Catching up! Sewing news.

Hello all,

I have been super busy these last few weeks, but have still managed to get quite a lot of sewing done, and yet more sewing planned.

I made the melon dress as promised from my last post, here it is! Excuse my sweaty demeanour - this was at the end of a three-day psychobilly festival and I was a little worse for wear.

As you can see it's a little... bursty. The lining shrank when I steam ironed it, and I'd stupidly cut it out to my pre- Christmas measurements. I'm about 1" bigger all over now, but as it's such a close-fitting dress to start with, an inch unfortunately makes all the difference. I will be making efforts to rectify this situation over the next couple of months with copious amounts of exercise and salad.

I also made myself this black and red taffeta sarong dress, you can't see how gorgeous the fabric is here so I will get a better picture this week. The fabric was mainly left over from a commission dress I made for a friend to wear to the launch of the latest in the Style Me Vintage book series, and it's just lovely, so authentically 50s with its tiny flecks of shiny black and red on the black base.

I also joined the SewToday Club for £7.50 a quarter, for that price you get a magazine every month, any two patterns free when you join, plus 50% off all Butterick, McCall, Vogue and KwikSew patterns. They also regularly have buy 1 get 2 free events for their members, one of which started less than a week after I joined, so I have ordered five patterns so far.

So far I've been scooping up Gertie's patterns, and I can't wait to get started on them. Here's what I've ordered:

B5882. How could you not?! It's gorgeous... the shelf bust is such a nice feature. Apparently a lot of sewers (as in sow-ers, not suw-ers. Ewww.) are waiting with bated breath for Gertie to do a full bust adjustment for this one, so keep an eye on her blog if you're amply endowed up top. Tits ahoy!

  

B5895 - I got two of these, one for me and one for my sister Ginny over at Buttons and Bobbins. I've got a modern capris pattern but this one looks to have a more vintage-styled higher waist, and the simple retro blouse pattern will be really useful for Summer and would make some super cute Hawaiian print tops.

B5814 - I wasn't sure about this one, so I looked at some pictures online of other people's dressmaking efforts with it and decided that my misgivings are mainly down to the envelope photo - the dress itself is lovely but the styling isn't quite right, and the model, bless her, isn't really filling out such a bodacious garment. I think once you put someone with some bigger curves in there and add some more vintage accessories this dress will be a killer.

KwikSew 3491 - This one could look a bit dodgy at first glance, but disregard the hideous violet/greige ensemble the model is wearing, and look at the construction, and you have a perfect little 40s/50s Ike Jacket, a bit like this one:

Via the Vintage Pattern Wikia

This 1940s Hollywood pattern was the one that Tasha at By Gum, By Golly! used in the Sew For Victory challenge, and it looks great. I'm more of a 50s than a 40s girl though, so the later style knitted bottom band and zip front of the KwikSew pattern are just fine for me. I'm envisioning it in a yellow and black or red and black extra large check or tartan, and maybe a black twill version with a big back patch design for a more rockabilly look.

I've also got my beady eye on this brand new release of a 1951 pattern from Butterick, no. 5880. I'm hoping to buy this, Vogue's new mens suit pattern (for Aerospace Boyfriend now he has conferences and stuff to attend, and now Vogue have finally brought out a suit that doesn't look like something out of Miami Vice), and whatever else tickles my fancy before the 3-for-1 offer is up.

It's just lovely, and a bit easier to wear that my usual boob-bearing, boned, skintight affairs. So just to make sure it's still utterly unsuitable to wear in polite society, I've been utterly stubborn, or perhaps utterly stupid, and decided to attempt the fabric dyeing that failed so comically in my last post, and make it from that. I went into my usual fabric shop for trimmings, and lo and behold, sat on top of the bargain basket was another piece of the dreaded white leopard print fabric. I bought a shade lighter of the yellow iDye, and it is running on a 90C cycle in the washing machine RIGHT NOW. I don't know if I even dare look. To be continued...

Haworth 1940s Weekend 2012

I spent this weekend walking up and down very steep cobbled hills in the lovely Yorkshire village of Haworth, which was holding its annual 1940s weekend. The whole village is decked out in Union Jack bunting and sandbags, the residents decorate the outside of their homes and the charity shops bring out all the vintage treasures they have been stockpiling! Vintage cars, military vehicles and wartime reconstructions lined the streets providing plenty for us to look at.

I had organised a trip over for several ladies on the Saturday, and although they all enjoyed it and found some great vintage buys, it was very stressful. The crowds were enormous, it was like a city shopping street on Christmas eve, except worse because nobody was in a rush to be anywhere. My sister also had her daughter in a pram, and found it very difficult to get around. I didn't get a chance to take any pictures that day, because if I had stopped to extract the camera from my bag I would have been knocked over, and the scrums in the vintage shops were shocking, there were elbows and snatching hands everywhere!

Today (Sunday) was a far more leisurely affair, the village was still busy but the crowd seemed more courteous and far less jam-packed. I risked taking the dog with me, and despite an incident with an unfriendly Jack Russell and my poor Scamp getting exhausted from walking up and down hills (he is fifteen, after all) we had a good day, he didn't get stepped on by anybody and enjoyed a picnic in the park with us.

Here is what I wore today, my new jumper knitted by my mum from a 1940s pattern. You can buy this pattern from Bex at Subversive Lesbian Anarchic Femme, available here in her etsy shop, although my mum sized it up, made the sleeves in the rib rather than cherry motif as the cherries took forever to knit, and omitted the collar.

Here's another pic of the outfit, with some chaps dressed as members of the Home Guard. Why am I doing that with my face, you ask? Well, the guy on the left of the picture is squeezing my bottom. That's why. How rude!

 

This duo were playing on the bandstand in the park, she sang a lovely rendition of La Vie en Rose.

Now, onto the vintage purchases! There was so much to choose from. Haworth has two gorgeous permanent vintage shops, loaded with *actual* quality vintage and antique clothing and accessories, not the 80s tat that shops in the city pretend is vintage. There was also a vintage fair in the church hall, and several curio and charity shops in the village which were loaded with lovely items.

 

Lovely teal mini suitcase!

I have been looking for a small suitcase or train case for ages, to store bits and bobs in at home and for when I go away for a few days or to stay at my boyfriend's at Christmas. This one is in great condition and such a pretty colour!

The lining looks good too! Inside is a pair of fully fashioned stockings I got in one of the charity shops. They are Aristoc Harmony which are quite late (I'm guessing 60s?) but were apparently some of the best ones made prior to the hosiery industry's takeover by ghastly crepey brown tights in the 70s.

1930s Uranium glass dish and spoon from the hospice shop

Another piece for my uranium glass collection!

1950s folding coolie sun hat! This is a flat shape with a popper so it can be easily packed in a holiday bag, made from some sort of straw or string, which folds into a cute cone-shaped sun bonnet.

Babycham deer!

A Babycham plastic fawn! I have eight Babycham glasses and collect fawns too, so he fits in with two collections. This is about 6" high and cost just a few pounds due to the damage on his ear. I saw one of the 4" ones in worse condition priced at £35 in Manchester the other week.

WWII Navy Sweetheart Pin

WWII Navy sweetheart pin. This is about an inch high in total. It is pretty grubby but is made from enamelled silver, it just needs a good clean!

On the way home we were behind this tiny old car! The right wheel was rather wobbly, the window flapped open whenever they turned a corner and it could only manage 20mph due to the hills.

Here is the bad part about this weekend...

Arghhhh horrendous sunburn! It's just on my right forearm and there is a touch of it on the back of my neck, this happened during the ten minutes of bright sunshine we got during the day - time to break out te factor 50 sunscreen for every day, I think. So sore and itchy!

Outfit post: new circle skirt!

This week I went to a fabric shop I hadn't been to before, looking for pom-pom trim for a project I was working on for a friend, only to come home with no pom-pom trim but instead with three metres of cotton printed with deep sea anglerfish. You know, because anglerfish are so ravishingly attractive.


Here is a thoroughly educational comic strip about the plight of the poor male anglerfish and his miniature gonads.

Anyway, I made it into a circle skirt! I've made it with a tie at the waist to accommodate my ever decreasing and expanding waistline. Here I am posing in the park with Scamp.


I matched it with this aquatic hairclip by Miss Tiki Designs, and made some new bitey goose friends, who were already so stuffed with bread thrown by the horrid children who flooded the park as soon as the sun came out, that they turned their beaks up at my meagre crusts.


Must remember to bring food that geese actually like next time, I'm sure bread is not good for them.

1950s atomic box table thingy... all mine!

Here is my latest eBay purchase! I'm picking it up on Saturday. The seller had it listed as a sewing box, but I'm thinking it might be for LP storage? It's 16" wide, so as you can see, the inner width of the large compartment will be just over 12" judging by the picture.


Anyway, I will be using it to store sweaters as my LPs live in the front room and this will be a bedroom piece, with all my gloves and scarves going into the little drawers at the front. Fabulous! I may also revamp it a bit by painting the drawer fronts or changing the knobs.

New Pattern!

I just received this pattern in the post from PatternCenter on etsy.


I've been looking for a vintage bolero pattern for so long! They're usually either way too small, or close at the neck which isn't the look I want. I tried drafting my own, but it ended up fitting badly so I'm glad to have this basic pattern in my collection.

Speaking of too small...


Look at this amazing Oriental dress pattern in the Pattern Center etsy shop! No wonder the woman on the envelope looks so smug. If you have a bust that's only a bit bigger than one of my legs, it's for you!

Now I have a decent bolero pattern, I will be making lots of little jackets to go with my Summer dresses, just like these cute ones from Vivien of Holloway!


In other news... I cut out all the pieces for my Wartime Dress from Vogue 8936 and will be working on it this week!

Gorgeous sparkly treasure! Vintage rhinestone jewellery.

A couple of weeks ago I had an appointment in my old hometown, so I visited my mum and stepdad while I was there, and met for lunch and fleamarket shopping with one of my oldest and best friends, Alison. She was kind enough to let me pick out a few pieces of vintage 1950s rhinestone jewellery as a belated birthday present! I bought myself a couple of pieces too, and there was even more of it I could have taken home had I taken any more money to spend.


Amazing brooches! £18 altogether.


I love this beautiful starburst brooch, and it matches exactly with this necklace, which is one of the only things I own that belonged to my paternal grandmother. The brooch does actually have a spike missing, but it's not too noticeable. I have an odd earring of the same beads that I could use to repair it which was part of my nanna's set, I have no idea what happened to the other as I don't even wear earrings, having stretched earlobes. I'm scared to take apart the earring to use for spares though, in case I find its partner.


Aurora Borealis rhinestone jewellery! The necklace has lots of different pastel tones in it with a golden surface shine, and the stones of the brooch are dark red and pink with an oilslick iridescent shine.


The necklace in better light.


This brooch is one of my favourite pieces. It's difficult to capture the colours well, it's made to look like different types of topaz in shades of grey-blue and copper opaque glass, it's lovely.


The stallholder also gave me these two cute hat brooches! They're not that old, but once I said I was a milliner she kindly handed them over for free.


50s Diamanté bracelet, £2. One of the stones has been lost and replaced with a different one, but nobody will notice and it'll be a great staple piece to go with my other clear rhinestone pieces.


I also got a couple of household things. Midwinter jug and sugar bowl, 50p each.


Vintage bakelite glove stretcher (I think that's what it is!) to live on my dressing table, £3. The fleamarket certainly isn't anywhere near as cheap as it was when I was living there and shopping on my free Wednesday afternoons after college, I remember finding vintage glass pearl and cut glass necklaces for 30p each, but that was nearly ten years ago and the prices are certainly a lot better than online or vintage shops.

Gratuitous Vintage Shoe Pictures

Hello vintage lovers, and foot fetishists who have stumbled here accidentally due to my use of the words 'gratuitous shoe pictures'. Today I will be showing you some of the shoes I have acquired in the last few months, and for some reason or another haven't shown to you! There will also be some tips on vintage shoe buying.


This first pair aren't vintage at all but they are going to go fabulously with my Summer outfits. Coral red was in my Autumn/Winter colour picks although I didn't manage to feature it much, but my Spring/Summer colour picks will feature a more pastel/bright version of the same tone. These are £18 from TU at Sainsbury's supermarkets (in their current collection, I got them at the weekend), and they're really comfy. I also got a nail polish that matches exactly in a swap with a friend, it's Bourjois Tangerine Fatal.


Pic from pamperedandpolished.co.uk blog.


Amazing black velvet 1950s stilettos from RevolvingStyles on etsy. My friend Paul gave me cash for my birthday, so I bought these. They're the superspy shoes from my birthday wishes post! The heels are so curvaceous, and despite having some marks to the soles, the linings and uppers of these look like they've never been worn.


1980s black velvet stilettos... yeah, yeah, they're almost exactly like the ones above. But they were £2.99 in a charity shop, had never been worn, and I only have one other pair of black shoes.


Delicious 1940s red velvet, gift from a friend <3


Cinderella shoes! I got these back in October so I have no idea why I haven't posted about them yet, seeing as they are the most beautiful shoes I own. When Brittany of Va-Voom Vintage posted these on her blog, I couldn't move my fingers fast enough to write her a message asking for them to be reserved! I paid a visit to her etsy shop and snapped these up at a very reasonable price. These things are pretty scarce in the UK, and even scarcer in a size actually wide enough to squeeze in a modern foot - they're just wide enough for me to rotate my trotters into comfortably.

Here's a few more pictures of my 1950s lucite lovelies, all these pics are copyright of Va-Voom Vintage.




There were a few little stones missing, so I replaced them with some vintage ones I had, from the same period.

Now, to the vintage shoe shopping tips.

In this shoe, you can see two sets of letters. This denotes a high quality shoe - the letters are separate width fittings for the heel and toebox, and would only be found in custom-fitted shoes. Widths generally went from AAAAA to B or C. AAAAA can also stand for AAAAArgh these vintage shoes are far too narrow for my portly modern feet and are making me want to chop off my own toes.


Then again - I have found that these fittings can vary between manufacturers and even between decades - I am a modern UK 5.5, US 8 with a very slightly wider than average foot, but I have 1950s shoes that are tight on me at size US 8B, Fit fine at US 8.5AAAA, and 1940s ones that are snug at supposedly the exact same size, 8.5AAAA. So, in conclusion - don't try to use these fittings as an exact size guide, just take them as a sign of a very well manufactured shoe that was built to last, but go by measurements instead.

Measure a shoe that fits you very well across the widest point of the sole at the ball of the foot, the length along the insole, and the distance across the vamp (the front part of a shoe that covers the top of your foot). If you buy on etsy which is a very good source for vintage shoes, most sellers will list this information. If buying at vintage fairs, take a tape measure and a clean stocking - there's no point trying shoes on when you're wearing massive thick socks or have a sweaty foot which will make the shoes stick and feel uncomfortable.

Another hugely important thing to remember is that the width of your bare foot flat on the floor is not the width you need in a heeled shoe - the sole of the shoe will be considerably narrower due to the way heeled shoes hold the foot, so as I have stated before, measure a shoe that fits you well, not your foot.


Metal heel and toe taps - these are another sign of a well-made shoe, especially the presence of toe taps. Many vintage shoes have hard leather soles, so check these aren't worn out or rotten, and have leather heel taps replaced with matching coloured plastic or metal ones by a good cobbler if you intend to wear the shoes outdoors much, as these will wear down very quickly and cause damage to the heels.


Shoes with different writing in each one show that they were made exclusively for a fancy shoe shop or department store. One logo shows the maker's name, the other the shop. These were good quality shoes made for upmarket outlets. Good names to look for are De Liso Debs from the 40s, Roger Vivier, Spring-O-Lators, Magnin department stores, and Johansen from the 50s, Daniel Green in boudoir slippers, celebrity endorsed lines like Jayne Mansfield shoes, and of course designer treasures such as Ferragamo.


The words 'hand lasted' mean that the fabric or leather of a shoe has been stretched out over the foot-shaped mould by a human, not by a machine. This is generally a sign of quality, but in the 50s and earlier hand lasting was still commonplace anyway, so don't let it sway you too much. Look at the quality of the stitching, the materials used, and whether they have deteriorated over the years making them too fragile to wear.


A shoe stretcher. One or a pair is an invaluable purchase for anyone wating to wear vintage shoes. If your feet are very much a modern size, you'll probably find width an issue when wearing vintage, and this handy gadget is great for gently easing out vintage shoes without putting any undue pressure on one part of the shoe or creating creases in the material. They put equal, firm pressure on all areas of the shoe that the wooden part is in contact with, and are adjustable to many different sizes and foot shapes.


Using a shoe stretcher to gently reshape vintage footwear is highly preferable to trying to wear shoes in, as it preserves their shape and avoids damage to your precious vintage items. Be gentle though, adjusting your stretcher just a tiny bit each day over several days - you're not going to make a shoe whole sizes bigger, or make a shoe you can't get the width of your foot into comfortable to wear. Be careful and remember that these are historical items, you're their custodian, so care for them well.