Thursday, April 16, 2009

Latest book aquisitions

Recently I have added a few of extra sewing / pattern cutting books to the collection, to wit:

Donald McCunn How to make sewing patterns (first published 1973, this edition 1981, still being reprinted) bought from Lost and Found.
This looks like a self-published book that has gone through many editions and is still going strong. It covers making patterns to your own measurements (rather than standard ones like most pattern cutting books). I haven't made anything from it yet but I think it will be useful.

Like many of these sorts of books some reviews say that the illustrations are 'out of date'. Use your imagination, people!

This will go well with Adele Margolis' Make Your Own Dress Patterns I bought from Dover Publications a while ago.
Now this one covers all style bases by having drawings from every decade from the 50s to the 80s...

I also picked up a copy of the 1979 printing of the Kwik Sew Method For Sewing Lingerie by Kerstin Martensson.
(Not to be confused with 1990's Kwik Sew Beautiful Lingerie). I bought this off eBay without knowing much about it because I couldn't find a review of it. Well, if you ever wanted to sew a panty-girdle this is the book for you (rest assured, I am not about to do that). However it does have good instructions for all sorts of other lingerie including slips and knickers and whatnot.
Be warned she seems a little too fond of nylon tricot... a reflection of the times perhaps. The Kwik Sew Lingerie House would be fraught with danger for those prone to static shocks.

The master pattern included is for nighties and gowns, which are covered in a chapter. You'll need to supply your own patterns for the knickers, slips/petticoats etc but these are still readily available from Kwik Sew if you are a fan of the generous coverage pin-up style 'panties' (that word amuses me for some reason).

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

pretty parasols

I'm off to Sydney this weekend to join Kitty for an excursion to the Sydney Vintage Show, so of course I had to make a new frock.

This is another version of Simplicity 3774. Although for some odd reason it is a bit small - either I did smaller seams last time, or I've grown a bit.... I might have to bust out the superstrength girdle!
The fabric is a pretty parasol print cotton (I think) that I bought five or so years ago in the LA fabric district and has been maturing in the stash.


Oh, and I might also have accidentaly have bought one of these...

Sunday, April 12, 2009

Butterick 8056




This is an 'inspired by' frock. I saw a similar frock at H&M when I was in Los Angeles. (I won't link to the H&M website, there's not much there and it's a slow-to-load flash site. Why do fashion retailers love flash so much?) I would have bought it if it hadn't been too short. No problem, I thought, I'll knock it off. I went through the pattern stash and found Butterick 8056 which was pretty close to what I was looking for. As I was using a knit, I folded out the darts, apart from the bust darts, and left out the zip.

The H&M frock had a waist seam, but I didn't do that because it would have added bulk in this double knit fabric. The shoulder buttons were what made the dress in my opinion; I used green ones I bought in the LA fashion district, the original frock was black with black buttons.