A Quick Review of 2017

Well it's only been forever. My last post was over a year ago, and a lot has/hasn't happened since then.

The first immediate bad news - I haven't sewn anything remotely historical in that time period. However, that doesn't mean I haven't done any sewing.

The good news is I still have sewn - a lot. My sewing took a bit of a retro swing (no pun intended) and I've been making oodles of dresses - 10 in fact! I've had a variety of fabrics in my stash for a while and at the beginning of the year, I made a promise to myself that I would try to work through it. In addition, I thought it would be fun to have several dresses for my destination wedding in August (more on that in a bit). Here's a quick overview of everything that was made, in no particular order of completion.

Christmas holiday dress - Retro Butterick B5748, Halloween dress - McCall's Archive Collection M7086

These were both made for work. They relax dress code during Christmas time for us and allow us to wear holiday colors, so I had to make a dress for the holiday season. I found this fun vintage-looking fabric on sale and it screamed to be made into a dress. This was my third go at the pattern (a reprint from 1960) and since I already had modified pieces for my measurements, it went together in a matter of a couple days.

My ghost dress I tried to finish in time for Halloween but failed. Part of the problem was I attempted to make it using a pattern I had not used before, so I had to do make a mock-up then adjust for my measurements. This McCall's reprint from 1963 was modified and I did away with the faux belt decoration on the front. Hopefully I'll have a chance to wear it for Halloween this year!

Bridal shower dress - Gertie's Ultimate Dress Book by Gretchen Hirsch, dress for fun - Retro Butterick B5748

Going Gaga for Gertie

Oh I did the most horrible thing this summer! It started way back when I needed more fabric for my Hawaiian pleated skirt made during my retro binge. The local Joann's closest to me was sold out so we traveled down to another location that had the fabric. Lo and behold! This Joann's had WAAAY more apparel fabric than my local one, including the Gertie Collection.

I knew nothing about Gretchen Hirsch (the designer) apart from I loved all the fabrics (think border prints, bright tropicals, and quirky retro designs) and after leafing through the accompanying patterns, found them to be pretty easy for putting together.

Several sales, endless coupons, and multiple trips later, I accumulated this:

My horrible math skills tell me there is about 41 yards of material in here.

And this doesn't include ALL the patterns. Just ones I wanted.

Retro is quickly becoming a quick part of my everyday life because it's a fun way to jazz up my black wardrobe for work, and it's super comfy because in all honesty, I could live in skirts and dresses.

Young Girl's Crinoline Cage

Another year, another birthday, and another addition to Lexie's history wardrobe. Currently she has a calico dress, apron and bonnet, and some underthings. In the spirit of making a complete set of proper undergarments, I pulled Butterick B5901 back out to start working on the hoop skirt.

Butterick B5901

Everything went together well enough by following the directions. I made one alteration to the waistband - instead of fitted, it has a drawstring ribbon so that it is more adjustable. Easy enough to do with 1" grosgrain ribbon. I even got to do some stash busting as well.

This gathered trim came from a petticoat (My very first, horribly made one) that I tore apart a couple years ago. There just enough for the hem and it was a great way to re-purpose some materials that I had.

Spring Time Swing Time Fever

Over the winter holidays, I got bit really hard by the retro bug. Last October I had made my spider web flare skirt. We had a mild winter in northeast Ohio so we've already had several bouts of warm temps (meaning 55-65 degrees F). As a result, I've had warmer weather clothing on my mind for a while already. With no upcoming historical events to attend as of now, I'm deciding to go outside of my comfort zone and work on some - recently - historical clothing. Not to mention I'll be able to wear it on a more day-to-day basis (Crinoline hoop skirts are fun, but they're a b!tch to wear around town regularly and while driving). Plus there's the added fun of doing research about it.

I had bought Vintage Vogue pattern V8788 a loong time ago, but have never had an idea of what fabric I wanted to use for it. Recently I discovered a love of cotton poplin and shirting fabrics because they're super lightweight and still have a nice dressy look even though they're completely natural. Wanting be able to wear it into work (We have a black and white only clothing policy), I found this pretty floral poplin from Denver Fabrics.

Then I went and saw the movie Brooklyn with Saoirse Ronan close to awards season, and that retro bug became a full blown infection. As I sat in the theatre trying to ignore the packed audience around me, I fell in love first with the story of Eilis as she immigrates from Ireland to Brooklyn, New Work, during the early 1950s, then with all of the outfits that she wears (And if you haven't seen the film yet, do!).

Young Girl's Historical Underthings

Another post-holiday gift posting. In October, I started on a set of matched underthings for Lexie, the beau's younger sister. She had already received a dress and accessories, so I figured it was about time to outfit her with some proper underpinnings.

I did attempt to do some research for the project, but finding extant examples of undergarments for children is a hard thing to come by. The only things I found was this underdress from The Met.

Petticoat 1838 - The Met

It matched the pattern I had in my stash from Butterick - B5901 Girl's drawers, underskirt, and hoop skirt. While the style matches, there is no particular date attached to the pattern, so it definitely makes it usable across a broad date spectrum.

Butterick B5901

After obtaining my measurements, I started work on the pattern according to the instructions. The drawers were super easy to put together and match many of the patterns I've put together for full scale women's drawers. They have the split crotch seam, waist ties, and pin tucks along the eyelet lace at the bottom of the pantalettes.

Christmas Reticules

This is one of my heavily delayed posts due the content containing Christmas goodies. For my friends, this year I decided to make some reticule hand bags for everyone. I used two patterns for my bases - Butterick 3485 and B4411, both out of print.

They are both very easy to follow and I made only slight alterations to some of the bags. Because of this, there aren't too many detail constructions. Each bag is listed below with the pattern and materials used.

*          *          *

Pattern: Butterick B4411 View A
Modifications: No major modifications outside of deviating from the instructions on how embellishments were sewn on
Fabric: Red and black silk dupioni, heavy duty interfacing
Notions: Black woven trim for the edges and front decoration, braided black trim for the bag handles, black poly satin ribbon, plastic canvas, matching thread

Alice Dress Update #1

I've been out of touch with blogging over the last month, but my card guard skirt has kept me endlessly ruffling (more on that in another post) and I'm also in the process of moving. My free days have been consumed with packing, organizing, and the annual closet purge to get rid of things I just don't need anymore.

In the midst of it all though, I've been working on the dresses for this October's Wonderland Wedding for my best friend. Now by dresses, I mean not only my own, but the bride's as well. It was only briefly mentioned last time, but I'll also be making Jenna's bridal dress as well for the special occasion! I met with her a couple weeks ago and while I don't have sketches, here is her shopping list:

Because the theme is Alice in Wonderland, she is looking to go as Alice. Rather than wear a dress that looks like Alice's, she is going to use it as inspiration for the color scheme in her own dress.

In case the notes are incoherent, she is looking at doing an underbust corset/bodice. My pattern drafting skills still aren't up to par so I trotted off to the fabric store in search of patterns that I might be able to adapt. I found a couple patterns that followed the shape of what I was looking for.

Butterick 3906

Simplicity 1819

Using the pieces for the bodice on the Butterick pattern and the underbust corset on the Simplicity, I started Frankenpatterning (to quote Kat at Madame Modiste) the bejeezus out of the pieces.

The initial steps were to trace over the original pieces with wax paper (my favorite for tracing) and make initial adjustments such as letting seams out and adjusting the neckline.

 The next bit of fun was taking some of the existing pieces and making additional adjustments to make the pieces I needed to form the actual finished garment. There were some instances where I had three pattern pieces stacked, trying to figure where lines would go for these new pieces.

And this where we stand. I have to get some corset hardware first, but then I should be able to but everything together toward the end of the week. In the meantime, I will be working on the blouse to go underneath.