༺ Stitching Stories: Loop the Loop ༻

Oh my goodness ~ I knew it has been a long time since I last did a Stitching Stories, but over a year and a half? Wow…

I guess it does make sense, we were so busy packing at the beginning of 2017 that I didn’t have a lick of time spare for any hobbies at all. When we got back for Christmas at the end of November, it wasn’t long until I was sitting down and doing some sewing at my Mom’s machine. I finished two dresses over Christmas ~ this one, and another. But I haven’t had a chance to post about until now.

The dress I’m wearing in this post was supposed to be my Christmas dress {didn’t finish it in time} and a wearable toile test for Butterick Retro Pattern B5748. I’ve had trouble with Butterick patterns fitting me properly before, so even though this was a simple pattern, I was determined to try and make sure it fitted perfectly beforehand.

I added a FBA, added extra seam allowance as the finished measurements of the size 14 I cut were 36B and 28W. Now, I hadn’t measured myself recently {and this is actually a good thing..!} but I knew for certain I was NOT a 28W!

I did the math and added the extra inches I thought I’d need and sewed up the bodice. It seemed to fit okay, but the skirt wasn’t on yet, so I couldn’t really tell. Once I put the skirt on it was clear to me that the bodice was wayyyyy too big! So glad I didn’t try to add even extra for my new measurements!

To make it wearable, I ended up making a series of darts and inside tucks to pinch out ALL the excess fabric I’d put in. Unfortunately, I’d already hand sewn my bias binding trim on around the neckline and armscyes. This meant that they all ended up with visible seams in the binding. Poo.

I had to take a big chunk out of the middle of the bodice, the back and the shoulders. And in the end, I also took more in at the waist seam to get the waist seam up a little higher! This was tricky as I did it after inserting my zipper.

Overall, the dress doesn’t fit as well as I’d like, it has some bunching issues under the arms, and it also likes to drop down at the front, which pushes the shoulder seams forward and the extra fabric bunches under my bust. I think this is actually the fault of too much fabric at the back. I have a slight sway back, and if there was any adjustment that I really needed it was a SBA.

Still, the dress is super lightweight and comfortable. The length and the simplicity of the cut and fabric make it really easy to wear so I was actually wearing it a TON over the summer.

But one thing was still bothering me… I’d added the bow at the neckline when making the dress ~ mostly because I’d had to do that interior tuck right up the middle of the bodice and I needed to camouflage the subsequent seam in the bias binding ~ but it wasn’t enough.

The rest of the dress looked so bare, I knew I had to do something about it. So just a week or so ago, I decided to add decorations to the pockets! I ended up with a loop-the-loop design with a bow at each end, and I really love, love, love it!

It doesn’t make the dress too fussy, but just adds that touch of something special. I was so pleased when I finally figured out what I needed to finish it off.   

I have discovered I really do need to sew more basic clothing. I’m always drawn to all the fiddly patterns and all the fussy prints ~ and while I adore the intricacy of creating a detailed dress, I tend up “saving” those ones for special outings. I kept on pulling this one out over and over and over again because I loved how easy it was to wear! Whereas the second dress {which this one was the toile for…} yes, it has been sitting in the cupboard waiting for a special occasion to wear it! D’oh…

That one might not come out until much later on… Hehe…

~ Project Details ~

• Year: Retro re-print from the 60s
• Pattern: Butterick Retro B5748
• Fabric: From my mother’s stash – a super sheer lightweight poly-cotton, red and white striped.
• Notions: Red bias binding, red satin tubing, and a zip.
• Time to complete: I can’t remember. The sewing on the machine didn’t take long at all, it was the hand sewing that really added the time. I hand sewed the bias trim, the hem, and the pocket detail.
• Make again? Yes! I already have! And I want to make some other versions playing with the bodice style. I really enjoy how easy this one is to sew, and once I figured out the fit issues, I loved the fit.
• Wear again? Absolutely. This one is coming with me to Thailand. I love it.
• Total Cost:  Not sure. Maybe $15.00? Thanks Mummy for the fabric!

xox,

bonita

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Retrimmed Straw Boater Hat | Old
Red & White Ranunculus Hair Flowers | Daisy Jean Floral Designs
Loop The Loop Dress | Me Made, 2018
Red Bow Spectator Court Pumps | Dolce Nome

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༺ Uncommon Creations ༻

I don’t know about you, but I love to create with my hands, and making something beautiful out of nothing, that is the best outcome of creativity in my mind! Like skeins of wool into a twisty, cabled knitted top, or a lump of clay into a cloud brooch with rainbow raindrops…

It’s an anchor that makes me happy no matter how or why or what else is going on, and it’s also a thread that literally touches every area of my life from housekeeping to mothering, to one of my favourite hobbies ~ blogging.  (*• ᴗ ᵕ*)∠☆

As such, I have much sympathy for artisans and creatives; really anyone that makes a living from what they create. I think it’s cool, and it’s definitely a dream I fiercely defend ~ anyone who wants to make a living using their imagination and creative talents should be able to have a chance to do so.

Thankfully, we’ve come a long way from artists needing to find a rich patron in order to survive, and I am really happy to introduce a brand to you that is a part of creating a worldwide market for artists and creatives ~ Uncommon Goods.

Uncommon Goods started with a common idea, the market place where makers can gather to sell their wares, and turned it into a fantastic service where you can purchase beautiful, handcrafted pieces from individual artists and have them delivered to your door!

And a special note about that delivery ~ I was really pleased with the packaging of the pieces I was sent. Not only does packaging use recycled materials, it was really, really protective! The two clay pieces I chose are stunning, but being pottery ~ there’s always the off chance that they might break in the post. When I opened my package, I knew there wasn’t any chance of that happening in this case. The pieces where wrapped in bubble wrap, buried in packing peanuts, boxed their own individual boxes, then wrapped again in giant bubble wrap inside a huge exterior box! They arrived perfectly safe, and I was very impressed with the careful shipping.

The two pretty pieces that came to my doorstep? Meet my Blackberry Jam Yarn Bowl and thread spool Sewing Station! These are gorgeous, quality handiwork accessories that are excellently designed for their purpose, but they both are also elegant things of beauty as well ~ which is my absolute favourite combination!  ʚ♡ɞ*(• ᴗ •❁)

I really could’ve chosen just about anything ~ there are so many gorgeous items ~ from gardening accessories, to jewellery, to kitchen implements and more. I had a very hard time deciding! Even better ~ there’s something there for everyone. Children will enjoy the array of toys and games for Kids, those troublesome Father’s Day presents can be taken care of quick as a wink with the Gifts for Men {it’s not just me that has a lot of trouble picking out a present for my Dad ~ right??}, and I really loved most of the items in the Top 25 Gifts for Mothers section ~ I think I could easily whip a rather large wish list from that category alone! 

To show you how well my Blackberry Jam Yarn Bowl works {and don’t you just love that name?} I picked up a knitting project that I’ve been working on for a while now. It’s a lacy, 1930’s pattern in navy wool. I thought I should compliment it by wearing the Flossy & Dossy’s Quick Knit top I made prior to this current project, and I also paired it with one of my handmade polymer clay brooch, which is ~ as you’ve probably guessed ~ a cloud with dangling rainbow raindrops.

I’m a very slow knitter, as I only knit in winter, and that tends to hold me back quite a bit, but I also have a knack for getting myself thoroughly muddled every once in a while, so that I have to spend a lot of time “frogging” my projects and reknitting sections! {Knitters call pulling apart their knitting frogging because you have to “rip it, rip it, rip it”… Haha!}  I’ve knitted parts of the front neckline on this particular top at least seven times… *sigh*

However, it doesn’t diminish my love for the hobby ~ I find something very relaxing and rhythmical about the process of knotting up the yarn until it finds it’s shape. And when the pattern gets properly stuck in your head {though that still won’t stop me from getting muddled over other bits!} it has a sort of ‘flow’ to it that I really enjoy ~ a bit like dancing or music! ٩(⁎❛ᴗ❛⁎)۶

Which hobbies do you find influencing the greater spheres of your life? My deepest, boundless hobby is definitely making life beautiful! And I’m glad I can do that in many ways, including adding pretty crafting accessories to my home thanks to Uncommon Goods!

xox,

bonita

Disclosure | This post was created in collaboration with Uncommon Goods and the items I have received were gifted to me, but all views and opinions expressed in this brand spotlight are solely my own.

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Black Satin Bow | Old
A 40’s Twist Top in Plum  | Me Made, 2014
Rainbow Raindrops Brooch | Me Made
Houndstooth Pleated Skirt | Thrifted
Bow & Frill Socks | Gifted
Ye Old Faithful Mary Janes | New Look, Old

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༺ Roundup: The Vintage Sewing Pattern Pledge 2015 ༻

I’m going to keep this quick as you probably have seen the rather exhustive Stitching Stories posts that I have already done on these items. 

For my records, however, here is the complete list of my Vintage Sewing Pattern Pledge items that I made in 2015.

If you recall from my first post about the Vintage Sewing Pattern Pledge, this was my goal:

“I, Bonita Vear of Lavender & Twill, pledge to sew at least five vintage or vintage reproduction patterns in 2015 ~ these MUST be patterns that I haven’t used before from my stash!”

And here are the items:

♡ Stitching Stories: Going Dotty for Spotty Cotton

 

♡ Stitching Stories: A 'Round the House Wrap Dress

♡ Stitching Stories: Adventures in Baby Cord

♡ Stitching Stories: Burning the Roses Red

♡ Stitching Stories: The 1940’s Peasant Christmas Blouse

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There you have it; my 2015 Vintage Sewing Pattern Pledge completed.

If you have noticed a trend with these ~ haha! So have I! It is quite clear that I simply adore Simplicity patterns. It’s even more obvious when you look in my pattern stash. I kind of want to sew/collect all of them from the late 1930s to the end of the 1950s {though I have liked a 1960s Simplicity here and there too!}.  (⁎♥ ヮ♥⁎)∠❤

There is something about the style of Simplicity patterns that instantly wins me over ~ I feel like their designs are very “me” and I don’t think that I’ve met a Simplicity from those eras that I haven’t fallen for on the spot! 

Another trend I also noticed ~ barring the Wrap House Dress {which was Simplicity 2275} ~ is that it seems like every time I try to do a pattern from another company, like Advance or Butterick, the pattern goes horribly, terribly, wrong and I can’t resurect it.

Now, I don’t know if this is just down to bad pattern choice, or whether the patterns from Simplicity suit my body shape better, or maybe the Simplicity patterns make more sense to me construction-wise. I’m not too sure, but I do know that I love my Simplicity patterns and will continue to make them this coming year!

And hopefully I don’t run into too many snags if I do decide to make up a pattern from another pattern company! (≧ o ≦) 

xox,

bonita

༺ ♡ ༻

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༺ Stitching Stories: The 1940’s Peasant Christmas Blouse ༻

Thank goodness this blouse worked! That’s all I have to say! …

Haha! Joking! You should know by now that of course I have a ton more stuff to say.  : P

This is my last Vintage Pattern Pledge make of 2015 ~ Simplicity 2483, a 1948 peasant blouse ~ and I hit my goal of five different vintage or vintage reprinted patterns made up from my pattern stash. Yay!

I’m actually super relieved that this blouse turned out so nicely. Mostly because, once again, I ended up having little to no time to get this project done. Christmas was arriving with the speed of a bullet, and I had tons of events to go to, things to do, etc. And you know what else?

I had to grade a pattern for the first time. Yup. I went there…

With all the sewing disasters that have been dogging me through the last half of this year, I really don’t know what I was thinking except that I really wanted a peasant blouse for my Christmas outfit this year?? Simplicity 2483, Veiw 3 was perfect, except my pattern was for a 32 Bust.

….. Yes. Not going to fit. So I just, ya’know, graded it up using this tutorial I found on the interwebs.

I’m surprised it worked, but you know what else ~ I did end up sewing a toile for this. I was way too freaked out about the pattern grading, and the fact that to get my perfect fabric I had to pay $22.00 a metre! *faint!* (ô д ô) I think it was worth it, but you can bet your buttons that I wasn’t going to cut into that precious print without making sure I wasn’t going to stuff it up.

Good thing I did too, because some how I graded too much into the pattern, and with the FBA I also added, the toile was huge on me!

So I cut the back, the sleeves and the back yoke using the original pattern pieces. Thank you Charlotte for eating my traced pattern pieces.

Then I cut the front and the front yoke with my newly adjusted pattern pieces from which I’d removed all the grading, but left the FBA.

Still with me?

Because the pattern is actually too small for me, the cutting the back from the original pattern turned out to ~ surprise, surprise, make the back too small. Um. Yeah. Whoops.

I decided that, instead of folding over the back panels in the centre to get the interfacing for the button bands, I would sew an extra strip of fabric to each side of the back opening, fold them over, top stitch them down so that they wouldn’t peak out at all and give myself the room I needed for the buttons and the button holes that way.

It worked!

Up to the point when I realised that now the yoke was also too small for the back of the blouse. With the button band modification, the yoke was too short and didn’t reach the edges of the blouse any more, so I had to taper it down to meet the top edge of the blouse, rather than being the full height with an extra button on it as it was supposed to be. You can see the gap in the photo below, where the lace ends, the yoke ends. I think it still looks okay though! It now has a pretty scoop along the back neckline which I like. Alls well that ends well.
₍₍ ◟(• ε •๑)◞ ₎₎ ₎₎

*whew*

Sometimes I wonder why I can’t sew through a pattern just the way it’s supposed to go, but then I realise that it’s mostly my fault for not thinking every step through clearly and realising the implications of what I am doing until it is too late to fix it!   (￣。￣;)

I really liked sewing this pattern though. For the most part, everything went together really smoothly. The blouse is pieced in a way that makes sense {yay!} and allows for a fairly straight forward construction process. I left off the ruffle, but decided to go with some cream lace trim instead, which I think was the right addition to break up the busy pattern and add a touch of interest to the yoke detail.

Also; top stitching!!

I had so much fun top stitching this blouse. I know that sounds absolutely ridiculous, but I discovered a new-to-me trick that experienced sewers probably already know ~ and it’s awesome!  Seriously, it really changed my top stitching method.

I used to try to top stitch with my machine on the slowest setting and be as smooth as I could. This is still a good idea, but at time I had a thought ~ what if I was to set my needle over to the right so that the line of top stitching was at the very edge of my material?

GAME CHANGER!! ✧*｡٩(ˊᗜˋ*)و✧*｡

I don’t know if you can see from that close up of the back ~ but my top stitching came out nearly perfect. Not because I did anything great, just because I moved that needle over! When I did that, the fabric fits neatly along the edge of my presser foot, the stitching is right at the edge of the fabric, and that helps it all to feed through accurately. The top stitching came out so neat and tidy all over my blouse, that now I want to top stitch all the things because it. looks. that. good.

And makes me feel totally profesh. Which I am not. But I feel it. And that feels super cool. I can’t say it too many times: Peoples! Move that needle over when you top stitch!

~ Project Details ~

• Year: 1948
• Pattern: Simplicity 2483
• Fabric: 2 meters of quilting cotton
• Notions: 6 red bow buttons 
• Time to complete: One and a half days
• Make again? Yessss!! I love peasant blouses, and I want them in all the colours. This pattern turned out so nicely I guess I’ll just have to make it in all the colours!
• Wear again? Yup! Well, once December rolls around again. Gold printed holly is pretty much relegated to Christmas time only wear. But I will wear the heck out of it come the Christmas holidays!
• Total Cost:  $54.00 I think? I lost the reciept… Ouch though for a Christmas blouse!! I mean, I love the fabric, but the price per meter is not for the faint of heart. And no, I didn’t total that up when I was buying the components. I tend to see what I want, buy it, and count the cost later. I need to work on that…

So what’s the final verdict ~ novelty Christmas prints for the win, or save it for the table cloths and tree skirts??  (*≧▽≦)

xox,

bonita

༺ ♡ ༻

Holly Bow Fascinator Come Whimsy | Me Made, 2015
Deck the Halls Brooch | Erstwilder {sold out}
Gold Holly Peasant Blouse | Me Made, 2015
The Red Christmas Skirt | Sammy Dress
Hoop Petticoat | eBay
Vintage Ruched Gloves | eBay
Snowy Lattice Knee-Hi | Old
Santa Cruz Beach Heel | Modcloth, Old

༺ ♡ ༻

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༺ O, Christmas Tree ༻

 

I haven’t been around much to talk about it, but this year I’ve been sooo excited for Christmas!! ﾟ:*✧･ヽ‘‘\(*≧▽≦)ﾉｼ･✧*:ﾟ

We {the children and I} set up our Christmas tree in the last week of November, and while we used to have a strict “First of December” tree tradition, I really liked setting it up earlier!

It helped me to get into the fun and festivities before all the stress and bustle exploded, so I’ve actually been able to really enjoy our tree and the Christmas decorations we put up this year. Plus, in the past with all the said busyness, the amount of times the tree hasn’t been set up until the second, or even the third week{!}, of December has happened quite frequently. And by that time, it hardly seems worth the hassle, and just becomes another stress point on the massive To Do list!

Which is a rather long winded way to explain that I’ll be setting up our tree at the end of November from now on.  Hehehee.

Also, Christmas outfits!! I’ve posted variations of my Christmas outfit on my Instagram featuring the skirt, but it was actually only half of my planned outfit!

I’ve spent the last one and half days frantically sewing my blouse, and the other half of the day whipping together the GIANT bow at the back, the bow shoe clips, and the not~really~a~whimsy~but~sort~of fascinator thing on my head…

At which point you are probably thinking “Ugh, why would you even bother to do that? So silly…” but I just. can’t. help. it! I make plans and then I’m all “I must do it! That is what I have decided to do, so I have to! Clearly!!” (ಠ_ಠ) *determinedface*

But I did get it done, and no, it didn’t go down in a heaping pile of flames, surprisingly enough.

I was really inspired by Tanith’s {Tanith Rowan Designs} 12 month Bring Back the Whimsy series and wanted to create my own whimsy. But the two craft shops that I went to ~ both of them had no millinery supplies at all… Just “hat elastic”… (￣。￣;) 

So I had to make do and use some white tulle instead of the hat veiling I was planning on ~ it didn’t quite have the effect I was going for, but I did really like the red rhinestones I stuck to the front. I thought they looked quite pretty.

I didn’t receive the Christmas shoes I bought online in time, so when I was making the giant bow for the back of the skirt, I quickly whipped up some shoe clips out of the same fabric to make some “Christmas” shoes. I am so glad I did that, ‘coz now I also have a pair of hair bows in the same fabric as my blouse for another time!

Speaking of, this blouse must be my Christmas gift ~ it’s the first pattern I’ve ever tried grading and I seriously had no idea what I was doing but somehow it worked out perfectly. Say whut??

I’ll leave you with that teaser ~ the rest is for the stitching stories post ~ *le gasp* next year! (ô  д  ô)

Oh man ~ that happened way too fast! The last half of this year just accelerated by!! As they do….

I suppose I had better wind up this rather rambling missive then, and leave you all with many best wishes for the holidays ~ ☆ヽ(*^ｰ^)人(^ｰ^*)ノ☆

*•.¸¸☆¸¸.•*✬*•.¸¸☆¸¸.•*✬*•.¸¸☆¸¸.•*

Have a very Merry Christmas and a wonderfully Happy New Year! I wish you all the joy and cheer of the holiday season, and I’ll see you next year!

*•.¸¸☆¸¸.•*✬*•.¸¸☆¸¸.•*✬*•.¸¸☆¸¸.•*

xox,

bonita

P.S. ~ I’ll be doing a tour of my other Christmas decorations on Instagram if you want to check them out too!  :D

༺ ♡ ༻

Holly Bow Fascinator Come Whimsy | Me Made, 2015
Deck the Halls Brooch | Erstwilder {sold out}
Gold Holly Peasant Blouse | Me Made, 2015
The Red Christmas Skirt | Sammy Dress
Hoop Petticoat | eBay
Vintage Ruched Gloves | eBay
Snowy Lattice Knee-Hi | Old
Santa Cruz Beach Heel | Modcloth, Old

༺ ♡ ༻

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༺ Stitching Stories: Burning the Roses Red ༻

 
You guys… I wanted to burn this dress sooo badly….

The only reason I kept pushing on with it is that I didn’t have anything to wear to the Aussie Vintage Girls Meetup, and you know ~ that would have been a disaster….

A disaster I tell you! Oh wait… First world vintage girl problems again.

Okay, okay, not so much a big deal, except when it was.

 
I was using this lovely pattern, and rated at “Easy” I felt sure I couldn’t go wrong! It was my fourth make for my Vintage Sewing Pattern Pledge for the year {one, two, three}, and I was thinking it should be fairly simple.

Alas, if only I’d read the multiple reviews of this pattern online ~ I think this one explains it best ~ I probably would have changed my mind!! (ಠ_ಠ)

So I cut the pattern, did my do, and seriously, everything was going pretty well. I had a few of my usual frustrations in sewing the bodice to the skirt ~ why do I always get the bodice caught up in the waist seam? Why??  (╯°□°）╯彡 ┻━┻

But I was about 95% done on the dress when I decided I’d better try it on. *cue ominous spooky music*

So I slipped it on, and the world ended. *ahem 

My world ended.  (┛◉Д◉)┛彡┻━┻ 

The bodice was ALL kinds of wrong, with wrinkles going every which way, and compressing my bust so much that it looked like I had squished marshmallows instead, of ~ well, you know!

I literally freaked out, cried, ranted, raved, and promptly ate half a block of chocolate. Yes. Chocolate.  .·´¯`(>▂<)´¯`·.

Then I left it for the day. I was DONE. I was *THIS* close to burning the darn thing and turning up naked. Hahaha…

No, really….

The next morning I took a deep breath. I thought I knew what went wrong. I’d forgotten to do an FBA. Silly me just assumed that because I was doing a larger size to fit my bust that it would fit. Totally stu-pid! 

I’d forgotten that although this was previously a vintage pattern where technically cutting the larger size for the bust would probably have worked, this was a re-release of a vintage pattern, which means it has also been fiddled with to meet ‘today’s industry standards’ ~ i.e. a C cup bust. Nowhere near close to my size.  Phooey.  {Today’s industry standards are totally wack btw! I have less problems with vintage patterns than I do modern ones.}

So I went back, unpicked the lining {yes, the darn thing is lined and that was already in!}, unpicked the bodice, and half unpicked the zipper.  Then I cut the lining and bodice up ~ added bust darts from the side seams to the point of bust, added extra fabric under the bust in the gather point {which in hindsight I may not have needed. Oh well.}, cut another toile from the hack pattern, made that up, thought it might work, cut my fashion fabric again, cut my lining again, sewed up the fashion fabric, sewed it back onto the dress… Then it was bed time.  

The next day was Thursday and I had one day to get it done.  (″･ิ_･ิ)っ

I sewed the lining back together, then sewed it onto the fabric again, tried the dress on again, realised that the bottom half of the lining was messing up the bottom half of the the bodice by creating needless wrinkles underneath the fabric that showed through, hacked off the bottom half of the lining, overlocked the bottom of the lining to the midriff seam of the bodice, sewed the lining down to the fashion fabric on the bodice with some top stitching, struggled to make the armpits look nice where the lining and fashion fabric where sewn together, failed, hacked at the inside of the dress, sewed some more seams, finished the zipper, decide to sew the hem by machine instead of hand picking because of time, then sewed the hem seam three times around for a deliberate “decorative” look, ruched the front of the bodice to make a sweetheart neckline and pull in the neckline from standing out, then sewed on the pockets, each of them twice because of having to move them around when they didn’t go on correctly the first time. Gave up when one of them was still crooked because running out of the mint green thread I was using.    

Deeeeep breath. By this time it was around about seven o’clock in the evening. Then I tried the dress on again. Yay! More room at bust!  BOO!! TOO MUCH FABRIC BETWEEN BUST AND WAIST!!  (ノಠ益ಠ)ノ彡┻━┻  *rage attack* ~ which quickly turned to:

PANIC!   ∑(゜Д゜;)

I quickly skyped my sister to ask for a second opinion and while we were tossing around a. wearing a belt {couldn’t find one that looked good}, or b. sewing up a cummerbund ~ I thought of option c. which was: sew the midriff seam again, pulling in the extra fold of fabric that was wrinkling under the bust. As you might be able to tell ~ this is what I ended up doing.

This had a three-fold effect of curving the midriff seam rather than it being a triangle point as in the illustration of the pattern, gathering in some of the excess fabric causing wrinkles, and lifting the waist to my natural waist because the dress waist was sitting about a centimetre below my real waist which didn’t look the best.

10:00pm that night, and I was finally finished.  (✖ ｡ ✖)° ° °

If you are wondering why top half of the bodice is still insanely wrinkled after all that extra work on it ~ well, I was too until I look more closely at the illustration. There are actually wrinkles in the top half of the bodices pictured there too. I think it’s suppose to mimic a sarong look. 

I just hate it. I think it looks unsightly, ill-fitting and like a big hot mess. However I can’t fix a design styling, unless I redraft the bodice part entirely. And you know what?  I’m soooo over it….

I don’t think I want to touch this dress again, even to wear it, until some of the trauma of this make has faded from my memory!

Surprisingly enough, even though I did say to The Mister that I didn’t want to touch my sewing machines again for months, I’ve change my mind and I’m already planning to sew parts of my Christmas outfit.   ┬──┬ …ノ( ゜-゜ノ)

I have decided it’s just that particular pattern I can’t stand. Not the sewing. 

Though I tell you what, I’ve also decided that sewing is not a relaxing hobby for me. Too stressful for that!  

~ Project Details ~

• Year: A retro re-release of a 1950’s sarong dress pattern 
• Pattern: Butterick B5708
• Fabric: 4 meters of mint green fabric and 1.5 meters of white fabric with pink roses, 1.5 meters of white linen. From the stash: $13.00 for the fabric 
• Notions: An invisible zip ~ repurposed. 
• Time to complete: One week.
• Make again? Nope. No, no, no, nope, no, nope. That’s all there is to that.
• Wear again? Yes. I suppose so. I suppose the dress escapes it’s fiery end….
• Total Cost:  $13.00 and a block of chocolate. Oh yes, and my sanity. Mustn’t forget that!

If you got through all of that saga ~ well done to you! I hope you never have had to struggle like this with any of your dresses, but if you have ~ not just if you are making them, but have bought them or ordered them online ~ you can always share your stories! Any creative “Make Do and Mends” out there? The Mister quoted that to me, and needless to say, I wasn’t particularly impressed at the time… Lol! 

xox,

bonita

༺ ♡ ༻

Cotton Candy Roses Hat | Gift from Tanith
Pearl Drop Earrings | Thrifted
Pansy Pearl Necklace | Valentine's Day Gift, 2010
Rose and Mint 50’s Repro Dress | Me Made, Nov 2015
Crinolines | eBay
Watermelon Glitter Jelly Wedges | eBay

༺ ♡ ༻

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༺ Stitching Stories: Adventures in Baby Cord ༻

Welp, as you might be able to tell ~ simply by the fact that a whole month has gone by without any progress posts on the Sewing All The Things challenge ~ that things have gone a bit squiffy for me recently!

After all the trouble I had with my wrap dress, I was kind of feeling a bit ‘meh’ about sewing and wanted to do something simple. So I picked Advance 3886, and some mauve jersey knit I had in my stash, and went ~ “This should be fairly simple right?” …..

 
Ah, about that?

Spoiler alert: it wasn’t!!  (￣。￣;)

Firstly, I was wrestling with a super stretchy knit fabric with tons of give, and all the pieces I cut ended up being around two inches shorter than the pattern pieces! Which would be okay ~ except for the bodice where it really wasn’t.  I thought I’d have to bin the whole thing, but then I had the dubiously “genius” idea to add an extra piece in at the shoulders to make up for the missing length.

Okay, project saved right? 

Nope.

Number one tip for cutting knits? NOTCH OUTWARD NOT IN! All the little “v” cuts I made to mark the seam joins went into the seam allowance, and apparently that makes it super, super hard to make sure the cut is all caught up in the overlocking seam so that there aren’t any holes in your dress. 

Really hard.

As in going over the same seam five time in a row hard. 

Yikes.

I’ve got to say, that was bad enough, but the lovely gathered detail at the shoulders ~ that really was the last straw.

I tried to follow the instructions, but I don’t know ~ something went wrong somewhere and the ruching just looked… wrong.  So I ripped out the stitches and went “I give up!”.  Hence the overly long story of how July’s dress ended up in a UFO* bag on my shelf. Humph.

Then I dusted off my unhappy sewing self and went with a really simple pattern ~ the blouse from Simplicity 3688.

 

This pattern, thankfully, was actually easy! Score! (ง •̀_•́)ง ☆

I used some pinwale corduroy from my stash in white and aubergine {or eggplant for us Aussies!} and while I don’t know what I was thinking when I bought it {one meter of each color? Really?}, it turned out to be a happy accident because I love how the color blocking turned out with this pattern.

Because the blouse construction is so simple, it really lends itself to playing around with your fabrics. Also, it’s a fun pattern to sew. I really enjoyed the process of putting it together. The sleeve heads are super cute with darts to add structure, rather than typical gathers, and the yoke section with bias binding around the neck line looks nice.

This time I cut the blouse to fit my nursing bust size rather than attempting an FBA, and while that helps with the chest squashing problem, I can see that the fit across the shoulders is too big. And I had to run two one inch darts down the back of the blouse to take in four inches of excess fabric from the back. I know the blouse is supposed to be “blousy” in fit, but there’s cute puffy and then there’s way-too-much-fabric-to-tuck-in puffy!

I paired the blouse with my grey scratchy wool skirt ~ yes, that’s it’s name ~ and thankfully in winter, stocking seem to negate the scratch.   (¬ ᴗ ¬)  I really like the combination of the simple colours, although *gasp* I just realised I don’t have any patterns in this outfit at all!  This must be a first!

Now at last I can mark another pattern off the Vintage Sewing Pattern Pledge ~ I have three down, {one, two and this one obviously!} and two to go. While my sewing schedule may be all out of wack {annoying my OCD list ticking self}, I am definitely learning things along the way. We are getting there!

~ Project Details ~

• Year: A retro re-release of a 1940’s suit pattern 
• Pattern: Simplicity 3688
• Fabric: 2 metres of pinwale corduroy; 1 meter of white, 1 meter of aubergine. From the stash: $7.00 a meter
• Notions: A button and a hook and eye for closing the back slit 
• Time to complete: Two weeks
• Make again? Yes. I think this blouse is pretty, and I’m keen to play around with some different fabrics using this pattern. It’s easy to make, comfortable to wear and has a nice authentic 1940’s look.
• Wear again? For sure! I need some more 1940’s separates, and this is a good start.
• Total Cost:  $14.00, but that was ages ago. Stash busting ftw!

So color blocking? What do you think ~ yes or no?  Personally, it’s not something I feel compelled to do all the time ~ {unlike floral prints. Yay! Florals!} but it’s certainly a fun change. ヾ(＾-＾)ノ

xox,

bonita

*UnFinished Object kind of UFO for all the non-crafters. Not the abduction, Area 66, X-file kind.  ; P

༺ ♡ ༻

Ice Blue Crochet Snood | Me Made, 2012
Baby Cord Adventures 1940’s Blouse | Me Made, June 2015
Lilac Duet Flower Brooch | Thrifted
Scratchy Wool 1940’s Skirt | Me Made, 2014
Jade Stone Bangles | Thrifted
Vintage Beaded Tapestry Purse | Nikki B’s, Milton
Dusty Blue Swinging Heels  | eBay

༺ ♡ ༻

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