Vintage/Retro Sewing Style

As I continue to get my sewing room in order, I am re-discovering all of my books, notions, etc.

Today I was going thru some books and discovered this series of sewing books.  One that I found and have been reading thru is the "Simplified Systems of Sewing and Styling".

The series was authored by Doris Anderson.  The original copyright was 1948.  I was able to get my hands on copy published in 1966 (21st edition) at an estate sale.This is a set of ten lessons:

I love the older sewing books. In a lot of instances I think they better explain the how and why better than some of the new books when it comes to techniques.

I've been reading the first lesson: Selection of Patterns and Fabrics.  I found many blogs that reviews the lessons.  Lesson 1 has been reviewed here (so I won't do my own but refer you to these):

• What I Found Blog: Lesson 1
• Black Fashion World Blog: Lesson 1
• Modern Retro Woman Blog: Lesson 1
• Sunflower Makeup Blog: Lesson 1
• Diary of Blue Girl: Lesson 1

As you can tell this series appear to be pretty popular.

So I figured why not apply the principles of this series.  In the first book it talks about knowing your style and pattern selection.

Just yesterday I attended a estate sale to purchase some 1950/1960 editions of Vogue pattern magazines to get ideas on how to accessories all these vintage style garments I'm making.  Well while there, I found an ample supply of Vogue Designer patterns: 

Each of these patterns is an example of the "general line affects" that is described in Lesson 1 of these books.

• Vogue Paris Original #1219 (1975) - This pattern utilizes the straight line, with its center front tab and center seams.  The lesson states that straight lines, ".... tend to make one look sophisticated."
• Vogue Couturier Design #1051, Valentino (1975)- This patterns implements the straight (The button tab on the left side of the dress) and curved lines (The top stitching around the neckline).
• Vogue Couturier Design #1121, Sybil Connolly - This patterns is an example of diagonal line.  The lesson states that the diagonal line from shoulder to hem gives the illusion of length and slenderizing.

I am definitely going to give the Sybil Connolly dress a try, I love the way it looks and the drape of the skirt.

Did I mention that I only paid 50 cents each!  The patterns have never been cut and come with the Designer Label that Vogue used to include in their designer patterns!

Now off to my sewing room . . . . .

Happy Sewing!!!!!

The Missing Burda Magazines . . .

When we removed the carpet from the entire house (now its all hardwood floors), I had to pack my sewing room. Oh My GOD!  It's when you pack up your sewing room that you literally discover how much fabric and sewing items you actually have.

I have determined that I am a "sewing hoarder"!  I am deeply attached to all of my fabrics, sewing machines, notions, patterns, etc.  My daughter asked me could she throw out some of my sewing magazines, as I was at the store getting Thanksgiving dinner ingredients.  (I think she did this on purpose).  I was trapped, inside I was screaming "NO-O-O-O".  However, I knew she was right, I needed to part with some of my magazine stash.  I told her she could toss out the old Sew News, Threads and knitting magazines.  All of the others, had to stay.  I've was fighting the urge to go thru the trash bag and protect my mags from imminent danger.  I'm trying to be a big girl about this!

Well my worst night mare happened! Most of my 2015 Burda magazines came up missing!  We searched in boxes, etc for over 5 months, and couldn't locate them.  I glared at my husband and daughter with that look of a child who had just lost their favorite toy!  They couldn't remember if my magazines were in the ones they tossed or not.  I informed my husband that they would have to replace them!  So off to GLP we went, calling them to see if I could get copies of the 2015 issues.

They were fortunate in that we were able to locate most of them.  Now lets fast forward to yesterday.
We are going thru some boxes in the basement and lo and behold: I FIND THE MISSING BURDA MAGAZINES!  Along with the missing DirecTV remote.

Augh!, so now I have multiple copies of some of the issues. (At least now I know my family REALLY loves me - they replaced my sewing magazines, even though they think I have too much "sewing junk treasure".)  Now THAT'S LOVE!

Some I gave to sewing friends in my FB sewing group.  I have the July 2014 issue available if someone reading my blog is interested please leave a comment, and you are welcome to it.

ISSUE NO LONGER AVAILABLE!

7/2015 - NO LONGER AVAILABLE

Happy Sewing everyone . . . .

Ankara African Fabric and M6706 Skirt

I’ve had this African print fabric in my stash for about a year now.  I purchased this print about a year ago from the Hancock fabrics here in Denver, CO.  It was on the clearance table for $2/yard.  Can you believe it! 

Ankara fabric from Hancock

I've had this skirt pattern for some time, and new this would be just the right fabric.

McCall skirt 6706

 

 

Line Drawing

This skirt also has a petticoat that goes underneath it that gives it that "full" look when worn.


Petticoat (View F): 
I had some green tulle that I had purchased back in March from Joann's fabric for ~$2.00 a yard from the Joann's clearance table.  Why did I purchase it?  Because it was on sale!

That tulle with a piece of black cotton for the yoke portion of the petticoat was all I needed.  

I added 6 inches to the overall length of the ruffled portion of the petticoat so that the petticoat is only about 6 inches shorter than the actual skirt.  Since I was using a tulle that didn't ravel, I just did a tiny zigzag along the raw edges of tulling.

Finished Petticoat

SKIRT (view D):
I added my usual length to the skirt (6 Inches).  Next, I also widened the waist band so that it is a finished width of 3 inches. and I also  put some buckram into the waist band as I wanted it to stand tall.

I cut the pattern out on the cross-grain so that I could keep from having a seam down the center front.

I did a rolled hem of 5/8" and hand stitched it; rather than topstitching (I didn't want the threads to disrupt the fabric design).  I also used a standard metal zipper using the centered lapped zipper insertion method  (Craftsy has a free class on mini-zipper installation if you are interested here).  Since the zipper is tucked in the center-back pleats, its can't be seen.

I love this skirt.  The pleats fall wonderfully over the petticoat. The petticoat truly makes a difference in how the skirt wears.

The one thing I would change would be add pockets at the side seams.

Every fabric and notion that was used in the making of this skirt was already in my stash.

Happy Sewing everyone. . . . .

Revisit of Vintage Simplicity 5185

So as you are aware I purchased the black/gray checkered knit fabric from Colorado Fabrics in January, 2014 (bottom piece in picture).

Well it was fiinally time for me to sew this into a garment. It is approximately 1 1/2 yards.  I wanted to keep the dress simple and let the checkered print standout.

Being that it was winter, I can never have enough turtle neck dresses.  So back to my vintage Simplicity 5185 turtleneck dress.

I've made this pattern twice before:  dress and top.
Here it is in the checkered print with and without a belt.  The knit is lightweight enough that it can be worn on cool spring/summer days (which we are still having around here).

On to more sewing . . . . .

I'm still here . . .

Yes, I'm still here, and I'm still sewing; just haven't been doing much posting.

First we did a complete rip out of all carpet through out the house.  That happened around Thanksgiving:

The family room (in the process):

 The finished family room with furniture back:

 Then finally the most important room, the SEWING ROOM:
Before:

The Sewing Room After:

 Check out the neat Button Rug I found at IKEA!!!!

I've been doing a lot of sewing also, I'll post one of the outfits on tomorrow. In addition to sewing, I've also been collecting sewing patterns, fabrics, etc.  (I know I don't need them; but as my sewing buddies say the fabric is great for insulating the internal walls of the house!).

These are the patterns I got at the last JoAnn's sale:

Vogue 1445

Vogue 1446

Vogue 1451

And finally a pant pattern with princess seams.  I'm taking Sandra Betzina's craftsy class:  Pants Fitting Techniques.  I like this pattern better than the Vogue one that is used for the cass.

 

 Well, off I go to my sewing room I go. . . .

A little something I learned about invisible zippers

Picture from Vogue Fabrics

I was at my sewing group last week and found out about invisible zippers and my invisible zipper foot that I didn't know.

I know that zippers can come in different coil sizes and different lengths.  However I found that the largest coil size I can use with my Bernina is a #3 coil size. 

A fellow seamstress was installing an invisible zipper and was having problems with it.  That's when the shop owner bought up the fact that invisible zipper coils come in varying sizes. So of course I had to do some investigation.  So let me share some of that I've known and learned:

1. The coil size of a zipper, is the width in "mm" (millimeters) of the coils of the closed zipper.
2. The zipper size you find in your local sewing shop is a #2 (2 mm) coil size
3. Invisible zipper coil sizes range in #2 thru #6
4. The larger coil size is recommended for heavy fabrics, etc and NOT garments.  When sewing in one of these you should use your standard zipper foot and straight stitch plate.
5. If the zipper coil size is too big, the invisible zipper foot can't get close enough
6. Lightly pressing the coils, makes it easier to get coil into grooves.  Do this with a low heat so as not to damage the coils, but to make the coils easily accessible.  (I do this with every invisible zipper installation, it makes it so much easier).
7. Use a grossgrain ribbon as a facing for your zipper, to prevent it from pinching your skin when opening and closing. (Nothing hurts, and I mean HURTS!!! more than this).  I use 1 1/2 inch wide ribbon for this, and make the facing about 1 inch longer than my zipper area. Here is a description of the process from an article at University of Kentucky. 
   

   

   From: Zippers by Marjorie M. Baker, University of Kentucky

    

   
   

   
   

   To access the entire article go to Zippers, it's a "everything you ever wanted to know about      zippers!" type of article
8. I always make my invisible zippers at least 1 inch longer than the opening. It makes the installation a lot easier.
9. To shorten my zippers I tend to shorten from the bottom if it's an invisible zipper.  Some use a bar tack across near the cut end to secure the zipper end. But because invisible zippers are using a coil, I cut it from the bottom, use a bar tack and then wrap the cut end with some fabric to avoid the cut ends from catching and scratching my garment.  If you have a copy of  "The Sewtionary: An Z to Z Guide to 101 Sewing Techniques and Definitions" (page 244), it has an excellent description of the process. (You can access the entire book for free by clicking the link above.)

Happy Sewing . . . . .      

Sewing Thrift Shops - A Sewing and Thrifters Dream Come True!!!

A couple of weeks back, I took a Friday off from work and spent the day fabric shopping with a friend.  She turned me on to two Sewing Thrift shops in the Denver area!  I never knew these even existed.

Wooden Spools specialize in Quilting and Knitting supplies.  They buy and sell cotton fabrics for quilting; along with quilting supplies and lots of knitting supplies and yarn.

The store is located at 2805 South Broadway, Englewood CO.  There website is at http://www.woodenspools.com/, and they are also accessible on Facebook. 

I purchased a couple of pieces of fabric from them and a set of Perfect Patchwork Systems quilting templates.  The fabric was $1.99 a yard, and the quilt templates were only $11 bucks, a considerable savings. This store has lots of fabric, if you are a quilter this place should definitely be on your list.

Then off I went to The Craft Box  (store website). They also have a Facebook page.  It is just located at 16399 South Golden Rd.,  Golden, CO.

 Just recently I found two rolls of gridded tracing paper (Yipee!) for only approximately $10!   Both rolls had over 20 yards of paper on them. I'm still on the first roll. Typically I pay more for the art supply tracing paper that I use.  It is also a great place to find garment patterns, fabric and sewing notions. This store has more notions and crafter items than Wooden Spoons.  Just about anything you need sewing wise can possibly be found here.

I try to make a stop to each of these shops once a month.  By the way did I tell you that I LOVE THESE SHOPS!!!!!

Happy Sewing . . . .