Blue Brushed Cotton Skirt

I was planning on submitting this skirt for Fall for Cotton sew along hosted by Rochelle at

http://luckylucille.com but because my tights kept sticking to the fabric it needed to be lined and the lining is not cotton so there goes my entry.The skirt itself is 100% Brushed Cotton in a Blue and Black Herringbone pattern. I used Pictorial Review Pattern 8898 from 1937 and made view 1 which is the Ballerina style 10 gored skirt. I finally got my serger working so all the seams are overlocked and I used bias tape and hem tape for the hems. You add belting to the top of the skirt instead of a waistband and I'm not sure how I feel about doing that because the belting is scratchy. Next time I think I might try and sandwich the belting in between the fashion fabric and the lining.  I don't know if you can tell from the picture but the drape is beautiful and the fabric is soft and made of warmz, plus it flairs when you twirl so obviously it's a winner. Also I finished this in September right before I left for England for my fall semester abroad and I didn't have any pictures of it finished before now.I will update pictures once it has a night out!

The Scoop:

Fabric: 100% Brushed Cotton in a Blue and Black Herringbone pattern Lining: Ice Blue poly/cotton

Pattern: Pictorial Review 8898

Year: 1937

Notions: Zipper, belting, hem tape

Hours: Hehehe my serger was misbehaving so it took a while

First worn?: Soon my pretty very soon........

Wear again?: Did I mention it flairs out when your twirl?

Make again?: I'd like to, I'm just not sure what fabric to do it in again

Total cost: Pattern $8.63 ($17.25 divided by 2 skirts), Fabric cotton was a gift and lining was $5.99, zipper $1.49, hem tape from stash, belting from stash so the skirt cost $16.11 to make. Plus I had enough fabric left to make another project......

Soo I Might Have Forgot to Mention

that I'm leaving for a semester in England today. I have been accepted to the University of Gloucestershire for the fall semester.  I know my blogging isn't that often but now it might be even more sparse unless I find vintage sewing patterns or clothing on my trip. I do have a 1937 Skirt to post about and a 1938 suit as well so when I wear them in England I will take pictures and post about it. I'm excited but scared at the same time, who knows what's around the corner!!

Hello My Pretties!!

Soo American Duchess has done it again with wonderful 1930's Oxfords. There is a giveaway going on now at http://americanduchess.blogspot.com/2013/09/giveaway-claremont-1930s-oxfords.html. I would love to have a pair of these in every color but for now I will "settle" for the scrumptious brown

Operation Suprise

Happy Independence Day Everyone!! (well now it's a bit late because I didn't get my picture up in time)

This year I decided to make a dress for the 4th. M was going to take me to Community Days to walk around and then Saturday are the fireworks but we watch them from the roof. I didn't tell M what I was making and only gave him hints over three days. I sent him a picture of the fabric, told him the pattern was from 1939 and then told him it was a dress. I used Du Barry 2347B from 1939  and made it with short sleeves. I love the dress. It's light and airy because of the seersucker fabric which was a blessing because it was sooo humid at the fair. I took 6" off the hem because I'm so short and I had to hack off almost 4" on the sleeves because they were too long. I will have to redo the buttons because I bought 5/8" buttons instead of 3/4" and it makes a huge difference with the bound buttonholes.  I went to Joann's to get the new buttons and because of their Independence Day sale I also walked away with a curved ruler that includes a French Curve and Hip curve plus instructions on how to alter patterns. The dress needed five bound buttonholes in the front and then it had a side zip too. To complete the outfit I wore a belt my grandmother gave me and my WW2 weekend hat with a navy sash tied around it. I love that hat, it is going to be my go to hat for everything I think. I have fabric to make this up again but with long sleeves and maybe it'll get done before I go to England for a semester.

The Scoop:

Fabric: I don't know the specifics but it was from JoAnn's and it's 100% Cotton I think it was in the shirting section

Pattern: DuBarry 2347B

Year: 1939

Notions: Zipper and 5 Buttons

Hours: Four days of off and on sewing

First worn?: July 4th 2013

Wear again?: Yes

Make again?: Yes, but I'm going to make it with long sleeves and in purple flannel but I'm sure I'll make it with short sleeves again it's such an easy style to wear

Total cost: Pattern $7 Fabric $12.12 First set of Buttons $1.24 Second set of Buttons $6.00 and Zipper $2.49 Total coming to $28.85

Playsuit

well it's actually a bathing suit from Mrs. Depew Vintage but I figured I would make a playsuit first and then go for the bathing suit. I made the one piece with a chambray colored lining and a pretty floral for the outside. I bought the PDF pattern from Mrs. Depew and started to print and tape it all out. I found that I was missing one piece and I contacted her; not only did she send me the missing piece (I had been sent an older version by mistake) she also gave me a complimentary pattern for the inconvenience. I love dealing with her because she is so sweet and easy to deal with plus I don't know anyone else who would be as gracious when they made a mistake. 

I had to size the pattern down which I did by cutting both pieces of the lining into thirds and taking out a half inch at each cut to bring the measurements from a 30" waist to a 26" waist and the 36" bust to a 32" bust. For the outside I took off 1.2 centimeters of each piece  in the middle. This was the first time I actually graded the pattern before I started cutting. If we all remember the ill fated jumper, we know that this was something I forgot last time.
I ended up cutting the bottom off of my mock up and redoing it with a different pattern pattern because the Mrs. Depew pattern was made for swimsuit material, not non-stretchy cotton (kind of a no brainer there but I didn't really think about it.) After fixing some minor problems I have to say that this playsuit was a complete success! The only other adjustment I made was to put a panel in the front and side front pieces because I didn't have enough fabric to cut out the front in one piece and to make it look like it actually belonged there I treated the side fronts the same. I added two green buttons on the front near the straps for decoration. Also I had to adjust the hem on the shorts so they wouldn't peak out from under my skirt.  M says he loves it (though I have suspicions that it is because of the somewhat shorter length...) and I plan on making another one at least. The only thing I plan on changing on the next one it to make the waist a tiny bit bigger. That idea  came to mind because the first time I wore this out it was to breakfast with a friend and we ate a lot of food! Soooo I'm thinking about making the next one food baby compatible.
There are plans to buy more of the floral for a blouse and to make either actual shorts or a skirt out of the chambray fabric.


The Scoop:

Fabric: 100% Keepsake Calico Cotton Symphony Denim Blue 3 yards (one from the first try and two for the second leaving me with a yard extra) and 100% Cotton Keepsake Calico Flowers Cream 1.5 yards

Pattern: Mrs. Depew Bathing Beauties and Butterick 2198

Year: 1940's bathing suit pattern mixed with 1960's shorts pattern

Notions: One zipper and two decorative buttons

Hours: I try not to keep track between the redrafting and failed first run it took a good bit of time.

First worn?: July 14th 2012 to lunch with Julianne

Wear again?: Yes! Actually I wore it for Arts on the Avenue 2013

Make again?: Yup but with more waist room

Total cost: Pattern $5 Cream Flower fabric $8.39 Chambray type fabric $5.97 Buttons $1.37 and Zipper $3.29. The thread was from my stash, so the total comes to $24.02

Simplicity 3673

So another WW2 Weekend at the Mid-Atlantic Air Museum has come and gone. This year it fell over M's Birthday so I treated him to tickets to the event.

I made Simplicity 3673 for the event. I bought a reproduction pattern cheap on Etsy and I don't think I'll buy from the seller again. The directions were not complete and some of the lines on the pattern that should have been traced with a straight edge were not so I had to take time to fix them. Beside that the pattern wasn't too difficult. The shorts were ok in size I just cut off 2" of the top so they wouldn't be soo high waisted. The top needed to be larger by one size (2") so I split the front pattern and back pattern in half and added a 1/2" to each. This worked wonderfully and I didn't even need to change the position of the darts. The shorts closed with 3 cute red buttons with anchors on them on each side, I did hand-worked button holes on the top button and machine sewed the other two. The top closed with an invisible zipper and I trimmed the collar in red. The sailor collar was the only thing that gave me any real trouble but between the mock up and the real thing I figured it out. I would add an inch to the bottom of the top when I make it up again because it was a little too short to stay tucked in during the even but it still looked cute when I had it untucked too. While at the event we got lots of compliments. M looked very handsome in his outfit. I was told I needed an overseas cap for my outfit so I will be buying Mrs. Depew's Flight Cap pattern in the near future to make one up. At a stand in the flee market a vender gifted me with a 1945 Christmas catalog from Filene's Department Store because no one else wanted it. I plan on trying to figure out how to scan my new catalog for all of you to see soon. I also walked away with two patterns this year. (M kept saying the tradition was one but the other was only $3.50 so I couldn't just leave it there) They are Hollywood 1898 Circa 1946 and Butterick 8315 Circa 1939. They will have to wait as I have lots of other projects to do before them but I am very happy to have them in my collection. I finally found a vintage hat that I liked and it was a steal at $15.

The Scoop:

Fabric: Sew Classic Bottomweight Stretch Sateen in Medieval Blue (I used the wrong side of the fabric as the right side so it didn't shine) 97% Cotton 3% Spandex

Pattern: Simplicity 3673

Year: 1941

Notions: 6  red buttons with Anchors at 3/4", red trim, bias binding for the seams and an invisible zipper

Hours: 4 days of off and on work including fixing the pattern and doing a full mock-up of the top

First worn?: June 8th 2013 for WWII Weekend

Wear again?: Yup! It's cute and comfortable. I can wear it as an everyday item and not just for WW2 events

Make again?: I think I'll make the shorts again and I might make the top again in a thin wool with long sleeves to wear in the winter. There is a matching skirt to the pattern and I might make that up one day too.

Total cost: $39.97 Even thought it was a little costly I paid with all of my supplies with a gift card except for $0.65.  Plus I still have one and a half spools of red trim left, fabric for another project, buttonhole thread and some bias binding.

Shoes!!

So finals have me going crazy at college so I  decided I needed a break and think about the summer for a bit. This year for WW2 weekend I plan on making Simplicity 3673 circa 1941 without the skirt for now though.

I was looking at the pattern and wondering what shoes I could wear with the shorts and top. The pattern's shoes are either oxfords or moccasins and a pair of saddle shoes. I want a pair of saddle shoes so those are on the shopping list regardless but I was looking at my other options and decided I would share them with you for your retro shoe needs. www.payless.com has saddle shoes in the black/white combination for $19.99, http://www.amerimark.com has all sorts of vintage looking shoes; some of my favorites are 

See them here, I was thinking
these would work for the pattern

Good everyday shoes, I saw a pair
on etsy that were similar

These would be great for a winter suit

Smart shoes!

Ruche.com has styles the same as an similar to Modcloth though I don't know how the prices vary. 

You can't beat Modcloth's cute shoes;
If only they were less expensive....

 

Another Modcloth favorite

http://www.american-duchess.com/ has a wonderful pair of 1920's T strap shoes that you can use leather paints on for any color combination you want. Well I think I got all of my feelings out for shoes tonight. I plan on getting the saddle shoes and I might just get the red sandals too just for fun!

P.S. sorry for the weird formatting .... I can't figure out how to put all of the pictures in and have them all fit nicely. Any help with that would be greatly appreciated!