Australian Home Journal for croquet

This one was a last minute decision to make my 4th of #4dressesin4weeks (spoiler alert: I actually made 5 over 5 weeks!) I was looking for a dress for our fundraiser croquet event and I’m really glad I went with this one. I had been wanting to make this sundress from 1953 home journal for some time and had the frangipani cotton since last year so this was a great excuse to get it done. I made a bodice toile about a year ago and was surprised to find the back was very wide (easily taken in) but not so surprised to see that I had some gaping over the bust of the bodice. Pivoting the excess into the bust dart dealt with that.

The only other change I made was to meet the straps in the centre back.

The skirt has 3 gores front and back, with a pleat on either side of the central gore. The button placket very cleverly continues down one side and is hidden in the seam and pleat. I surprised myself with how quickly I got this done, basically cutting it out one night and sewing it up the next day, including making some piping to highlight the angle on that placket edge. The bodice is probably a bit long, looking at the horizontal wrinkles, but I ignored that in my rush to finish for the event ;o) The yellow buttons were in my stash from an op shop haul and I decided to use pink thread on a whim to mimic sunset frangipanis.

I have since made the matching bolero, as I had just enough fabric left over (I used 3m in all), but I didn’t have time to get it done before our croquet day. It was an excellent day of great fun, great company and great dresses! We raised some more funds and hopefully some more awareness for ovarian cancer research as part of the Frocktober campaign.

Project summary

pattern: Nov 1953 Australian home journal sundress and bolero

fabric: frangipani cotton from Janie’s fabrics

notions: thrifted buttons, self made piping

(Thrifted shoes and hat, belt from Maiocchi sample sale)

Some ‘Anglomania’ from Australia

This ensemble came about as I needed a Westwood style outfit for a fundraiser screening. I hired a theatre to show ‘Westwood: punk, icon, activist’ for a Fashion Friday Frocks at the Flicks fundraiser, this documentary just started its screen run here in Australia over the last week. I knew I wanted to use this plaid seersucker and decided to go with a pattern I knew, the By Hand London Anna Dress. The name should give it away, this is pattern is from England ;o)

My inspiration posts mostly came from Vivienne Westwood’s ‘Anglomania’ collection or a similar style, so it’s only fitting! I liked the idea of a corset belt and had remembered one on Gertie’s instagram. The pattern for this one is from etsy store ‘dress like princess‘. This is a pattern only with no instructions but I found a tutorial on Emerald Erin that was very useful. The etsy store appears to be based in Russia, which fits in well with the Monthly Stitch Independent Pattern Month ‘Around the World’ theme (where this is cross posted).

I changed the skirt on the Anna dress as I wanted a box pleat skirt using the full width of the fabric for both the front and the back. I made it as wide as I could, lining up the plaid with the bodice and the box pleats with the bodice release pleats. I just pinned up one side for a bit of fun on the night.

I decided to use a metal exposed zipper for a bit more edge and then I turned to my inspiration images for some accessories, hair and make up.

I wish I had taken a photo of the dress without the belt and some different styling, but I haven’t had time for that!

We enjoyed the documentary and we were quite taken with Andreas Kronthaler’s modelling style (Vivienne Westwood’s partner):

Project summary

pattern: By Hand London Anna Dress with Dress Like Princess corset belt

fabrics: Anna in plaid seersucker, corset belt in Hong Kong brocade

notions: exposed metal zipper for Anna. satin bias, velvet ribbon, birch eyelets, rigilene for corset belt.

inspirations: Westwood anglomania collection and other collections

Hot Sauce Diner Dress

I am loving getting stuck in to the challenge I set myself for October – #4dressesin4weeks. A great way to motivate myself to use some of my stashed fabrics and take a look at some of my pattern stash that I’ve not tried yet. This is dress number 2.

I bought this Dear Stella Kiss the Cook fabric from a quilting store with the idea of recreating one of my favourite Clara Oswin Oswald dresses (from Doctor Who some years ago). I thought the sleeved of simplicity 1419 with the collar would do nicely:

But then I found this great 70s shirt dress pattern – Style 1804 from 1977. It reminded me a lot of a 50s/60s diner dress and the print seemed appropriate! This pattern has a lovely full circle skirt, but my quilting fabric was not very wide. I substituted the skirt from the sew over it vintage shirt dress that I have sewn up quite a few times.

The collar, facing and cuffs are a polycotton that was harvested from my first ever me made trousers. It was not quite heavy enough for trousers and always wrinkling but it turned out to be the perfect weight for this project. I harvested 6 buttons from the side fly also, and found a couple of extras still on a card – which seemed fitting.

There is no denying it, this collar is wide! Somebody had cut down the original pattern piece but I took it back to it’s full size. To make sure I got the points nicely shaped I finally followed the advice given in this perfect collar points tutorial.

Photos were taken at very nice antique centre where I fell in love with a sideboard and a piece of West German pottery (I went back the next day for the pottery ;o)

Project summary

fabrics: Dear Stella Kiss the Cook from The Quilters’ Store

notions: buttons salvaged from pants

Labware/Labwear

I have made this dress especially for a fundraising morning tea at my work later this month. It’s highly appropriate as I am a lab manager and we will be fundraising for the ovarian cancer research foundation in memory of a colleague.

I bought a scant 1.5m of this Robert Kaufman ‘science fair’ fabric last year, so the itch to stitch chai shirt dress was a good way to eke out a dress, using contrast collar and waistband. It also helped that my fabric was non-directional. The chai dress has a less full skirt than I would usually go for, but still A-line. I think this style of shirt dress shares some similarities with a (sleeveless) lab coat ;o)

Itch-to-Stitch-Chai-Shirt-Dress-Sewing-Pattern-Line-Drawings

This one is a digital (PDF) sewing pattern, and I was happy to see it has the A0 printing option (no sticking – yay!) The pattern pieces cover 4 pages but you only need to print certain pages, depending on your view or cup size. Yes – this one comes in multiple cup sizes with a handy size chart to help you work out what to cut/make. I still made a toile as I hadn’t worked with patterns from this designer – but I needed have, it fit me fine with no adjustments necessary. The instructions were easy enough to follow and the pieces went together nicely (but I have made quite a few shirts and shirt dresses before). I can see myself making it again in the sleeved version, or maybe the shirt version for work.

It could have been fun to take some photos in the lab but we have a pretty strict Personal Protective Equipment policy (including fastened lab coat) – so I would not have been able to get close to anything interesting to show the dress! Instead I’ve taken lobby photos – I thought the colours worked well with those in the fabric ;o)

And yes it has pockets! Perfect for carrying around some (clean unused) petri dishes? I picked clear plastic buttons for this project as I thought they echoed the bubbles in the print and remind me of the glassware and plasticware that we use in the lab.

Project summary

pattern: itch to stitch chai shirt dress

fabrics: Robert Kaufman science fair from Make It Fabrics

notions: hemline buttons from spotlight

inspirations: I have been thinking about a lab dress since I saw this great one from fellow vintage sewing lover Frances of Polka Polish

Australian Home Journal for Frocktails

I missed the blog post I had planned for last month. Perhaps I’ll post it this month, but I think I ought to record my Frocktails dress as it was nearly 3 weeks ago.

I had a different fabric and pattern in mind for this year’s Brisbane Frocktails, but I really didn’t like the toile! I decided to pull out my ‘best fabric’, a beautiful silk linen, from the stash and pick a pattern for it. I bought this fabric a few years ago and could not settle on a pattern I liked for it. I started perusing Australian Home Journal magazines from the 1950s on etsy and ebay for inspiration. Once I had narrowed it down to two dresses in two different issues, I checked with sewing pal @sewbusylizzy and she happened to have the issue with the one I liked best. It’s from 1958, so exactly 60 years old.

Home Journals from this era contain unprinted (precut) patterns that came in one size only, and my chosen design was about 2 sizes too small for me. I found Tanya Maile’s slash and spread grading tutorial very helpful. As I was grading a fairly simple 2 dart bodice, it was a fairly straight forward process. The sleeve piece I just guessed and it worked fine. The original design was made with facings but I chose to fully line the bodice and noticing the resemblance to sewaholic cambie I used the sewalong to work out how to do it. I found a little bit of extra luxury in a pale pink silk lining from the fabric store sale for this.

The texture and weight of this fabric is interesting. It has a lovely hand with a slub and it was only once I had cut out the bodice that I realised it has body in one direction and drape in the other. Really my dress should have all been cut out on the cross grain. I got away with it for the bodice but I had to turn the fabric around for the skirt. Luckily the print is very forgiving. I wasn’t confident about achieving a nice look for a gather, considering the qualities of the fabric, so I borrowed a heavily pleated skirt from vintage Simplicity 3713.

This lovely full skirt has 3 panels with a centre back seam and two seams on the front. My bodice is designed for side zipper and I wanted to keep it that way. Having recently made a Tessuti Lois which features a zip in a dart, I took this idea and inserted a big narrow side dart in the skirt and got the side zipper in that way. I gambled that the dart would be more or less disguised by all the pleats and folds and I was right. The steps I took were to baste the dart in, check how it looked, then slash behind the dart and open it up to put an invisible zipper in. Once the zipper was sewn in I went back and prick stitched it along both sides to make sure it was sitting properly, due to the somewhat stiff nature of the fabric. A petticoat underneath helped me realise my 50s full skirt dreams.

Frocktails was a fantastic night. We had a lot of new faces and plenty of familiar ones. I love the diversity of outfits, or when two people wear the same pattern in a different fabric, or the same fabric in a different pattern! Look at these shiny happy faces!:

with Ali, Jen & Anouk

I’m so happy to have this fabric out of my stash and into my wardrobe. The little pleated sleeve detail is sweet but it’s hard to see in this print ;o)

Project summary

pattern: Australian Home Journal November 1958

fabrics: silk linen from the remnant warehouse, silk lining from the fabric store

notions: vizzy zip and rasant thread

inspirations: Various vintage sewing ladies – Marie from A Stitching Odyssey (I miss the vintage pledge!), Tanya from Mrs Hughes, Heather from Handmade by Heather B (top shoe/accessory/hair/makeup game ;o )

History Alive (1940s)

I have a history loving family and we try to go to a couple of event days a year. History Alive is held at a historical military fort and hosts encampments from eras back to the middle ages and up to WWII. We are always impressed at the lengths the enthusiasts/volunteers go to with their costuming. For our day out at History alive this year I decided it was a great excuse to finally make a 1940s shirt dress. I have quite a few shirt dress patterns, but none of them were quite right for a large scale rayon I had been stashing for a couple of years. Until I was able to get a copy of out of print Butterick 5846. The cover art doesn’t sell it strongly as a 40s pattern, but the line drawings did it for me.

All the features I had been thinking of – wide collar, button through, back yoke, shoulder gathers, waist pleating, non- paneled skirt (for the big print) and fullness in the sleeve caps. Although the description says ‘very loose fitting’, I made it more fitted and with 12 pleats around the waist, it looks good without the belt too.

Past me bought 3m of this fabric, so I needed to take time and care with pattern piece placement. I decided on the skirt first as the large floral motif runs in vertical lines. Centring the back piece and cutting on the fold, I then pattern matched the front pieces along the same fold line. I cut the skirt pieces as long as I could with the yardage at hand – somewhere between the shorter and longer length given by the pattern. Then there was lots of vacillating on where to place the collar and revere facings, yokes etc.

I changed the sleeve cuff to the one from the longer sleeves on simplicity 1880, as I had two extra buttons that I wanted to sew above the notch to show them off. I also took in the bodice at the shoulder about an inch and it is still wide. I didn’t take anymore off as I thought I might try it out with shoulder pads.

For buttons I had in mind dark blue or navy with some swirly detail. For shirts I can usually find enough of something that suits me in the stash, but for a shirt dress I often have to go hunting. I visited quite a few shops without finding any blue buttons like I had in mind, but I did find these burgundy coloured ones that were a great match to the poppies.

I was lucky to find some great accessories recently – burgundy coloured shoes and the blue belt were new from Dangerfield. I also picked up nude pantihose and tortoiseshell hair combs from Target. I found a slip in my wardrobe and a string of garnet beads in my jewellery box.

Australian diggers, American GIs, German and Russian military history recreationalists were encamped together and they do a skirmish show each day involving jeeps, tanks and armoured vehicles.

WWII skirmish – GIs & Jeeps

post skirmish – WaffenBruder das Reich & BA64 armoured car

Miss 9’s favourite exhibit this year was the blade display conducted (on pumpkins) by the Scots and Polish Hussars. She is a fencer and there is also a renaissance fencing group we like to watch. We are off to a Medieval weekend next – like a Renaissance Faire, so I am hoping to have some costuming to show off from that next ;o)

Project summary

patterns: Butterick 5846 (OOP)

fabrics: rayon from Spotlight

notions: buttons from Gardams, rasant thread.

inspiration; I’m a long time admirer of Heather’s 1940s creations and styling

A Lois story

I am very used to sewing and wearing patterns with an actual waist seam, it suits me for ease of the adjustments I usually make for sway back and being ‘short in the waist’. Tessuti’s Lois dress is only a slight departure from my usual silhouette – it does have a waist seam on the back.

I liked the dress from its initial release but I wasn’t sure about the deep v-neck and I wasn’t sure if the lack of waist definition would suit me. I didn’t buy the pattern on a gamble though – I was able to try on a sample in the Melbourne Tessuti store. It had been at least ten years since I had visited Melbourne so I was pretty keen to get down there once I heard that some Sydney Spoolettes were heading there for the NGV Dior exhibition. My pal Michelle helped this become a reality by conveniently extending her conference stay and accommodation (cheers Michelle!) and we were joined by fellow Brisbane Spoolette Bianca.

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The exhibition was quite something and the weekend allowed for catch ups with Melbourne and Sydney spoolettes over lunches, brunches and dinners. Clear it, Darn Cheap fabrics and Rathdowne remnants were high on my list to get to but I had not planned on visiting Tessuti as I was scared I would become enamoured with expensive fabrics! But we found ourselves with a bit of time on our Sunday morning before flights and Tessuti is conveniently located in the city and open on Sundays. Helen @funkbunny told me she had tried on the Lois dress sample the day before so I thought I would give it a go. I was surprised to find that the size 10 fit me, the deep v-neck didn’t seem too bad and the lack of waist seemed okay too. The other thing I realised was that I had popped it on over my head (had forgotten there was a zipper in the side dart).

I split the pattern with Michelle and then I did become enamoured with an expensive fabric – an italian rayon crepe – that I thought would suit Lois and decided to splurge as souvenir of a fabulous trip ;o) Having tried it on, I was pleased to know what size I would make and that I wouldn’t need to bother with the zip.

I decided that this would be the perfect dress for my sister-in-law’s wedding. Brisbane Spoolettes annual high tea also happened to fall on the same day. Like a social butterfly I was able to flit from one event onto the other. I missed out on proper catch ups with my spoolettes but very glad I was still able to attend both! A couple of my fave pics from high tea with Alice and Ali, and with Leith also in her Lois!:

I have very little to say about the construction, it was quite straightforward. I didn’t use any vilene shields, my rayon was reasonably stable. The neck binding technique in the instructions is a little bit different to those I have seen before, and I did leave out the zip designed to go in a side dart. It is an interesting design with side shaping from the darts – it has no side seam on the skirt, the front piece continues around to meet at the back panel forming two seams on the back. Such a simple but elegant design.

Project summary

patterns: Tessuti patterns Lois

fabrics: Italian rayon crepe from Tessuti fabrics

notions: none – omitted zip ;o)

trio de mélilot (more for project work shirt)

Another pattern that I have had for some time and finally gotten around to making! After admiring so many versions on the blogosphere I’ve now made three Deer and Doe mélilot shirts this summer – two short sleeved and one with long sleeves. Another win for #projectworkshirt. Comfortable and casual with minimal darts or shaping, but a bit more formal with collar and buttons.

The short sleeved version is so quick to make up and really doesn’t take much fabric. I love the collar so I added that in to both of my ones with short sleeves. I prefer the ‘alternate’ collar construction (from four square walls). For my first I used a lovely cotton lawn that I had bought a couple of years ago on Goldhawk Rd (I really went fabric blind on that trip, but this one stood out to me). With the all over non-directional print I was able to cut the sleeve cuffs and collar/stand on the cross grain and fit it all in to 1.5m narrow fabric.

After I finished this one I fell in love with a rayon from Darn Cheap fabrics (after Leith @SewBrunswick shared her purchase in instagram) and decided another short sleeved one was in order. This fabric was wider so I only used about 1m or slightly less. Not sure if it was conservative fabric use or generous cutting from Darn Cheap but I was able to pass on between 60-70cm to Natalie @janedoedeer for an Ogden cami! This rayon is seriously luscious – the colours are so vivid and the fibre is so soft and fine. This is definitely my favourite shirt at the moment.

The long sleeved version was inspired by an impulse buy at Spotlight. I thought these wintery colours would suit it. Originally I was planning to modify the sleeve to a 3/4 with a simple cuff, but then I decided to go all out and do the original sleeve placket, tucks and cuffs with buttonhole. Even though I’ll probably always roll up the sleeves a bit – which is why I decided to add sleeve tabs. I used the Style Arc Elsie pattern to help me position them, and I bound the sleeve placket with a simple bias strip instead of following instructions.

Project summary

patterns: Deer and Doe melilot

fabrics: cotton lawn from somewhere on Goldhawk road, rayon viscose from Darn Cheap fabrics, rayon from Spotlight

notions: buttons from Lincraft and Spotlight

Hippie chick dress

I’ve had this Cynthia Rowley Simplicity pattern for a couple of years, procrastinating about making it up, thinking I would need to make adjustments. There are a lot of reviews on pattern review with quite a few comments about gaping. When I finally made a toile it showed that I needed only one minor fitting change – it still took me nearly half a year to make up the real thing!

I have also had this rayon in the stash for a couple of years – it came to me from a swap, the donor tells me it was in her aunts stash so I’ve no idea how old it really is! It was view A that attracted me to the pattern but this large print fabric really wanted to be a maxi dress and I am very happy with the pairing. In fact I’ve made view A and the jury is out – I’ll have to wear it again and take some pics.

I had quite a bit of fun with pattern placement and cutting out for this one, thinking about it put me off for a while. A fellow Brisbane Spoolette helped me decide to try to keep as much dark purple on the front bodice pieces and I based the remaining bodice and waistband pieces around that. I made the skirt as long as I could with the amount of fabric I had – it is a really long skirt on this pattern! With all the pieces and pattern break up I chose to pipe both the top and bottom of the waistband for a bit of further definition. Teal voile and piping cord happened to be in stash (note to self – buy more piping cord!). I was surprised how straight forward and quick the construction is – lots of gathering with this one, a bit of hand stitching on the inside waistband and bias bound armholes.

The print inspired me to whip up a matching Pucci style headband and with the accessorising and photo locale, this one looks a bit more glam than my original concept. I have worn this more with my flat purple saltwater sandals in real life.

So this is definitely a pattern and stash busting win. It’s my first maxi length dress – why’d it take me so long? In lightweight rayon it’s so swishy and cool, very much welcome in the never ending summer we had this year ;o)

Project summary

pattern: Simplicity 1801

fabric: vintage rayon from swap

notions: vizzy zip, rasant thread

Project work shirt for summer

Blog posts have taken a back seat over our summer – christmas always gets busy (and I moved house for the second time in a year!). I still managed to squeeze in some sewing though – mostly summer shirts suitable for work. I’m still on my mission to have 2 weeks worth of work shirts that I love, for both summer and winter.

This post is a compilation of summer shirts from vintage 80s Butterick patterns. The first is from Butterick 4224. A fairly simple shirt, no shaping, set in sleeves, and a forward shoulder yoke. I chose the view with a bit of gathering onto the yoke. My choice of fabric (a nice light indian cotton) makes me think of pyjamas. Each time I put it on, I think it would look great with a pair of boxer shorts!

I also made Butterick 3696 in a lovely lightweight crinkle cotton from Pitt Trading and decided on view C – pointed collar and gathers onto the forward yoke. I’m very happy with this one, it was so quick to make with only 3 pieces – front, back and collar (the front piece includes placket and facing). The extended shoulders give enough coverage for shoulder protection from the sun, while still keeping cool enough and without having to add on sleeves.

After seeing @liza_made‘s #bigbluescrapbag at the end of the year I decided I would look at making a garment or two from my remnants as a new year’s resolution (‘sew your stash’, or ‘sew your scraps’). It seems that there a few of us using the ikea frakta blue bag for our scraps! I wanted to make yet another version of Butterick 3696. After selecting a bright bird printed lawn (remnant from making a deer and doe datura for my sister), I found I also had a remnant of solid blue lawn for a contrast collar. This one is view D – rounded collar with gathering.

It may not be so long before my next post, I have 3 more shirts and 2 dresses unblogged, hope to get to them soon. Thanks for reading!

Project summary

fabrics: cotton lawn from Sapling textiles, crinkle cotton from Pitt Trading, cotton lawn from Spotlight

notions: buttons from Lincraft, Spotlight and thrift shop

Colette's sewing & stuff

like the name says!

Australian Home Journal for croquet

Some ‘Anglomania’ from Australia

Hot Sauce Diner Dress

Labware/Labwear

Australian Home Journal for Frocktails

History Alive (1940s)

A Lois story

trio de mélilot (more for project work shirt)

Hippie chick dress

Project work shirt for summer