Foray into the Forties

I've got a couple of WIPs that I've been working on the last few weeks, and wanted to share them with you, just to prove I've actually been sewing. The first is a modified version of Butterick 5152 (the 1948 robe pattern). This was essentially a wearable muslin, as I've never used the pattern before and the fabric was some quilting cotton I used as part of a stash busting effort. I've shortened it and added a waistband that will button in order to make it into more of a house dress. Sorry the second picture is a bit fuzzy. The camera and lighting in my house this morning weren't cooperating as I would have liked. 

Overall this pattern went together pretty easily. I cut a size larger than I usually would, so that it will be comfortable for immediately post-baby. The only issue that I ran into with the pattern was the blousing effect on the bodice back. The top is intended to blouse, as was the style in the 40s (particularly in a robe), but the blousing at the back of this was a bit extreme. I am a bit swayback as well, which may have something to do with it. I had a friend (also swayback) come over and try it on before I did any alterations since fitting on myself is a little challenging right now. I ended up taking about 2 inches of length out of the bodice back in order to get a smoother line. I have yet to hem it or make buttonholes in the waist, since I want to wait and do that once I'm not a complete watermelon anymore and can check it on myself. 

The second project I've been working on is a 1940s shirtdress. As I've said before, I'm making an effort to make myself some nursing friendly dresses to wear, and so shirtdress, and other patterns I can easily adjust to open in the front are on the docket now. This one was also a stash buster; another quilting cotton that's been sitting around for a few years. The pattern I'm using is Simplicity 4729 from 1943. I'm making View 1, but without the ruffle trim, and will most likely only use two buttons (as in View 2). 

I've got the bodice and skirt assembled, and just have to attach the sleeves, hem the skirt and finish the fastenings. I really like how it's coming together so far, and I may well use this pattern again in the future. 

I really liked this "coffee bean" print, but I do wish the fabric were a bit less stiff. I think the skirt would hang a little better. Again, as more or less a wearable muslin, I'm pretty happy with it. 

I'm still debating what to do with that rayon print I posted last time, but in the meantime I have another button front dress pattern in the queue. Once I get this shirtdress finished up I will be starting on this 1930s pattern: Simplicity 2636 from 1938. I have this lovely, pale lavender, cotton lawn that I plan on using for it. It will be nice and light for summer, but will obviously require a slip at all times. I've actually got a 1960s slip in my "collection" with a broken strap that I never wear. I never wanted to get rid of it because I got it for free, it's exactly my size, and the lace is pretty, but I haven't bothered to fix it either. I realized the other day that I could actually make it into a nursing slip when I do fix the straps, since it needs to be done anyway. I can just as easily use snaps or hooks to make it more utilitarian. 

I'm going to be making View 1 (without the sash) since the tiny buttons on the front bodice are actually functional. I was a little surprised by this, but was glad to discover this since it means I don't have to alter the pattern to add functional front buttons. I'm going to need to find/make a narrow purple or green belt to go with it, but once can never have too many different colors of belts anyway. 

Hope everyone else is enjoying their weekend!

Decisions, decisions.

I have a question for all of you. I have 4.5 yard of this lovely floral print challis (it's 54" wide) and am having a devil of a time figuring out exactly what I want to do with it. I bought it knowing I wanted to do something late 30s-early 40s, with gathering details and so forth, but am limited not only by my pattern stash when it comes to this sort of thing, but also by the fact that I need it to unbutton in front (needs to be relatively nursing friendly).

I have a couple of patterns that may be in the running, but am not sure that fabric-wise they will be the best choice, as this challis doesn't have a whole lot of body. I can fix that to a certain extent with interfacing, but would like some other opinions.

Here's the fabric....

And here are the two patterns I'm toying with at the moment...

Marian Martin 9241

And Anne Adams 4811...

I'm totally comfortable with combining components of patterns, or drafting new pieces (although I would rather not take the time right now), but I'm having a really hard time deciding A. if either of these will work, or B. if this is really the style I want to go for at all. These are very different from most of what I have in my closet now (although I am a fan of this era), but most of what I have is also not nursing friendly and I'd love to have something practical but cute.

Any opinions on these two patterns, or suggestions of other patterns to look at would be much appreciated!

Thanks,

A UFO sighting

Several weeks ago I started working on a 1940s knitted turban with what I had left from the cabled baby jacket and socks. However, I soon realized that I was not going to have enough yarn for the whole turban, so I was forced to frog it. I've since started on a baby hat from a vintage pattern book with the rest of that yarn. Anyway, in the meantime I have also pulled out one of my remaining UFOs to work on. It is a 1950s lace sweater in an aqua colored lamb's wool. 

This is the pattern I'm using. 

I've gotten the back finished and am very nearly finished with the front. I don't have any decent pictures of them, but I should get some taken here soon. I've hit a major snag in the project for the moment, however, both literally and figuratively. I developed a HUGE tangle in the yarn (which in lace weight yarn is incredibly infuriating). I spent an hour and a half working at it last night and made major headway, but still have a big tangle to work out. I have to get it all untangled because my yardage is very limited and I can't afford to waste a single bit of the yarn. As it stands, I may have to make the sleeves a teensy bit shorter already and don't want to start hacking at this wonderfully soft yarn anyway. Patience, though, is a great virtue to the knitter/sewer and I am making a good practice of it with this mess. I know I can loosen it all eventually. 

For the last couple of days I've been trying to get lots of organizational/prep work done around the house before the baby gets here as well. We have less than 8 weeks to go now, and I still have lots of work to get finished so I can just relax the last couple of weeks. Today I threw together a couple of wet bags (we're will be cloth diapering at least part time) and it was a nice, quick project to make me feel like I'd done something productive without much effort. Here's a sneak peak of them. They are lined with PUL (so they're more or less waterproof on the inside) and each has a snap strap for hanging on strollers, cribs, etcetera if need be. This "jungle babies" fabric was just too cute to pass up as well. I think I may have just enough of the PUL left to make a cloth diaper cover as well. We will see. All in all, I spent about $12 total on these two bags: not too bad since store bought ones seem to cost at least twice that much. 

I've also got a 1940s house dress in the works for after the baby is born. I hope to get that finished up and have pictures for you all soon. I had to make a few alterations to the back (it was SUPER blousy) but I think I've got it worked out. I had to have a friend come try it on since I can't get the wrap front around myself right now. I think it's going to be really cute though. 

Hope everyone is having a good week!

Just a quick couch update

So, if you've seen any of my last few posts, you know good and well that I've been SERIOUSLY procrastinating about finishing the refurb work on our couch. Well, it's still not 100% finished (there are a couple of touch up things needed on back and bottom) I'm just about there. I put together the three bottom cushion covers last night, so the big cushions are all finished now. And let me tell you, wrangling those suckers was no easy feat. I was thoroughly worn out by the time I got them all on. They are made of some dense, and very heavy foam! Sorry for the blurry laptop photo, but I didn't feel like hauling out the big camera and taking pictures.

There are also two small cushions that sit at either arm of the couch. One of those is finished, and I was working on the other last night, but accidentally let the zipper pull slide off and have had a devil of a time getting it back on since the cotton tape is beginning to fray. I will most likely end up going to get a new zipper, which means that final cushion will have to wait a bit, but at this point the couch is finally a uniform fabric and is totally usable. I didn't take a before photo, because the couch really was just too horrendous to inflict on the public. We brought it from Mr. S's apartment, and suffice it to say, it was a hand me down couch that had been owned and destroyed "loved" by a bachelor and his various roommates for the last 12 years. It also looked like a dog had maybe tried digging for a few too many chew toys at some point. Anyway, it was filthy and faded and completely torn up, and his roommates were shocked that I let him keep it. This couch is, however, a really great piece of furniture, despite the terrible abuses it appeared to have suffered over the last decade or so. First and foremost, it's giant! When you remove the back cushions it's almost the size of a twin bed (a fact for which my uncomfortable, pregnant insomniac self has been very grateful lately). On top of that, in spite of all the headache and backache that recovering this couch has been, I only spent about $260 to refurb it, compared to the much higher costs of having someone professionally reupholster it or buying a new couch. Plus now that I'm just about finished with this I don't have to feel guilty for working on fun projects for myself, and that is always nice.

On a side note, I just got a copy of A Stitch in Time Volume 2 and Vintage Gifts to Knit in the mail a couple of days ago. I'm very impressed with the first one in particular. It has both the original and that updated versions of the patterns, as well as lots of information about vintage fit and popular techniques used in the patterns, something I find really interesting. I'm very excited about several of the sweaters and things in these two books and once I work through the two sweaters and the baby outfit I have in my knitting docket I hope to set to work on some of these.

Image source

Image source

And finally, on a completely unrelated note, while searching through my pattern stash yesterday afternoon, I discovered to my own disappointment and shame that I do not have a single (30s-40s specifically) housedress/housecoat pattern! I really want to make myself a 1940s housedress to throw on while I'm sitting at home, or to run to the grocery, etc, and I'm going to have to improvise it seems. It also needs to be something that's relatively nursing friendly. I have a couple of dress patterns and Butterick 5152 that I think I'm going to play around with to make something workable.

Image Source

I think I'm going to use this as a base (short sleeved version), shorten it to knee length, omit the sash in favor of a double button closure at the waist, and add a pocket on the right hip. We'll see what ends up actually happening. 

Have a good weekend, all!

Family snapshots

I've had a pretty decent stack of old family photos that I've been meaning to scan for a very long time in order to share with you all (and my extended family). Many of them make for great costume study resources, as they are a great way to see what normal people wore in daily life in decades past. It's always fun to look through pictures of my grandmother and her friends in particular since she was always so stylish. She still looks like a regular person though, making it fun to see how "trendy" looks in the 30s, 40s and 50s looked on normal people. I haven't had time to get through too many of them, what with trying to keep track of all the notes and things written on the photos as well, but I wanted to share the first bunch with you all. 

Not sure who this lady is, but I love her outfit. Looking at the houses, I'm pretty sure it's one of great aunts on my grandfather's side, but I could be wrong. 

Alice, Pat, Maryjane, Dot (?) - Indianapolis 11-29-1943  - My grandmother is the one with the big leopard collar.

My great Aunts Ethel and Peggy, and my Uncle Tommy and one of the other boys (not sure which one, there were 11 of them all told)

My uncles Chester and Jimmy, and "?" playing cowboys and indians (early to mid '30s probably)

A little fuzzy, but my grandmother on the left

My grandparents at the beach

Nana with my aunt and twin uncles - 1948?

Nana is the second from the right

My grandparents (right) with some friends (early 1950s?)

One more with dad in the picture as well ( 1948?)

Nana - pretty sure this was her graduation dress

And last but surely not least, my favorite of the bunch....

The back of this reads "Hi sweetie!! Gee, I love you!!" - I'm guessing she sent this one to my grandfather

Isn't that an adorable bathing suit?! And I am a huge fan of the spectators (something I clearly come by honestly). I can't get anywhere near that tan, though. 

We are on spring break this week, so I've got a little respite from grading for a while, and we've been working on getting the house a little more organized before the baby gets in a just a couple of short months. I'll hopefully also be getting the couch finished (or mostly there) and several more photos scanned and uploaded. Hope everyone has had a good start to the week!

Silk Lounge Jacket

Since lesson plan reviewing, cushion re-covering and dish washing are all really boring activities, I decided I wanted to make something fun and pretty for myself. I've got so many pieces of fabric sitting in my stash for projects that have been put on further hold because I won't be back into my normal clothes for a few months yet, and we still have lots to do to get the house ready for the baby, I really felt the need last night to do something frivolous and a little luxurious for myself as far as sewing goes (maternity clothes are practical, but not particularly luxe feeling). I had just over two yards of this gorgeous silk that I got from a friend about a year ago, and hadn't quite decided what to do with it. I'm not sure why, but suddenly last night I had a brain wave. It would be PERFECT for a lounge jacket. Mr. S. has a comfy silk smoking jacket that he's had for ages and it's simply not fair for me to not have one as well ;)

I was in the process of re-filing a bunch of my patterns that had been removed from their respective drawers for one reason or another, and remembered I had this pattern from Eva Dress. It's a 1933 Lounging Ensemble, and it's the same pattern I had adapted before to make my 1930s pants that I love so much. I hadn't ever had the chance to use the blouse, apron or jacket components though, and I do love them all, so I decided to do a test run with this silk. 

Pardon the bad lighting. Taking pictures in my house after early afternoon is always a bit of a challenge because of the way the light comes in. 

The pattern is a size 12, and I graded it up (slash and spread) to a 16 (1930s equivalents). Sometimes I can get away without grading patterns up, but I wanted this to fit loosely like it is supposed to, and fitting on myself is a little challenging right now since I'm 20 pounds heavier than usual and a totally different shape. 

The armscyes are just a bit snug (totally wearable just not as relaxed as I would have liked), but that may also work itself out once the baby is born and I'm back to my normal size. 

I followed the pattern pretty directly, only altering the pocket edge by making a reverse facing in order to match the wrong side of the fabric that I used for the cuff turn-backs.

I finished the whole garment with french seams or facings, and this fabric really was wonderful to work with. It hangs beautifully and feels like buttah! I love the color, too. It was tough figuring out what to make with it when I acquired it due to the limited yardage and the slightly more abstract pattern (a bit of a departure from my usual solids and simple geometrics or florals). It's very well suited, however, to this sort of jacket I think. The painterly quality of the pattern and the slightly artistic feeling, smock like qualities of the garment design seem to work in perfect harmony. 

This was a pretty quick, simple project to give myself a break from all the housework, baby related projects, and work related tedium. I'm really excited to have something new and glamorous feeling to sit around the house in after the baby is here. 

Drawn work baby cap

Hello all! Hope you all had a wonderful Valentine's Day. We're having particularly nice weather today and it's really doing wonders for my mood. Hopefully it holds out for a while. It's much easier lugging things back and forth from my office to my car without all the extra bundling up. Anyway, last night I finished another of my many UFOs, an 18th century baby cap of handkerchief linen. I actually started this about two years ago when we found out a friend was pregnant with their first child, and it was originally intended as a baby gift for her. However, the drawn work became a much more involved task than anticipated (especially in the middle of grad school and a lot of other upheaval) and needless to say it did not get finished in time to give to her. So, then we found out about a year or so ago that ANOTHER reenacting friend was having a baby and I thought "Well great! Now I can finish this and give it to HER!" But oh, the best laid plans.....

Well, when we found out that we were expecting our first I decided once and for all that I was going to get this silly thing finished. By this time I had already decided to SERIOUSLY scale down the amount and intricacy of my drawn work design. At first I thought since it was such a small garment it would be an easy one to use as a sort of sampler, incorporating many different patterns on both cap and ruffles. However, after I realized that if I kept up this goal I would never actually get the thing finished I decided to nix many of my ideas and just finish the two patterns on the sides of the cap. I got that finished and then it languished for a while again as I was busy with other things and finally sat down the other day to finish the rolled hems and whipped gathers on the ruffle. My original plan was to do a double ruffle, but I didn't have the length I needed for that, so I instead did a split, single ruffle. I don't think I will ever attempt drawn work again (I enjoyed it, but it's also a bit too labor and time intensive to be practical), but I will admit having another chance to do some tiny rolled hems is always something I enjoy. Whipped gathers are pretty fun, too, especially on something this delicate. So, without further ado, here are some (not very brightly lit, sorry) photos of the finished piece. 

I wasn't really as careful as I should have been with my drawn work designs, and since I didn't count my threads as precisely as required the two sides are a bit different from one another. Not much to do about that once I cut the thread though! Oh well. The entire cap (as is obvious when looking at the hems) was hand stitched. I've always had a bit of a soft spot for miniatures, and any other small, dainty, or OCD satisfying meticulous handwork, so doing all of the rolled hems for this cap was really something I enjoyed a great deal. While I generally use my rolled hem foot for this sort of thing on modern garments, anytime I have an excuse to make them on something for my 18th century wardrobe it makes me happy (ok I'll admit partly just because it's easier to sit in front of the television and do this than use the machine). Now the baby has some headwear for his/her (this is so much easier in spanish, why don't we have a neuter option??) 18th century debut in October. While I have many more projects to finish before then, up next will be some 18th century baby gowns and so forth. It's always chilly so I have to make sure I have plenty of clothes for bundling the little one up!

Have a lovely week!