1940s Separates • Two Old Beans-Style

Today (albeit a few days late!), I'm sharing one of my favorite outfits!!  :)  I've been wanting to get pictures of it for a long while now, and we finally got around to it this week. 

Since I make pretty much all of my clothes, it is always fun to shock someone with the statement that "No, I didn't make this!"  ;)  

This pretty little vintage 1940s blouse is one I got from Two Old Beans, when they were having an Instasale.  It was only $8 or so, and just needed a good soaking and hemming.  I would call that an amazing deal!!!

(Naturally, I had to pair my 1940s oxfords with this outfit, also from Two Old Beans)

Strangely, even though the blouse fits perfectly in the shoulders (hurrah!!!), it is quite short.  As a consequence, it had only four buttons, the last of which was the second from the bottom one that you see in the picture above.  The solution?  Make three more buttonholes and sew on new buttons!!  :)  It worked like a charm, and made it a very comfortable and practical-to-wear blouse. 

The pink piping on the center front and collar adds just enough accent to make it cute.  ;) 

Amazingly enough, this blouse has turned out to be just about my favorite garment that I own!!  I definitely am looking forward to replicating it.  It fits so well, and is *so* comfortable, which has been a must for me of late.  

I did make my jacket, and it is a definite favorite as well.  I actually made it way back in April or so, as a sort of wearable mockup for a future jacket I want to make (for my future WAVES ensemble).  You might recognize the fabric from my late 1940s dress.  Nicely enough, there was plenty enough fabric leftover from that to make a jacket! 

I used this pattern, Simplicity 4492, from the first half of the 1940s.  It is a very fun style, very comfortable, and a very easy-to-make pattern!  I actually made it start-to-finish, cutting to hemming, on a Saturday, intent on wearing it for church the next day.   It got done in plenty of time, so that kind of proves its ease of assembly!!  :)

The little tie-bow adds a fun touch, especially for a lighter weight fabric (something other than wool).  

The jacket has darts extending into tucks at the waist, as well as darts that come down from the shoulder seam in front.  The three-quarter-length sleeves have gathering at the elbows, as opposed to darts.

These buttons have to be in the Top Five category of my most favorite buttons ever.  :)  They almost look like wood, but they are in fact plastic.  And they came off of the loveliest vintage card - it's almost sad sometimes to have to take them off of the cards that they've been on for upwards of 70 years!

To my great joy, the collar was a cinch to make, just like the rest of the jacket.  And (favorite part!), it is not lined!!!!!  As you probably know, I'm always shirking having to line garments whenever possible, so to have it actually be legitimately okay to do makes me quite happy!!  ;)

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Thanks for stopping by, and have a lovely weekend!!

Simplicity 1587 • Version 5

It's rather ironic; I had planned on photographing and posting a tropical, lightweight rayon dress today, and instead I ended up posting a wintry plaid dress worn with furs. Interesting how that works, isn't it? ;)

The weather took a sudden turn into coldness again, so I decided to buck the April fur deadline and sneak in one last appearance of them for the season. It was cold enough to need them, that's for sure! 

I made this dress before Christmas, and have worn it a lot since then! It is made of the same material as my plaid 1912 skirt; a thick, woven cotton material that has a slight stretch to it. In short, it is the ultimate dress fabric. :) 

We bought this fabric quite a few years ago! I wanted my mom to make me a dress like one that Kit, an American Girl doll had. That was so long ago, I can't even find a picture of the original dress! Sadness! ;)

As you may have guessed, that particular dress never got made, so I had about 5 yards of this lovely material laying around to make into something. I made the plaid 1912 skirt out of it first, but had a little bit of material left afterwards. I never thought there would be enough for a dress, but surprisingly enough, there was! I was able to *just barely* squeeze Simplicity 1587 out of it, using the Vogue 8767 skirt.

I suppose the amount of times I've made this pattern rather speaks for itself. Suffice it to say, I love it. And I'm not going to say that I have enough of them, because every time I do, I end up sewing yet another one. ;) There is another summery version that has not been blogged about yet, in fact!

Click to see versions 1, 2, 3, 4.

I made three-quarter length sleeves on this dress, and opted for a bow-less front with a simple (nut) button as an accent. We happened to have a belt buckle that was similar in texture, so that worked well!

This dress matches my vintage 1940s shoes from Two Old Beans better than any other, I think. I just love them! 

Thanks for stopping by! I'll be back in a couple of days with a lovely tea-themed blog post. :) Stay tuned!

• 1938 Dress in Periwinkle •

A few months back, my dear friend Sarah of Prairie Rose Sewing sent me a package that included this gorgeous dress pattern from 1938. I couldn't wait to sew it up! I found some gorgeous fabric at Fabric by the Pound down in Alabama that just begged to be made into it.

I absolutely love the style! It's so very different from anything else that I have!! The style of the front bodice reminds me very much of Kristen's teal dress, which is just gorgeous.

The remarkable part about this pattern is that there are three different garments that can be made from it; a jacket and skirt, View 1, and a dress, View 2. Quite a difference from nowadays when pattern companies split up one outfit into three different patterns!! 

The pattern called for making thread loops, but let's be realistic; thread loops are a pain. And time consuming. So I made fabric ones instead!! :) They worked out very well, and once again are a change from my typical closures. Thanks to a tip from Brigid a while back, I used the nifty method of basting the loops onto a piece of interfacing, then sewing that into the seam and tearing it away afterwards. It is so much easier than trying to pin each loop onto the dress and stitch it!

I love the gathered accent on the front bodice as well; it adds such a ladylike touch!

The sleeves are puffy (my favorite!) and have pleated accents at the hem.

I finally found the perfect project for my pearly buttons!! :)

This buckle is another southern vacation treasure, and it's so nifty! Most other buckles we have are the two-holed kind, so this is a neat change of pace.

And, of course, I'm wearing my gorgeous shoes from Two Old Beans. They are still my absolute favorite. Leather, brand new, arch supports, low heel, perfect color to match the majority of my clothing....the list goes on!! :D

Thank you again, Sarah for the gorgeous, gorgeous pattern! :) I love it!

• Neat Tailored 1940s Dress •

This is the story of a dress that came this close to being in my Etsy shop! :) 

It all started with a pattern we bought about 2 years ago, which always intrigued me. I found that some fabric which I had bought for quilt backing (oops) matched the checked fabric I had in my stash, so I thought I'd use them to make this pattern.

(That just goes to show you that no fabric is safe when there's a sewing-happy seamstress around...) ;)

I started in on the dress, and got to the point of sewing the trim on when I started having trouble. I forgot to lengthen the trim along with the bodice, so it was too short. Plus I had been sewing my miters all wrong. So where did the dress end up? The UFO pile, of course!! Where else?

Months later, I decided to give it a whirl again and pieced the trim in order to make it long enough. (Yay for successful pattern-matching! I have to search for the seam to find it!!!) :D

I sewed and sewed on the dress, only to try it on and h-a-t-e it. I mean, really hate. Needless to say, it went back to the pile. I pulled it out a few weeks later, figuring on finishing it up and listing it in my Etsy shop. I finished sewing on it, made the belt, and tried it on one more time just for kicks. And what do you know, I loved it! :)

It was a narrow escape for this dress, but I am so glad it ended up being in my wardrobe!

The pattern called for buttons, but they didn't seem to be the right touch. I really didn't want to sew snaps on the bodice, so I stitched it down over the topstitching instead. It worked like a charm, and the neck hole is still plenty big enough to slip over my head. 

Any day you don't have to sew snaps on is a good one, right? ;)

The miters were surprisingly easy to sew!

Since the trim of the dress is asymmetrical, I decided to do an asymmetrical belt, so to speak. I rather like the effect of the side-buckle!

*shoe admiring break*

These shoes really are my favorite!!!! They are original NEW 1940s oxfords from Two Old Beans. In my size. :D :D And they're dreamily comfortable. AND, they match so many of my dresses! Bonus on every side!! :)

It was so nice to have a 60-some degree day out and not have to freeze to death for pictures!! :) I am looking forward to spring!

Thanks for stopping by, folks! Have a wonderful week! :)