Brocade McCall's 6030

Here is the brocade version of the frock from my last post.
I made the back skirt pleats into darts this time, and made 4 front skirt pleats instead of the 8 the pattern suggests. 2 bigger pleats on each side is more than enough for this stiff-ish fabric.

Since I took the photos I have tacked down the front and back facings so they don't roll out anymore. I might have to put some bra strap holders in because despite shortening the straps a little and narrowing the neckline a smidge, the frock's straps fall off my shoulders occasionally.

I made a little matchy clutch to carry too, with disco strap.

Moggy was in Sydney for work yesterday, and we met up for breakfast in Surry Hills, where she forced me to buy this wool blend at the Fabric Store. FORCED ME.
Might make a little coat.

1961 evening frock test

I have been invited to a formal occasion! Oh boy, have I been waiting for this day! Frockortunity!


I have this lovely blue and silver brocade, given to me by a manager at work. Her mother-in-law passed away last year, and sewed for most of her life. This manager kindly thought of me and gave me about 6 shopping bags of fabrics dating back to the 1960s! There are some nice ones (and some dud neon 80s ones too); this is one of the gems. Nice and sparkly!

I am testing patterns to make a 60s cocktail/evening frock...this is McCall's 6030.
I used the rest of the vintage fabric I used for this frock.
(That back strap is going to need a scoliosis adjustment, whoops. Didn't even notice until I saw the photos. I didn't do any adjustments to this pattern, but it needs the straps narrowed just a smidge I think, and there's a bit of wrinkling in the lower bodice that needs seeing to)

What do you think? A contender for the brocade?

Handsome Dove

After commenting on Kitty's lovely popover re: not sewing my sludgy green frock I thought I may as well go and make a start on the frock, which I cut out yesterday.

I bought the pattern a year or so ago at Lost & Found in Smith St for the princely sum of $5. Mid seventies I'm thinking - I'm not a huge fan of the 70s, but some of the patterns can be great if you don't use orange and brown polyester. Unless you want to of course!

I got the fabric from the Vietnamese lady on Smith St yesterday - not sure of the fibre, it's a nice drapey knit.

Being a knit, I left out the zip. This meant it only took two albums to sew - Lost Souls by The Doves and Last Days of Wonder by The Handsome Family - hence her name (Handsome Dove) and the fact that she now exists when she didn't at 4pm.



As I hoped, she's turned out rather Joan Holloway. Hurrah!

Rick rack pop-over

(I should have pulled it down at the front a bit, there are red buttons on the shoulders)

I took to wearing a cotton frock over my swimsuit last summer, so I could pop into a cafe or go to the shops on the way home from the beach. I was using the floral vintage frock I bought at the Alameda flea market.

The metal zip on that frock was a bit burny on hot days, so I decided to make a pop-over frock for this year.
I have had this rick rack print fabric for a few years, and looked through the pattern stash for a frock with a centre front seam I could chevron.

I found Simplicity 8024, and used the view shown in white, second from the right. Because I cut on the bias to do the chevron, I was able to forgo a zip altogether, yay!

Quick and easy, swingy and breezy!

One hour dress is one hour: and, sleeves looking for a dress

Today I tried the one-hour dress as seen on LSASPACEY's blog - I probably wouldn't have found it otherwise, and hers looks so lovely so I had to try.

It was quick and easy - half the time was measuring and drawing up the pattern, the actual sewing was a breeze (yay overlocker!). Doesn't look great without a belt, but that is no surprise. With it, it's cute - not as drapey on me though (when oh when will I learn to take decent pics of myself?). The fabric is a lace-print knit from my embarrassingly large stash.

Inspired by a bolero cardigan thingy Kitty bought, I decided I needed a little shrug bolero thingy. This turned out a bit like portable sleeves, but that is no bad thing! Here it is with the last posting's leopard wrap frock (note to self: don't wear a wrap dress on a windy day - I went up to the shop and Melbourne is having a w-i-i-i-i-i-ndy day today. Lucky I wear a slip as a matter of course!)


I used view D of McCalls 3033, with fold over elastic instead of using the scalloped edge of the lace... seeing as I wasn't using lace, y'know? I used a light lycra blend knit - not sure what fibre, maybe viscose (leftovers from something else). I think I'll make one in some green I have left over from something else else...

Fifties Fair 2010. Kittyhaul!

It was the Fifties Fair today at Rose Seidler house, hurrah!

(I've been playing with the hipstamatic app on my new iPhone, which explains the above photo of the house. If you are into such things you must get it, it's super fun)

Moggy and her Mr J came along; I finally met Livebird and the Curmudgeon; a grand time was had.

I bought a nice scarf:
I couldn't resist these vintage fabrics, frock lengths:
and this is what I wore:
I made this frock last Saturday night while watching the election coverage. The frock was finished on the night, unlike the election. (Moggy has an uncanny knack of making me look like a robot in photos. I don't know how she does it. She's done it before. I honestly don't know what I was doing with my hands here.) Anyway, I used this 1962 pattern (not 50s I know. I'm a rebel):
I didn't have enough fabric for the panel, which is actually sewn all down the front of the frock. Intweeging.

Fifties fair frock and a leopard

This weekend I made my fifties fair frock. It's next weekend, so I decided to go for a pattern I'd made before - I think this might be the fourth time I've made this.

And I just realised I made this one for last year's fair too!


This time I made it with the collar

It's a nice cotton sateen with lycra - this means no need for a zip, which made it a super quick sew. As this was a woven rather than a knit, I added 2cm to each seam (including the CF and CB folds) which seems just right. I used the a-line skirt from New Look 6557.

I do like it with that collar.

I also made a wrap dress with some monochrome leopard knit I bought last weekend, at the same time as the sateen above.

I used Butterick 5101 - I've made this as a top before, which I didn't post because it was black and therefore hard to see. It has a nice slight raised collar at the back. I was a little worried that it might gape, but I road tested it today and it seems fine - I usually wear a slip anyway so that should be fine.

Sewing, buying, stapling

It will take me a bit longer to know for sure, but I think having a dedicated sewing room has slowed my sewing down. I used to be motivated to finish a frock in a day, or at least a weekend, because I had to clear everything off the dining table. Now I can leave everything in the sewing room for weeks.

It could also be winter slowing me down, because it's cold in the sewing room, and I have resisted Mr M's offers to set up a portable heater in there as too indulgent and expensive. As much as Betty is a useful dressform, I still need to try things on myself to be sure of length and fit, and I really don't enjoy doing that in the chilly house. I admit it! I sew in my undies in summer. So much easier for multiple try-ons.

I just finished another Stepfrock, this time in a blue doubleknit. This fabric is softer and has more drape than the doubleknit I used for the black one, and the result isn't as crisp, but I like it nonetheless.

I scored three boxes of vintage patterns at an auction place recently, in two auctions over two weeks. I'd say 95% are my size, so what could I do? I had to bid. There would be perhaps 140 patterns in total, and I counted 29 duds, but most are from the 40s, 50s and 60s. Yay! I haven't had much time to sit and study each one, but Moggy is coming up again for the Fifties fair in a couple of weeks, so I'll save that for an evening activity for us.

I also bought about 4.5 metres of Sanderson's 'Dandelion Clocks' fabric on eBay at a bargain price. Here it is stapled onto a canvas on my bedroom wall. I still have heaps left to make cushions.

I don't have to try on cushions, so they have a chance of being made before summer.

Only a little bit of sewing...

In last year's makeover post I mentioned wanting to get hold of a Queen Anne style bedroom suite. I finally did a few weeks ago - two bedside tables, a mirrored dressing table, and a bed. (I reckon from the 70s, going by the maker and what I could find out about them - they're made by The Prestige Furniture Co, Reservoir).

It's brown shiny veneer, so I knew I had to paint it - I thought either white, black, or pink. I decided on the black, with pink handles. I found some great repro medium pink glass handles on eBay - sent from the USA, with great quick (and cheap!) shipping, and really well packed... (Rousso's Reproductions - NAYY but highly recommended).

I didn't want to have to do all sorts of sanding and so on, so I went to the paint shop and got a recommendation for Zinsser 1-2-3 Bullseye (what a name!) which you can paint straight over varnish - and so it did. I painted 3 coats of gloss black over the top (all water based, much easier than oil).
So, here's the first part of the suite:


As you can see, I also whipped up a doily for it - some leftover pink linen from another project, some crochet lace from the shop up the road, and Wednesday's days of the week kitty from Embroidery Library (embroidery machine, I have been neglecting you!)

Now to paint the rest of the suite, which also involves fixing the busted leg on the bed... that will be interesting. I'm not sure if I'm going to upholster the bed - I'll paint it first, then see how I like it.

Vintage Fabric Heidi

It's been a long time between posts; I've been sewing, just not fast enough to blog about it.

I finished the final iteration of Heidi today.

She fought me all the way.
I've been working on this frock for weeks! The fabric was slippery and recalcitrant, and it just wasn't fun. I got through the ordeal by working on her in short bursts, giving up and closing the door of the sewing room when I felt ready to throw the whole thing in the bin.

I even made a self-fabric cummerbund too. I think you can tell by my posture in the cummerbund pic that I'm not thrilled with it! I think this version of the frock looks better without a belt:
The cummerbund took ages too, because of the naughty fabric. Sigh.

I lined her in bright pink cotton poplin, inspired by the little bit of pink in the fabric:

I'm pleased with the final result, but she shall sit in the wardrobe until I'm over the ordeal of making her. Also until it warms up enough to wear her. I might even warm to the cummerbund with time, but I'm not counting on it.

In the chilly weather, my thoughts turn to knitting. I love sitting on the couch with a nice warm knit!

This is what I've made:
Big Bad Baby Blanket: from Stitch n Bitch, in an acrylic from Spotlight:

Sludgy green ribbed lace bolero, for Ms Mog, who says she loves it and wore it already so maybe she doesn't lie:


Yarn is "Classic" 100% merino (colour Guava) from Bendigo Woollen Mills.

I'm knitting another, more complicated baby blanket now. More on that one later.

Bloody Bengaline

I got some blood red stretch bengaline on Saturday. I was umming and ahhing but then decided to buy 5m of the stuff.

I do love a bit of bengaline. Did you know that Lizzie Borden was wearing a bengaline dress when she* axe murdered her parents? The things you learn on Wikipedia!. Hers was silk though, mine isn't so murdery...

I decided to make Butterick 5281 - a retro reprint from 1946. Now I look at the Butterick website I see they've made a version in a similar red - fancy that!

Unfortunately I think it has turned out a bit mumsy (not sure of the translation of that term for our North American friends...). I'm hoping a brooch -as opposed to the fetching pin that is there now - and a belt will help. I also didn't put the shoulder pads in - I will have a think about it on my test drive tomorrow.**


It was actually a pretty straightforward sew. I didn't line the bodice, just made a facing which seems to have worked fine.

_______________________________________
*Allegedly murdered (thanks anonymous)

** Test drove frock today - garnered compliments. Easy Jane, why do you frumpify# my frocks?

#Thanks Cathie, that is the word I was looking for!

Deery me

Here's the other frock I was making while Heidi-ing.

It's made of the Joel Dewberry Deer Valley fabric featured in an earlier post. It's delightful! Made from old faithfull vintage Butterick 8149 with some wide straps trimmed with the same bias binding as I put on the top of the bodice. Skirt is good old New Look 6699 as the large scale fabric seemed to demand a-line skirt.




Hooray!