posts tagged ‘sewing’
love letters blouse
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Perhaps I’m in a sappy mood, but when I pulled this fabric out of my stash, the motif reminded me of love letters! I made this over the weekend (along with half-finishing another project, and fitting some 30s slacks), using the Sencha blouse from Colette Patterns that Sarai sent me (thank you, Sarai!). Not to sound like a broken record, but have I ever mentioned how much I love the pattern line? lol.
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The fabric has a bit of a fun back story… It originally began life as a rather shapeless early 1990s dress I spotted at a rummage sale on the $0.25 table. It was big, boxy and generally too 90s “romantic grunge” for my taste. But the fabric was pretty fantastic–it reminded me of those lovely novelty prints from the 40s! I figured there was enough in the skirt to make a blouse, so for a quarter, it came home with me. Fast forward about two years, and I “rediscovered” it in the back of my closet. (Goes to show you just how organized I am… lol!) Blouses were on my list of things to make for spring, so the fabric plus the super-simple style of the Sencha pattern seemed like a good fit.
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I love the buttons down the back–don’t you?! I decided to be crazy again and do bound buttonholes. I am seriously the world’s slowest seamstress when it comes to making them, but I love the end result. One thing I wanted to point out about this blouse (more of a technical ramble here…) is the interfacing I used along the neckline. Interfacing, I have noticed, seems to strike fear into many home sewist’s hearts; I think because it hasn’t been until recently that books and magazines (like Threads) have started to demystify it a bit. I think a lot of times too it’s just easier to use the stuff you can find at your local sewing chain and just “make do”. The trick with interfacing is that it shouldn’t change the drape or grossly effect the weight of the material it’s supporting. Besides the woven and non-woven iron-on interfacing found at most stores, you can use a variety of “garment” fabrics like voile, organdy, muslin, flannel, etc. For this particular project, I interfaced everything with a bit of lightweight cotton. It took a bit more time to prepare (basting the cotton to the blouse fabric, finishing the edges, etc.), but was worth it because the end result is a layer that supports the blouse neckline (and buttonholes) without being detectable.
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Anyway, enough sewing rambling! I’m off to make myself another cup of morning tea–it’s downright cold here this morning! hehe!
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Posted to: sewing. | 30 lovely thoughts
my sewing madness grows…
[ how I've been spending my free time. ]
Sewing my own 1940s bra may sound a little obsessive to some–like I’ve finally gone over the edge. But as someone who used to make my own historical undergarments back in the day, it doesn’t seem quite so out of the ordinary. Why am I doing this? Because I have an insatiable curiosity about how garments go together: construction and shape. Since my interest extends far beyond outerwear, it seemed like a good time to give this project a try! Since several of you have requested I start posting more of the “process” of my projects, I thought I’d let you in on how this one is going (despite my irrational fear of jinxing myself by posting a half-way finished project! lol).
[ a better view of some of the fitting. ]
Lauren recently listed a .pdf 40s bra pattern in her shop, and as soon as I saw it I had to give it a try! It’s taken me a long time to tackle this project, because like most early undergarments, this one has been plagued by fitting issues. However, through sheer perseverance and studying whatever I can find on bras of the period, it’s starting to shape up (no pun intended). The instructions with the original pattern are sparse, so Lauren has helpfully provided additional material to understand a bit more about construction. One thing I have discovered about 40s bras through cursory research is that they are very primitive in comparison to today’s bra offerings. Things like cup-sizing, underwire, adjustable straps, etc. that we take for granted, were not always commonplace (especially underwire during the war). I have also had to sleuth a bit about what areas to reinforce for greater support. So far, I’ve added an additional layer of fabric on the bottom of the cups (quilted together), and at the front band. This seems to have done a great deal to enhance the supportive qualities of the bra, without adding unnecessary bulk.
The greatest challenge has been fitting: the pattern, though marked a 32″, is quite large, and I’ve had to adjust the overall length of the band to reduce it to the proper fit (and allow for a slight gap in the back where the elastic band will be). The cups have also been an adventure, as this bra is not marked with any specific sizing. I’ve had to rework those a bit to fit my smallish bust (no surprise here; just about every historical undergarment I’ve made has to be adjusted here). So I’d say the bra was best for a C cup-size. I have been fitting the cups by pinning out the excess fullness, just as I would in fitting any other garment pattern, with an eye towards the fact that little ease is needed at all in a bra.
So now I have gotten to the point of needing to cut out a third (and hopefully final) muslin. I’m using a sturdy cotton (about “quilting weight” in today’s terms), as I found that many bras of the era were not only made from rayon satin but broadcloth (typically cotton) as well. A precursor to our comfortable, modern cotton jersey bras, I suppose! If all goes well, I have a vintage nightgown that I’m going to use to create a satin bra (the nightgown has some moth holes, so it’s basically useless). I’ll let you know how the adventure progresses!
p.s. Here are some ads and other images that I scanned from some of my mid 40s magazines… just in case you’re obsessive like me!
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Posted to: sewing. | 27 lovely thoughts
ginger dress
[ sorry for the lack of lipstick in these photos! I totally forgot to put some on before I started... haha! ]
Thank you all so much for sharing in the excitement of the sneak peek post yesterday! You’re just as excited as I am… lol! Anyway, on to the dress unveiling. This dress started when my my sweet blog-friend Jen generously sent me an amazing late 30s sewing pattern. I had actually been eying the pattern on Ebay a couple times (outbid every time! lol), so I was super excited to be able to make it!!! (Thank you again, Jen!)
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Now, something I have to admit about this project: the fabric (a rayon faille print), while lovely, does get in the way of the design lines. I was a bit too eager to get going on this that I just grabbed the only length I had that was an appropriate weight. While the dress is still cute, I would love to make this in a “calmer” print or solid so the tiny tucks and yoke-lines stand out a bit more. So see: everyone makes mistakes from time to time! lol.
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This is the first dress I have used my serger on for finishing seams! If it is possible to be in love with a sewing machine, than I am completely smitten. It took about 1/3 of the time it took to finish seams the old way (a complicated procedure of zig-zagging, straight stitching along the zig-zags, and trimming to prevent fraying; which only worked sometimes), and looks so much better. I shall do a more in-depth review of the machine once I have a few more projects under my belt. Although, any time I saved in using the serger, I sure made up with doing the buttonholes bound! On this particular fabric, despite interfacing and basting everything like crazy, it was still super temperamental (now if I could only find one of these handy tools…). lol.
This was also the first dress I used the vintage method of making sleeve stiffeners (also known as “sleeve heads”) to help keep the “pouf” of the puffed sleeve caps. It was pretty simple to do! I’ve actually been playing around with various methods of shoulder/sleeve support in my latest projects, including homemade shoulder pads (so I can control how much stiffness is in them!). Anyone interested in a post on vintage methods for achieving these? (Or am I too geeky?! haha!)
Why the “Ginger” dress? Well, perhaps I’ve been watching too many 1930s Ginger Rogers films, but the entire time I was making this I couldn’t help thinking of her! Something with how the dress drapes? Or maybe, as I said, I’ve become too engrossed in 30s films!
[ detail of the bodice yoke. ]
Even though I’m a little annoyed at myself about the fabric selection (but that may just be my perfectionist side being a bit too assertive? lol!), I really love this dress! The fabric is light-as-air and the design itself is so comfortable. It’s tempting to run out and buy more fabric to make another version (perhaps a snappy-colored linen?), but other projects are calling my name and have been woefully neglected. On to the next one! (More photos of this project here.)
[ close up of the vintage belt buckle. this was my last, white vintage buckle, and I'm very sad because I've had a hard time finding affordable lots or even single buckles lately! ]
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Posted to: sewing. | 67 lovely thoughts
ginger dress sneak peek
More photos tomorrow…
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Posted to: sewing. | 23 lovely thoughts
don’t mind me…
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Sailor Husband has the day off (hurrah!), so I’m taking a bit of a break from blogging today so we can do spend some time together! I also wanted to show you a sneak peek at the 1940s sequined blouse I mentioned last week. It still needs snaps for the side placket closure (somehow I managed to completely run out of snaps in my stash!), but it’s 95% complete. Hopefully more on that in a couple days…
Have a lovely Monday, friends!
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Posted to: life, sewing. | 20 lovely thoughts
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