Hear ye, Hear ye!

It's that time of year again! Ohio Renaissance Festival opening weekend is upon us! Yours truly will be there this Monday as well as several other weekends this year.

 Depending on the weather, I'll probably be either my red peasant dress (left).

Or my leather corset. Or vintage if it's going to be 90+F. *fingerscrossedforniceweather*

If you are going to be there too (or another weekend) and would like to meet up, please shoot me an email at girlwiththestarspangledheart [at] gmail [dot] com.

Youtube: Pin Curls for Beginners Part 2

The next in the series! This week we learn how to actually make the curls!

It's a patio dress!

I'm sure that one time or another, all of us have drooled over a vintage patio dress set! Not wanting to shell out $100+ on one, I decided to make one!

I finished the skirt way back at the end of June and took it on vacation in July but I never got the blouse finished! I hate sewing up to the last minutes!

Fabric: more curtain fabric (free)
Pattern: Butterick 7328
Year: 1950s
Notions: Buttons ($1), ric rac ($5)
First worn: August '13
Wear again: Yes! This combo is so fun, plus I think the shirt is quite enough to wear with other things.

I'm trying to decide if I like this bob style with 50s things. I got a bob cut because I'm going to be in a wedding in September and I wanted to tone down the vintage a bit for the occasion. But it is nice to have an easy go to options when I don't feel like or can't pin curl my hair.

One thing I will say if you are going to be making one of these is that unless you can get the trim cheap somewhere (ie not Jo-Ann's), you can easily run yourself $50-75 in trim alone! I didn't add nearly as much trim as I would have liked because I just couldn't justify that much money on an outfit that used to be curtains.

I still love this outfit and am so happy I finished it! The skirt is super twirly and the bold yellow color makes everybody a bit perkier.

I've been playing around with wearing less make up and I really like it. So much easier plus my face feels so much nicer when I don't wear foundation. Now I just save foundation for fancy events.

Do you have a vintage or hand-made patio dress?

A Dizzy of Plaid

I had some request for more construction details on my plaid dress so here they are!

I interlined the bodice with a light weight cotton. All of the seams were finished with rayon seam binding so it's all pretty inside!

Before starting construction, each piece of silk was basted to the interlining in the seam allowance and down the center of the darts using silk thread (that yellow stuff) to hold the pieces together during construction. After a seam was sewn, the basting could be removed. Apparently, I missed some.....

The skirt was interlined in cotton flannel. I don't have a lot of experience picking interlinings for stuff but I used "The Dressmaker's Handbook of Couture Sewing Techniques" to help. The interlining affects the drape so I picked the type of interlining that draped the way I wanted my dress to. There were lots of pictures to help!

I did self covered buttons and bound buttonholes. The bound button holes are not my best job as I tried a new way that I thought would work better on this silk. Note to self: practice new things before trying on actual garments! They're not horrible but not up to par either.

The cuffs and collar I made from some leftover wool suiting.

The construction of the top was super easy. The ties are cut on the bias and hand sewn onto the top of the bodice instead of inserted in a seam in the bodice. One less place to match up plaid!

I did end up spending a lot more time on this dress than I usually do on dresses because of the silk and the plaid but the plaid actually behaved rather well! I think the interlining helped since I only had one slippery side to deal with.

Youtube: Pincurls for Beginners

I'm launching into a new youtube series which I'll be posting every week for a few weeks and then mixing in with the rest of my videos. It's all about learning to pincurl for beginners! Enjoy!

Sunshine and Novelty Prints

Sometimes, I'm just in the mood to wear something fun! And that often involved novelty prints!

This has got to be my favorite novelty print dress! It's so cute and girly!

This fabric is a great novelty quilting cotton find. I normally don't like sewing with quilting cottons but the weight and drape really lend this fabric to the crisp lines of this shirtwaist dress.

And how could I possibly say no to 50s/60s children's pattern illustrations with line drawings of the dresses in the background?

Today, I wore my waist cincher (since I also wanted to wear my new stockings) and it reminded me of how different I feel when wearing all of the proper underpinnings.

New seamed stockings! They are soooooo much more comfortable than the other kind I was wearing! Definitely worth the extra money. Now I just need to get a garter belt for when I don't want to wear the waist cincher.

The weather around here has been unseasonably cool, which is awesome because it feels like early fall rather than icky, sticky August.

Plus it's given me a serious case of good hair days!

Speaking of hair, I got mine chopped last week. It just was at an awkward length in the back and getting dangerously close to ponytail territory. So off it went into a chin length bob.

Are you hanging on to the end of summer or ready for fall already?

On my sewing table

Well, metaphorically anyways, since my sewing table is my kitchen table and we do actually eat there on occasion.... I'm being naughty and have quite a few things in progress right now. Trying to get some of them done before school starts on Wendesday! (Or more realistically before school starts getting super busy.)

I'm working on a bridesmaid's dress (for me!) in a yummy silk cotton blend interlined with cotton voile. It's Simplicity 8398 c. 1951. It's almost done. Just needs a zipper and some tacking down of facings.

Yay for blouses! I really want to try more to wear vintage to work especially since I now have a great vintage pants pattern and won't have to spend $100 a pop on Freddies. This is in white rayon left over from last year's Costume College haul in Advance 5900 from 1951. I'm doing the 3/4 length sleeve!

I also cut into this year's haul too! Another blouse in rayon! This one is Advance 8511 from the 50s.

It just needs buttons but I'm having decision issues! Which one do you like best?

Costume College: Haul

A big part of Costume College is shopping! Especially if you don't have really good local fabric stores. So let's see what I got!

2 yds red rayon for a blouse

3 yds of 30s looking striped rayon

4 yds of pink rayon for a 40s blouse and skirt

5 yds of embroidered cotton for an Edwardian dress

While I didn't buy anything at Mood, the guy there gave me a bag to commemorate my first visit (or possibly for the free advertising....)

McCall's 9953 50s evening gown patter which I got for a steal since it was missing the envelope. Also some vintage crochet hooks.

Remix shoes! I thought they were so Audrey Hepburn in Roman Holiday plus they were on sale so I had to have them! I also got a pair of seamed stockings from What Katie Did.

Huge stash of buttons! The bottom sets are vintage and the rest are modern.

I also snagged 100 yds each of black and white rayon seam binding and some pretty floral trim.

Costume College: The Exhibit

Every year there is a costume exhibit at Costume College! There were some really great ones on display this year.

A striped bustle dress!

A recreation of Rapunzel's dress from Tangled.





A Lord of the Ring's costume! So great!



Super pretty Edwardian chemise and corset!



I love the black, white and pink combo! It's so modern! Just goes to show that everything comes back into style at some point.



Another pretty hat!

There were loads of other pretties too! You can check out a bunch more photos over on my flickr.

Costume College: Come to the Gala!

I did a bit of filming this year at Costume College! Enjoy this footage from the Gala!



PS I was going back and tweeking settings on some of my old posts a two accidentally got reposted yesterday! So I did not, in fact, graduate this weekend! Sorry for the confusion!

Costume College: Sunday

This year four of us complete a secret group project involving plaid silk! We all used the same fabric to make dresses from different time periods but kept our exact plans a secret until Costume College.

A dizzy of plaid!

Even our backs were pretty!

Katherine of The Fashionable Past (aka Koshka the cat) did a fabulous Regency dress.

Plaid really lends itself to interesting self-fabric trims and Katherine did a really great job with hers.



Ginger of Scene in the Past did 1860s (ie Civil War). Love it! The trim is so striking and I love the bow at the neckline.



She looked so elegant!



Lauren of Wearing History did an 1869/1870 dress. It's from a cool transition period between hoop skirts and bustle dresses. I love in between periods.



Super pretty!



I did the 1950s!

I found this great vintage pattern and when I saw the green plaid on the cover, I had to make it!



It was so fun to wear and I am in love with silk now! It makes the most amazing sound when you wear it.



And it wouldn't be Costume College with out a bit of silly!