Lounging Around

Yesterday I finished up these lovely Beach/Lounging Pyjamas!


Fabric: 4 yds floral print from stash ($6/yd I think...), 1/2 yd red shiney stuff, red ribbon salvaged from too small sweater
Pattern: Wearing History 3017
Year: 1930s
Notions: buttons ($3)
Time to complete: 6 hours (next go round should be much quicker!)
First worn: October 2011
Wear again? Yes!!!!! I'm so in love with this outfit! It's terribly fun to wear and super comfy. Much cuter than my normal pjs.

Total cost: ~$27

I had several hiccups while making this pattern that made for slow going. I didn't make a muslin and the hips hit in a different area than I thought they would. Now, my hips are 12" larger than my waist so I usually grade up several sizes in the hips. I actually made this up in size 18 which is for 1" smaller than my waist. It's a pretty loose garment and I did measure before cutting but I measured the wrong area for hips. I did end up removing 1" from the blouse portion and then it was a bit small for the pants portion. I made it work though! Next time I'll remove the length from the middle before I cut fabric.

Also, I discovered that there 4 buttons in the pattern design were not enough. So, I made a trip to Jo-Ann's for more buttons and I'm now up to 7. And, despite careful measuring, my waist ties were not level so I had to take one off and put it back on. And the fabric was slippery and required lots of pinning.

Ok, on to the things that went well.

I used French seams and bias binding so the inside is all pretty! I got my machine's button holes to look nice so no bound button holes! They are crazy fun to wear! And I've already bought some more material for a winter version as this one is a bit chilly with no sleeves.

And, lastly, tips for those of you who want to make this pattern.Do make it because it's crazy fun to wear!

• Watch the arm holes as they are kind of small.
• I made size 18 and squeezed it into 4 yds of 60" fabric though I think I'd get 4.5 yds in the future just to be safe.
• Add more buttons to the back.
• There are no illustrations in this pattern and they are not as detailed as modern directions. The sewing isn't too difficult but I wouldn't suggest this as a sewer's first vintage pattern.

I'm still on the fence about wearing this outside the house but my husband's response was "Those are pyjamas? It looks like a regular dress to me." so that's pretty encouraging.

Sew Weekly: Nautical

I was quite excited to find out that this week's Sew Weekly challenge was nautical. Not only was nautical my summer sewing theme, but I had the perfect UFO to whip up! I've been pretty busy and haven't gotten to do Sew Weeklies lately. And after this week, I'll be furiously working on the Renaissance dress and probably won't be doing any more for a while. :(

Anyways, here it is!

Fabric: same as the rest of the Sailor Playsuit
Pattern: Wearing History's 1940s Sailor Playsuit skirt
Year: 1940s
Notions: button
Time to complete: 4 hours
First worn: July 2011
Wear again? Yes! I really love this skirt! I was not planning on loving this part of the playsuit, but it really is a nice 40s shape! And I can totally see it non-nautical in a different color palette.

No bound button holes! I gave in and did machine button holes. H

I also finished another hat last week!

Fabric: 1 yd quilting cotton ($5/yd)
Pattern: Wearing History's Sporty Toppers view IV
Year: 1930s
Notions: 6 buttons ($3), millinery crinoline ($6)
Time to complete: 3 hours
First worn: July 2011
Wear again? Probably. It's really more floppy than I wanted, so I'll definitely look for more stiff crinoline next time. It also ended up a smidge tight around my head, so I'll make the head hole a bit bigger next time. Also, the print on the fabric is not terribly period, but it will be a good sun hat for this summer. I'll probably have another go next summer. And since my hair is so short, it likes to poke awkwardly through the holes in the top.

Outfit:
shirt: Walmart ($5!)
skirt: me made
hat: me made
jewelry: vintage from my great-grandmother

Sew Weekly: The Perfect Summer Dress

When I heard that the Sew Weekly theme this week was the perfect summer dress, I knew exactly what I wanted to sew! There are so many great things about summer. Summer is about fun, ease and spending as much time as possible outside. So what's better than a picnic themed retro wrap dress?

Fabric: Blue gingham (Is a print this big still allowed to be called gingham??) 5 yds at $5 a yd
Pattern: Butterick Retro B4790
Year: reprint of 1952 pattern
Notions: bias binding ($9), buttons ($3), snaps (from stash)
Time to complete: 2 days plus 24 hours for bias to set
First worn: May 2011
Wear again? Yes! It was cute and comfy! It does wrinkle a but more than I'd prefer but next go around I'll know better.
Total Cost: $37

Outfit:
Dress: made by me
Shoes: Macy's
Earrings: Forever 21

The construction of the dress was quite simple. It's not the same structure as your typical wrap dress but I like it. The only alterations I did were to add snaps on the sides to prevent any any accidental bra strap appearances. The hem lines of the two layers didn't end up the same, despite enlisting my husbands help to hem. Oh, well. It looks ok. I was just bummed because now it's too short for my crinoline. Guess I'll have to buy a shorter one.

I didn't bother matching my stripes, but it's not even really noticeable except at the back seam of the skirt.

I've been doing a bit of Alice Cullen inspired hair the past couple of days and it's super fun!

What's your idea of the perfect summer dress?

Embellish This!

This week's sew weekly challenge was to do a project with embellishment. I choose to whip up another Crepe dress! I knew I wanted to add piping and ended up also doing decorative buttons and contrast ties.

This fabric is actually from a sheet set that I thrifted! Crazy, huh.

Fabric: main: thrifted sheet (~$3, I got a fitted and normal sheet + 2 pillow cases for $8 and I didn't even use the whole sheet for this project!), lining: broad cloth (~$10), ties: polycotton blend(~$10)
Pattern: Colette Pattern's Crepe dress
Notions: buttons ($1.50), pipping (~$2)
Time to complete: <1 week
First worn: May 2011
Wear again? yes! I made a smaller sized top with a FBA than for my last version and it fits a lot better. The sleeves are a bit tight so I'll do one size bigger there next time. There is still a bit of awkwardness in the chest. I think I didn't need to do quite as big of a FBA for this pattern, but considering I didn't make a muslin this go round, it turned out great! I wore it to church today and got loads of compliments! I think I'll have to do embellishments more often!
Total Cost: $25.50 The most expensive part of this dress was the ties! The only reason I spent so much on the ties is I had trouble matching colors and by that point I just wanted something that was going to look good!

I've already gotten started on next weeks challenge of the perfect summer dress. Hopefully, it'll be done in time for the holiday festivities tomorrow!

P.S. I have heaps of this fabric left! Any suggestions on what else I could do with it?? Would anyone be interested in a giveaway of some of this fabric?

P.P.S. Forgot to mention that this project is my first FBA, first time using piping (and on a sweetheart neckline no less!) and the first time reusing a pattern.

Sew Weekly: Hat Trick

I participated in this past week's Sew Weekly challenge to make an outfit to go with a hat. I love hats so this was super fun! I used Simplicity 2549, which another participant happened to use too!

Love it! It was too rainy to take pictures outside, but everything looks nice in sepia.

The fabric I used was just darling! It turned out super cute.

This photo is best representative of the colors. Very springy!

I did a rough tissue fit and made some changes to the top. Empire waist dresses and blouses tend to only add fabric horizontally and not vertically when going up in bust size. I did not want the waist band across my girls! Everything turned out ok, even the adjustments to the facings! Woot! I didn't have time for a muslin. The only thing I need to change is take in the back. It's pretty loose. But since there is a center back zipper, it's an easy fix. I also remembered to add pockets! This is definitely going to be one of my favorite dresses.

While this is a modern pattern, it looks suspiciously like this dress soon to be in the Fab Gabs etsy shop. Empire waist, check. Waist band with bow, check. Faux wrap style top, check. Four pleats in the front, check. The sleeves are quite a bit poofier than the vintage dress, but that's an easy fix.