An Update and a Promise

I'ts been almost a year since my last post.  A lot has happened since then. Like, a LOT. I moved from Portland to Sacramento, lost weight, gained employment, lost employment, and am currently seeking employment-- just to name a *few* things.

In the meantime, I plan on sewing. A lot. Like, a WHOLE lot. I've been bitten by the bug again, and this time I'm sticking with strictly vintage and true vintage-inspired. I say "true" because there's too much "vintage" out there from the 1980's-- and now the 90's is considered vintage?? Come on people... it was only 20 years ago and I was just a kid then-- and still kind of am! Sheesh.

Anyways.

I am currently adding more things to my library section over there. To the left. Upper left... keep scrolling-- there ya go! You found it. A for effort. I have a good amount of original vintage sewing patterns lined up to work on for the foreseeable future, and here is a sneak peek of just a few:

Well what do we have here? Another pencil skirt?? Why yes, Yes, a resounding YES! (Details to follow in the library section.)

Goodness, this had better turn out like the illustration, wasp waist and all. Oh wait, I guess you have to actually *have* a wasp waist to begin with. Sigh. A girl can dream, can't she?

This is one of those mail-order patterns, but sadly the date isn't on the postmark. I'm guessing it is from the late 40's to early 50's. I don't see a copyright date anywhere on the instructions-- further googling is needed. (Details to be added in the Library Section soon!)

So this is pretty much just a drop in the bucket of what I have planned. A very shallow bucket, but a bucket indeed. I will be figuring out how I want these patterns structured in the Library-- individual entries, or just one big entry under a "Vintage Sewing Patterns" type category. Either way, each pattern will have more details like how/where I acquired each one, and a direct link to the blog post(s) as I work on each one, and any worthy historical tidbits as they apply. A compendium of sorts, if you will.

IN OTHER NEWS: I got a serger, I got a serger, I got a serger, hey hey hey HEY!

She's a basic Brother 4-thread, and I couldn't be happier....

Just look!

My wonderful husband got it for me from Amazon for a friggin' steal shortly after I yelled at him exclaimed "If I had a serger I would make these vintage panties until the cows came home!" I secretly (or not so secretly) think he gets a kick out of my crafting binges. Especially sewing, since it doesn't happen a lot and he has mentioned more than once that he would love to have home made clothes. Such a grandpa great guy.

Okay. Enough with the snarky strikeouts. I am off to sew my first practice pair of granny panties! (Couldn't help it. It was too good not to do it.) I look forward to adding much more to this blog in the coming weeks, and despite my good intentions when I started this thing a year ago, I will make good this time, promise fingers crossed!

the inevitable inagural new blog post

Even though I set up this new blog awhile ago, I am finally posting something since I now have something to post, finally! Lol

I will start with a description followed by a few pictures of my very first successful attempt at sewing a pencil skirt from an authentic vintage pattern (keyword: successful. The initial practice skirt didn't always fare so well...). I found the lightweight plaid wool material I scored on clearance from Joann's years ago and set it aside. I decided that if I were to do this successfully, I would do it right from step one. So I found a length of lightweight quilting batting and layed the pattern pieces out. Despite the pattern claiming to be an "INSTANT Skirt: paper pattern is all one piece; pin to fabric and cut complete skirt instantly", it was THREE pieces! (Well, now that I've written that, it just occurred to me that it may well have been all one piece the first time it was used, being positioned exactly in line with eachother and having to just pin the whole thing and cut, but the first time you cut it, it would turn into 3 seperate pieces! Oh my, does that make sense??)

I thought I would have to scour etsy to find an authentic pattern in my size, and was prepared to troll ebay if I came up emptyhanded.. fear not the vintage-pattern-in-my-exact-size quest-- I found it on the first few pages, and it was CHEAP-- $6.25 and only a few bucks for shipping!

Anyways, on to the pictures! The only ones I have so far are modeled on my dressform, more to come later of me wearing them myself...

Here is the pattern and the fabric of choice:


UPDATE (12-01-11)
This has been done for some time now, though in an entirely different fabric choice (though I did make one with the fabric up there first).

Front View:

Back view:

Driving Range View! (I got a mix of looks from people on the way up there, both good and bad. Whatevs.)