Second Dress Project - Lace

I have been in the sewing mood since I made my first vintage dress a few weeks ago. Since, I have made three skirts, from a 1981 pattern, very simple and darling! Spring is soon coming, and I have been in the mood for dresses. My closet is dress-sparse, so I thought another dress on the hanger would suit just fine.

The dress I made for Casey's Swing Dress Sew along turned out so well, I thought I would make another dress. This one is from the mid-40s with almost the same styling, without the buttons. I made an unexpected trip to Joann's the other day, and found some very nice avocado swingy polyester blend fabric. Joann's was having a huge sale, and I bought all of the avocado green they had, and still have some left over to make a skirt if I want!

I am not sure how long it will take me with this dress, but I am estimating about two weeks. This lovely pattern calls for two lace inserts at the collar, and believe me, it was hard to find some lace that I liked, as most lace does not suit me. (I don't know what it is about flowers and lace. I suppose I am a simple maid. lol.) But the lace I did find in my stash is quite petite and very lovely. I estimate it is around the mid 40s-50s, but I could be wrong!

I will be posting work-in progress photos as I go along, so please keep checking back for the details!

 

Sew Along Dress Finale

The long-awaited dress is here! In full form with a few accessories. This project was by far the most challenging because it was my very first sewing project. (I have since completed a second project which will be shown later). This sew along encouraged me to step outside my boundaries and learn a lot about sewing. Casey's Elegant Musings blog has been an inspiration to me - and I happened upon it through a "vintage 1940s dress" google search! lol ... I will do another post about what I experienced through this sew along and things I would change, keep, etc. But for now, here are the photographs, taken by little sister, who did a pretty good job.

The Dress: Mail Order Pattern, 1949, handmade by me
The Shoes: 1950s thrifted
The Jacket:  1940s, WW2, handmade by someone else
The necklace: blue beads, thrifted, handmade by someone else

Thrift Store Finds Turned Wild

I love scarves. Usually geometric patterns, some floral, and Vera. The other day I made a quick trip to one of the local thrift stores and literally made a run-through: vintage clothing, shoes, hats, and then found myself stopping at the little scarf spot. I have found some Vera scarves at thrift stores and other designer brands so I wondered what I'd find. There wasn't much by way of designer, but I did find some really nice Echo scarves, and a really neat thin green solid with groovy lines. I normally select the squares and rectangles, but this thin scarf had all the makings of a fashionable scarf. I walked away with a small pile of scarves. Some of them I was going to sell on eBay or etsy.

But after bringing them home and playing around with them, I decided that I really liked them a lot. (Never mind that I have four shoe boxes full of fall, winter, spring, and summer scarves!) I do have an over-abundance of red, white, and blue scarves, and I don't need that many. So you may see a few on etsy or eBay.

All right. So a thinnish scarf around the head was in style - a few years ago, I think. And I'm just getting around to the idea where I think it's attractive. Hmmm. . . . is something wrong? lol Or are they still in style? Any rate, here is what happened to me:          (Please bear w/ me ... the sickness just left my house - but I still look ill :/ )

   
(I am liking Photobucket! Sigh. I know, I know - nearly every blogger uses Photobucket or some other sort of photo organizer. I'm just getting started ~ and am  s l o w l y  learning about these cool little things!)

Audrey Party Dress

Little Black Wool Dress

I am not sure how old this dress is, but it is vintage. Please enjoy the photos!

Sew Along Dress -- Button Holes!

Ta da! My button holes are d o n e. I am really excited - I will be posting completed photos this weekend. My 1965 Kenmore Sewing Machine came to the rescue and the button-hole attachment the machine came with worked beautifully. (Although I have to whip stitch a few button holes; not sure what happened with the thread. When I seam ripped a line through the middle, the button holes looked awful. Eh, I'm sure that has happened to a few of you.) Considering my very first sewing project, I think all went well. Here are a few sneak peak photos of the button holes before they were opened. Please keep in mind that I have to remove one of the buttons and re-sew because it isn't exactly straight. Oops - eh - mistakes happen.

•  the pattern - 1949 - mail order

 aren't they beautiful??

 buttons finished w/ the button holes

lefty's slightly too close - must mend 

(already? the dress is fresh!) lol

sloppy button holes -- but they looked so pretty before I separated them! Not sure how to fix this problem.... I was so careful