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Sewing Projects :: Birds flying high

 

I just love this dress.  I sized it up from an original 1945 Butterick 3789 pattern in my collection. It took a while to grade up correctly, some oddly shaped pieces, but after that was done, it was fairly simple.  The front of the skirt wraps around so even though it could be a bit smaller, it still fits fine.  I can't wait to have some place to wear it once this apocalypse is over.  Someday there will be events again.  Then I can wear all the things I made to be able to go to them this year.

The fabric is a gorgeous drapey rayon. And no, they aren't porgs, they are definitely cute fat little birds.  I have hundreds of vintage patterns, but I really want to make this one again!  Maybe in a solid colour.  The front gathering has showing stitches, which is an interesting touch.  Took me ages to figure out what colour to make the thread.  And again, I put in snaps to attach the shoulder pads I made that I use with snaps in every 40s dress I make.  The dress bodice really doesn't drape well without them, but I don't mind them at all!

I really can't wait to have a chance to wear this one!  Who would have thought that 6 months after taking this picture we would still be in quarantine.  What a time to be alive.

 

~Nikki

 

Sewing Projects :: The Roaring 20's!

It's been almost 2 years since I've posted in this blog, I guess most things happen over at Instagram now.  But I also find that when I'm talking about a dress I'm thinking of wearing, or of something that I've made, I pull up this blog for pictures.  So I figured that I should keep going and update it with a few things.  With the ongoing Great Quarantine of 2020, I have plenty of time to update and to also take pictures of things I skipped taking pictures of before. Trying to keep myself occupied to keep from totally losing it.  I'm not going stir-crazy, but just the situation.  Feels like the end times with the ENTIRE world shutting down. Scary out there.

Anyway, well, this one is super fun! I absolutely love it.  I made it for a 20s murder mystery party, well, that was my excuse, I wanted one for a future 20s black tie event, but the party is what gave me a deadline.  The party ended up being postponed because of the virus, so I just got dressed up anyway for some pictures and fun. Now I won't have to stress about an outfit when the time comes!

 

I used an original 1920s pattern I had in my stash, one of the prizes of my collection.  The chiffon is something I've had for years and years, almost like it was waiting for this perfect thing!  I love it when it works out that way.  It has a lovely sheen to it. 

I starched it to death before working with it and a light soak at the end to get the starch out.  Worked marvelously because this would have been a nightmare otherwise, especially with those endless baby hems I had to do since the picot trimming the pattern called for isn't really a thing anymore.  The accent gold pieces on the side poof thing were also from my stash, I think they were curtains at one time.  I love how it looked together.  Honestly, it's nice when things seem to fall into place.

 

The underneath is a full slip out of a super sparkly fabric.  I just used the pattern for the neckline of the dress to make the slip and turned it into a dress.  I just LOVE all the sparkles. With the open back, I couldn't actually find anything to wear (bra wise) underneath, so I thought I would just embrace the era and not wear anything.  Honestly, it was kind of liberating.  One of the perks of being small I guess! Kind of opened up a whole new world of possibilities with backless dresses for me.  I just love everything about this dress. 

Just trying to get through this crazy time in the world right now with some sewing and little projects I haven't had time for.  I think there will be a lot of free time in my future. I can't believe I've been sheltering at home for almost 2 weeks.  It doesn't sound long, but seems like ages, and it's only the beginning.  The governor of my state just put a stay at home order out just a day ago, so it is just beginning here.  I never thought I would live through something like this.   Stay safe and stay sane everyone.

 

 

 

Sewing Projects :: Border print fun!

 
You can tell I just heard about work before I took these pictures because I look depressed in all of them ;)  Also, none of them are in focus for some reason, which really cuts down on editing time, lol.  I saved posting this for when I was working, because I usually end up with a lot of down time on my computer.  Not so this time around!  So here is the 3 week old post.  I have so much sewing to catch up on!  I leave for Spain at the beginning of October and already have a job for September, so I better get moving if I want things finished!

I quite like how this dressed turned out!  I've seen many like this online, but none of the patterns I had were exactly right.  So I did it myself.  I hate drafting patterns and am therefore not that good at it, but it didn't turn out too bad!  There are a few things I would change for next time (some weird poofiness at the bust - start the gathers further towards the center maybe), but overall, happy kitten! And I just love love love this print!  Totally wasted as a pillow cover from whoever I got it from on ebay!

It is pretty basic construction-wise, I just wanted a light summer dress. Using boning, lining the midriff, and adding a waist stay would definitely take it up a notch, for sure.  The bust area is the only part of this one that has a lining.  I used part of my muslin stage to line it, which wasn't a great idea.  Another change that could have happened if I was working with more fabric is making bias strips to bind the top edges.  Would have looked great, made the construction a little easier, and the top of the lining wouldn't sort of peek out at the top.  But this fabric was bought on E-bay and was only 2 yards, so I made do.  Self-lining it would have been a nice choice as well.  But what did I do instead?  The whole dress was made, so I just used red fabric paint to paint along the top edge!!  Brilliant, if I do say so myself ;)

Yea, you can definitely tell that the looming threat of work has sent me into a spiral of depression

 

Sewing Projects :: Avengers Assemble!

I bought this fabric quite a while ago, but with the release of Infinity War, I knew I had to get a dress done!  I'm decently happy with it?  The top fits a little large, easy to fix though, but definitely wearable as is.  I think I picked the perfect looking pattern for it, I'm very happy with how that part turned out.  What a finnicky pattern though!  My first make from the Boundless Style book even though I've had it for ages.  They have this odd way of finishing the neckline, with just the front part of the bodice being lined, but the lining cut slightly smaller than the outside fabric and staystitching outside the seamline so that it turned part of the outer bodice to the inside.  I didn't read through the instructions before I did it, thinking it was just a normal princess seam, so I had to tear the whole thing out, so maybe it won't be so finnicky now that I know what to look for a be careful about stitching.

 

Other than that, I'm happy!  I like the gold seaming, I like the ruffle along the bottom. Yup. I'll get some super nerdy wear out of this one :)

 

Oh, and I bought the belt just for this outfit, lol.  I ordered it with my aunt's prime account to get it in time except I accidentally sent it to her house instead of my own!  Doh!  Had to grab it before the movie.  It was worth it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After picking up the belt :)

~Nikki

 

Sewing Projects :: Backlog!

After a wore a dress the other day that I wear fairly often, I've realised that I've never blogged it.  I've never taken pictures of it.  In fact, there are a bunch, going back years, that I've never taken pictures of!  Maybe wearing more vintage more often has made me go through my me-made dresses a bit more quickly and often, so I've noticed some that I know I haven't taken pictures of. But it really is a shame not to share!  I'll have to make it a point of going through the backlog  and taking pictures.  I'll throw up a few teasers here though :) 

Here is a quick picture of the one that made me realise it.  I recently went to a talk by Dr. Colleen Darnell (vintage_egyptologist) on vintage fashion (Just hearing her talk on Egypt would be amazing) and I stressed out so much about what to wear!  I mean, King and Queen of vintage right there. So I pulled out this one (black, multi dots), which I also wore the week before, and reminded me that I never put it up here.  And many others besides!  I do love this one those, easy to make it look authentic, even though I dress it 40's and it is a 50's pattern.  It really made me brainstorm about some other dresses that I want to make that are wearable to events that I don't want to be casual for.  Though casual for me is still usually overdressed.  I've got a few 30's dresses in mind though.  Solid colours, with some detail work on them.  Like the 'dress like your grandmother' dress but for other seasons and other decades :)

Anyway, I'm putting this up to hold myself accountable :)  I put a lot more pictures up on instagram if you want to check that out :) @nmresendes

And I just took actual pictures of a new dress today, so I'll get those up as well!

Take care kittens!

~Nikki

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sewing Projects :: It's beginning to feel a bit like summer!

Well, it was the day before I wrote this, but today it is 30 degrees colder and raining.  I'll hold on to the memories though.  And summer means tropical prints!  I LOVE tropical prints.  I've been hoarding them though, holding out for the perfect projects.  I should just sew them all up so I can buy more!  I have 3 in the queue, complete with patterns. 

    I've had this dress finished for a while, but I wanted to make a bolero to go with it, so I held off on pictures.  The bolero is a mashup of 3 patterns, 1: the bolero that comes with the pattern - kept for the matching darts (though, I made so many changes to the original pattern that they probably don't match up anyway)  2: A 30's pattern, for the shawl collar (working on the dress of that pattern right now!) 3: The Gertie separates pattern (Butterick 6254), for the kimono sleeves.  I don't suggest mashing up 3 patterns like that and trying to line things up, lol.  I feel like there was definitely an easier way!  Drafting my own for instance.  I always say that though, I just hate drafting my own patterns.

 

The pattern is Advance 2486 - A sundress from 1948.  Very basic, but I didn't have a lot of fabric, so it worked perfectly.  I got the fabric at an awesome craft resale/thrift store (what a great concept!) back in Texas.  I really need to go back when I visit my sister, I hope it's still open!

This was a good pattern to see the differences in body shape over the decades.  I've never had to change darts as drastically as I did on this one!  I still don't really understand why it seemed so off.  Ended up well in the end though. And I have a great fitting basic pattern now!  There really isn't anything to say, it's pretty basic.  I need more tropical print dresses so I don't wear this one out though!  Great cotton dress for summer.

 

Hair flower is also made by me.  A bit of fun I've been having.  The main flower is attached to wire so it can be positioned perfectly!  Love it

The only problem I have with this outfit is that I'd really have to decide whether to wear the bolero or not because if it's on, you can't see my adorable parrot pin! But if I put it on the jacket and then take the jacket off, you can't see it then either!  Ugh.  Life is so hard ;)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

~Nikki

Sewing Projects :: Dress Like Your Grandmother Challenge :: Finished!

Best way to actually get pictures of something I make is to finish it last minute for a challenge.  The challenge ended today and I finished the dress late last night! 

You can see the original post about this challenge >>Here<<

Original dress was from a picture from the late 40's, based mine off a pattern from a German magazine from 1943.  Navy mid-weight rayon crepe

<<The dress is darker than the pictures show

 

Progress Shots ::

 

Muslin Stage	Pocket Embroidery	Welt pocket #1

 

It seemed to take ages from conceptualizing to finishing this project!  In the end, the sewing portion was quite quick.  Once I had the pattern figured out and placed on the fabric I decided that I was too close for comfort and ordered more fabric.  Took 3 weeks for it to come! FashionFabricClub - disappointed! And then I was talking to someone with an embroidery machine about the stitching around the pockets for a few weeks.  In the end, mostly because of time and stress about someone else doing it (and I only had 3 days left), I did it myself with free-hand embroidery, first time!  Then I put in the welt pockets (functional!), putting in welt pockets is so much more stressful than buttonholes!  Cutting the middle of a piece of fabric after all the free-hand work, yikes.  Whatever. In the end, it all worked out!  I'm super pleased with how it turned out and it will be a super wearable dress next fall!

A better idea of the colour and a close up of the pockets

I don't know why exactly, I was just going off a picture, but I felt so close to my grandmother while working on this project.  I wish she could see it, I know she would love it!

Sewing Projects :: Winter Playland Part 1

 

Xavier (the traveling hairy-eared dwarf lemur) skiing

I say part one because at some point in the future I plan on making a jacket to go with these pants.  I ran out of time before my recent ski trip and now that it is the 3rd week in March, I'm starting on summer clothes in the belief that hopes and dreams will make it STOP SNOWING. Over it.  But if I don't share it now, it'll never happen! I made a belt to tie the outfit together and make it look less like I was wearing PJs.

This was a process, let me tell you.  I haven't made pants before (I have 2 in my queue right now though) and the construction totally baffled me. I sort of just winged it on the facings and whatnot. Plus, because they are ski pants the fit and shape was SO bizarre. Possibly I would have been less confused by the whole thing if I hadn't tried to follow some google-translate German instructions.  Also!  It was my first project out of my many vintage sewing pattern magazines!  The pattern pages always intimidated me, but it wasn't nearly as bad as I thought.  If anyone is interested in the process, let me know!  I took a few pictures of it.  I've copied quite a few patterns from them since then.

I made them as trousers instead of overalls out of a heavy weight flannel.  The instructions recommended gabardine, and I did buy some, but I liked the look and feel of the flannel and I wasn't actually planning on wearing these while skiing.  More an après-ski outfit.  I did find that a lot of the outfits I made with it had longer sweaters, so the short double-breasted jacket I was planning on might not work out.  Maybe for the best that there is a pause in my plans.  I might make something like the other pull-over jacket (left) on the page.

I only managed to take pictures of one outfit. I had 2 others I brought with me. I know, I know, the boots don't go. Whatever. I definitely overpacked for this quick trip!

Weird baggy ski suit backview. But SO COMFY

 The legs didn't really turn out as billowy as the pictures made it seem. The size was a bit big, so I would have thought it would contribute more volume, but it didn't. Gabardine does have a bit more drape to it, maybe that's it.

[EDIT]  Thought I should add a picture so you can actually see what they look like, lol.  You can tell how much I had to bring it in at the waist for it to fit there, and the weird saggy derriere.  Which would be super useful for skiing.  The back goes up quite far and there is an inner elastic belt with a button only attached to the front, so you can move unrestricted if you were skiing.  Pretty good design actually.

 

I had a hell of a time picking out buttons.  Because I found some that had a snowflake on them and wanted those for the top button, but it threw off all the sizing for the other buttons. It all worked out in the end though.  I win at the internet.

Anyway, I'm going to go ahead and put this post up before I delay it any longer!

~Nikki

 

Sewing Projects :: Dress Like Your Grandmother Challenge : Post 1

Fun times!  Who knows if I'll finish in time for the challenge, but I just love the idea all the same. I don't know where my father's pictures are, he probably doesn't either, but I pulled out all the old family photos of my mom's and had a fabulous time going through them.  My grandma was so stylish, it was hard to pick out just one outfit.  I did end up deciding on this dress though, worn in a series of family portraits from the mid 40's.  I'm just in love with all these pictures :)

My grandmother is on the right of all the photos.  I just love this dress.  I've already started adjusting some patterns, and I've got some blue heavy crepe fabric to use for it.  I asked my mom if she wanted to help and work on some of the embroidery on the pockets, it looks like the type of quilting she does, and she said she had a friend who was great at that.  So it is all moving along!  I may get it done :)  Wish my grandma was around to see it.  Wish she was around when I started sewing in general, she would have loved it!  Only one in my family who loved clothes as much as I do.

The dress has a zippered front bodice, and what looks like welt pockets on the top surrounded by embroidery (with a little handkerchief tucked in).  I think I'm going to do the pockets separately so I don't have to stress about messing up the whole thing front of the dress if I screw up the embroidery or welt pockets.

Well, I just made a muslin of the top out of a pattern from one of my german magazines.  Made some adjustments and am ready to make another.

And just in case I think I need another project, I think I'm going to go through and organize all the photos and scan them into the computer as well.  Along with sewing some things for my vacation to Texas.  And other summer clothes in the belief that my hopes and prayers will stop the dang snow.

 

~Nikki

Closeup and enhanced photos of the pocket embroidery:

Colorised photo from an online thing, I had already guessed it was blue though!

And the pattern I'm working off of, lots of changes though : The purple one, top right from Hausfrau September 1943

Sewing Projects :: Christmas dress #2

Not nearly as fun as my Star Wars dress, but still, another Christmas dress!  There are threads of sparkle in the plaid which makes it more festive too :) 

I've been working on this one for ages, as usually happens with vintage patterns.  I'm glad I started early.  After copying, redrafting (it was a few sizes too small), and muslining the bodice, I cut it out. Slowly.  It is a stupid plaid after all.  After all that, I realised I didn't have enough fabric for the skirt :(  I don't know where my mind was at.  So, I had to come up with something else.  I wanted to bring some of the black that I had planned on the top of the dress to the bottom, but it had to somehow be on a pencil skirt since I didn't have enough fabric for anything else. Pockets!  I took a pattern that had pockets I wanted, also vintage therefore needing to be not only redrafted, but put on an entirely different type of skirt.  It all works out in the end.  Sort of.  It seems to me like the balance is off a bit.  But whatever.  Fun pockets and now I have that first pattern all redrafted and ready to actually be used in it's entirety on a dress at a later date.  Spring dress would be fun.

 

Bodice

 

Pockets!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 And I actually got a chance to wear it while having boxing day dinner with my aunt.  Since breaking the tradition of seeing The Nutcracker over Christmas (Fort Worth was so much easier to get to than Boston. Plus, winter.) I haven't had many chances to wear my Christmas dresses.  Really, that white shantung and red velvet long gown deserves to be worn again. I could pull it off SO MUCH better now. Hairstyle and some makeup would make a big difference, lol. God, my hair was horrendous! I spent a large portion of my life with really terrible hair if sewing pictures are anything to go by.  Maybe I still do. Still, somebody invite me to a gala, I could do it.

 

I'm going to try and post more this year. I get out of the habit, that's for sure!  I have a bunch of dresses I haven't posted or taken pictures of.  Plus, I'm scanning all my vintage pattern magazines, so maybe I'll share some of those designs :)

 ~Nikki