"She must be throwing Harry's money around!"

My mom just sent me this adorable booklet she found at a thrift store, called "Home Sewing is Easy" by none other than Sally Stitch. It's 60 pages long, and undated, but I'm guessing it's from sometime around the late 40s/early 50s. Free-Westinghouse is the sewing machine featured on the cover so I assume they prepared this booklet. I'll forgo any commentary because it pretty much speaks for itself...

Click on any image to enlarge.

Dreaming of satin, charmeuse, and crepe...

I had a nice weekend in Vancouver. Despite the fact that it's always a few degrees colder and a little more wet than Seattle, it's got a vibrancy and movement that Seattle never seems to match.

I didn't visit any fabric/sewing stores. I did, though, pop into a magazine shop (whose name I don't recall) that I happened to walk by on West 4th in Kitsilano to check out their sewing magazine selection. I saw both September and October BWOFs available, but no other European pattern magazines, like Marfy, Patrones, etc.

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I've noticed other bloggers have started thinking about holiday dresses. Me too! Specifically a dress for New Years Eve. I'm leaning towards doing a 1930s or 1940's style gown.

Butterick just reissued a style that I'm really digging, B5136. I'm not sure about the backwards shrug, but I love the one-shoulder dress, and it's supposed to be easy to sew, which is what I want if I'm going to be dealing with slippery fabric like charmeuse.

This pattern is available at the Vintage Pattern Lending Library, it's T1602, 1930 evening gown with back bands. I like the look of the two bands in the back, and the pointed skirt yoke in back is a beautiful art deco touch. The front of the bodice is "held with clips." Anyone know what kind of clips those would be?

This 1930's pattern from Eva Dress, style 371, is drop dead gorgeous! It has an inverted pleat at the center front of the bodice, and "the low back decolletage is framed with two wing-shaped jabots." Jabots?! I've never worn jabots before! And the sheer cape.... sigh.... Unfortunately I think this would be too big of a project for me to tackle at this time. I'm envisioning at least 2 muslins and a fair amount of fussing to get the CF pleat and jabots to fall nicely.

Anyone know when the next Butterick sale will be?

1960's inspired LBD

Every few months I pull this pattern from my stash and think about making it up. Finally last week I decided to go through with it. It's Simplicity 7170 with a copyright year of 1967.

Likes/dislikes
There's nothing to dislike about this pattern. It's quick to make and easy to wear. It's a great piece for going out for dinner or drinks, and when the weather cools off I'll wear it with tights.

Fabric
Rayon/poly/lycra

Alterations/design changes
I shortened the length and made the sleeves a bit wider for more of a kimono effect. I also widened the neck.

The pattern included facings for the neckline, instead I just finished the neckline like a t-shirt with a 1.5" strip of fabric. Also, the pattern included a facing for finishing the sleeves; instead I opted to just turn the edge under and stitch.

The center front and center back seams provide minimal shaping; if I were to make this again in a print, I'd just cut the front and back pieces on the fold; the front has a bust dart which is what really matters.

I added asymmetric pockets, and that was actually the most time consuming part of the construction.

Conclusion
I'd really love to make this up in a Missoni-style knit, so I'm keeping my eyes peeled for that.

My name is Christina and I'm a patternholic

Usually when I buy vintage patterns online, $5 is my limit. And if I'm at a yard sale, then most I would spend is $1, and I'd try to bargain it down.




But I couldn't help myself. Last night I was cruising Lanetz Living, one of my favorite vintage pattern resources, when I came across this Vogue pattern. It was love at first sight. It's my size. And with a simple $15 Paypal exchange, it is now mine.

I think what really got me is the back yoke with the little buttons. I am contemplating making 7 of these in different colors; along with the assortment of tights in my closet, it would be a great winter uniform.


At least I held myself back from buying 2 more patterns in order to qualify for free shipping, fooling myself into thinking it was a "good deal". I did use my Friends of PR 15% discount code, but then with the shipping, it was really a wash.

Start saving your quarters, yard sale season has begun

On Saturday morning my friend invited me along to a church rummage sale. Of course I said yes because church ladies often like to sew, so the potential for finding sewing-related goods was high. We also hit a few yard sales in the surrounding neighborhood. Here's what I got:

mini ironing board, for sleeves and such, $1

cotton fabric with stamped border print, labelled as being from Samoa, 4 yards, 42" wide, $2

4 vintage patterns, 25 cents each (note the little swatch of blue & red polyester houndstooth stapled to the wrap dress pattern)

I wanted to show you this tent dress in particular, Butterick 4601. It's a 'turnabout' dress, which means you can wear either the pleated or the plain side in front. There is only one pattern piece, and the pattern layout page couldn't be simpler!

The neck and armholes are finished with bias strips of the fashion fabric. Looks like a fun one-day project.

Paper Pursuits

I just discovered a great online vintage fashion resource - Paper Pursuits: Fashion & design print collectibles. This site sells vintage fashion magazines, advertisements, and designer sewing patterns. If you already know of this site, sorry, I just stumbled into it and got pretty excited!

The pattern collection is just to die for! Warning: the prices may trigger that cardiac arrest (if you're used to shopping for vintage pattterns on Ebay or Lanetz Living, like me). I love the As Seen In... page, where there is a side-by-side view of the sewing pattern and the designer garment in a "current" magazine.

I browsed the magazines; some of the individual issues allow you to view a selection of pages inside. I think a great birthday gift idea would be to give someone a magazine from the month and year of their birth.

Overall, this website is easy to navigate and has great image quality - features that are unfortunately not so common in some of the other online vintage fashion resources I've visited.