Thrift Store Patterns

A couple days ago my mom and I visited a new thrift store. I was on the look-out for vintage patterns but did not find any in my size. (I don't know how to grade patterns from one size to another. I envy people who do.) But I did buy three patterns from the '80s and '90s. (No, I don't consider those vintage. Good heaven's, I feel funny when other online pattern collectors refer to patterns from the '70s as vintage! After all, I was an adult then!)

The first was McCall's 7910 from the big-shouldered '80s. But that's okay because a size 12 would be way too big for me on top, so I have no plans to make the jacket. However, the skirt would probably fit, and that's the part I'm interested in. I like those soft pleats and it has side seam pockets, a waistband, and a side opening. (Women's clothing suffers from a lack of pockets.)

The second was Simplicity 8071 which is a multi-sized (6, 8, & 10) dress or jumper. I'd like some work dresses for around the house: something simple, durable, and easy to wear. This one doesn't have any darts so it might look kind of baggy on me. But I thought it might be kind of fun to experiment with it. And since these patterns were only ten cents apiece, I'm willing to take a chance. (Last time I had a 50% off coupon at JoAnn's I bought a bolt of muslin just for trying out and fitting patterns.)

The third was a children's robe pattern, Simplicity 8090, which will probably fit one of my grandchildren. I have some pink chenille-like fabric which was given to me and I think it might make a nice robe. And if it doesn't, well, I won't have lost anything but my time. Ditto for the other two patterns; I have stash fabric that would suit them too.

Now to find the time for garment sewing! And I mustn't neglect Bricks & Stepping Stones. Fillius's birthday is coming up in May.

Instant Heirloom

(This post was begun in October but left unfinished because Life has been too eventful for blogging. )

Whew! Still no quilting.

In July my dad followed up with another stroke, and my mum and I were very busy trying to take care of him at home. After an exhausting week we discovered that his insurance would cover in-patient therapy at Casa Colina, a facility about which I cannot say enough good things. My dad is an out-patient now; we schelp him over there twice a week for therapy. Since I live next door to my parents, I'm over there many times a day to help my mother with my dad: bathing, dressing, supervising (since he's not supposed to walk alone), and making sure he does his daily exercises.

However, I did complete one sewing project: making a christening gown from my mother's wedding dress. It was a fun, albeit nerve-wracking, project. The first difficulty was simply squeezing out the time to work on it. (Taking care of my dad is like having another part-time job.) The second was the stress of Great Expectations. My mother and sister are firmly convinced that I am an amazing seamstress, an assessment which I do not completely share.

The gown was being made for my sister's first granddaughter. Her son and daughter-in-law have been married for about 10 years and hitherto have been without offspring. My poor sister, who definitely has the adoring grandmother gene, has been forced to confine her affections to chihuahuas. But now she is being presented with not one, but two grandchildren -- twins, a boy and a girl. Well, it doesn't get much better than that!

The only problem was that they had but one christening gown, the gown which my sister's son wore when he was baptized. That was also the same gown which my father wore when he was an infant, so it was 82 years old -- definitely a family heirloom. Anyway, that gown could be used by the boy, but what to do about the girl?

Rather hesitantly my sister approached my mom and me and asked if we'd be willing to make my mom's wedding dress (which had long been in my sister's keeping) into a gown for the girl twin. Voila, instant heirloom! My mom thought it was a splendid idea and, grabbing her seam ripper, immediately reduced the gown to yardage.

My mother's gown was designed and made by a friend back in the early 1950s and featured a layer of taffeta covered by a sheer fabric with a floral lace edge. I wanted the baby girl's dress to show off the fabric to advantage and yet echo the look of her brother's antique gown. I used a pattern from the late '70s, Simplicity 8971, as a basis for the dress and hat.

I lengthened the gown a bit and dispensed with the horitzontal tucks. Instead of the gathered sleeves, I made loose straight sleeves out of the floral lace. The pattern's hat is made out of wide eyelet lace. My hat was made and lined out of the taffeta with an overlay of the sheer floral lace. (Click on the picture of the hat at the beginning of the post to get a better look at the lace.)

Instead of pintucks on the bodice, I put lace beading threaded with pink ribbon. (The antique boy's gown had lace beading with blue ribbon.) At this point I felt the dress was finished, but my mom felt it needed a bit more, so she added the two vertical rows of lace beading and pink ribbon on the skirt. As it had to be added by hand, it was rather finicky work.

The last picture gives a close up view of the floral lace which I used as the bottom edge of the overskirt. (The under layers of the bodice and skirt are made of the taffeta.)

Both dresses were presented to my sister's daughter-on-law at her baby shower, and I can definitely say that all of the stress and anxiety that went into the making of this dress were as nought when weighed against the expression on her face when she opened the packages. Definitely worth it.

So, Sew Retro!

I was at the Scripps College reunion a couple weeks ago and, looking up from my lonely enjoyment of the excellent hors d'oeuvres at the president's reception, caught sight of a young woman from the class of 2004 who was wearing a beautifully retro dress with a tight fitting bodice and a full, gathered skirt.

"I love your dress -- it's so retro!" I don't find it very easy to talk to strangers, but now and then circumstances will move me to burst forth before I've a chance to think. In order to excuse my intrusion, I mentioned that lately I'd been looking at a lot of vintage patterns online. And as it turned out, we both sewed (though she hadn't made the dress she was wearing), quilted, and had been involved in homeschooling. (I'm a retired homeschooling mom; she grew up as a homeschooling student.) So it turned out to be one of the most interesting interactions I had during the whole weekend.

I've always thought that clothes from the past were more interesting than contemporary fasion, but until I started poking around the Internet, I had no idea there were so many people sewing vintage patterns. One of my favorite sites is Sew Retro, a blog to which many sewing bloggers contribute, often linking back to their own blogs for additional pictures and sewing details about a particular project. I love seeing how they've solved various sewing problems, and seeing how their fabric and color choices can totally change the "look and feel" of a vintage garment design. However, I sometimes feel a little odd when one of the bloggers is raving about having scored a fantastic vintage pattern from the 1970s on eBay. Vintage? Um, I think I have some of those in the bottom of my pattern bin. (And as far as I'm concerned they can stay there. The '70s were an ugly decade.)

Another site I've just begun exploring is the Vintage Sewing Patterns Wiki. Each entry features a picture of the pattern envelope and, if available, links to reviews of or blog posts about the pattern, and a gallery into which members can upload photos of the garments they've made from the pattern. Patterns are catagorized not only by brand name and number, but also by type of garment (i.e. dress, jacket, etc.) and even design features such as full skirt, scallops, or shawl collar. A few entries even have a bit of history, such as Butterick 6015 which was a run-away best seller in the '50s. (It's currently been re-issued as Butterick 4790.)

Well, if I can just stop hitting their "View Random Page" link, maybe I'll dig out some of those old patterns and upload them.

Heavenly Sewing

Guess what I sewed today? It's an icon cover.

My sister emailed me the other day to ask if I could sew some covers for her two new icons. (This is the same sister who gave me her Bernina 1130 last year.) Of course I said yes. Not only do I love to use my Bernina, but I am very happy to share (in a tiny way) in her work.

An icon is a representation of a sacred personage (such as Christ, a saint, or an angel) or a scriptural event (such as the wedding feast at Cana) which is commonly painted on a wooden panel for prayer and liturgical use in the Eastern Orthodox church and the Eastern Rites of the Catholic church. Icons are painted in a very stylized manner which is deeply symbolic. They have often been described as windows into heaven.

When my sister finishes an icon, she likes to encase it in a sort of linen bag which protects it from fingerprints while it is being conveyed to the person or church which has commissioned it. Here's a picture of one of the icons that will be enclosed in the covers I made last night. Do click on the image for a closer look. The reason the gold glows so beautifully is that it's 24 carat. (Besides painting commissions, my sister also sells notecards based on her icons. Click here if you want to see her website.)

All's Well That Ends Well

I was able to finish and mail the dresses on Wednesday, December 17th. Then I sat back and waited for them to arrive at their destination. And waited . . . and waited . . . and waited. But the package didn't arrive. Other packages which we'd mailed later showed up, but not the one with the dresses. I was afraid it was lost or had been delivered to the wrong house. I felt so sad because I had worked so hard to get them done in time.

I even I prayed to St. Anthony (the patron of lost items) though without much hope, because by that time my faith was feeling much smaller than the proverbial grain of mustard. (On the other hand, I did have enough faith to pray even though I felt hopeless about the whole thing. Does that count?)

Finally, on Christmas Eve, my son phoned with the welcome news: the dresses had arrived! They took a picture for me so that I could see how they fit.

Dang!

This morning while waiting for Fillius to finish getting ready for church, I took some photos of the dresses. It's a big production number because my antique digital camera won't hold a battery charge, so I've got to fool around with cords and outlets. Then I need to unplug the scanner and unhook the printer in order to connect the camera to the computer. Then I have to download the photos which is kind of a clunky process because the camera is so old. And then I discovered that iPhoto can't read the dress photos. "Unrecognizable File Format"?

Maybe I've got too many photos on the camera again. Hmmm. Yes. Sixteen photos of Fillius's Halloween Jack-o-Lantern. (It had four different faces.) Time to delete some stuff -- but no time now. So you don't get to see any photos yet. But I can report that we are now ready to start the button holes. After that it's a simple matter of attaching sleeves to bodice, and bodice to skirt.

First Disaster!

In every project one invariably makes at least one bone-headed, disastrous mistake.

I just had my first for the Christmas Dress Marathon. I pinned and sewed the right side of the cuffs to the wrong side of the sleeves on the size 7 dress. And this just after I'd done the size 6 ones correctly! I must have been getting sleepy.

I'm working on these dresses assembly-line fashion which makes the process both easier and more risky because if you're not careful a mistake can be repeated three times before you're aware of it. Another hazard is the possibility of accidentally trying to sewing a size 6 collar onto a size 3 dress. To avoid that sort of thing I've been very careful to label each cut piece with its size, either marked with chalk in a seam allowance or with a pinned-on paper tag.

What I've done so far:

Bodices are complete and have collars attached.
Skirts are finished but not yet attached to bodices.
Sleeves are sewn together and are currently having the cuffs attached.

Yet to do:

Five button holes per dress! My Bernina 1530 will automatically make matching button holes once you've programmed the first one. But I still dread them. And you need to do all the button holes at once because when you turn off the machine, it forgets your customized button hole.

Attach the sleeves to the dresses -- not hard since the sleeve cap is pleated rather than eased.

Attach the skirts to the bodices, which will be quick and easy. And there's no hemming since the bottom of the skirt is finished with a contrast band

Sew on the buttons -- a breeze since I can do it by machine.

I really expected to be finished with these already, but just didn't have much time for sewing this week due to family obligations. (Mostly medical appointments, etc. for elderly relations.)

I have to work half day tomorrow at the library. Let's see what I can accomplish afterwards. (Like maybe taking and posting a photo!)

A Woman's Perogative

Okay, so I changed my mind.

After deciding that just I didn't have time to sew three Christmas dresses for my granddaughters, I felt so despondent that I became convinced I'd made the wrong decision. So I've been sewing madly since Friday. I've cut out all the pieces, interfaced all the parts that needed it, sewn the collars, and attached the contrast bands to the skirt. The main dress fabric is a holly print, and the contrast is a deep red. I can't find a picture of this pattern online (it must be out of print), so I'll have to scan the envelope to show you what it looks like. But not right now. I'm sewing like a madwoman!

Summer Dresses in October

Done, done, finally done! The sleeveless summer dresses which I'd hoped to send to the granddaughters a month or two ago are now finished and in the mail. Of course, it's no longer summer. . . Well, I suppose they can wear them with sweaters.

Actually, it's still quite summer-like here in Southern California. Perhaps it's also warm in Texas. The pattern was Simplicity 0540 which I had previously made in a long sleeved version with a contrast band at the bottom of the skirt. This sleeveless variation just has a simple machine stitched hem. Sewing three of them ought to have been quick and easy since I cut out all three at once and sewed them assembly-line fashion. But, as it so often does, real life got in the way. I just hope the girls haven't yet outgrown them. Below is a picture of one of the finished dresses.

Now I really must get back to my quilting! I continue to work on California Crossroads. I'm planning to make a small Streak of Sunshine from Christmas fabrics. And I'd really like to make a lap quilt as a surprise Christmas gift for a particular relative who really needs a quilt. And I should also get back to those string pieced, eight-pointed stars. And, and . . .

Quilters are never bored, are they?

It's Done!

It's done! It's Done! It's done!

The Empire Dress I was sewing for my daughter to wear to the Regency Ball at WorldCon is at last complete despite such unexpected (but always inevitable) disasters as having to take apart and resew a completed French seam. Not to mention the last minute run to Jo Ann's for more elastic.

I wish I could post a picture of it, but as soon as I finished the second hem -- there's an overskirt -- I folded the dress, sealed it in a box, and rushed it to the Post Office. At left is a picture I snapped as I was sewing the casing under the bust.

I was very pleased with my choice of fabrics. The outer layer of the dress is a translucent polyester with tiny white dots and a very subtle crinkly texture. The inner layer is a light peach cotton polyester. (Jo Ann's calls it Symphony Broadcloth.) I was worried it might be too crisp, but it softened up nicely after washing. The combination of fabrics really looks much nicer than it sounds.

Now to clear up the sewing shrapnel from this project. (Am I the only one whose work table looks like an explosion hit it?) Then I'll be able to see my way to clear to working on other projects.

Still Working on the Muslin

Grumble, grumble.

The instructions for this dress (Folkwear 215) are not as clear as they initially seemed.

On the skirt back there are two cutting lines -- one for gauze weight fabrics and one for heavier fabrics. I'm not sure how to define "gauze" or "heavier."

Also, the instructions about gathering the back of the skirt are a little confusing. How is one to gather between the stars marked on the pattern when one set of stars is not actually on the pattern?

Update: Okay, I finally figured out what must have been meant by the cryptic reference to gathering between stars when there's only one star on the pattern piece. But couldn't they at least have told me what size elastic to buy? (As you may have gathered, I don't like experimentation.)

Even more craziness!

Okay, so I've added another project to the ample servings already on my plate.

My daughter, who is going to WorldCon, asked if I could sew her a gown to wear to the Regency Ball. She knew I had a copy of Folkwear's "Empire Dress" (#215) and thought it would be an easy thing to whip up since the simple version has elastic in the neckline, waist and sleeves. I felt a bit intimidated because there would be so little time to put it together and because my daughter lives two states away so fittings would be out of the question. Were I a prudent seamstress, I would have said, "No way, girl!" But instead, I said yes.

I decided to whip up a muslin and then mail it to her so that she can make sure that the bodice fits before I cut into the fashion fabric. And she can also let me know where to hem it. Well, this muslin hasn't gone together as speedily as I'd hoped, but at least I'm working out the pattern's problems now which should make the final version go together much more quickly.

I wonder if I shouldn't have gone with Simplicity 4055 instead? It's the commercial version of Sense & Sensibility's "Regency Gown" which you can see here.

Carolina Crossroads will have to go on the back burner again since the little girl's dresses must also get done before summer is over!

And now, I really must get back to the sewing machine.

Still Working

Bet you thought I'd fallen off the face of the earth! Well, I haven't done much sewing lately, so I haven't had much to write about.

The past few days have been particularly busy. On Thursday I drove my mother to a funeral. On Friday I drove both parents to a wedding. Nothing was scheduled for Saturday, but my mom and I ended up taking my aunt to the Urgent Care because she was experiencing pain every time she took a deep breath. So today I was more than ready for some R&R. I decided to turn on the air conditioning, put on some music, and settle down for some serious work on my Carolina Crossroads quilt.

I've cut and pinned the pieces for thirty more Step 3 Nine-patches! Then I had to stop to cut some more blue strips. Seeking more variety, I was digging through my drawer of blues when it occurred to me that some of my smaller scraps could be used for the 2 5/8 inch squares in Step 4. So I had to stop and cut some of those and then sub-cut them into teensy quarter-square triangles. Whew! Those guys are tiny! And then, of course, I had to put one of the Little Pieced Triangles together just to make sure that my cutting and measuring was accurate.

I guess that's one of the advantages of finishing this quilt after the mystery is complete -- if I get tired of working on one step, I can refresh myself with a brief digression to another. I expect to finish the 30 Nine-patches tonight, having told Fillius Minor to fix his own dinner tonight.

The fabric underneath the CC parts is the gingham I bought to make summer dresses for my three little granddaughters, a.k.a "The Wild Girls." They may be rowdy, but they love to wear dresses. (The white eyelet is for the collars.)

Still More Projects!

Today I visited JoAnn's and bought checked gingham in pale blue, lavender, and mint green to make summer dresses for my little granddaughters. With my mom's help I was able to use coupons for each of the colors. Just what I need, another project!

What I've Been Doing Instead of Quilting

I sewed the fringe onto this lovely banner which my sister painted for her church's Corpus Christi procession. Her sewing machine hadn't been used in several years, so when she hauled it out it decided to sulk and made bird's nest stitching on the underside of her project. I was glad that my Bernina and I were able to come to the rescue. (I wish I could paint the way she does!)

Progress

Only twenty more accent in the corner Nine-Patches and I'll finally be done with Step 2 of Carolina Crossroads! And those twenty are in progress.

I spent Tuesday and Thursday in the sewing lab and was able to finish my pants with the contour waistband. This is the second pair of pants I've sewn; the first had a straight waistband with elastic in the back.

This time I documented every step of their construction in my notebook. (I don't have any pattern instructions.) Unfortunately, they don't fit as well as they ought. I'll be taking my muslins, the different versions of my pattern, and both pairs of pants to the lab next week to see if we can figure out why. In the meantime, I have to go to the regular class meeting tomorrow and work on my corset. (I'm finally getting kind of interested in it. I love learning new techniques.)

But when am I going to find time to finish my dress before the end of class?

A Week of Sewing

It's been a busy week at the sewing machine. On Tuesday morning I had my weekly quilting session with my new friend. Afterwards, I threw my sewing bag into the car and buzzed down to the college for the remaining open hours at the sewing lab. Another girl and I are working our way through an extra credit pair of pants with a contour waistband. The lab assistant said she'd do demos of various construction techniques for us, so I needed to get my fabric cut out ASAP which is easier to do on those long classroom tables than at home.

On Thursday I spent almost 7 hours at the lab working on those pants. The lab assistant had predicted that we'd be able to finish our pants in that amount of time, but I knew better. I am not only a slow, meticulous worker, but I was trying to write down the instructions for these pants as we went along. (The lab assistant had previously helped me alter a commercial pants pattern so that it would actually fit me. It's now so different from the original that printed instructions no longer apply.)

This morning I'm off for the regular class session where I will continue making a corset. I'm not very enthusiastic about this project because it's an item I will never, ever wear. In fact, it's not even designed to fit me -- just the dress form. But I'm making it for the sake of learning some new techniques. Maybe I can sell it on eBay!

Needles and Tongues

What is it about sewing together that makes women so chatty?

There's something about plying a needle, even when it's attached to a sewing machine, that seems to loosen tongues and inhibitions. Certainly my quilting friend and I wander through a wide range of topics during our weekly sewing days. And that's a good thing since it keeps me on task during some of the more tedious steps of my Carolina Crossroads quilt. (I love quilting, but you have to admit that pinning 100 Nine-Patches together can get just a teensy bit dull.)

I also take a garment sewing class at the local community college where I've noticed the same tendency to confidential chat. When the teacher is neither lecturing nor demonstrating, the tongues begin to wag. There's one lone male in our class, a tall African man -- judging from his accent, he's not African-American -- who sits by himself at the perimeter of the classroom. I wonder what he makes of it all.

One group of women is busily discussing underwear. One girl wonders why no one makes lingerie out of velvet. Being the practical, older woman of the class, I point out that velvet would be rather warm to wear. A younger student points out that successful lingerie is not actually worn for very long. Another group of students is rooting through a donated box of lace and trims. Periodically one of them will squeal in delight at the discovery of some particular piece of lace, "I'll make this into underwear!"

Of course no group of women can sew for long without the conversation becoming gynecological. Across the room another group is discussing a recent news report of a pregnant "man." From there the discussion wanders into hermaphroditism. And I suppose the only reason it didn't morph into the inevitable swapping of labor and childbirth stories is that most of the class are still young and childless.

Then the topic veers off towards car dealers, and the trials and travails of dealing with them. One woman likes haggling; the rest hate it. Another woman's husband used to work for Volvo and she describes their shady dealings which caused her husband, who is also a minister, to leave that job. Now the older class members are discussing their teen-aged offspring. A couple of ladies who attend the same church are discussing relatives who "came forward" at the last altar call.

Ah, a piece of silk noile is found in one of the donation boxes. The teacher says you can identify it by its distinctive odor. Several students who dislike the scent compare it to various disagreeable substances. (I nab the fabric to make a blouse. With my sinuses I can't detect any scent at all. Besides, I'll be washing it before I cut and sew.)

Many other topics pass our lips, and our busy machines hum a pleasant background music as we guide our fabrics under the needle.

All too soon the class session is over.

Update

Well, my quilting friend and I spent 5 hours on Wednesday working on our quilt projects! Yay!

The next day I spent at my class's sewing lab working on one of my assigned projects -- cutting out a dress pattern and learning how to match checked fabric. I'm not sure how good a job I did. We'll see how well things go together on Saturday.

Election Day

And I have some really cool batik fabric that I bought for half price at the local quilt store with which I'm planning to make aprons. (I figure the batik will disguise the spills which are bound to happen when I cook. (I'm thinking a double layer of fabric because I'm afraid stains will go right though otherwise.)

The picture is from Kitchen Madonna who is promoting National Wear Your Apron Day. As she says on her website:

After your funeral, do you think your granddaughter will bury her face in your professional looking briefcase or in your treasured apron? When a woman puts on an apron, it makes no less of a statement than a fine leather briefcase. It announces she is on duty to be receptive to whatever happens in her home and everyone that encompasses. And that is a wider sphere of influence than many would allow.

Go read the rest of it. I need to sew my apron, and then I need to get back to sewing my quilt. (But I'll go vote too.)