Sewing Schedule 2013

I have been inspired by a lot of  vintage sewing enthusiasts to write my own 2013 sewing schedule.  I think that this could help me fill the "gaps" in my wardrobe, as well as help encourage me not to take so long whipping up one dress!

It generally seems to take me four to five months to sew one dress ~ my latest project, a maternity dress, being the quickest at just over a month and a week.  That's because I worked on it regularly, rather than only when I felt like it.  I think it's reasonable to say that if I finish one dress every two months, and a smaller item every month ~ that might be a good rate for me?  I do want to try and get faster at sewing up my own pieces.

So {sew ~ lol} without further ado;

 January:

• One circle skirt w/ elastic waist  {For after baby is born}

February:

• One blouse {1940s style ~ I don't have many tops that look 1940s and I love them, so I want to rectify that.}

March:

• Erm, we'll see.  Baby's due on the 29th.

April:

• Ditto!

May:

• One staple 1940s winter skirt  {I love the simple 4-gore 40s skirt; I definitely need some!}

June ~ July:

• One warm winter dress

August:

• One staple 1940s summer skirt

September ~ October:

• Pattern stash busting!  One summer dress from patterns I have already!!

November ~ December:

• 40's Playsuit?   

And while we are on this role ~ how about a knitting schedule?   As I really only seem to like to knit in the cooler months {Seriously, today it's 37 degrees!! It's been mid-high 30s all last week, and it's supposed to be the week after....  I think you can see why!}, it'll be a shorter list, but that's ok.

April ~ May:

• One short sleeved 40's blouse

June ~ July:

• One long sleeved 40's blouse

And I think that's it!  Do you have any sewing/knitting/crochet plans for 2013?  Do share!

xox,

bonita

Stitching Stories ~ Tackling Bias Cuts & Pattern Matching

This post is on the behind-the-scenes details of my latest me-made project, which I recently featured in an outfit post ~ My Fall Fancies Dress.

  

So I started this dress in February with this vintage Advance 9785 dress pattern I got off Etsy and this vintage thrifted cotton.  I think the Advance is late 1950s – early 1960s?  I’m not 100% sure, but I thought it was pretty anyway.

.      

        

I had to tackle a few new skills with this pattern ~ doing to an FBA on a kimono sleeve bodice was just for starters.  The dart ended up looking funny, so I just moved it to where I thought it should go and thankfully it worked! 

I also had to try my hand at my first on-the-bias project, as the bodice was bias cut, and to make the layout trickier, I had to pattern/stripe match as well!  This meant that it took me THREE hours just to cut out the bodice, and I wasted a fair amount of fabric which led me to the conclusion that, although pretty, bias cuts aren’t necessarily worth it. 

Buttonholes and pleating were also two new skills to me ~ and I have to say I adore my Bernina 860!  It’s five step buttonhole program is the easiest, simplest way to do buttonholes and once I practised a few I just breezed through the three buttonholes on the dress’s bodice.  I never thought I would say this, but ~ I love stitching buttonholes!

The pleats were relatively simple, and I am positively ecstatic with how they look!  I think that they suit my figure far better than gathers, so I know I will be trying these again. 

Of course, although I like the original pattern, I still made an alteration and took out the buttons/facing strip down the front of the skirt.  I think my reasoning for that was that the bodice buttonholes were scary enough without having to do more!  Plus, I find button-down skirts annoying.  They tend to pop open a lot for some reason.

I had trouble with the collar/neck facing and end up tacking and sewing that down in about a hundred different ways/places, as well as the collar being a pain to put on.  I had to re-apply it and rip it out at least three times, but even though the inside is a little messy, you can’t tell from the outside, which is good. I guess these things just take practise.

All these new challenges meant I did a lot of stop/start sewing; sometimes leaving the dress for weeks until I could summon up the courage and the time to pick it up again. 

However, the thing that I am most proud of with this project is how perfectly my seams match!  The centre back seam and the shoulder seams are spot on and I love how the front facing has that lovely ‘bridge’ between the two front chevron-stripes.  Pattern matching is fiddley and time-consuming, but oh, so satisfying when it comes out right!

~ Project Details ~

Year:  Late 1950s – early 1960s
Pattern:  Advance 9785
Fabric:  About 6 yards/5.5 metres of thrifted cotton doona cover {$9.00} ~ this is one fabric eating pattern!
Notions:  Three buttons {$3.00}
Time to complete: I have no idea…
Make/Wear again? Definitely wear again!!  I am really happy with how it came out: I love the fit, the style and the fabric. However, I am not so sure that I’ll make the pattern up again.  I’m thinking that once was enough.  Although, I do love the skirt, so it does seem likely that I might use that part of the pattern again. 
Total Cost:  $25.00 including the pattern

xox,

bonita

My Fall Fancies Dress

Fall Fancies Dress  ~  Made by Me, ‘12    Harvest Guardsman Gloves  ~  Etsy   Basic Brown Belt  ~  Thrifted   Cream Cable Stockings  ~  Target   Tan Penny Loafers  ~  Big W  
~ * ♥ * ~

M’dears, I am dreadfully excited to show you this dress as it has been an extraordinary length of time in coming! Can you believe I started it in February no less?  Mind you, it has been finished for a couple of weeks as I completed it on the 2nd of July, but I have been waiting for a chance to wear it.

I was originally planning for it to be my autumn dress, hence the title, but five months {give or take} in the making and we were well into the winter season before I was done!  I shall give you more details on why it took so long in my stitching-stories-sewing-geekery post that is coming later, but for now I will say that I am glad it is finally finished!  

Yes, I have already started planning the next project in my head, and I have gotten as far as “It won’t be a dress!”  Sadly to say, for the moment I am over dresses.  They just seem so complicated and time consuming! 

It’s not that I can’t do all of the steps, {with a little help from the sewing master ~  teh Internetz!}, it’s more that there are SO many steps that it takes too long!  *sigh*  And while I love a pretty vintage dress, I just would like to get my teeth into some shorter and more winter friendly projects ~ like some blouses, or a pair of 40’s slacks…  I am itching to cut into Simplicity 3688 which is all the rage with vintage blogger seamstresses at the moment ~ mostly because of the near-perfect trouser fit; something almost unheard of!

If anyone hears of a Simplicity or Butterick or Vogue online pattern sale ~ do let me know!  I have some favourites to buy, but want to wait for a sale.  Then maybe I can try my 1940s trousers!

xox,

bonita

The Blue Danube Cardigan

Blue Danube Cardigan  ~  Me Made from this Vintage Knitting Book; Bulky Knits    Classic Collar Blouse  ~  Thrifted   Vintage Lilly Love Brooch  ~  Love Vintage Clothing Show, 2011   Plaited Belt  ~  Thrifted    Swingin’ Circle Skirt  ~  Me Made in Casey’s CSSA   Gingham Picnic Wedges  ~  Modcloth

~ * ♥ * ~

You guys, do you know how absolutely excited I am?!!  See that pretty blue cardigan I am wearing?  I made it myself!!  It’s my first knitted garment and I am completely adoring how it came out!  I think that it looks exactly like the picture for the pattern ~ don’t you?  ᵔᴗᵔ

Well, almost exactly the same, except that I haven't yet sewn on the hook and eye at the neck, and I also made mine a wee bit shorter because I couldn’t get enough of the same dye in the yarn I bought. 

Still, all that aside, I can’t wait to start on my next knitting project.  This one was finished in about a month, so I think I might be able to squeeze in another heavy knit in before the end of winter and then I’ll have to start on some more lighter weight {i.e. ~ finer yarn which equals a lot more time on the needles!} projects.  I might even have enough garments to participate in Me-Made May if it’s on next year.  > – <  Fun times!

xox,

bonita

My Dress And Me ~ Stitching Stories

Happy days!  I get to share with you the details of my very first me made dress!  Yes, it’s a shirtwaist ~ er, of sorts {you’ll see why  say that in a bit}, it’s got an A-line skirt, a self –drafted Peter Pan collar, cute buttons and pockets; and oh!  I should stop talking and just SHOW you. 

I started out with the McCall’s M4769, in view C.  Because I have never sewn a dress and have no idea how to do a tissue fit or anything I decide to trace the pattern pieces and then do the Full Bust Adjustment I knew I would need from the measurements on the back!  I found that this FBA tutorial on Sew L.A. Blog was EXTREMELY helpful, and I could actually understand what I needed to do. Yay for comprehension!

  

I did a muslin out of butcher’s paper to check that I was on the right track…

 

Then a fabric muslin to double check.  It seemed to fit tolerably well, though to be honest, I probably wouldn’t have been able to tell if didn’t!

I didn’t take any photos of the construction process, unfortunately I was too focused on the garment and getting in finished ~ I had an end of 2011 deadline, so I was all guns blazing!  The fabric I was using was a pale baby blue with cute little three colour flower/teardrop things with with white diagonal lines.

Thankfully I was paying enough attention to notice as I cut out the first piece of skirt that the back skirt piece and the back bodice were “upside down” on the fabric and the pattern would have been going the wrong way!  A reshuffle of pattern pieces, and the disaster was adverted *whew* so that all the pieces were going the right way and would match.  After I finished cutting out, the dress seemed to come together quite easily.

My first sleeves set in really quickly, which was a pleasant surprise for me ~ but I think I was helped because I adjusted the sleeves so that they were puffed{using this tutorial} rather than a plain cap sleeve, so that meant I could have gathers to my heart’s content up the top of the sleeve and smooth out the underside so that it matched the arm scythe nicely.

  

I changed the button closure to a zip for ease of breastfeeding access by sewing the zip to the left hand front placket and then to the inside edge of the right hand front placket so that they overlapped and hid the zipper.  I also sewed two invisible snaps to hold the placket shut on the top of the bodice, and a hook and eye at the waist because all the vintage dresses have them so it seem right to do that!  I sewed the skirt shut so that the placket overlapped and couldn’t fly apart, as the zip was only 16” long.

 

Then I ran into my waterloo ~ the collar.  Of course I hadn’t been able to leave well enough alone, and had adjusted the shirtwaist collar into a Peter Pan collar.  {That’s why I am not sure if this dress technically counts as a shirtwaist at all!}  This changed the whole front of the bodice and the construction of the collar which meant I skipped steps 42 to 48 on the pattern instructions and just had to wing it.  I think if I had ever attached a Peter Pan collar before I might have been fine, but as it was, there was almost a meltdown of nuclear proportions, with a ton of seam ripping, fraying fabric and some holes as well as - well, swearing.   It did finally go on{although I had to mend it before I wore it as I somehow missed a bit and there was a hole already!}, and even looks quite alright for a totally made-up-as-I-went-along attachment.  The collar turned out to be quite deep which I also really love, even though it was a total fluke!

 

When I tried the dress on the bodice ended up being too large at the back, so I pinched out 2cm of fabric from the middle with a dart and made a belated Sway Back adjustment.  Of course I had already attached the bodice to the skirt by the time I figured that out, but it still worked out ok. 

 

The thing I love the most about this outfit is that the belt I am wearing with this dress is thrifted, but it matches it perfectly and is such a nice contrast that I am not sure I am even going to bother with the same fabric belt I was thinking of making earlier.  To finish off the dress I did a blind hem, which is a nice touch I like to do, popped my new pretty on and did an outfit shoot ~ On My Way.

Here is a sneak peak of The On My Way Dress in all it’s glory ~

And that my friends, is the saga of my first sewing foray into Dressland, of which I hope there will be many more tales to follow! 

~ Project Details ~

Year: Modern, 2005 styled by me to look 1940s
Pattern: McCall’s M4769
Fabric: About 2.9 yards/2.6 meters of thrifted cotton{?} doona cover {$9.00}
Notions: One zipper {$? ~ I think $5.00}, three buttons {$6.90}
Time to complete: About a week on and off ~ maybe 15 hours all up?
Make/Wear again? Yes! Now that I have a perfect fitting bodice, I am dreaming of all sorts of ways to mix it up.  I think I want at least two more of these dresses; I am planning to add a full circle skirt for a 50s shirtwaist dress, and another version with gathers at the shoulders for a really 1940s look and tulip sleeves.
Total Cost:  $20.90

I would totally recommend this pattern for beginners who want to sew a dress. I am a total beginner, and I did it, so you can know for sure that it’s a pretty easy pattern.  : 3

xox,

bonita

P.S.  ~ Yes, I named my dress.  I just couldn’t resist ~ it’s fun.  > u <

On My Way ~ Outfit Fifty Four

 

Flower Clip ~ A gift from my sister   Floral Wayfarers ~  Dotti    Earrings  ~  Forever New  The On My Way Dress ~ Made by me   Jade Bracelet  ~  Hong Kong    Belt  ~  Thrifted    Beige Wedges  ~  Big W

~ * ♥ * ~

Unfortunately, the sun was so bright it rather washed out all the extra stuff I wanted to capture ~ the cute buttons, how the belt matches the fabric print perfectly{yes, there is a pattern.  It’s just hard to see it}, or the darling rhinestone earrings I wore.  However, it was a lovely excuse to wear my sunglasses because I pretty much couldn’t see a thing without them on.  > <  All the sewing details of the dress are coming soon so I can show you all the close up details and rave about the geeky, stitchery stuff! 

I am so excited about my new dress, I really can’t say how thrilled I am that I finished it.  Actually, I am rather itching to start another project now, I keep wanting to plan it out in my head.  I don’t know that I won’t start something soon now that I come to think of it!  So much fun!  I also got the sweetest compliments whilst wearing it ~ I was told my outfit looked great, and that I looked great and well, I was so happy to hear that.  Imagine!  I can make my own clothes and other people think they look good!  Wow!

Well, I do have to say that if I can do it, anyone can.  Give it a try, you might be surprised!  Happy sewing everyone.  ᵔᴗᵔ

xox,

bonita

The big CSSA reveal ~ my first circle skirt!

   ~ * ♥ * ~   

It took longer than I had hoped, but I have finally finished my very first circle skirt!  Yay!  *does a dance*
 \ ^ U ^ / 

There were some tears along the way ~ I had to restart the waist band about five times and on the last time I accidentally ended up making a small hole in the fabric which I then had to mend with an iron on patch before I could finish sewing the waistband down. : /  I wasn’t very happy about that!

Also the crinoline gave me a bit of a headache ~ I couldn’t find a pattern to make one the way I wanted too, so I ended up winging it!  It worked out ok; and I rather like what I did with it ~ it was just wrestling with the yards of tulle that had me hopping mad every so often.  ; P

This embroidered patch pocket took me all week to do, but it was fun, although it was a bit tricky.  I didn’t have an embroidery hoop {which I will buy for next time!} and I could have used a stiffening spray, but I found out about it too late.  Still, it worked reasonably well, and I like the pattern I came up with.  I just freehanded it with tailor's chalk onto the fabric and it turned out ok.  My favourite is the poppy~type flower that I used split stitch & french knots for. 



Aaaand here we have the reverse side in action! 

Outfit One:   Fascinator  ~  Me~Made    Shirt  ~  Thrifted  Belt  ~  Valley Girl  Gloves  ~  Love Vintage Clothes Show   Circle Skirt  ~  Me~Made  Shoes  ~  Thrifted

Outfit Two:   1950s Hat  ~  Love Vintage Clothes Show    Floral Top  ~  Thrifted   Belt  ~  JayJay’s  

Circle Skirt  ~  Me~Made   Gloves  ~  Thrifted   Shoes  ~  FSW

~ * ♥ * ~

~ Project Details ~

Year: 1950s
Pattern: Tea length self drafted full circle skirt ~ 28” from waist to hem
Fabric: I have no idea how much fabric I used, but I thrifted two sheets {for $5.00 ea}and when I cut my skirt{s} out I had leftovers!
Notions: One zipper {$1.00}, three buttons {$4.00}, white & black lace {$10.00}.
Time to complete: Aggess…. If I had to guesstimate; probably about 10?  Way too long for such an easy project…  But that’s ok, with practise I’ll get faster.
Make/Wear again? Yes!!  I want one in wool, one in corduroy, one in a floral print, one in a boarder print…  I love circle skirts.  ^ ω ^
Total Cost:  $25.00 

xox,

bonita