On My Sewing Table: March

February was the month of I don't want to sew anything. In my defense, life was pretty crazy so I just decided to take a break from sewing. But now my sewing mojo is back! I had a sewing stay-cation this weekend while my hubby was out of town on a business trip. (He also took all of the cameras with him so you'll have to deal with iPhone photos.) Here's what I was working on.

I finally finished my Wearing History 1930s beach pjs! Now to wear them to the beach.

I also finished the jacket for my 40s suit for the 40s Fashion Calendar project. I'm behind on February's task but at least my suit will be ready!

I also started Sense and Sensibility Pattern's 1940s Swing Dress. I made it way, way back in 2011. It didn't go so well but I've learned a lot since then and this version is going much better.

 I also started working on my Borgia dress! I've done a bit of embroidery and have been playing around with pearling options. And I bought some more pearls finally so I can start putting them on for real.

 I've been pondering Spring/Summer sewing plans (since that's coming up for the Wardrobe Architect project) but haven't made any final plans yet. These are just a few patterns that popped out at me as possibilities.

Patterns Galore

I have bought quite a few patterns recently. But I can't help it! I want to wear all the 30s things so I need to sew all the 30s things which means I have to have all of the 30s patterns. Or that's what I tell myself anyways.

McCall 9242 is a darling two piece dress with several cute sleeve options. And it's a very early printed pattern which surprised me when it arrived.

The next four I bought in a lot on ebay and got a pretty good deal.

 Advance 807 is a fab 30s suit pattern. McCall 2802 is a cute dress pattern with options for short or long sleeves. It has an unusual envelope so I think it must have been a mail order or correspondence dress making course pattern.

Simplicity 2760 is missing the skirt pieces but seeing as it's very similar to McCall 2802, I can easily switch out the pieces. I'll just need to draft up a waistband. Simplicity 1936 was the pattern I was most interested in! A darling 30s playsuit! It's missing the shorts waistband and the little button plackets for the shorts but since they look similarly shaped to the button placket on the blouse, they shouldn't be too hard to draft up.

 I also did some shopping at the Vintage Pattern Lending Library! The skirt I've already sewn up and I can't wait to tackle the dress! The bodice has such great details!

And some more exciting news on the sewing front, I have a serger! :) It was given to me quite a while ago but I never got around to getting it work. I finally bit the bullet and bought the supplies I needed to get it working. Yay!

Click!

I'm so excited because not only do I have an outfit post for you but it also includes my latest sewing project-which I love! I'm so excited to get back to sewing! It's been a crazy costuming season and it's nice to have a quick easy project.

Tada! It's a camera skirt! I excitedly purchased this fabric earlier this year but then had cutting anxiety. I couldn't decide what I wanted to make from it! It's a novelty quilting cotton in a directional print so I needed a specific type of project to make it work.

 I was also looking back at my old pixie photos from the beginning of summer trying to decide if I wanted to chop off my hair again already. (Answer: not yet!) And I saw my playsuit from the sew along and I knew that that's what this print wanted to be.

So there will be a matching blouse at some point in time. You know, once I decide on buttons and make bias facing, but the dirndl skirt was ready to go in time for the wedding last Saturday. I opted for a side zipper instead of a button placket because I felt the print was way too busy for that many buttons.

The colors in the skirt include some of my favorites-orange, chartreuse and mint! I went with orange and teal (close enough to mint right?) to pull the outfit together. And it was great to get to pull out my orange lippy again! Seriously, orange has become one of my favorite colors to wear.

I went for classy and quiet for accessories since I was already supporting loud colors and a loud print. I got oodles of compliments on my outfit the whole day! It made me so happy that I finally got to make something from this great print.

There's nothing quite like a new outfit to make a girl feel amazing!

Some weekend sewing

One of the benefits of being home sick all weekend alone is getting in some hand sewing. Also watching a lot of costume dramas for "research".

First on the list was finishing up the striped Italian dress. Mostly, I just had trim to do. I had hoped to wear it this weekend but that was not to be. Ah, well. There are two more weekends left of the Ohio Renaissance Festival. It could still use some more accessories but it's enough done to wear.

I also finished up two small hand sewing projects. The yellow one I started at the SCA event the other weekend as part of a class. I had so much fun making it that I made the blue one too. Can you guess what they are?

They are needle books! They were an easy project plus they are useful. I hate leaving needles in my pin cushions and my husband hates the other place I leave needles- stuck in the arm of the couch.

I overcame my fear of hand sewn button holes. After eyelets, you'd think button holes wouldn't be intimidating but sometimes we get weird about things. Turns out the silk button hole twist makes sewing fun!

I've also started planning my next costume! I have a serious costuming bug right now. I'm planning a 1490s dress in the style of The Borgias. The costumes aren't 100% accurate but they are very pretty. I've decided to splurge a bit and make the dress out of silk. I ordered some swatches and they should arrive soon. Can't wait!

And a new period requires new underpinnings! While corsets aren't period for this period, I'm planning on making a lightly boned one just to give me the right shape. So far, the muslining is going well and it's quite comfortable.

What projects did you work on this weekend?

1930s Fusion

One place I always find it difficult to dress for is work. I'm a chemistry professor and that means I spend a good amount of my week in a lab. Labs have safety rules and that means pants!

My teaching schedule really picked up in the lab department for the fall semester so I had a wardrobe emergency! Enter these linen pants I made 3 years and 30 lbs ago.

They didn't fit that well to begin with and they definitely didn't fit after the weight loss. I hung on to them though since I wanted to save all of that yummy linen. Originally, I made them from Wearing History's Smooth Sailing Trousers but, due to time constraints, I used Wearing History's 1940's Overall pattern to remake them to fit since I already had a properly fitted version of the overalls.

 So these are my Wearing History fusion pants! The blouse I made from Simplicity 3173 from the 1930s. I got it for a steal on ebay! I love all of views included but this casual, sporty top was just perfect for me!

I wore this outfit for my first day teaching lab this semester with a pair of saddle shoes. Alas, I found these shoes are not up to 7 hours of teaching. So I'm still on the hunt for a good pair of work appropriate vintage style shoes. Until then, it's sneakers in the lab!

These shots were taken on the property of one of the guys in my husband's photography group. They were having a model shoot and I tagged along after work. I wasn't planning on modeling but I couldn't resist taking a few shots for the blog! It was very beautiful there!

Do you wear vintage to work?

Photography: Will Thorpe Intelligent Design

Sticking with What Works

I'm all for trying new things but sometimes you have to just stick with what works. So when a nice piece of vintage fabric came my way, I knew I wanted to stick with a tried and true pattern so there was not chance of sewing failure.

I used Simplicity 2851 c. 1949. This is the 4th time I've made up this pattern! (1) (2) (3)

I love the kimono sleeves, cute collar and flattering shape!

 If you have a really great pattern, you can make it up several times without it looking too much like the same dress. Different materials, the use of print vs. solids and adding optional details really changes up the look.

Of course, chopping off your hair also helps to diversify the look! lol!

I really do adore this new dress! It's perfect for work and oh, so comfortable!

What's your favorite tried and true sewing pattern?

From Baggy to Beautiful: Refashion a Button-Down Shirt

Hello everyone!  As you can tell, I'm not Stephanie, I'm Emileigh from Flashback Summer, and Stephanie has kindly allowed me to contribute a guest post for you guys!  I've been a follower of Steph's blog for a long time, and I love all the handmade clothing she comes up with.  (So adorable, am I right?!)  I also like to sew, so I thought I'd share a sewing DIY with you guys on how to refashion a too-large button-down shirt into a cute, vintage-style summer shirt.

The DIY will help you draft your own blouse pieces on the too-big button-down.  It's a bit long, but that's just because I tried to be really thorough and include a giant picture for each step!  (Pictures are my best friends in DIY projects.)

This idea is not uniquely mine; it was actually a very common practice "back in the day."  I've found refashion tutorials for men's button-downs from as far back as the 1920s, and the following tutorial is based off a 1940s blouse pattern.  Included in the pattern instructions was a tiny note in the corner of how to arrange them on a man's shirt for refashioning.  How great is that?!  Talk about sewing ingenuity!

Please note that the instructions will work well as a starting point, but much of refashioning depends greatly on the garment being refashioned.  I'd be happy to answer any questions you have in the comment section below!

For this tutorial, here are the supplies you'll need:

a button-down shirt (2-3 sizes too big for you will work best, and men's shirts or women's without bust darts are easiest to work with) - coordinating thread - pencil - bias tape - pins - measuring tape - scissors

Instructions:

1.  First, you'll need to take some of your own measurements to draw out the shirt pieces properly.  You'll need:

2.  Next, cut off the sleeves from the shirt.  This will make it easier to work with.  Flip the shirt inside out.  (For future reference, my shirt has a tiny interfacing patch on the inside, but it's nothing you need to repeat!)

3. Decide how wide you'd like your sleeves to be.  Using your shoulder measurement will bring the sleeve right along your shoulder cap.  (Increasing this measurement a little could make it look like more of a cap sleeve and could be good if you plan to add shoulder pads, for a 40s look, for example.)  Take this measurement and divide by 2; measure out this length from the center of the shirt along each shoulder seam. 
My calculation looked like this:  14 + 1 extra inch = 15 inches / 2 = 7.5 inches each side

4.  Fourth, measure your shoulder-to-bust length and mark with pins.

5.  Next, decide how much ease you would like at the bust.  I would recommend 1-3 inches for a comfortable fit (with non-stretch fabric).  Now add 1" total to account for a 1/2" seam allowance on each side (or more, if you prefer). Take this measurement and divide by 2, then center that measurement on the front of the shirt going through the bust apex pins.
For example, my calculation went like this:
32" bust + 1 inches ease + 1 inch seam allowance total = 34" / 2 = 17" across shirt front

6.  Now take your total length measurement and add 1/2" for a narrow hem (or more if you prefer and can fit it on the shirt!).  Measure this length out on both sides by starting at the shoulder, going through the bust apex pins, and drawing a line at the correct length.  Connect the two marks with a line.

7.  Seventh, draw a line from the bust + seam allowance marking made in step 5 straight down (or if your low waist measurement is larger than your bust, slightly outward to the end of that line on each side).  Extend your lines as necessary here and at the bottom hem line so that the two meet.

8.  Connect the shoulder dots and bust line with a curving line for an armhole.

9.  Cut out the shape you just created with all the lines.

10.  Now for darts/pleats!  Depending on your measurements, this will look a bit different, and you have some options. (It gets math-y here again, sorry!)
Decide how many darts you want and where.  (I put four in the front, but I would recommend 2-4 in front and 2 in back.)
Take your bust measurement and subtract your natural waist measurement.  The difference is the amount of cloth you have to take in at the waist, so divide it by the number of pleats you want.
My example:  32" bust - 24" waist = 8 inch difference
8" / 4 pleats = 2" per pleat
Now around 5-6" from the bottom of your shirt (near your natural waist, or where the shirt would be tucked in), evenly space your pleats/top of darts with marks.  The width of each dart/pleat will be the number you found above.

Now you're going to see how much the dart/pleat needs to narrow toward the bottom.  If your lower waist measurement is larger than your hips, end your dart at 1" above the bottom of your fabric.  If your measurement was smaller than your bust, do the same calculation as above but with your lower waist measurement instead of the natural waist.
My example: 32" bust - 28" lower waist = 4 inch difference
4" / 4 pleats = 1" per pleat
Measure this out at the bottom of your fabric like shown below. Connect the dots with vertical lines.  These are the sewing lines for the darts/pleats.

11.  Sew up all the darts/pleats and press toward the side seams! (I also zig-zagged all the edges at this point to keep them from fraying and to keep the pleats lying in the right direction.)

12. Sew up the side seams.

13.  Now finish the raw armhole edges with bias tape.  Use tape that is wide enough to easily manage and keep the fabric edge tucked inside.  Mine was a bit narrow for this (1/2" across), but I had it in my stash and made it work.  I'd recommend a larger width.

14.  Lastly, turn up your bottom hem 1/2" and sew!

And Voila!  You have a fitted, vintage-style shirt that will take you through summer and easily pair with cardigans for the colder months!