• 1940s Lace Dress •

I apologize for the unannounced absence! I neglected to put together a post ahead of time, so when Thursday rolled around, I got so busy I didn't have time to write anything! One of the things I was busy with was this dress!

Ever since I first glimpsed Vogue 8811, I have absolutely loved it; especially View A with the lace. It's just so beautiful! Last year I purchased this blue polyester crepe ($1 a yard...yay!!), not really having anything particular in mind for it. Eventually I realized that it was the perfect fabric to make this dress out of! And not only that, I happened to have some lace in the stash that was also perfect for it!

I realize that polyester crepe was not even invented in 1940 (actually, it was invented in 1941...but that's beside the point). Since I'm just making vintage-style garments for everyday wear and not pursuing absolute period-correctness, I don't have a problem using a fabric like this every now and then. No one can accuse me of being a fabric snob. ;)

Since the fabric is slightly thin, I self-lined the bodice. That was a somewhat interesting venture! I have never lined anything with kimono sleeves before, but I confidently proceeded anyway with what I thought was the right way to do it. 

It wasn't.

I sewed the neckline of the bodice and lining together once all the seams were sewn, then sewed the sleeves together. In my mind, that was going to work quite perfectly!

It didn't.

What resulted was a Rubik's cube of fabric; an unrecognizable mass of material that couldn't be turned! I was tempted to give up on the dreaded thing, but finally decided to go back and unpick the sleeve seams. That did work.

Because of that little problem, the overall annoyance of trying to sew such persnickety fabric, trying to sew the lace on neatly, and trying to hem it decently, this dress gained the not-so-endearing name, "The Dress of Stress."

Now that it's done though, I definitely love it. And even with the problems I had, it was awfully easy to make! It would be an absolute cinch in a more easily-sewable fabric.

The pattern called for 2" lace; mine was more like 1 1/2", but it still looked just fine.

I had another rather stressful issue; I used a wash-out sewing marker to mark my lace miters, which I then spritzed afterwards to remove the marks. After the fabric had dried, I noticed that the water had left what looked like dirty watermarks everywhere that I had spritzed it! Thankfully, they washed right out, but it wasn't very encouraging at the time!

I decided to try my hand at a hand-picked zipper. I'd never done one before, but I quite like it! It may not be the most amazing job ever, but not too bad for a first try.

As for alterations, I lengthened the sleeves 2" and made the armholes smaller using another pattern's sleeves as a guide (Vogue V9000).

I also made the keyhole about 1 1/2" shorter and made it in my usual shape rather than the slightly wider, rounded shape that the pattern called for. Which reminds me, I have been incredibly lax and not posted my keyhole tutorial yet! I will do that either this week or next, and that's a promise!

Despite the problems, I'm thrilled to have a new "fancy" dress! It will be just the thing for orchestra-attending and other such occasions that call for more formal attire.

Thank you all so much for the birthday wishes and the lovely, lovely comments on last week's post! You all make a girl feel quite special!! :) 

• 1940s Home Front Frock •

Also entitled, "The Birthday Dress."

That's right! I made this dress for my birthday! I loved the pink fabric so much, and the pattern that I used for it so much, that I decided it was definitely what I wanted to make to wear on my birthday. 

We found this pattern at an antique store in La Crosse, Wisconsin. (It's called Antique Corner, just in case you were wondering. Yes. Go there. It's like antique heaven, and there's three floors(!). We didn't even make it to the first and third floors; we were too busy getting lost in the second floor which is all vintage dresses, hats, patterns and sewing stuff.) 

The design of the dress is so lovely with the asymmetrical front closure and those adorable scalloped pockets. I couldn't resist!

"Put on a bright front on the home front."

I decided to use red ric-rac with matching red fabric-covered buttons. The color of them really brings out the red in the fabric.

I am so happy to finally have a "princess line" dress pattern! We have one very similar to this that my mom has made, but it just isn't flattering on me. I'm glad to have a suitable alternative!

This hat. It's my absolute favorite hat ever. It had been staring at us for months, every time we went to the antique store, so we finally decided to buy it. It fits like a glove, and the style is just so cute! If I could just find about 12 other colors of the same exact hat, that would be amazing! ;)

The way these pockets were formed is quite ingenious; the side front pieces of the dress only extend down to the hip, and there is a separate skirt piece with a scalloped top. The skirt is sewed to the side bodice piece, wrong-side-to-right-side a little ways down, forming a pocket. The edges are then sewed into the remaining seams. Clever!!

All in all, this was a very fun dress to sew, and I can't wait to make more renditions of it! There is another illustration of it inside the pattern instruction sheet, showing it in a solid color with long sleeves and no neck-and-pocket trim. It would definitely be the perfect wool fall and winter dress. 

But for now, I think I had better keep my mind on summer sewing projects, don't you think? ;)

• Photos by my mom •

• Baby Gifts, Volume II •

Whew! It's been a busy week! Between getting back from a short trip to see my grandparents in Minnesota, gardening, sewing, Etsy-shop-opening, and other such goodies, it's been quite hectic!

It's good to be back into the swing of things, however, and today I'm finally sharing the sewn part (part two) of our baby gifts!

(See part one here)

I found a pattern for this adorable stuffed bear in an old sewing book of ours. It is just about the cutest thing I've ever seen, and so easy to make! I can't wait to make bunches of them; the possibilities are endless - plaids, stripes, florals! 

I used some scraps of fleece from a blanket that I made a while back. He's the fuzziest, softest, cutest bear ever.

Technically, you're supposed to make the eyes and nose before stuffing the bear, but I did it once he was finished with a curved needle. I used yarn rather than embroidery floss. 

A pretty orange ribbon complimented him quite nicely.

Oh, and did I mention he's really cute? ;)

My mom made several adorable burp cloths to send along. Aren't the fabrics just darling? 

They seem to be the perfect size and thickness, with two layers of flannel. The nice part is, you can make one out of a fat quarter! The topstitching adds a very nice touch.

Just look at that. Did you ever see anything cuter??!!

Mom was going to make a couple of bibs to go with the burp cloths, but she decided instead to make an adorable little baby robe! 

She used a vintage pattern we have which is actually for a little jacket with an open tie-front, lengthening it into a robe-length, and making slightly longer sleeves.

Impressive seaming! :)

She had just enough of the polka-dot fabric left to make sleeve bands and a belt. It's so cute.

We topped it off with a little duckie tag. Cute? Yep.

I'll be back Monday with a fresh-off-the-sewing-machine 1940s dress that I'm very excited about.

Meanwhile today I am celebrating my birthday! :) Antiquing, lasagna and cake-eating, and present-opening are the plans for the day so far.

And to all of my new followers, welcome! I'm thrilled to have you following along! :)

• I'm Being Interviewed! •

Just a quick post to let you know that sweet Jessica of Chronically Vintage is interviewing me today! Hop over to her blog to read all about it!

It has been a hectic couple of weeks, but I'll be back to my regular posting schedule tomorrow. See you then! :)