This show is totally fun to watch; I really enjoyed it! While I am pining for the last episode to be available online, I couldn’t resist sharing the first three ~ ta da! And now episode 4 is up too! Yay!
Anyone else inspired to sit down and do a spot of sewing?
xox,
bonita
This post from Sunni of A Fashionable Stitch is part of her 2-in-1 Shirt/Wrap Dress sew-a-long, and while I am in awe that she’s showing us how to sew two dresses at once, I also love the fantastic tips she’s giving us! This one in particular is extremely useful, particularly for adverting that dreaded button-up blouse gap-age {ladies, y’all know what I’m talking about!} so do check it out! ^ u ^
….This is a tip I picked up awhile ago and I’ve been dying to share it. Few people realize that buttonhole placement counteracts gaposis. Actually if you’ve ever made anything that buttons down your front, and you’re a girl – because let’s face it, guys don’t have breasts – then you know about the gaposis. In fact, if you’ve ever tried on anything from the store that buttons down, you definitely know about gaposis. It’s even very possible that a man pointed out to you that your shirt was gaping you-know-where.
Having your buttons in the right place counteracts gaposis, as does a good fit. But if you have a great fit on a garment and you have poor button placement, you’ll have gaposis. Promise….
xox,
bonita
I love the look of this shawl collar t-shirt; comfortable but stunning and vintage styled at the same time ~ what could be better? Pop over to So, Zo… What do you know? for instructions on how to make this lovely refashion for yourself.
…There's one of two ways you could create a garment like this from an existing T-shirt. You could either take a T-shirt that already fits you (or the indented recipient) well then recut the neckline, make the new collar and then attach the collar to the T-shirt. Or you could do what I did here: take a large loose fit T-shirt originally intended for a guy, and cut it up and remake it using a T-shirt sewing pattern to fit you before getting involved in the collar section.
I took the collar pattern from New Look 6808 (pictured above) to make the collar. I also used that sewing pattern's front and back pieces as a guide to recut the new T-shirt neckline…
xox,
bonita
I found this lovely 1967 Woman’s Weekly Home Sewing Decor Guide last year, but only just had the brilliant idea of making it in to a .pdf to share!
It has lots of instructions on how to sew just about everything you could possibly need for your house; everything that that can be sewn that is, and it also tells you how to make interesting window dressings like pelmets, valances and cornices.
I like these examples of window treatments ~ although that floral wallpaper on the right is a bit much for me!! > <
I love the colour pallet in all of the photos above that I saved from various websites ~ the fresh pastels really seem to lighten and brighten the spaces, don’t they? Shabby French Country Chic is one of my favourite decor looks, although I love dark woods instead of all the white~washed furniture.
There are of course, a ton more inspiration pictures out there, but combined with your handy DIY guide, your own vintage home decor and furnishings shall be easy to create ~ download it here. ヽ(*≧ω≦)ﾉ
xox,
bonita
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
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
This super cute refashion from Sunni of A Fashionable Stitch looks like a darling 1950s blouse to me and even better ~ she give you instructions on how to make your own version! This is a really simple project and looks great for beginners or someone who is short on time {*ahem*}. Hop on over to the post and Sunni will breeze you through it in no time. : D
… I opted to make a box blouse, basically two rectangles sewn together with room left for your arms and head. Yup. It’s so easy, you might just chuckle. Seriously. Amy from Yellow Bird gave me the idea, which by the way, she’s made several and you should head on over to see them because then they’ll give you ideas for what to do if you want to make yourself one.
Now here’s the thing, I wanted to keep this simple. I wanted this project to be something you could really whip up in a jiffy and all without the use of a pattern. Something that WILL fit you, because box blouses fit everyone! Got it? Yeah. That’s exactly the idea. So let’s just start with the Box Blouse formula…
xox,
bonita
There’s another awesome guest post over at The Girl with the Star Spangled Heart ~ this time by Brittany of Va-Voom Vintage. I adore this precious DIY she has for us, so do stop over and have a look. : 3
Hello everyone! This is Brittany from Va-Voom Vintage here, to show you how to sew a 1940's hair scarf. I am so excited to be a part of the guest blogging series while Stephanie is on vacation!
Many months ago, I found a little pink 40's hair scarf at an antique mall. It's so sweet that I was determined to make a few more in different colors. I wear my head scarves to keep my hair out of the way while I clean, to protect my pin curls while I sleep and to wear as a fashion accessory.
This is a great project to use some of that scrap fabric in your stash. You can use pieces of vintage sheets, feed sack, table cloths and other household linens. Today's tutorial uses shirring. Shirring is very easy to do and looks fantastic!…
xox,
bonita
As always our beloved Gertie from Gertie's New Blog for Better Sewing is a fountain of sewing techniques and knowledge ~ her latest post on dealing with pattern ease is very helpful to anyone out there who is wondering why their dresses don’t fit as well as they should. Check it out over here:
Here’s a topic that gets a lot of discussion, but I think the info bears repeating: ease in patterns. I’ve been making more contemporary patterns than usual, and also featuring them here. I’ll often get comments (virtually and in person, when I teach) warning me to watch out for the sizing on a certain pattern because it’s all off and it came out ginormous, etc.
So, here’s the thing: the sizing on a pattern doesn’t have to be a surprise. Actually, let me restate that: the EASE on a pattern doesn’t have to be a surprise. (Ease being the extra inches built into a pattern for wearing room.) It just takes a couple more steps in preparation than usual.
As traditional sewing wisdom would have you believe, all you have to do to get your correct size is measure yourself, check the size chart on that pattern, find the size that corresponds to your body, make that size, and ta-da! Your dress will fit you perfectly. Unfortunately, this is completely untrue…
xox,
bonita.
More reformatting! Instead of going for the “Quick Share” on Fridays I thought I’d call it how it really is: “Link Love”. Links that I love - get it? Anyway today we have a guest post from the amazing Angie of Quality Time on Stephanie’s blog The Girl with the Star Spangled Heart.
*whew!* Got that all straight? Anyway, do hop on over an check out both these lovely ladies’ blogs if you haven’t already. Lots of vintage sewing goodness to be had!
In the mean time…
Hello Star Spangled Readers! My name is Angie and I blog over at Quality Time. I was so excited when the very sweet Stephanie asked me to guest post for her here on her blog….
…I've been poring over my recent purchases of vintage sewing and pattern magazines looking for the perfect thing to scan and share with you all here. My own blog is more miscellaneous sewing adventures than vintage clothing adventures, but I do like to combine the two when I can.
This pattern I'm sharing is from a dressmaking booklet from the 1940s. Some of the pages were missing, but luckily not this cute article about wearing a "dickey", or a "faux" shirt. (Basically, a dickey is a partial bodice but usually a full collar, to wear under sweaters, cardigans or other garments).
I hope you enjoy the article! …
xox,
bonita
Oh my goodness you guys ~ I just had to share this post when it popped up in my feed reader!! You might not know, but I have tried sewing with knits before and at the end of my little experiment I swore I wouldn’t touch them with a ten foot barge pole until I was a better seamstress.
Well, this gem of a post by Lauren of LLadybird has stirred the itch and I am thinking that with her good advice in hand, I might try some knit sewing this year. Knits are super comfortable and can look really cute as Lauren shows! Check it out here ~
So you wanna sew some knits, huh? Maybe you picked up the Renfrew pattern and haven’t worked up the courage to slice into the pattern tissue yet. Or maybe you’ve been romanced & wooed by all the amazing printed knit fabrics out there. Or maybe you’re just ready for a new challenge that doesn’t involve zippers! Whatever you reason, it’s time to talk knits. Get a coffee and get comfy, this is gonna be a long ‘un.
First off, let me say something very important.
Knits are not scary or super difficult to work with!
I don’t know who is responsible for freaking out millions of sewers to be afraid of knit fabrics, but I wish I did know so I could stick some needles in his (or her!) face. Knit fabrics are actually MUCH easier to work with than a basic woven fabric. Yes, you have to pay special attention to the grain line, but aren’t you doing that anyway with your other sewing projects? ; ) Yes, knits do curl up – but they don’t unravel! Yes, you have to use a special stitch & needle to keep your seams from getting too wavy and/or snapping – but what’s so scary about that?
Here is what is so awesome about knits. I made you a list….
xox,
bonita
P.S. ~ One tip that I picked up is to start with a knit fabric that doesn’t curl much at the edges. That means that it’s less stretchy which also means that it’s easier to work with. Works for me! : D
Start with one vintage pattern ~ Advance 9785.
Add a dash of floral fabric ~
And one excited me…
And you have my next dress project in the wings!
It wasn’t long after finishing my last dress{The On My Way Dress} that I began to wish I had another project to do. Then I was digging through my stash trying to find fabric and a pattern that went together before I knew it. The McCall’s I sewed up last time was obviously my first choice for a pattern, being the easiest and newest of all my patterns{most of which are vintage} but I simply could not find a fabric that worked for what I had in mind. So I picked the biggest length of fabric that I cared the least about, a vintage pattern that seemed easy enough for me figure out using logic and decided to go to town!
This is my attempt at draping the fabric on Elizabeth, my dress form, to figure out whether this stripy flower pattern will work. I only found out while tracing the pattern that the bodice is cut on the bias whereas the skirt is cut on the straight grain… I think it will look alright, but it’s going to take some really careful cutting to match this up nicely! : S Eeek! Scary stuff! So tell me, am I being stupid tackling stripes and bias at the same time? Keep in mind that I have never matched patterns before and I have only sewn one dress to date!
That’s another thing ~ is it easier to start pattern matching with small or large patterns? I sort of feel large might be easier, but I could be so wrong about that, it’s not even funny…. : \ On the other hand ~ how cute is Veiw 2 with the chevron bodice? I am planning to do View 1 with the long sleeves as I felt this fabric has a more autumn/winterish feel to it, and Veiw 2 gives me a fairly good idea of how this might look in the end.
Oh, I am so excited to start sewing this up ~ I have to do the muslin next and after a tricky FBA that didn’t seem to work, I wonder how it will turn out…. Don’t worry, I’ll let you know if it’s a win or a fail!
xox,
bonita
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 <
