• Brown & Cream 1940s Separates •

Believe it or not, I didn't forget about the fact that I have a blog! It just seems that way! ;)

I've been so busy ever since Thanksgiving (and before!) that I kept putting blogg-y things off until later, which translated into them not happening at all! Oops!

I am glad to be back into it though, and I can't wait to share my upcoming projects with you! A couple of Christmas dresses are in order, but I had better hurry up or I'll miss getting to wear them for Christmas entirely!

Last week our church had a Christmas banquet, so I whipped up a blouse (and a skirt) to wear to that. Unfortunately for me, the skirt didn't end up fitting, but fortunately for you, it's now for sale in the shop! :) Check it out here. I ended up wearing my '30s flannel skirt with it for the banquet, but the blouse matches pretty much all of my skirts, including Grandma's wedding skirt! I realize I did sort of break my vow not to wear it until I had the jacket made, but...you know...who can help wearing a pretty skirt that's just hanging there in their closet?!

I made the blouse out of the same fabric as Grandma's wedding blouse, which is a poly-rayon blend. It is very soft and comfortable, but not so fun to deal with! It does not take kindly to any stress on the seams, so I'm going to have to do a little fixing-up on a couple of them. :( GRR. Rayon is on my hate list right now.

But aside from that lovely little fact, I still really do love this blouse!!

I used Simplicity 2154 for the bodice, using Simplicity 3847 as a guide for the armhole and shoulder areas in order to accommodate sleeves. The sleeves are from Butterick 5846 (like my green and cream 1940s dresses).

I made the bow on the blouse quite a bit longer, and a little wider so that it would be "deliciously drapey." Ahem. ;)

I also cut the collar rounded on the front edges rather than pointed for a more 1930s-40s look.

Although Simplicity 2154 is technically a 1960s pattern (oh dear! 1960s!), it is very handy for making a variety of blouses and bodices from the '30s-50s. And the bonus is, it's as easy as pie to make! :)

I'm also a big fan of this skirt! It too was exceedingly easy to make, and fits quite well. Just for the record, I have worn it with Grandma's wedding blouse...just not for pictures yet. Maybe I'll reserve that honor for when I get the suit made.

I was going to entitle this post, "Of Dead Monkeys," but I thought it might throw everyone off a little bit. ;)

A few weeks back when I wore this fur piece to church, one of the little girls there saw me and said, "That looks like a dead monkey!" Another little girl piped in, "It does look like a dead monkey!"

I proceeded to explain to them that it was a mink, and a vintage one from the 1940s at that, to which they replied, "What's a mink?"

So now we have a name for these little fellas; Dead Monkeys. Very endearing, don't you think?

;)

I'll be back next week with (hopefully!) progress on my peppermint-y Christmas dress! See you then!

• 1940s Summer Frock •

Although the weather outside is hardly summery, I'm prepared for whenever the warm weather strikes! I just made this dress last weekend, and, well, it is already my favorite. The fabric is so soft, and the design so comfortable, I simply can't help but love it!

As is the case quite often, I intended this fabric for something entirely different; a Regency apron, in fact! I picked it for that purpose simply because it is a neutral that could go with whites, off-whites, or almost any color. However, when I'm on the lookout for my next project, such plans are liable to be changed!

This 1943 Sears catalog photo was the inspiration for my gathered skirt, and I used Butterick 5846 for the bodice, like my green shirtdress.

 Since I only had 3 1/4 yards, I did not have enough fabric to line the yoke, but that turned out to be a good idea anyway because of the generally lightweight nature of the whole dress. It was a bit of a tight squeeze to fit all of the pieces into that small of an amount of fabric, but it worked!

Ordinarily I can't put my finger on a particular favorite dress, but I think that has all just changed. :)

There is a "first" involved in this dress; my first bound buttonholes ever!! My mom was thinking of putting them on a garment she was working on, so we pulled out our 1941 "Sew and Save" magazine to see how it was done. I decided to try making a practice one too, and immediately got hooked! Although they're a little bit time-consuming, I think I've just been converted to them, especially since I haven't had a very good relationship with my sewing machine's buttonhole-making talents of late. And, bound buttonholes are just so....neat!!

Although Butterick 5846 is not a vintage reproduction pattern, I just love the quintessential 1940s styling; the yoke with gathers, the tucks under the bust, the longer length sleeves. It's actually hard resisting the urge to make more dresses exactly like this. Very hard.

Since I was wearing a summery dress, I decided to wear a very summery sun hat as well! Strangely enough, in rummaging around for a suitable hat trim, I happened to pull out the sash for my floral regency dress. It ended up being the perfect length, color and size to tie onto this hat! It works out quite well since the sash never fit right with the dress anyway. Whatever works, right?!

I am looking forward to wearing my new frock to death this summer! Until then though, I'll just wear sweaters and hope for warmer weather! :)

• Green 1940s Shirtdress •

I had intended to post a different dress today, but in view of how much I love my brand new shirtdress, I moved it up to the front of the schedule. Today's post is actually similar to last week's, because the pattern I used is not a vintage reproduction. (shocking, right?)

I was perusing our pattern stash last week, unsure what to make, so I decided to take a peek in the box of non-vintage patterns. I thought that maybe, just maybe there would be something in there that I could redeem. I went through the box several times before I decided that this pattern, Butterick 5846, might just fit the bill! It had definite possibility; a yoke with the bodice gathered on, lots of pleats and a pretty but not too full skirt. 

On a whim, I decided to look it up online to see what other people's renditions of the pattern looked like. Was I ever surprised to find that everyone else referred to it as a "1940s shirtdress!" I happily did some measuring and jumped into making it.

I made the longer skirt from view C, which ended up being the perfect length. I also omitted the button closure on the skirt, and put in a side zipper.

I have long admired this fabric at JoAnn, but something else always caught my attention and I would end up not buying it. I even saw it up in WI when we were on vacation, but still didn't buy it. A few weeks back, however, my parents bought it for me for my spiritual birthday, and I was very happily surprised! It is so perfectly vintage. I just love it!

I had intended to use some different little pearl buttons, but I didn't have enough of them. It worked out for the best though because these little beauties match even better! My mom had them in her button stash, and let me have them.

She's just nice like that. :)

This buckle was a marvelous find at an antique store a few weeks back, and it really matches the dress very well. I actually share the buckle with another dress, which I will talk about more next week! 

I absolutely *love* the details of this dress; the pleats make it nice and fitted at the waist, while being extremely comfortable and roomy on top. 

And all of that topstitching!! I love it!!

I really had no problems while making it other than with the collar. The collar pattern piece has little triangles which you are supposed to staystitch around and snip on one collar piece so that it can be slipstitched down over the seam allowances once the collar is finished. I found out (after sewing everything....and trimming everything) that those triangles need to be moved about 2 3/8" out (towards the points of the collar), or you will end up having that much of the collar seam showing. Thankfully, it was a pretty easy fix.

I really like the skirt, but I feel like it's not quite authentically 1940s. Although the pattern pieces might be able to be laid out a little differently, my dress took 5 yards, which is more than a typical 1940s dress would have taken. All that aside though, since our fabric isn't rationed, I don't have a problem with making a slightly fuller, swingy skirt. :) 

• Photography by my mom •