Wednesday, July 31, 2013

I'm Back

Houston was not really my cup of tea, and long-story short, I am glad to be home! However, I have come down with a little cold, so I am going to hold off on the sewing and rest for a bit. Lately I have been wanting something in my closet which I can wear in summer, looks vintage but easy to wear and is cute. What better fits this description than a 1960s shift dress! Here are some of my inspirations:
1960s Blue ShiftVintage 1960s Shift Dress Sewing Pattern by allthepreciousthings, $7.00
I like this style, with the cute puckers,not sure about the hair though. I like the dressy version too.
1960s Shifts
Look at these cute little London ladies, and their wool shifts! Love the little belt as well.
1960s Shifts

1960s Dress Pattern Butterick 3465 Mod Yoked Shift by paneenjerez, $10.00
Of course, I already have a huge pile to tbs (to be sewn) projects, so maybe I can make one out of wool for winter. Soon, I plan on altering some of my grandmothers old clothes she gave me to fit me. Pictures to come! but for now, here is a brief description of the two dresses I am going to alter. One is a yellow organza dress from the early 60s which my grandmother wore to her wedding rehearsal. The other is an old one maybe the 1940s or 1950s which has white and periwinkle stripes with lace around the hem and a matching bolero jacket with pearl buttons.

Tuesday, July 23, 2013

Play Suit

It is play suit season, and I adore vintage style play suits. Luckily, I have an awesome mom who can sew things for me. Here was my inspirations:
Lucia Skirt

I designed it, but my mom made it, and here is how it turned out:
Pretty cute right? In the little gingham, which we got from Nancy's Sewing Basket which it so conveniently close to our house. I decided to pose with a delicious chocolate chip mint ice cream.

Oh yeah, and to add to the cuteness I wanted the back to have buttons.
If you want to know how my mom made it check out her blog by clicking here.

Photoshoot

Hello darling viewers! This week me and my lovely assistant did a photo shoot. Most of the pictures were of things we had sewn with our patterns we sell at The Vintage Sewing Suite. However I did take the time to model some other items I had sewn. Here are the results:
Here I am modeling the high-waisted denim shorts I made.

I used this pattern, which is now available at the Vintage Sewing Suite for purchase. These were a bit of a pain to make because they were huge! I had to scale them down a lot. They turned out ok, but I used hem tape to finish the leg seams, so now when I sit down, they squeeze my legs. But, I have small legs, so I assumed it would be okay to make the legs smaller. It was not.
This is the Vintage poodle broach seen in the pictures below.
Here is the back of the dress.
Here is the pattern I used for this, now available for purchase the Vintage Sewing Suite. It fits really well, the only alteration was made on the muslin of this bodice. But, if you plan to do a pleated dress, I wouldn't suggest using cotton, or anything that wrinkles easily because it is a pain to iron. Maybe I will do this in a wool in the winter, and make it like a jumper, and wear it with a sweater underneath.
And Below is my inspiration photo.
Audrey Hepburn, Isn't she just gorgeous? Well from Wednesday to Monday I will be in Huston, Texas to go see my sister perform at her ballet summer course. So, I won't have my laptop and hope to blog when I get back!

Wednesday, July 17, 2013

Hairstyles

A good hairstyle, is essential to creating an authentic vintage look. Some prefer to do more of a half- vintage look, or others are dedicated to a daily vintage pin curled look.

Here is an example of looks that are curled with curling iron, or hot rollers, or just pinned into place.

Here is the authentically rolled hair, you can see that both are vintage looking, but the authentic look looks much better. It also takes a lot longer so, you got to have time and patience. I used to pin curl my hair every night, because my hair is super straight not even curling irons or hot rollers stay all day. They were hard to do, but you can do a variety of styles with pin curls. Then I saw this tutorial, with Miss Amanda Lee telling us how she curls her hair. To check it out click here. I try to do this every night, and for me it works really well. Everyone's hair is different, so try what ever works best for you.

Now, if I don't have time to curl my hair the night before. I do some of the styles above. They all look sort or vintage, when I don't have time for curling. And I try to accent it with flowers or bows. I hope you learn something from this! This weekend I will work on my dress, so you can see how I fit the muslin.

Sunday, July 14, 2013

Cutting out Fabric

Hello everyone! So last night I decided to cut out the skirt part of a red dress I am sewing.
Here is the pattern I plan to use:
I am really excited to start sewing this dress because of my beautiful fabric I have. So step one, cut out the skirt for my dress. I had to do this very carefully to make sure that the lobed edges lined up correctly at the side seams. Also you can see how pinned the skirt portion to be shorter, this was because when doing this scalloped edge, you can not hem it.
I happend to be watching t.v. while cutting, as I often do. I do not recommend this because you tend to be distracted. I cutout notches on a fold by mistake. At this point it was 9:39, and I wanted to just be lounging and not using my brain. I had to re-cut the whole thing (luckily I had enough fabric). This week I plan on cutting out a muslin for the bodice and sewing it, so I can make it next weekend. I often have to take in an inch down the middle of the bodice, and since this pattern is button down the back, I wanted to be sure the fit was correct before I used the real fabric. I have learned many things from sewing, one of them is that if you are too tired, or have a deadline it only gets worse. So,only do sewing when you are refreshed and ready to work, never rushed or when you " just need to finish."
While lounging outside today my cat, Tigger posed for some pictures.
 That should end your day in a smile!

Tuesday, July 9, 2013

Busy Bee

Hello lovely viewers! This week and next week I will be in Opera Camp with Seattle Opera, so I won't get much sewing done. I will also try to post often, but I am at opera camp all day long so it will be hard. This weekend I plan to cutout a muslin for a bodice of a dress as well as sewing the actual skirt. I figured I would only be adjusting the bodice, where I often have fit problem, due to the small shoulders.  Also, my mom has offerd to make me a playsuit and you can check out her process on her blog which is called My Sewing Suite. I chose a nice mint gingham in cotton with white cottn lining, and I am super excited to see how it turns out, she has allready finished the skirt!
That's all for today!I will post over the weekend!

Saturday, July 6, 2013

Which Era?

Hey guys, if you are into vintage fashion which era? Me, I'm kinda into 1940s and 1950s and early 1960s. But many people are more comfortable in other eras. Here is your modern girl with vintage fashion: The 1920s girl. The look of the 1920s was the more masculine look. a different shape evolved and hems creeped upwards. When silent films became popular, girls started to wear makeup. And when the bobbed look came into style, girls quickly caught on, having short hair for the first time in history. Glamour, fashion and adventure were big.


Or, the 1930s girl, I would say that the 1930s was a transition period mostly the waistline. Between the 1920s and 1940s there was an extreme change in waistline and silhouette. Also, after the crash of 1929, people wore more simple clothes, less fur and glamorous, depending on who you were, there certainly was glamour but due to the depression clothing had to be more affordable.. The eyebrows were thin, lips full and the cheeks were rosy.

The 1940s girl, she is into the fruit clips, the chunky heels and the WWII look. Shoulder pads became popular, as they were thought to make the waist look smaller. Due to the war, we had to use less fabric, and many women took apart old clothing to make new things out of them. Pin up and victory rolls were popular and the 1940s moved into the rockabilly scene. The iconic red lips, began during the 40s and shoes became more sensible as women had to take up many jobs men would normally do during the war. (This is Miss Amanda Lee in picture below, she is the perfect 1940s girl)
Or the classic 1950s girl who never left the house without her compact and red lipstick. She wore full skirts and more fitted clothing. Women wore pants and shorts more, and furs became very popular specifically mink. After the war, it was time to celebrate, and with all the struggle for fabric during the war, yards of fabric  in full long gowns became popular. Your hair was curled based on your neck length and face shape in order to flatter each girl the best. During this time teenagers developed a style that would make them different from their mothers, and bobby socks wore the poodle skirts or full skirts with a button up shirt and cardigan. Saddle shoes were a must-have along with your bobby socks and ponytails. Marilyn Monroe changed the silhouette for women everywhere.

And the 1960s girl. Now the thing about the 1960s is that you can be early 60s, mod or flower child. the 1960s was full of changes, colors, and new styles. I think the 1960s was like the second 1920s where they just broke free from the structure and rules of the fashion and time. they made things flowy, less waistline, and shorter hemlines. More beads, and colors and more fun. the hair was less curly often flipped up and slowly became less curled. The makeup became colorful and natural lips, and bright eye shadow. a thinner, less voluptuous look became popular.

So which one are you? Which era suits you best? Do they all? Do you like to mix and match?