202 Followers! And a giveaway!

Hi everyone,
Today on my blog A Few Threads Loose we are celebrating making it to 202 followers by having a huge giveaway. The winner will get two very cool sewing patterns, and A $35 GIFT CARD!

So stop by if you'd like to enter the giveaway, the more the merrier!

1930s Inspiration

More images from Beyers Mode June 1938 at Sew Something Vintage

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! :)

Butterick B4087 - Retro Apron Cuteness!

I finished these aprons today. They're little extras for Christmas for Little Tornado's Nan and Great Nan.

I adapted the pattern a little and added the embroidery to personalise them a little. My first attempt at these, so hopefully they'll go down well! More about it over on my blog

Oh, and I did some cute little pin cushions using the same fabric, andsome vintage buttons, for my fellow "sewists" at college. (Also over on my blog)

Happy Christmas and a happy, healthy & prosperous 2011 to all at Sew Retro.

Another new member

Hi Sew Retro Community!

I started sewing about 3 years ago when I got to be a stay at home mother of 2 and have been trying to teach myself ever since. I was supposed to have learned how to cook for the family, but sewing seemed much more fun (and no-one has starved yet....)

Originally Victorian and Edwardian costuming appealed to me, but I started blogging about 18 months ago and discovered all of you wonderful and talented Retro Sewing People and got hooked! What can I say, I am just fashion fickle - I love it all! At the same time I started blogging, I also became addicted to collecting original patterns - from 1860's onwards - I am progressively scanning them and putting them on my pattern blog here

I just finished sewing a 1952 Bathing Costume (Vogue 7860) that I thought I might share. It was sewn on my handcrank Singer 201, so it is carbon neutral constructed as well (and the zipper and the fashion fabric are recycled!)

More details and piccies of it at my sewing blog here, along with my other adventures (and misadventures) in sewing!

New Member Here

Hello,

I am a new member and just wanted to post and say hello. I am once again a stay home mom that loves to sew, has a passion for quilting, occasionally crochet, a little embroidery thrown in where I can. I have four children, DD 28, DS 25, DS 21, DD 13. Oldest daughter has blessed me with two wonderful grandsons aged 7 and 2 months. Youngest daughter is the only one living at home now, she just started high school this year. When youngest son moved out, I took over the extra room for a sewing room.

I love retro or vintage styles, am currently working on building a new wardrobe. I love reading all the great post on this site.


This is my latest project. The photo isn't the greatest, I apologize for that. Also, the fabric is just a little too busy to show the gathered details of the shoulders. I used Butterick 6582 which is a reprint of the original pattern from the 60's. It is also called a "Wiggles or Jackie O" dress.

If you are interested you can read more on my blog at CrftySAHM

Simplicity 7381: 1976 Short Kimono Sleeve Top

Finally! I'm back to sewing after my son was born last October and it feels great!!! This is one of the few things that I've had the chance to make for myself during the last month.

First of all, I want to proclaim my love for the illustration on the pattern envelope for Simplicity 7381, especially the illustration of the lady in the beret with her matching turtleneck top and wide leg pants and long pendant necklace. She just oozes bohemian cool circa 1976!

For this top, I used a colorful vintage 1970s faux patchwork print cotton fabric. The contrasting sleeve and neckbands are made from cotton chambray and are topstitched with white thread. There is a zipper in the back, but I almost never use it since it’s easy to just pull the top on over my head. I would probably omit the zipper if I ever decide to make this again. I highly recommend this pattern if you’re looking for a quick and relatively easy 1970s style top – it took me roughly 3 hours to finish. It’s one of those designs that’s perfect for spring and summer, but would also work in the fall and winter as a layering piece since it’s pretty roomy.

I've also blogged about this on my own blog as well as BurdaStyle.

A virtual vintage pattern trading post!

Yeehaw! I just discovered that there's a vintage pattern swapping group over on Flickr! It appears to be pretty inactive at the moment, but I say it's high time to start loading our patterns and get trading away, pardners. Got fabric in your stash that you know you won't use? There's a fabric swapping group over there as well. I've started putting stuff up on both -- if any of you want to join me, come on over!

Hi all!

I'm Karin, a long time seamstress (though I had a LONG break during my first years at work), recently turned vintage-pattern-and sewing-addict. Thank you so much for inviting me to join Sew-Retro!

Other than being a sewing enthusiast and lover of pretty and old things I'm Swedish, live in Stockholm, and spend my days working as a landscape architect. Oh, and I'm addicted to fresh air, and love sailing, so in the summer I spend most of the weekends on the race-corse (sail-racing that is), if I get the chance. But I hope for more time to sew next summer.

My first piece of vintage sewing is this blouse, Mc Call 6520, from 1946. I made it in a very cheap but good quality cotton remnant. It took me a week of enthusiastic weekend- and evening (nighttime too) sewing, although it was quite a simple project.

There are eight darts around the waist, and the cuffs were a challenge for me (I was helped by "The Complete Book of Sewing" by Linda Gibson, I love all my sewing-technique bibles!).It's always a treat to learn new things though. And I'm happy with the result!

The pattern was really easy to work with, and the instructions (except for the cuffs) were clear and helpful. This was a printed pattern, which surprised me a bit (considering it's so old). And I actually made it without copying the pattern first, which for me feels like cheating. But the pattern was in really good condition, so I decided it was ok.

More about this (and future) projects in my blog Ancien-Nouveau (I love Art Nouveu and intend to make loads of modern clothes using antique patterns, preferably from the 1930's, hence the name. And I love wordgames!).
Hope to see a lot more of you all in the future.
Now I'm on to a 1930's dress (my first project using an unprinted pattern)!

Hello from Gertie!

Hello, sewing friends! My name is Gertie and this is my first post here. A couple months ago, I started a long-term blog project in which my goal is to sew my way through a vintage sewing book called Vogue's New Book for Better Sewing (aka VoNBBS). This involves tracking down fourteen patterns from 1952, and following the book's methods to the letter (tailor's tacks, anyone?). You can see my site and read more about the project here. Also, check out this link to see all fourteen fabulous fashions in VoNBBS.

So far, I've completed four out of the fourteen main projects in VoNBBS. As my introduction to you fabulous retro sewing fanatics, I thought I would share them with you, alongside the original photos from VoNBBS.

I started with "the feminine, portrait neckline blouse."

I liked it so much I made it again in pink.

Then there was the "slim, supple skirt."

I did a re-do with modern methods.

Next, I moved backwards to the first project in the book, "the chemise dress."



And moved right along to "the full, gathered skirt."

Whew! It's been an amazing ride so far. Please come visit me at Gertie's New Blog for Better Sewing to follow me as I go along.

I have a couple special tutorials planned so you can make your own versions of two of these projects - no patterns required!

Pleased to Meet You!

Hi - I am new to the Sew Retro blog and wanted to introduce myself! My name is Amanda (a.k.a. - Miss Dandy) and I love to sew, especially with vintage sewing patterns! I especially enjoy the challenge of using discarded clothing and fabric to create new, one-of-a-kind wearable things. I'm also completely obsessed with 1960s and 1970s pop culture! In fact, most of the patterns from my collection are from those two decades. I think I am most intrigued by these decades because of my mom. When I was younger, she liked to tell me about how she and her sisters made most of their clothing as teenagers, and I used to love looking through her high school year books from the early 1970s! I really look forward to sharing some of my projects and meeting all of you!!! Please feel free to drop by my blog sometime - I'm preparing for the birth of my son, who is due in late September, so I've been working on lots of vintage outfits for him and maternity clothes for myself! :)