Swing high, swing low

Hello, dear Readers :-)

 All the photos taken by my one-and-only Husband. You're the top, as Cole Porter sang!

Two months ago I was lucky enoguh to thrift over 8 yards of a beautiful dark navy corduroy. I've never been a fan of this fabric, as it brings back the memories of the children's clothes of the early 1990s, but there was something about this navy beauty that caught my eye. Maybe the colour, maybe the high pile that gives velvety feeling.

I managed to cut the fabric up efficiently enough to sew my Husband new trousers and to make myself something I've been longing to have - a 50s swing coat.

The pattern was Butterick 6288. Unfortunatelly, it arrived with two pieces missing - front and back of the sleeves. I was so irritated; it was stated in the auction that the pattern was complete. We've all been there, right? You get my frustration.

 Ahh, the joy of a swing coat.

 However, I liked the pattern so much I decided to draft the sleeves on my own, so few Threads articles later I had my sleeves' pattern pieces. To make the coat fit even more snugly at the shoulders (which is the only fitted part), I moved most of the sleeves' ease to the sides, instead of the top of the cap.

 Cozy cozy

The pattern is lovely; it gives this coat a full, sweeping line, which is all the swing coat should be about. I decided to make it mid-calf lenght and I finished it the way I like my clothes to be: with 7/8 sleeves turned back to be 3/4, with hidden closured and hand finishes. The collar and front facing were interfaced with canvas, pad-stitched to give them proper shape (you may have seen this step if you follow my instagram account).

The big button is only for esthetic purpose; the coat fastens with 7 snaps, each one covered with the lining fabric.











The lining itself has sleeves set in by hand and is hand sewn to the coat, but only along the collar and facings, with 'catch points' of thread along the side seams. The back and the botton of the lining has been blind hemmed and attached to the coat with french tacks, to let the main fabric drape freely.

I also made the sweat pads covered with lining - sweat is not a particulary glamourous subject, I know, but the pads will keep the coat from damage.

  

I hope you'll like it. Thank you for your feedback and all the positive energy you gave me by making me the winner of Pattern Review's 2016 Vintage Pattern Contest. Merci!

Vintage Pattern Contest Entry aka McCall 7077

Hello my dear, patient readers :)

Not long ago I fell in love with a pattern I saw on Ebay. I turned my purse inside out and looked for every penny, as I knew me and McCall 7077 were meant to be together. After its long journey from sunny California to (not so sunny) Poland, I could start planning my next project.

This McCall pattern is from the 1932; back when they were still McCall, short of " 's " . It's printed, which was a great innovation at the time and which fueled the company's commercial potential. I chose the view B.

 I'd love to thank my dear Husband for taking all of these beautiful photos.

I have sewn this dress with two crêpes, beige and black, as such contrasting colours highlight the cut. I made some slight changes, that is:
1) I simplified the vestee and added a small bow,
2) I omitted two of the belt's buttons,
3) I made a minor FBA.

The pattern is quite big, which was surprising; in general, vintage patterns run quite small, but this one had quite a lot of ease.

 I had some problems with assembly, as the instructions are painfully skimpy, so all was left was a little bit of 'trial-and-error', but all in all, the dress turned out all right.

I hope to sew it again with wool crêpe with a better drape, using softer contrasts (navy with dusty blue, hm?).

 



P.S. This dress is my entry in 2016 Vintage Pattern Contest on patternreview.com. Go and see all the wonderful project the contestants have sewn!

The Almost blouse

Here's the story of a blouse that has many "almosts" about it. It almost became my wedding outfit, it *almost* fits and I'm almost happy with it.

I had bought a remnant of this beautiful silk shantung from Joel&Sons Fabrics ( I can't recommend them enough - they have stunning fabrics and out-of-this-world customer service) around Christmas. It was destined to become a part of my wedding outfit, but I had yet to find a suitable pattern.

I almost purred when I took this silk out of its packaging.

Enter McCall's 3504. It has a beautiful draped bodice, so I decided to turn it into a blouse. I sewed up the muslin, made a few changes, everything seemed to be going smoothly.

I cut into the silk and into the cotton batiste for underlining. I hand-basted every piece of one fabric to another, then basted the seams together and again- everything was smooth and easy.

Then, after I machine stitched the main seems, something magical happened, but in a black magic sort of way; the fit was strange and bulky in one place, overfitted in next.
I gently ripped the seams (not a good idea, as the silk marked easily from the threads). I re-stitched everything with slight changes to the back bodice lenght and the overall fit was better...but still not good. The sleeves suddenly messed everything up (even though they were fine when done in muslin) and I decided to abandon them altogether.

But I knew another seam unpicking might ruin the fabric, so I went with it and hand finished the insides.

Renée is a kind and patient model.

The hand finishes are my favourite part of this blouse. It is fully underlined, seam allowances are overcasted by hand and catch stitched to the cotton underlining.  The side zipper is prick stitched.

The zipper

Neck insides

The lovely back neck finish was also slip stitched by hand and gives the effect of an incorporated bow.

My so-so satisfaction led to the change of the blouse's destiny and now it awaits some dinner outing.

Oh well. At least it gave me the opportunity to practice!

The star-crossed dress

Even though it's all checked.

I started this dress in January. Firstly, I ordered the fabric from Truro Fabrics and due to super-busy time I had't calculated the yardage properly; it would be ok if it wasn't for the check to be matched. I decided to give it a try anyway and one day I cut out the pieces.

Then it was time for good, although sudden, change of flats. So I packed my cut pieces and took them along with other stuff. Unfortunately, as it usually happens, movings always have their victims and one of the pieces went missing. A small one, but it made me much more improvisational than I like to be.

And there was a temporary lack of funds so I decided to sew it up without an underlining and that was the biggest mistake. My cotton proved to be too flimsy.

Anyway, I felt that this poor dress deserved my attention and care, especially since it has been doomed from the start. So one piece after another, it has come together.

The design is Vogue 9456 from the 1958. It's a lovely pattern and so I made only one design change-I've added a detachable white band at the hem, so it would match the detachable collar & cuffs. It was actually my fiancé's suggestion-and a very good one, if I may add. It made the dress seem more put together and it introduced a pleasant-for-the-eye symmetry.

When it comes to fitting alterations, I have:
*shortened the back by 1,5 inch and tightened it by 2 inches (as you'll hopefully come to see, back measurements are my curse)
*tightened the waist by shaving off an additional inch from front pieces
*tightened the shirt, taking out an inch from each side of the side seam.

As you can clearly see, the pattern runs quite big - but fortunatelly it's not that hard to adjust. I was careful not to tighten the bodice too much, as it's supposed to be blouson.

I've matched as much plaid as I could, but the bodice's side seams and the sleeves' seams are mismatched and they bother me immensely. :]

 

 Renée is pretty dapper with her collar.

As I've mentioned, the whites-that is: collar, cuffs and hem band- are detachable. I used beautiful, crisp ivory cotton poplin, again from Truro. The cuffs are positioned with snaps, but both the collar and the hem band are slipstitched-which is what the pattern instructions advised.

 Oh, meet Hades the Cat. The crowned photobomber.

Will I use this pattern again? Oh yes, I will. But I'll make sure to use sturdier fabric, one that will hold the big, detachable collar with success. Altogether I'm happy to have sewn this dress, as it gave me my first opportunity at matching such a bold pattern and it was also my very first attempt at making blouson bodice... Finally, I got a chance to make a dress with crisp, easy-to-wash, detachable cuffs/collar - and I've wanted one ever since I can remember. :)

First things first

Good morning!

Writing the first post seems kind of awkward and to me I'm quick to notice my essay skills have gone rusty, but nevertheless I hope to bring you, dear Readers, a bit of entertainment. I've been tossing around the idea of a sewing blog for quite some time, but aside from lack of time there was one more thing to stop me-I'm rather an introvert. But I have taken so much from already existing blogs, all the  inspiration and invaluable advice, so I feel it's time to give something back. So welcome to rvdzik. :)