Vogue 1224 Tracy Reese Dress

Things have been very busy for me since I returned from Couture Boot Camp! I am still working on my strapless dress whenever time permits but found myself with a free day today so I thought I’d whip up a simple summer dress from Vogue 1224 by Tracy Reese.

I have always loved a peasant style blouse or dress for summer and this is such a cute casual dress that will work well with a pair of flats, don’t you think? As soon as this pattern was released I knew I’d use this jersey from Gorgeous Fabrics that has been in my stash for a couple of years. I’m such a copycat!

I made a size 8 with a 5/8″ full bust adjustment (which I really didn’t even need since there’s a lot of ease) and added 2″ to the length of the skirt. I found the skirt to run pretty large and ended up removing 2″ from the circumference to get the slim look as shown on the envelope. Since this is a very busy print, I omitted the lining. I certainly don’t want that extra layer if I don’t need it. Lastly, I allowed 1.25″ for the hem as I find 5/8″ to look very skimpy.

The directions have you stitch a separate elastic casing into the waistline seam. Since I didn’t want any unnecessary bulk at the waist, I omitted this step and simply pressed the skirt seam allowance up and used it to form the casing. I also made a belt from the leftover fabric to give it a more finished look. The belt was cut 2 yards by 6″ wide and stitched in a 1/4″ seam – perfect to wrap around my waist twice.

I’m really pleased with the way this turned out and the almost instant gratification I got from this pattern!

I also just finished another New Look 6429 which I have made several times already. I needed a summery interview dress that would work well with my white pique jacket and this fabric was perfect.

Instead of a facing, I bound the neckline edge – very fast and easy!

Vintage Jacket Patterns

As if I didn’t have enough patterns already, right? I like to look at vintage patterns for inspiration as they often have special little details that you don’t see on modern patterns.

At first glance, this Vogue Young Fashionables (how cute is that?) is just a nice, basic jacket. The Etsy seller only showed a photo of the front of the envelope but when I read “center back pleat and back belt” in the description I had to hit the Add To Cart button! If the seller had included a back photo it probably wouldn’t have ended up in the clearance section.

Two of my favorite details, an inverted pleat and a back belt!

I couldn’t resist this one from McCall’s either. I love the front and back Princess seams and all of the little details. I do want to alter the mandarin collar so that it stands a little farther away from the neck, though.

Check out the wonderful seaming on this vintage Nina Ricci.

Last, but not least, I want to thank you all for your wonderful comments about my jackets! You’re all so nice. 🙂

Parting shots: Two weeks ago, Bryan and I were sitting on the couch and he turned to me and said “either I’ve had one too many beers or there are two Winnies in your backyard”. Sure enough, my neighbor’s kitten (whom I’ve now nicknamed “Mini Winnie”) was visiting!

She was back again yesterday morning and stayed long enough for me to get my camera. The one with the collar is my Winnie. She will be 13 this year and is such a petite little girl. It’s so funny to see her interact with a strange cat since the only other cats she knows are the ones that live with her.

Am I still working on this silk blouse?

Ugh, yes I am! I can’t believe how much trouble I’ve had sewing this blouse! Well, thankfully, it’s not just me. Last night, Ann, Phyllis, Pam and I decided that the planets must be misaligned or something. Anyway, the sleeves are finally done and I hope not to see my seam ripper for a day or two. Since I’m working six days right now (my friend had a knee replacement so I’m minding his shop on Saturdays) I’ve decided to blow off housework today and get this thing finished because I really want to move on to other projects.

I’m embarassed that my pressing board is so stained! I went to JoAnn’s – do you think they had any cotton drill? Uh, no.

I bought some new industrial hemmer feet this week. The one on the left is 3/8″ and the one on the right is 1/8″. I really like this style best. They are the same as the Bernina feet that I am used to.

Here are some other feet I already had. They are really nice but I just don’t like them as well as the other style. The one on the left is a spring hemmer. It has a little spring that opens as you go over a seam. The middle one is a ball hemmer and the one on the right is a wire hemmer. For some reason, I’ve just never made friends with any of them (I think it’s because of the lack of visibility) so I was really excited to find the others. They weren’t expensive so I’ll probably order some other sizes as well.

I almost forgot about the buttons! I finally picked up some Rit dye yesterday. I simmered the buttons on the stove (I have a dedicated Corningware dish for this task) for about 3 hours, left them in the dyebath overnight and then simmered them some more this morning in a fresh pot of undiluted dye. They are not quite dark enough but I’d rather have an “almost” MOP button than a perfect plastic one!

Vogue 8598

I expected to have this finished days ago but you know how that goes. I know it needs some touch-up pressing but didn’t feel like waiting for the regular iron to heat up. 🙂 I started with my usual size 8 and made the following alterations:

*1.25″ full bust adjustment
*.5″ broad back adjustment
*.625 forward shoulder adjustment

I also shortened the sleeve by 1″ as I always do. I don’t always make a broad back adjustment, it really depends on the pattern. This shirt is quite fitted so I really needed it – especially if I intended to drive a car while wearing it! During fitting, I ended up taking the front seams in about 1/2″ under the bust to the hem. And I took in the side seams at the 1/2″ on each side at the waist, tapering in to 1″ at the hip. This pattern has a beautifully flared hipline, unfortunately I don’t.

As you can see, the sleeves are much more gathered than they appear in the line drawing. To be honest, I think this particular sleeve would work much better in a lightweight, drapey fabric such as crepe de chine. While it’s very pretty, it’s a bit more billowy than I’d prefer for this fabric.

To give you an idea of how much gathering is in the sleeve here is a closeup of the cuff (the interfacing is Pro Sheer from Fashion Sewing Supply – great stuff!):

The MOP buttons are from my stash. While I don’t particularly love square buttons, these matched my voile perfectly, happened to be the right size and I had the required number (15!) on hand. It’s been a very long time since I shopped for buttons so I did have a quick look for alternatives when I was at JoAnn’s on Friday. All I can say is that I’m really happy to have such a large button collection!

That’s it for today – I’m heading back to my sewing room. Spaghetti sauce is cooking in the crockpot and I’ve vowed to ignore all housework until Tuesday. 🙂

Vogue 8196 – Planning stages

A couple of weeks ago, I remembered that I had about 5 yards of black wool gauze in my “collection”. I thought it would be perfect for this Vogue pattern:

I decided that I’d like to use Cluny lace (vs. a more delicate lace) to keep it from being too froufrou. Since I couldn’t find anything of good quality locally I decided to take a chance and order online. I found what looked to be some really pretty vintage laces at Deb’s Lace & Trims for a very good price. Well, the laces came today and I am very pleased! These are exactly what I had in mind – they weren’t sold as coordinates but I thought they went together very well.

Parting shot: The past few days, I’ve noticed that my old girl Kanga has been pushing the decorative pillow/sham off of the regular sleeping pillows for her daytime nap. She usually sleeps in the chair next to the bed but I guess she was ready for a change.

Déjà vu all over again

As many of you know, in addition to being a fabriholic, patternaholic and shoeaholic I am also a purseaholic! What can I say? I am just a little bit compulsive! As I was reading one of my favorite purse blogs this morning, I came across this:

It’s a lovely bag from Moe Bags. Look familiar? Let me refresh your memory:
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1940s Vogue Pattern

Sewing Workshop Obi Bag Pattern

I had originally thought to make this bag in velvet but I think the leather is fabulous and better suited for an everyday bag.