Category Archives: vintage

June 17, 2009 · 9:18 am

Vintage Sewing: Part Four

I left you all on Saturday morning, when I had created my graded pattern but had yet to cut out my fabric. Things went fairly smoothly, aside from accidentally leaving the zipper opening on the right, rather than left, side of the dress, ripping out the seam on the left side, and then restitching the exact same seam, which of course required ripping it out again. Argh. By the end of the evening, my sewing friends had completed the full muslins-as-linings for their more complicated patterns, and, because I had no lining to mess around with, I had a finished dress:

CIMG4870

I say “finished,” but I have every intention of going back in and putting in a side-seam pocket. I need pockets. As long as I keep altering this pattern, I think I’ll also move the zipper to the center back next time, which will call for a doubly-long zipper but eliminate the whole right/left issue. Now that I’ve successfully sewn my first vintage pattern, and graded/altered it as well, I just can’t seem to stop messing around!

I wore the now-referred-to-as-Dragon Dress out in public to go to the store on Monday, and received no fewer than SIX compliments on my dress from complete strangers. How lovely! It’s cottony-comfortable, fun to twirl in, and apparently looks quite flattering. The only caveat (aside from a serious lack of pocket) is that when I crouched down at the store to look for something on a bottom shelf, the skirt spilled around me in a three-foot radius, thus preventing a store clerk from restocking a wide swath a shelving until I got up again. Which really isn’t a problem for ME as much as for the people AROUND me.

Tomorrow: Vintage Sewing Weekend’s Bonus Dress

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Filed under collections, fashion, friends, nostalgia, sewing, vintage

June 13, 2009 · 9:23 am

Vintage Sewing: Part Three

When last we met, I had located fabrics from which to make a muslin (from the Hope Chest line of vintage repro fabrics by Spring) AND a finished dress (a set of Asian dragon-themed sheets) from my chosen vintage pattern (7245 from an unknown maker, if you haven’t been following along). All I needed to do was get to it!

Sunday found me re-ironing the vintage pattern, and ironing the fabric that had been folded in my linen closet for five years (no easy task). I traced, I marked, I cut, I researched what a common seam allowance was at the estimated time of the pattern’s production. I sewed the neckline facing on backwards, because I always do that. I ripped out the offending seam and properly restitched the facing. I used my rolled-hem foot for the first time. I put in my first side zipper, and it looks it. The stitching is neat along the sides, but leaves something to be desired at the short ends. And it’s the wrong color.

The dress, which my mother estimated would be a size too small, is actually two sizes too big.

Pinned/clipped on my mannequin:

Yesterday evening, I graded a pattern for the first time. I transferred the original pattern to posterboard, and made sizing adjustments. I also shortened the hemline by nearly three inches, and made the skirt fuller. Today, I shall cut up the sheet set and get together with some sewing friends, and hope hope hope that my first attempt at pattern grading is successful!

NOTE: The toile shown above is for sale at my etsy store, and knowing that the buyer will likely rip out the zipper and redo it, it is priced accordingly.

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Filed under fashion, friends, nostalgia, sewing, vintage

June 3, 2009 · 10:04 am

Vintage Sewing: Part Two

Part Two: In which fabric has been sourced. In part, out of my linen closet, where I found a set of sheets and somewhat matching curtains left over from my old apartment.

The sheets, a solid, very pale lilac in the neighborhood of Pantone 14-3911 for those of you with Shopping Guides,* are cheap (also inexpensive, ba-dum-bum) and will be a good weight for making up a muslin. I can get started on that as soon as I finish up some work-related stuff. (Woo! Income!)

The “curtains” that I would use for the finished dress are actually unsewn lengths of a subtly baroque-print fabric that I had previously hung from a rod with curtain clips. I never stitched them up just in case I ever wanted to use the fabric for a project, but then stored the panels in my linen closet instead of my sewing stash, and thus “lost” them for five years. But… I dunno. It’s enough fabric for pattern 7245, for which I should be happy. And yet, it isn’t thrilling me.

Enter: Mom. Who calls to tell me that she’s going to the thrift store and Hobby Lobby, and that I’m going with (re: driving) her whether I want to or not. While I would usually jump at the opportunity to take advantage of her Senior Tuesday 50%-off deal, I am watching my pennies very carefully. But I do need zippers for these dresses, and I’m not being given a choice anyway.

At the thrift store, I find a complete twin sheet set in a print that I’m sure will work wonderfully with this dress. Navy blue, with large Asian dragons and phoenixes and swirling red ribbons. With mom’s discount, only $5.

Hobby Lobby’s selection of zippers is slim, but I finally find a 9-inch blue zipper. And then see the sign that all patterns are 40% off. And after all, I still have the vintage blue floral curtain fabric that started this whole mess! I picked up McCall’s 5686 for $1.80.

McCall's M5686

View B is very similar to the Simplicity 3282/view 1 that I’d wanted to sew in the first place. I’ll simply leave off the sleeves and lengthen the skirt, and I think the 5686 neckline is actually better suited to the fabric I have. I can still add the 3282 bows to the shoulders for a cute touch.

Maybe I’ll sew TWO dresses on Vintage Sewing Weekend!

Still to be continued…
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*If you don’t have a Pantone Shopping Guide, you really should get one. Invaluable for matching furniture, clothing, wall paint, you name it. 1,757 swatches, in a convenient fan guide. The same 1,757 swatches that Pantone provides for the textiles industry, but in a vastly cheaper printed-rather-than-fabric-swatches format. $20.
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NOTE: See that single-open-quote in the McCall’s “Easy Stitch ‘n Save” logo? It should be an apostrophe. This common typographical error makes McCall’s (and everyone else who does it) look like a bunch of amateurs. If you would like to hire a graphic designer/production artist who notices these things and will not let them slip by and reflect upon your own business, contact me via tiddleywink.com. (No, I don’t do website design. This will be apparent when you see my poorly-coded site.)

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Filed under family, fashion, sewing, shopping, vintage

June 1, 2009 · 9:10 am

Vintage Sewing: Part One

Hmmm, in what order did this all occur?

I suppose I bought the curtains first. A pair of vintage floral curtains, 42″ wide, and just over 1-3/4 yards each in length. I ripped out the tucks and seams and ironed them flat, knowing that I would have more than enough fabric for a skirt. At $4 for the set, I think I did rather well.

Alison, tired of admiring vintage patterns but being too intimidated to actually sew one, decided to schedule a weekend where a few of us could get together, patterns and machines in tow, and curse our meager skills in the company of friends. And possibly margaritas. And, since I’d just purchased another stack of vintage patterns, I decided that perhaps there was enough fabric in these curtains for… yes! I should have just enough to make Simplicity 3282, view 1!

Hmmm, the pattern might require some grading. The bust should fit just right, but I’ll have to scale up for the waist and hips… well, let me take a look at the pattern pieces and see if… oh, drat. All of the pattern pieces for view 1 are missing. I have only have the skirt, cummerbund, and sleeve pieces for view 2. No wonder this pattern was only $1.

Okay, I’ll make (unknown designer) 7245 instead. I have all the pieces for that one. But, I don’t know what size it is, so I’ll have to make a muslin just to see where I’m starting from.

I iron all of the pattern pieces, careful not to melt the 50-year-old cellophane tape repairs made by a previous owner. I smooth out an old, partially-cut bedsheet, and start laying out the pattern.

I don’t have enough bedsheet.

Which gets me to thinking… and no, I don’t have enough curtain fabric, either. What to do? Mail Order 9370 would definitely require grading down. Simplicity 4260 might work, IF the pattern pieces lay out juuuuust right. There’s plenty of fabric for Vogue 9996, but do I want a bathing suit of (likely fireproofed) blue rose floral? Actually, the colors are right in line with the view B suit.

But no. No, I don’t think so. So I measur all of the fabric in my stash, and I have nothing over 3 yards. 7245 requires nearly 5 yards. I could buy 5 yards of new fabric, hoping to find something on sale… or I could buy a complete pattern for 3282 online… for $26 plus shipping. And hope that the pieces lay out properly on my TWO pieces of curtain fabric. Argh!

To be continued…

Sacramento Tally

Mosquito bites: 8
Bloody gashes on shin: 1
Giant, painful zits: 1
Photos taken at car show: 14
Photos taken of ONE car at car show: 11
Pairs of dangly plastic whistle earrings: 1
Enormous black sun hats: 1
Estimated ’40s-vintage Vogue suits: 1
Saving-for-birthday-present vintage faux-leopard coats: 1
Circa 1969 PlayTape 1200 machines: 1
PlayTape cartridges: 3
Flat pennies: 3

Things to do upon returning home: approximately one million