vintage new pj's

My middle daughter ha been pestering me to make new pj's for her.  She hates nightgowns and flannel pj bottoms end up too hot.  so we came up with this.  This is made from a vintage simplicity pattern 7841 from 1968.  I found the pattern thrift shopping for $ 0.50.  You can find it on line at etsy.  We did not like the hat look eeeww so we did not make that but the rest was fine.



Because she decided I was starting this in the middle of the night we used a white flannel sheet, and cotton left over sheet from an apron for the play.  The flowers came off a dress she use to wear as a little girl but they use to go all the way around the her  waist now just across the yoke of her bodice.  Lots of lace to make it look cute and three pink buttons on the back and a little piece of white scrap double sided satin ribbon and voilà you have new pj's.  She likes them a lot.  Which is good because she had me make two sets which took three  days out of my sewing time for the play.

The other lavender set I will post another day when she is wearing them. This pink set is the cuter of the two sets and the one I made second the one I have yet to show was the first one I made and not as cute.

Belt Fall Harvest Dress

So as I said I wanted a belt for the dress I was modifying for my daughter to wear to the fall harvest formal.  I decided on a cumber-bun belt that was in a pattern I have from the 1950's Simplicity 2089.
I had a  size 13 pattern which is a 25 inch waist  in the 1950's my daughter has a 26 inch waist plus we wanted a little growing room as the dress has a bigger waist than that too.  Since my daughter is just a little bit bigger than that pattern I added an extra panel at the center back where the snaps are located to lengthen it.  All the belt truly is, is a very large rectangle with soft pleats that is cut on the bias thus it can stretch and fit the couture of the body better.  Did not need a pattern to make it but always nice to have one so I do not have to figure it out all the time.  Belt looks twisted in the top photo but the wrinkles will lay flat I just did not play with them before the photo.  Also this belt took about 10 mins to make from start to finish.  Made out of bright orange poly satin, seam binding, and 4 real large snaps.

Louisa curtain outfit

Louisa is the one that has the scarf pulled off of her head by captain von Trapp.
So since she had to wear a head scarf I made her out fit more peasant like this too is a 1940's patterns for the blouse and skirt.  This one I wish I had reworked so that it was a zip up  dress too like the other dresses.  But as it stands it is a pull over top and a zip up skirt which is still a pretty fast costume change.  This one does have the wrong lace on  it but I ran out of the other and well that is just how it goes sometimes.  Also since taking these photos I added a bow to the front of the blouse to make it easier to figure out front from back when changing costumes I have also added cording to the front edge of the scarf.

Brigetta curtain outfit

OK so busy costuming for the play have not had time to post or take photos.  SO most things I will have to post after the play.  I have since modified this dress from what you see in this photo above.

I have made the neck less wide by inserting two fabric panels over the shoulders.  I have also added braid binding over the shoulder around the outside and inside of the collar as well.

 Once again a zipper closure to make a fast costume change.  Once again this is a true 1940's pattern that I used to make this dress.

2 little ducks went out to play

 

It has been a while since I showed some embroidery.  I pulled this out of the box  a few weeks ago and started to embroider it.

If you remember a while back I made this and added the handmade tatting to it that I had done.  But I had wanted to embroider on it.  My oldest daughter who did this wanted to help so we each did a little. Her stitches are getting real good almost can not tell whose stitches are whose I still can but not for long. She did all the flowers and the feet and beaks.I am sending this post to my little brother today so that he will have it for his new little baby girl that will arrive soon.  Along with a few baby bonnets and such too.  Some day I need to start teaching them to sew clothes.  It would be a good thing but I always figured if I show them everything else sewing clothes is easy the patterns tell you what to do but i should teach them.

Added lace to gingham dress

For got to take a picture of the lace before I added it to the dress but I found this old picture that has two of the laces in it the antique ones.
In this below photo the top most right cream Irish crochet lace is on the collar and on the far left right below the white lace with the turquoise edging is the one I used for the m hem.  This photo was taken back in 2008.  

Above that is my handmade lace box where I place laces I make and laces I buy that are handmade for future use.  Some of these I still have as lace and some have been all used up.. This is a 12 gallon tote so it holds a lot of lace it is about half full at the moment  Some of the lace in this box my children have made as well as they were learning how to crochet, tat, or knit.  Some new I made some antique given to me pretty much everything has a history I and I know them all  The little tags (embroidery thread bobbins) you see attached to things is how I remember things like that on special ones.  Like the ones I used in this dress they had tags on them for years so I would not just use them up because they were special and given to me out of love from my grandmother and one of her best friends.  They had been in the friends family for years so I was honored when she let them leave her family line and was passed to mine.

Little gingham dress done but not done

I finished sewing the gingham dress on Sunday but I as most know can not leave something plain Jane or the way a pattern tells me to do.  I have to add something to make it a little more special or a little more me.

 

I was given some Irish crochet lace (2 small pieces) and some very wide crochet lace by my Vavo a few years back it was a gift to her from our family friend Dorthy Avila. I have been saving both pieces of lace for a special occasion as they are over 100 years old and I wanted to do them justice.  I have decided to use them on here plus some tatting I did too made from antique thread.  I do not have all the laces sewn on as of yet so I will save that for another post.

I did want to let you know how the dress came out on its own as pictured in the pattern.  I must say the sleeves were the most confusing part of the pattern.  If I ever make this pattern again I have reworked the sleeves in my head to a way that will be easier and faster and not so difficult.  It almost seams like the person who made the pattern wanted it to be hard to do the sleeves and make them look well.  I also added seam binding to the hem the pattern had you just roll the hem.  I think this will look better especially once all the antique handmade laces are added to the dress.
I also sewed on the button with pink embroidery thread and bullion knots just for a small surprise of color.  Sorry for the lack of ironing before I took the photos.  I think this would be the perfect St. Patrick's day dress especially after I get done with the lace.  Can I possibly hope for a little red headed granddaughter someday to just make it perfect.  Probably not since redheads do not run in my family  but my husband has one sort of redheaded brother so just maybe the girls have that gene in them somewhere.

Added ribbon woven ribbon as belt

OK sometimes I just can not leave a project alone this one was bothering me because after I had finished sewing it, it still looked so plain even with the bright orange crinoline and an orange lining.  So I posted on face book that I thought it needed more just was not sure what.  When a cousin gave a suggestion of a wide belt 2 or 3 inches and a bow in the back.  This is not exactly what she suggested but  sort of is.

Retro 50's dress on daughter

Here is what the dress looks like on my daughter.  Of course it would look better with heels and hair fixed but this was just so people could see how it fit her and what the crinoline looked like being screaming orange.  Wish I had not taken the first photo while she stood on the grass made her look much shorter with this length of dress.  Thus the second photo on the side walk so you can see where it actually hits on her legs.  Yes I should have ironed it before photo but I was in a hurry this the lack of hair shoes makeup, and ironing and all the like.  So does it need some embellishments and if so what type of them do you think it needs.  Other than a Letterman sweater, buster browns and bobby socks and a screaming high pony tail.

New Retro dress from vintage pattern

I have three daughters which most people who follow this blog know. My oldest just left junior high and is now in high school.  I was thinking a few weeks back I am going to have a lot of girls in high-school going to formals at the same time real soon.  The thought of buying  3 brand new formals at  the same time is sort of  nightmarish to me both in price and time and modesty concerns.  So I decided I would make some and find some new thrift shopping ie still have tags on them.  I have made a few dresses as of late so I can get better at adding zippers and doing linings plus my children can wear these dresses now.  In the summer I hope to make a few fancy simple classic dresses in larger sizes and set them aside for my daughters to pick from for their formals.  They have all agreed to this, so it should be fun.  They get to help pick patterns and the fabric  from my stash and then we make it.  Then when the dance happens which ever dress they fit into at that time they can wear.  Sounds fun to us maybe not to others sort of the unknown on which dress you will get to wear to which dance but at least it will be modest and one their mom made which makes them happy.

All finished

This is the dress that I made for my daughter this past weekend.  She got a lot of compliments at church today she said over 40 people stopped her to comment on how much they liked it.

Simplicity 2491 vintage sewing pattern

My middle daughter told me Friday that she did not have a dress for her concert performance for Tuesday.  She is a tween and nothing ever fits her when we go to the store to look for dresses so we figured we had to sew it just like last time.  Going through my patterns. I found out that her measurements put her all over the board on what size clothes she could fit.  Meaning no pattern would fit her well either.  So we found a vintage pattern , simplicity 2491 view 2, in my collection that was a little loose in the chest area but too tight in the waist we figured if we dropped the front darts it would fit her as her waist has yet to start to get smaller should start happening in the next 6 months. Because of this no little girl patterns fit her and not teen to adult patterns fit her either.  I figured the waist measurement would not matter in a loose dress like this ie 3 inches too big at the bust.  Also it being about 3 inches loose  would give her ease of movement plus growing room.