Summer Sewing and Knitting plans

I haven't posted any sewing plans lately so I thought I'd do some to help me get motivated. It's gotten hot lately and I need summer clothes.

First up: Circle skirt

I adore circle skirts and have decided that I need another one. My husband surprised me one day a few weeks ago by bringing me home some lovely fabric. It's a quilting cotton, but that's fine for circle skirts and because it's cotton, it will breathe and that's perfect for summer. Despite the length and gobs of fabric, I find them actually quite cool especially with a crinoline (or pooffer as they are called in my house) since they are light and keep the skirt fabric off your legs. Plus, there's all that space for air circulation.

Next: Dressing Downton Half Circle Skirt

This was supposed to be my May Dressing Downton project, but that didn't happen. I'm planning on doing a half circle skirt again but shorter since the appropriately deep red fabric in my stash is not long enough for a full length skirt. I'm almost 100% sure that Mary's skirt is not a half circle skirt. It has some kind of seam that goes part way down the front. I'm thinking it might be some kind of yoke??? All I know is that it is there. I got the blue ray of season 2 and you can see everything! (Well, almost everything.) Anyways, my fabric is just the right shade to go with my new 40s hat and I just bought a great 40s sheer blouse so this project is going to be a 40s inspired Downton Abbey look.

Thirdly: blouses

I've been toying with the idea of playing with my back buttoning blouse pattern and switching it up to be front buttoning. I have some stash fabrics that would work well with this. I also have some fabric for another Wearing History Smooth Sailing Blouse.

Next: Costume College things

I have one skirt I need to make for Costume College to go with my Dressing Downton blouses. I think I've decided against making a corset because I will need a new one for my Renaissance dress and I don't think I'll have time/finances for two new corsets.

More: Renaissance dress

This needs a new corset plus everything needs taken in plus my original plans for this dress which include more trim, interchangeable sleeves and maybe a new underskirt. And there is another accessory/sleeve bit that came with this pattern that I do want to make eventually. We'll see how much of this actually happens but I do want it to be wearable! I also wanted to make a simple skirt and top to wear under my corset for a more peasant-y look but I doubt that'll happen this year.

Lastly: Mending/UFOs

I got through a lot of my mending/resizing during Me-Made May but I still have a few things that need work. Also I have a 50s blouse and 40s dress UFOs that need finishing.

And I've also been pondering my next knitting project. I've been pouring over my giant book of vintage knitting fabulousness (aka A Stitch in Time Vol 2) for my next knitting project. I'm torn between wanting to try a more summery project or get started early on something more fall appropriate since it probably won't be done till near September anyways. My goal is 4 big knitting projects this year so this next one will be my July/August/September project. Here are some that have been catching my eye lately:

Dinah's Lacy Jumper for a fun summer project. I've decided that I really like lace work (and really hate tiny ribbing).

The Lavenda Droplet Jumper is lovely for fall. Plus it has the benefit of being mostly stockinette stitch.

The Jan sweater has been a popular one with many knitters and looks just delightful.

Simple- But So Attractive is a favorite of mine, but with the long sleeves this would be a major project and I'm not sure I'm up for that yet.

The Tailored Cape Stole would be a practical and (hopefully) easy project.

I've still got some work to do on my Ribbon Threaded Jumper but I've got all the separate pieces done so I just need to finish knitting the yoke and do all of the finishing and sewing up.

It's graduation party season!

It's graduation party season and Saturday I had two in one night. I went comfy casual while I was thrifting but just couldn't resist the chance to dress up for evening.

Outfit:
Sweater: The Limited
Skirt: me-made
Shoes: Payless
Necklace: Charming Charlie
Earrings: Forever 21
Hat: Feathers Vintage Clothing

Oh, my goodness! I adore this hat! I knew it was cute when I spotted it in the store but it's so much fun to wear! It's days like this that make me really love my bangs.

I think I need to add more navy to my wardrobe so I can rock this hat all summer!

I had a great hair day too! This is my THIRD day on the same pin curl set! This just goes to show that it's all about using the right products. More info on this to come later this week.

Usually, I have a hard time mixing neutrals. It just never feels right, but this combo worked. I think the pop of red helped. It would have been better with a red belt or purse or something but it's good. :)

Thrifting Fun

Thrifting is a rare occurrence for me because I don't have a regular thrifting buddy. And when I take my poor husband, he's ready to leave after 5 minutes, but today we worked something out. I thrifted and he went to a near by bar or some place to watch sports. As I hate watching sports, this was fine by me.

First, I stopped by a thrift store I'd never been to before. Several people had told me that I had to go see all of the vintage stuff they had. So I was pretty excited. They did have some clothes, hats and furniture but I was a bit under whelmed. The bad thing about going to a thrift store that knows they have vintage is that they price like they know they have vintage. I was hoping to at least take home a hat but it was not to be. Most were damaged. :(

I did find some goodies in the craft area. I snagged two pairs of knitting needles, a vintage belt kit and a pack of lingerie guards.

I also found this lovely hiding among the 80s knitting magazines. I wasn't entirely sure what it was in the store but I thought these two ladies were cute enough to warrant $0.80

It appears to be an interfacing kit for making a tailored jacket. Here's what was inside:

Two pieces of canvas with some felt attached and also a piece for the collar.

The felt is attached with these zig zag stitches that look similar to things I've seen on other people's hand made jackets. It's a size 14 which is a bit smaller that I wear so we'll see what happens with it. Have you ever seen anything like this?

I also went to another thrift store (after some yummy Mexican for lunch) but no luck there. I wasn't really expecting much since there is a local vintage store right down the street from it. And since I was right there, I couldn't not pop in the vintage store for a visit. I was looking for separates today but I got distracted by hats.

I got this lovely 40s hat. Just love it! It's actually a bit more maroon than the photo shows.

I was very happy to find a 40s hat to add to my collection. One day I want to have as many hats as Solanah but I have a long way to go!

I also couldn't resist this little navy and white 50s hat. I have some graduation parties to attend tonight and I think I just have to wear this hat out!

I know I have some local(ish) readers and really you should check this place out. It's called Feather's Vintage Clothing. It's smaller that the other local vintage store that closed this past summer but they have very reasonable prices. I thought the prices were very fair and I loved that everywhere I looked, there were more hats! I'll definitely be stopping back!

Disney: The End

So this Disney post is a long time coming but on my last day of vacation, I didn't get any outfit shots on my camera. They were all on my phone! So now that I've finally figured out how to get them back off of my phone, here they are!

Fabric: sheets (free), gingham ($6)
 Pattern: Wearing History's Chic Ahoy!
Year: 1930s
Notions: Buttons ($9), snaps (stash), hooks and eyes (stash), belt (thrifted)
Time to complete: a while-the top required 3 muslins...
First worn: Downtown Disney
Wear again? Yes! I was a bit nervous about the pants but they are crazy fun to wear. I was able to raise the back on the top so that I can wear a strapless bra with it so I envision wearing it a lot this summer.
Total cost: $15

Sewing wise, muslins are going to be a must for this pattern. I did a bit of pre-adjusting to the bottoms using another pair of vintage shorts pattern that I'd already gotten perfect, but they had to make some more changes. The biggest thing I wanted to change was the location of the crotch. As is common with vintage pants, the crotch is much lower than we wear it today. The top also needed muslins. I had to move the bust points and I also brought the neckline up. The biggest change I made was to raise the back of the top so I could wear a strapless bra with it. I so do not have a 30s sized chest! I used a strip of selvage on the top seam of the back to stabilize it. It's cut on the bias so I didn't want the top to stretch out and sag. So far so good!

I also made the little bolero that went with it but in Florida, I didn't really need it. Next time I wear this, I promise more pictures!

Last Minute Page Boy Tutorial

New youtube tutorial! I filmed this pre-hair dye fiasco but the next one will show the new fixed hair color.

It's not easy being green (especially when you have purple hair)

When I dyed my hair Thursday, it was a lovely color which lasted through Sunday morning. Now admittedly I was a bit rushed getting ready this (errr, every) Sunday morning and wasn't really paying attention to my hair. So when we left church after the service and my husband goes "Uh, your hair is purple..." it was quite a shock. And of course, I was wearing the color that most brings out purple chartreuse.

And this is the dress that I was going to wear to Wicked but didn't finish. Here are the details:

Fabric: some chartreuse linen or linen look fabric I got from my friend's destash (free)
Pattern: Butterick 5281
Year: 1946 reprint
Notions: Vintage snaps (free), zipper (stash), vintage buttons (came with this fabric)
Time to complete: three days
First worn: to church and my niece's graduation party
Wear again? Yes, but after my hair is no longer purple! I really like the color a lot more now that it's in dress form than I did when it was just a roll of fabric in my stash.
Total cost: free! Yay!

I paired it with brown wedges and my new tan 50s style purse. I've found some lovely vintage inspired pieces in the stores lately (some didn't come home with me though!) and I'm planning on a post on where to find them later this week.

Of course, today had to be the day of my niece's graduation party so gobs of people saw my purple hair. (My husband is older than me and he's the youngest in his family by a lot so I do have a niece who's graduated high school and another who's actually a few months older than me!) I only got a few shots since the camera battery decided to die. This camera didn't capture the color very well but it looked more like this:

Plum-y purple with red "shine"! Mine's not quite so dark but it's what I imagine this looks like after it's faded a bit. Lots of people told me they loved it and didn't really think it looked purple but I'm so not into it. I should have known that this was coming since I did notice some hairs in the shower while I was rinsing out the color that were definitely purple. But since my hair looked fine when I blow dried it, I didn't think anything of it.

**The rest of this post is a review of the color.**

The color I used was Garnier Nutrisse Ultra Color BL 26 Reflective Auburn Black. It's a special line designed for people with naturally dark hair so I thought it'd be a good fit for me. I thought this shade would be a good option to go dark since a bit of red would help keep the black from looking too flat and unnatural. There are 3 red shades, 3 brown shades and 3 black shades in this line and my hair looks much more like the picture on the box of R1 Dark Intense Auburn. I did read some reviews that said that there were some plumy results but the Garnier website just lumps all of the reviews for the entire line together rather than separating them out by shade so I assumed it went with the R1 because it did look a bit plumy on the box. The other bad thing about this color is that it still runs in the shower! Since I love doing pin curls, this is a big no no for me. There were also reviews that mentioned this but again, I assumed they went with the actually red shades!

Now I will say some good things about this product. It did actually dye some red over my dark hair which is really hard for me to do. If it had stayed the original color, I'd be all over this dye. It smelled really good for a hair dye and came with an extra add in with some oils and such that smelled lovely. The gloves that came with it are much nicer than the gloves that usually come with hair dye. Normally I have to use my own gloves because I hate the super cheap ones that are usually included. My hair feels pretty good too and the conditioner that was included is really good.

In general, I do like Garnier products and I'll probably even use a different hair dye color from them in the future but I do have one more major beef with their colored hair products. I use their shampoo and conditioner when I don't color treat my hair but their color treated line contains citric acid. I'm sure many of you have heard that you can use lemon juice to lighten your hair. Well, citric acid is the stuff in lemon juice that lightens your hair! I'm sure they use citric acid and lemon extract to get the signature Garnier fruity scent, but there are some other great naturally occurring chemicals in lemons and other fruits that smell yummy besides citric acid! (Yay chemistry!)

I'm not sure how much citric acid they do put in their shampoos and conditioners but I don't want to wash anymore hair dye down the drain than I have to. So, I opt to purchase other brands of shampoo and conditioner when my hair is color treated.

I'm going to try and get some video of my hair before I dye it again and do a video review.

Wicked!

Sorry for the radio silence! The husband and I had tickets to see Wicked Friday night and I, being the genius that I am, decided on Thursday that I really did want to make a new dress for the occasion. So I sewed like crazy on Thursday and Friday..... and didn't get the dress done on time. (But I did finish it to wear today so pictures are coming.)

This is what I wore instead:
hat-vintage
sweater- The Limited
broach- my great-grandmother's
skirt-vintage
shoes- boutique in Maine

I adore this circle skirt! I got it dead stock with the tags still on it! I believe it's taffeta but it has this great velvet floral print on it. Super fun!

I've been waiting ages to see this show and it was so worth it! We had front row seats so I got an eye full off all of the costumes (and shoes!). I did a Wicked inspiration post a while back and I think another one is in order. Asymmetrical Victorian-esque multicolored goodness!

I had a lot of positive response to my ensemble. I love wearing vintage out and about. People love it!

Wish I was going again! All of the actors were fabulous. I so miss being on stage. I was a drama nerd in high school.

If you've been following me on facebook, you already know that I dyed my hair Thursday. It was this gorgeous dark color with a reddish tint. Alas, it is no longer this color. It is positively plum and I'm not too excited about it. :( I'm so not in love with the purple (though I did have quite a few people say that they liked it) and it will be dyed some other color asap unless the color changes yet again.