the cover!

Newest Conquest.

I've finally finished a retro inspired dress for a friend, completely self drafted.

Blood sweat and tears went into this thing.... okay none of that actually went in but you know what I mean. It was actually quite fun to make and she was so pleased, it fit like a dream!

Back View

Front View

So another one bites the dust! Time to tackle the next project...

For more details, feel free to visit my little blog

A giveaway will be happening tomorrow. Good luck :-)

1950s Pencil Skirt

I just finished this new pencil skirt yesterday. I used the leftover fabric from my wool dress. I had literally just enough fabric left to squeeze the pieces onto the fabric. I made it from Buttericks Retro pattern B5557. I altered the pattern a bit, eliminating the front seam, but that was about it. You can see a couple more pictures and read more about it on my blog. Hope everyone is having a wonderful holiday season!

1809 Christmas

I made this dress last July for the Jane Austen Festival and wore it for the annual Candlelight tour at a historic home here in town. There are more pictures and information here.

Happy holidays to you all!
- Evie
http://lacouturieredimanche.blogspot.com

18th Century Christmas

We went to an 18th century Christmas party at our friends' house last night and I thought I'd share my outfit with you all. I made the gown from a scaled down original in Janet Arnold's Patterns of Fashion 1, the petticoats I whipped up several years ago. The gown is done almost entirely by hand, since the construction makes using a machine extremely difficult. You can read more about the party at my blog.

Hope everyone is having a lovely weekend!
-Evie

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!

Holiday Bow Headband

So, after being inspired by Casey's 1950s headband tutorial I decided to go ahead and make my own version today (since I was supposed to be studying). I really like how it turned out and plan to make several more as presents (and a few more for myself too, of course).

It was a really quick, fun little project to do while procrastinating about school work this afternoon. Not to mention a good way to use up some scraps and an old headband that I never wore.

Hope you've all had a good weekend!

- Evie
http://lacouturieredimanche.blogspot.com

Early 1960s dress and bolero - Simplicity 2550

I made this dress a few years ago and wanted to share it with you all. It's an early sixties pattern I found somewhere ( I don't remember where); Simplicity 2550.

I've also made the full skirted version, although I don't wear it as often.

There's more information about this dress on my blog.

I've also gotten a bit farther on that lace sweater. Almost finished with the back!

Introductions

Hello all! My name is Lauren and I'm a keen sewing novice from Bristol in England.
I write about my sewing projects on my blog Tea and Crumpets and I've recently posted about 3 projects I finished (one of them a year after I started - I never claimed to be fast!). I've also written reviews for the patterns over at PatternReview.com.

I've been sewing since I was quite young, when my Nan taught me the basics. I've dabbled ever since but have only started regularly wearing my own creations in the last year or so, and am learning how to make my clothes look a bit more professional.

My favourite period for fashion is the 1940s but I often wear clothes from the 30s to the 50s. I have a lot of projects on the go at the moment and will be updating here and on my blog when I do some more work on them.

I've enjoyed reading about everyone's sewing and hope you have fun reading about mine!

For now, I'll leave you with Decades of Style butterfly blouse.

Simple Dirndle....Long Time No Post!

Last night I whipped up a simple dirndle skirt in a pretty patterned fabric

To see more, Visit me over @

www.thelongandwindingbobbin.blogspot.com

First of firsts

This is very exciting! My very first Sew Retro post! AND on top of that my very first outfit post! I made this dress about a month ago for my trip to Los Angeles from Butterick 5029 from a thrift store sheet of all things!

I'm quite fond of this dress, it has a simple, sweet, darling-ness to it lol. The bust is a bit big so I think I will go down a size next time.

Dress- made by me from thrift store sheet

Cardigan- made by me from an old yellow shirt

Shoes- Natural Comfort from eBay

Come take a looksie at my other projects!

http://scarabscreation.blogspot.com/

-Ana

I have it narrowed down to six patterns (one of which you see here). I've got pros and cons for each one, and I just can't decide!

Please visit my blog and take the poll (it will close sometime on Monday, May 3).

Thank you so much for your help!