Vintage Blouse Complete

Finally my journey is done! I think it turned out pretty cute considering I am new at the whole pattern making process. I used some black chalk to mark my center front and I tried to take a damp cloth to wipe these lines away for the pictures but they are still there a bit. Into the wash she goes on delicate cycle after these pics!

I do like the white trim I think it pops against the grey and brings more interest to the design.

I must have redone the shoulders 4 times I keep getting “peaked shoulders”, “pointy shoulders” ???? WHY?? Does anyone know what I may be doing wrong? Please share!!

So now my next journey is skirts! Something I rarely wear or make but thought it might be nice to bring more of this into my wardrobe.  I am taking Suzy Furrer course on the skirt sloper right now and made my first mock-up muslin sloper. It is very close but you see I have the belly problem that causes drag lines in this area. I am awaiting a response from Suzy on what changes I should do next? I did a lot of reading in the comment section of the course and reviewing other people’s sloper with similar problems and it seems she says the same thing to this common problem.  I think I need to move my darts over by 1 inch to the side, maybe even reduce them a bit. If that does not smooth them out then I may need to get rid of the darts altogether or slash from base to waist and add a bit of fabric to the muslin to give more room for my spare tire 😉 I think the back is pretty good and I think the side seams are in the right place?

Anyone else have any suggestions?

Have a great weekend everyone!

The Vintage Dress Completed!

 

I finally finished the retro vintage Tia dress by sewchic.com!! It has an excellent twirl factor especially with the petticoat I made for this dress.

It’s flirty and fun.  I love the way it turned out for my first time. I also added horsehair braid to the hem of the skirt for added fullness especially if I wear it without the petticoat this gives it a beautiful drape and finish.

Pattern

• by Laura Nash from sew chic.com
• why? Because I love vintage clothes!!

Scooby Snack Rating

• not more than 2 cocktails girls there are a few tricky, nippy parts.

Material

•  I choose a bold cotton I found at M and L Fabrics in Anaheim CA 3.99 a yard! (More on that tidbit later)
• I also needed one yard of fabric for the trim at 4.99 a yard. I always prepare my fabrics first before sewing them. To do this I simply washed and dried them as I normally would any other cotton clothes.
• 1 yard of iron on interfacing 2.99 yard.
• 3 yards of netting for the petticoat
• 1 (1/4 inch) bias white binding for the petticoat.
• I used cotton thread in matching color, 80/12 needles
• regular sewing foot and use of a serger for the seams on the skirt portion and petticoat.
• marking tools (tailors chalk, rulers, pins)
• cutting tools: snips, scissors and I love to cut out my pattern pieces on a large quilting mat with a rotary cutter using large washers to hold down the pattern and fabric.
• pressing tools such as seam roll, tailors ham, clapper and of course an iron with steam setting for the cotton.  I also love my silk organza  pressing cloth.
• 14 inch regular zipper
• Stay tape for the waist

Stitch length

• 2.5 most of the time but I love to baste certain pieces to double-check fit than redo with the 2.5 length

Seam Finishes

• The bodice I just used pinking sheers because it is lined. The skirt is sewn with regular seams pressed open and a 3 stitch overlock on the raw edges for a nicer finish.
• Hand sewn modified blind hem stitch on the horse hair braid for the bottom of my skirt and the armhole bias finishing as well.

Total length of time to complete project

• hmm tough one I was following along with the craftsy course to make this outfit and I think it took me 2 weeks  of working on it for average few hours a day during the week so …. 20 + hours

Snafu’s Girl?

• ya the f$#%@*  bodice!!!! I think I needed a larger cup size in-hindsight and could have went down 1 size because I had a lot of ease in the waist.
• f’@#&*n  fabric. It was 3.99 for a reason I had a hard time truing up the grain on this sucker!! Plus in my frustration I did not pay attention to the directional nature of these birds!! (PSST don’t tell anyone but my lining inside is all upside-down) Thank goodness I realized my error before I cut out more pieces for this dress or I would not have had enough fabric
• sewing the triangular piece to the front bodice was a complete bitch to sew in order to get it nice and straight and completely center. Absolutely no room for error on this part.
• zip with the facing…not sure why but it was a bit of struggle to get in.

I omitted the sleeves in the  pattern and just made my own bias trim to finish the arm holes. Why, you asked?…..Alrighty you got me on another snafu girl ….. I ran out of fabric 😛

The zip for the dress is on the side seam and has a great fly facing so the zip isn’t directly against the skin.

My husband helped take the pictures and I thanked him for that 😉

 

Here are a few pictures of the back profile of this dress.

 

And a few more on the twirl factor. Little do you know in these pictures I am trying not to fall on my ass. lol

A Vintage Look

I thought I would share with you guys what I am working on right now. This is Laura Nash’s pattern from SewChic. The Tia dress: vintage, flirty and fun!

I have completed the bodice and will be working on the skirt portion of the dress today.

 

I will be making bias trim and using bias on the armholes instead of sleeves. This top portion is fully lined and will have a zip on the left side that extends down into the skirt portion.

Happy Sewing 🙂

Shut the Front Door

August 1st 2013

Nicole Wrote:

We stopped at San Luis Obispo to eat and sleep.

Well let me tell you this town has some very old fashion charm. It is one of the oldest towns in California. This craft and fabric store is HUMONGOUS !!!!! I had to wipe the drool off my chin many times!! Lol ok my gosh we should do a girls trip over a weekend to come here its awesome!!

I’m going back to the store tomorrow to buy stuff!! I’m psyched!!

I will take more pictures of the store tomorrow !!

PS: This is not the only fabric store in this little town.  Shut the front door right?!!

Love ya
Nicole

Jen Responded:

Shut the front door is right!! AH! We must make a girl’s trip there indeed, and I might have to drive up there, break into the store, and fall asleep on that big delicious pile of heaven. Unbelievable.  I hope you’re both having an awesome, relaxing time. Do email pictures  tomorrow of the treasures you get….can you see how green I am over your phone?!

Nicole Wrote:

Ok every Thursday in this cute town they have a farmers market,  all sorts of goodies!!

We went into a restaurant and around 9:30 when we were leaving there were  a TON of crazy bicyclists hooting and hollering down the road half-naked or dressed all crazy not sure what the hell is going on but after a few drinks I’m digging the vibe of this town!

Lol Peter wants to move here FYI ! I told him no way I have great friends and I  don’t want to move.

PS: We met an Italian soprano that sang for the pope in 11 different languages!!

Lol seriously I’m not making this stuff up!! Crazy night.

Love Nicole

Jen Responded:

It sounds like an alternate or parallel universe! No way are you allowed to move, but hmmmm….if you did, I’d go too. Peter and Ingmar could go crazy nuts on their bikes and we would be wading through sewing projects with butt loads of awesome fabrics. Sign me up!

Here are the fabrics I bought at the fabric store:

This print is adorable and I love the mustard yellow color of the tape fabric, it  brings out that same color in the sewing machines. I am in desperate need of a cover for my sewing machine and serger. This is what I am going to make 🙂

I love to cook!! Isn’t this the cutest apron. My second favorite thing about this apron are the polka dots! I LOVE POLKA DOTS!! I am going to line this apron with the red polka dot material.

These panels are  so pretty I love vintage things. The dress forms are adorable. As soon as I saw this I knew I was going to use them for something other than sewing. I bought some stretched canvas’ and I am going to do a multi media wall hanging, I will add texture, and other fabrics.  I think it will be super cool.

Here is the matching  culinary  print for the apron. I bought tea towels and will put the strip of cook books on the end of the tea towels for an accent to match my placemats which I am going to back with POLKA DOTS of course.

 I love batiks and I have a “quilt as you go” plan for these beauties.