1930s Sheer Blouse

Wow.  This sewing season is taking forever!  Between Colton's schooling, Cody's schooling (he is graduating in May?  What?  When did that happen!!??), various meetings and such, my sewing time has taken a big hit.  But that's ok, because I am now in the realm of all things vintage, which means the time needed for making a garment has dwindled to roughly a 6th of the time it would have taken to sew a complete Victorian garment!  Can I get a Huzzah???!!!

The next item in the 1930s Fall ensemble I wanted to work on was a blouse as I would need that in order to get the fit of the jacket right.  I had planned on using a really sweet vintage pattern that I won on eBay, but had misread the bust size.  Thinking it was a 38", I merrily sewed up my mock (thank heavens it was a mock and not my fashion fabric!!!) only to discover upon trying it on that it was seriously too tight.  Then I re-read the pattern envelope and saw that the bust was 36".  That is a significant size difference from my 40" size.  I have a HUGE rib cage and that can really effect how anything vintage fits me.  I have a feeling that the size of my ribs may also have an effect on vintage patterns.

I had a few days prior to the making of the mock of despair, been sent a gift of Wearing History patterns from Lauren, and in that gifting was a super adorable 1930s Tea at Two dress pattern.  I looked over this pattern and saw that the top and peplum part of the dress would make a PERFECT blouse pattern!  I didn't particularly want a collar on the blouse as the jacket has a collar and in my modern wardrobe, when I have to fight a collar on a blouse and a collar on a jacket it ends up being a pain in the neck.  hahahahahaha...did you get that?  Ahem...anyway, I ended up leaving off the collar that comes with the pattern for the dress and I am loving the way the blouse ended up!!!

I used a semi sheer silk fabric that I had in my stash...let me say a few things about the fabric.  I hated working with it.  I don't generally adore working with sheer, flimsy fabrics as they are hard for me to work with.  My fingers are calloused and have a hard time with the fine "hand" needed to work with these fabrics and this particular fabric was no exception.  I ended up flat felling and french seaming most of the seams, which did make for a nice clean finish.  

The pattern was a total and complete DREAM to work with!  The pieces went together perfectly, the instructions were awesome, and I had absolutely no problem with anything in the pattern!  Can't wait to make the dress in its entirety, with a totally different type of fabric of course!!!

  I did end up making regular button holes and not the bound ones that the pattern calls for, as I felt that attempting them would cause me to relegate the unfinished garment to the burn pile, so next time this pattern is made, I will attempt them!

Sheer, silk 1930s Tea at Two blouse!  I am going to have to find a slip that will be suitable for 1930s until I have the fabric, time and inclination to make one!   I love the look of this blouse with the sleeves and the vestee!

I did have to shorten the sleeves as they were entirely too long.  But, I have to do that on all of my sleeves.

I did make a seam in the back of the blouse as the fabric I was working with wasn't wide enough to support an "on the fold" cutting. 

The buckle I used was one found in the drawer of my Great-Grandma Cornelia's sewing machine cabinet. It is a cool rust red that matches the rust red in the plaid of the skirt perfectly!!

Vintage buttons found at a local antique shop.  Holy cow, I just now noticed that they are sewn on crooked!  hahahaha!!  Awesome!!

Here is the link to where you can check out the Mid 1930s Tea at Two dress pattern!!

Ok, I am off to work on the jacket for this outfit!!  Maybe I can complete it today?  We shall see!!

Have a most wonderfully blessed day my friends!!

g

First 1930s Skirt: Success!!!

OHMYGOSH!!  At this current moment, as I sit at the laptop and type, I am THRILLED!!!  Why?  Because I completed my first early/mid 1930s skirt and it was a breeze!!  Holy Monkey!  I can tentatively say that I am hooked on vintage.  Ok, I know that this is just a skirt, but what a beautiful experience making the skirt was...well, after the 2 hours I spent trying to piece the fabric together that I had used attempting to make an 1888 bustle suit that never came to fruition.  I will post a picture of it here in a bit.

Let me tick off some of the wonderful experiences I had yesterday and today:

1.  Very little (and I mean very little) fabric was used.

2.  I didn't need to line the skirt.

3.  There was no NO pleating, ruching, gathering, adorning.  No fluff and stuff!

4.  I did not seam rip once.

5.  Did I mention the use of very little fabric?  This skirt probably weighs one pound (if that) as opposed to the several of, say, my Grape Soda Dress skirt.

6.  Took me several hours as opposed to several and more days.
7.  I can use the 2-3 yard remnants of fabric that I have been collecting from thrift stores that can't be used in Victorian/Edwardian to my liking.

7.  Simple. 

Oh yes, I think I am going to like going Vintage!

For my first piece of clothing, I chose to something simple to give me a taste of sewing "Simple".  I have had some delightful cotton plaid in my stash for years.  It started out its costuming life as trim for an 1888 bustle dress and hat.  I decided that the outfit was failing in its job to blow my skirt up and dismantled everything.  The silk from the dress became lining for a Romantic Era hat, the vest is still in tact, and the patterned velvet underskirt still lives.  But...but the plaid has held me captive for ever so long.  I then found some burnt pumpkin wool at a thrift store.  It was a match made in Autumnal heaven!!  Seriously!  I brought the wool home, laid it next to the plaid and they sang songs of sweet harmony!  I knew that this pairing would make a most magnificent vintage outfit!

Then, I realized that I didn't have enough of the plaid.  My heart broke!  I spent days perusing the web, in vain, for the same fabric.  But, this fabric was very old and I had to come to the realization that I would never find it.  So, it sat most forlornly in the fabric room in the garage, weeping and sulking with the wool.  Tuesday, I brought the fabrics out again, maybe hoping that the plaid had multiplied like the fish and loaves in Jesus' hands?  I don't know, but I was determined that this fabric would be a skirt.

I had been looking on Pinterest for some examples of suits from the '30s and 40s that used a skirt in one color/fabric/pattern and a jacket in another.  These were some I came up with and in orange/plaid combos!!!

From eBay.  Ok, so this one isn't a two piece with a different top and bottom, but it was MY fabric!  I didn't want to mess with altering a pattern from an era I had never sewn and I don't have enough solid orange wool, but still, proof that this era used these colors!  Huzzah!!

From Etsy

From Etsy

Here are some wonderful examples from The New York Public Library: Digital Archives

Matin-Voyage
Juvenile Ensembe Pour la Rue
Smart tailleur estival

Then my eyes beheld this beauty, this seriously FABULOUS example from:

Betsy Vintage

This one was it!!!!

I was determined to make the plaid work!

I spent at least two hours yesterday sewing 8" x 55" wide strips of fabric to the one piece of whole fabric I had.  I finally had what I thought would be a big enough piece for the vintage dress pattern I had.  No such happiness.  There were too many pieces and not enough fabric.  I finally ended up using the skirt pattern from Butterick 6330.  I consoled myself with the fact that two of my vintage, long skirted dress patterns from the 1930s had very simple, front and back piece skirts!  Problem with the issue of not that much fabric solved!!!

I was having problems with the fact that I have never seen a dress or anything from the 1930s up close and in person since I have started costuming, therefore did not have any clue as to the construction.  Did they line?  Was that lining sack or flat line?  How did they hem?  Etc, etc.

Then!!  I realized that I had my Grandmother's wedding suit from when she married my Grandad in
1943.  I will have to dig out the photo of she and my Grandad on their wedding day!  They were so adorable!!

Looking at my Grandma's suit, I was able to see the construction of garments, at least a suit, from this era and let me tell you...it is vastly different from what I am used to!  Thank heavens!!  Way more simple!

Photos of Jeanne's Wedding Dress

Very sweet WWII era dress!  I love the lines!

These pictures are super dark.  The suit is made of a light weight wool.  A very scratchy wool.

Love the tucked detail on the front!

Left side zipper closure!

How the hem is finished...with hem tape!

This image is of the jacket facing and how it was finished.

Sideways image of the inside back of the jacket.  The raw edge were turned under then top stitched.  Super cool!

Love the pleating on the sleeve caps!  There are wee little shoulder pads inside!

Fabulous buttons!!

So, from studying this suit, I decided that for now, until I can get my hands on an early to mid 1930s suit, I will employ the construction methods of this suit!!!

And here is my skirt!!!

So excited about it!!!

I couldn't find any hem tape, so used an orange bias tape.

Here is the plaid with the lovely wool.  It is a much darker color in real life, but you get the gist!

This is what the plaid used to be on...

Ok, so now to do some thinking on the jacket for this project!!

I hope your Thursday evening is a wonderful one for you all!!

Be Blessed!!

Two 1840s Petticoats: 1 Quilted and 1 Corded

 Right then!  Last weekend was super busy.  My Mother-in-law was in town and on Sunday, I became the mother of an 18 year old!  That's right, my oldest son turned 18!!  I cannot believe I am the mother of an "adult".  I am not that old!!!

I returned to sewing after all was back in order.  I started and finished a quilted petticoat and starched and ironed the corded petticoat I had finished last week.

The Quilted

I have wanted to make a quilted petticoat for quite while.  I have made do with my "cheat" one, the one made out of a quilted curtain.  It's the one I use for my 1830s and my 1860s.  I have a Pinterest page dedicated to Quilted Petticoats and while perusing it one day, I found the one that I could totally do!!  It is a lovely ivory confection with a wave, "eye", swirly, diamond design going on!  I figured that I could easily make it.  I decided to make it using the sewing machine as I have no time at all whatsoever to do anything hand sewn.

I am super happy with how it turned out!!

The Inspiration

This petticoat is so luscious.  I truly love the color but badly wanted to use stuff from my stash, and all of my ivory silk is earmarked for other things!

Source:  The MET

 For some reason the silk did not photograph well.  It is super lovely...sort of a dark chocolate with a touch of cinnamon!

For the inside, I chose a fabric that I found at Walmart a while ago.  It is a cotton and reminds me of a quite a few of the cotton prints that I have seen dresses from the 1840s and 1850s made of!  Huzzah!!!

 The Construction

The circumference of the petticoat is 86".  I decided that the "eye" of the designs should be 6" apart and that's how I made the pattern.  I soooooo did not feel like tracing the pattern out with a chalk pencil, knowing that I would have to reapply it constantly, so I pulled a trick from my Great-Grandma Cornelia's book.  When she used to quilt, sometimes she would use catalog paper to use as patterns and then just sewed the paper, along with the fabric together, later removing the paper! Genius!!!  I made the final design by tracing the swirly eyes onto computer paper that was taped together in a long strip.  I had thought about using either tissue paper of newspaper print, but I am so glad I didn't.  The computer paper held up quite nicely to the moving and bending and folding that I needed to do to get the lines sewn. 

At the very bottom of the petti, I sewed in one line of the larger cording I had used in the corded petticoat.  Then I placed the pattern above that.

Let the pinning begin!!!  I actually added waaaaaay more pins that what is shown here.  I didn't want the pattern or the three layers slipping around.  For padding, I used 100% cotton flannel.  I also chose to sew from the back of the petti, as it caused the front to have the quilted look.  When I sewed from the front, it was "flat" looking and not quilted looking.

Ta Da!  First row of wavey eyes done!!  Grandma Cornelia sure knew what she was doing!

 

Nest step...just start tearing off paper!  It was actually quite easy, as the needle acted to perforate!

Border number 2 complete!!

I did have a bit of trouble here.  I decided to safety pin where the flannel ends met so they wouldn't shift and totally forgot to remove the pins before pinning the pattern paper to the petti!!!  Two safety pins destroyed.....

Another shot of the tearing off of the paper pattern!!  I used tweezers to remove any left over paper.

The Corded

I made a corded petticoat to go with all of my 1830s dresses using Sugar and Cream crochet thread, but I wanted a corded petti that would give my 1840s skirts the correct bell shape.  For this one I used a thicker string.  I can't remember the width as I am number challenged....

Petti before being starched.

The brand that is available at my local store.

I actually make up the starch in a non reactive metal pot!  Works perfectly!

After soaking the petti in the starch, I drape it over a large trash can covered with a large black trash bag.  For this one, because it has a draw string closure, I had to lift it off the ground on one of my patio tables.

After the petti has dried, it can quite literally stand by itself!  Crazy!!!

Sooooooo....here is the crazy petti after I ironed it.  

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I was sort of freaking out at the insane bell shape of the thing!  I tried it on and after laughing myself hoarse, I just didn't know what to think of it.  So, I put one of my 1830s plain pettis over it....

Ok, this is much better and doesn't look so ridiculous!!  I may or may not make a couple of new plain pettis...We'll have to see how much time I have left over!!!

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My sweet 18 year old son!!  I am so very blessed to have him in my life!

Be blessed my friends and I hope your weekend is tremendous!!

g

Grape Soda Overskirt/Bustle Complete! Plus a Mini Tutorial!!

Well, it's done!!  I had a heck of a time deciding what to do with the bustling and made several prototypes before settling on the one that is now on Emma.  I went back to researching on Pinterest and found several examples of a wee puff at the top of the bustling.  I thought they were rather lovely and liked that they had a "formed" way about them and didn't just hang limply down the back.  I made more pleats and ruched more purple strips for both the apron and bustle.  The pattern I used for the apron was the TV208 1870 Trained Bustle Ensemble, the bustling was drafted by me!

Bustling Inspiration

Again, I really liked the puff at the top of these bustles.  They are nicely formed and aren't "hang-y".  I know...it's not a word, but that is the only way I can describe it!  hahahahahaa!!!!!

This puff looks like it is being supported by the white lace...

Pretty Pink Puff!!  Looks like a confection from a Pastry Shop!

The bow on the side of the puff on this one is super sweet...I used this, but with shorter tails on my bows as I am quickly running out of purple silk and still have the bodice to trim out!!  ACK!!!

Source:  Henry Art Gallery

This one also gives the illusion of the puff being supported by the ribbon band!!

Source:  Europeana Fashion Tumblr

I used the "support" band under my puff.  I thought about ruching the strip, but in the end thought it would be a bit over kill.

More pleats and ruching.

Mini Tutorial

On my last post about the underskirt, Val LaBore commented that perhaps I would do a detailed blog post about how I get my pleats and ruches straight....Here it is Val!!!

First, I make my pleats, ruffled, or ruched bits.  Then I start at the hem.  I always place my pleats/ruffles 1/2" past the hem.

Ha!  Ruler showing 1/2" past hem.

While keeping your ruler at the 1/2" place, gently lay your pleats/ruffles to the 1/2" mark.

Pin your pleat in place!

Gently lift your pleat and move the ruler to a space about 1.5" away from your original site.  Replace pleat to the 1/2" spot and pin.

Continue this until you have pinned all the pleating/ruffling around the hem of the skirt.

Another way to place the pleats is to make marks on the skirt and pin the pleats/ruffles at that mark.  Here, I found out where I wanted the pleat to be (1/2" past the hem).

I found that it was 3.5" up on the skirt and just used a disappearing ink pen and marked all the way across my "skirt".  (Ok, it was just a piece of fabric, but here we will pretend it is the skirt!!   Bwahahahahaha....)

Next, I just placed the pleat's edge along the marks and pinned them down.

Ta-Daaaaaa!!!!!  Ugh...ignore the crooked edge of the pleats...

Now you can sew the pleats down or you can start pinning the next layer on top to save a step.

Next step is the ruching...or lace, or other trim.  Start measuring again for correct placement.  Here I chose 3 1/4".  

Every 1.5-2" measure 3 1/4" and pin it in place.  When all the trim and pleats are pinned in place, sew ever so slightly to the side of the gathering pleats...all of them.  

Now this is where I go back and remove the gathering stitches.  I don't like the way the looser stitches look along side the permanent stitching.  

Voila!  You are done!!!

I hope you all have a most blessed week!!

g