• Chocolate Bonbon 1950s Dress •

So sorry for the unannounced absence!!  Life can get pretty busy at times, and, well, a lack of photographs can be rather preventative to blogging as well.  ;)

This dress is one I made early this year for our southern vacation, but the only picture we took of it was this one:

:P

We always have these grand plans when we go on vacation; we make new, fun outfits, and we figure on taking the most wonderful pictures in the most wonderful locations while we're there.  Instead, we get a minimal amount of coat-covered, messy-haired, typical vacation photos.  Which is fine, but not quite what one needs for blogging.  But that's just the way it goes.  ;)

I purchased this fabric at Hancock Fabrics (boohoo!!!) a couple of years ago on the clearance rack for only a dollar or two per yard.  There was only 3.125 yards, so I was very limited in what I could do with it.  I always wanted to make a 1950s s'more-themed dress, with graham-cracker-shaped buttons, but no such buttons were found to exist, sadly.  :(  In the pursuit for The Perfect Buttons, my mom offered me these *gorgeous* pink ones, which proved to be just the right accent!

Somehow the combination of the brown polka dots with the pink accents reminded us very much of chocolate bonbons, hence the name.  ;) 

I'm amazed the dress squeezed into that small of an amount of fabric, but it did, albeit without enough leftover to make a bound buttonhole (only a very slight exaggeration).  I even managed to eke out a 2" hem!!  The skirt is made of two widths of fabric, so it is approximately 90" around.  Just enough to accommodate a petticoat and give that '50s silhouette!  :)

As for the design, I took a page from Lily's book and made a front-closing bodice with an underlap, like her fruit and lemon dresses.  I used the collar area from Butterick 6055 and my basic bodice sloper for the rest of the bodice pattern, varying things here and there to suit.  For the front opening, I simply left the center front seam open and faced it, sewing an underlap piece into the left seam.  The buttons were then sewn onto that underlap piece.  Since the neckline was a bit low, I pinned in a small modesty panel. 

 I ended up miscalculating the front shoulder width, due to having forgotten about the front shoulder dart, but somehow it came out perfectly nonetheless!  I should make mistakes like this more often; they make my sleeves fit even better!  ;) 

I managed to match the dots up on the front bodice, and placed the buttons smack-dab on top of them.  ;D  

These poor sleeves met with a near-death experience; I wanted that ricrac slit detail on my sleeves, but since they were not kimono sleeves, it was not so easy to do.  First I tried sewing the ricrac into the seam with the facing, clipped and trimmed the seam to within an inch of its life, only to turn it and find out that the ricrac had gotten sewn into every place except where it was supposed to be.  What happened next was this:

.....along with a lot of thoughts as to how to make this dress look decent as a sleeveless one.  But after a day or so of brooding, I finally decided to tackle it and see if it could be redeemed.  Thankfully, it could and did.  I ended up sewing the ricrac on after the facing seam was sewn and turned.

So all in all, it was a fun dress to make, despite a few hiccups along the way.  And it is such a fun (and comfortable, yay!!) dress to wear, I might just have to try another rendition someday!  :)  

Have a lovely week, and enjoy the gorgeous fall season!

~

If you haven't done so, do check out my Etsy shop for a new listing or two!  I recently added an adorable ruffled tote bag, featuring the cutest novelty print.  See the listing here.

• Aprons Galore •

It has been a long time since I posted about aprons, don't you think?  I really didn't think there would be this many to post, but I was happily surprised upon looking back through photos and finding so many of them.  Unfortunately for us (but good for everyone else!), not one of them was for us!  We need to break down and make ourselves some aprons!

Without further ado, let's jump in.  :)

I made this apron just a week or so ago for a friend's birthday.  The fabric seemed like her style and color, and was *just* enough to squeeze an apron out of.  It is an 1850s-1870s reproduction print, actually, and the fun part is that my mom and I have about 13 yards of a black and cream version of this exact fabric that we have grand plans for.  ;)

The style of this one is pretty simple; rounded corners, slight gathers at the waist, contrasting topstitching, and ricrac edging around the "skirt", waistband seam, and pocket band.   I did throw in a fun surprise though, which was lining the pocket with coordinating polka-dot fabric.  :)  (And yes, it IS the same fabric as the dress shown in the pictures)

Next up is this 1860s apron, which I did in fact make for myself, but I ended up cutting it too short for my height.  *tears*  It is for sale in my Etsy shop, so do check it out if you are in the market for one!  All stitching visible to the outside is done by hand, so it is perfectly period-correct, and made from reproduction fabric.

I love this fabric to pieces. 

The skirt is made from two widths (90" total) of fabric, so it is nice and full and hangs beautifully with or without a hoopskirt.  

I made this little one last fall for a wedding present, but sadly did not get many pictures of it at all.  Thelma Lou happened to be wearing this particular outfit, so it got to be the involuntary (and mismatched) backdrop for an impromptu photoshoot.  At least I have photographic evidence of it, anyway!

Contrasting waistband and ties, pleated skirt, and a sweetheart waistband.

*cuteness alert*

Another wedding gift, this little '50s job was made from feedsack reproduction fabric.  The contrasting gingham binding was from an old jumper or some such that we had saved just for this purpose.  :)  

The gal this apron was for *loves* ladybugs, so I had to sneak one on there.  :)

This gorgeous '50s sweetheart one was made over a year ago, particularly for the shop.  Click here to see the listing.

This particular gingham fabric has been used on SO many projects!!  I should pick up some more, methinks!  ;)

And last, but definitely not least, this gorgeous blue one my mom made for another wedding gift.  She made it using an original apron of her grandma's as the pattern.  I just love this style!!!! 

Fun blue polka dots accent the pretty floral.  Recognize that fabric?  It's the blue-toned version of my purple dress fabric!!  :)

Scalloped hem.

The pockets on this apron are the cutest thing; adorable little triangles!!  :)

I hope you enjoyed this post!  It's so much fun to share the smaller projects we make from time to time.  Thanks for stopping by!!  :)

• Nautical 1940s Blouse •

Today's post is about a simple little blouse I made back in March of 2015.  This post has been very long in the making!!  ;)  Somehow I just never got pictures of it, so we remedied that this past week.

The fabric was originally purchased for an apron, but true to form, I cobbed it for a garment instead.  ;)  The only problem was, there was just one yard of it, so I had to come up with a way to fit a blouse out of that amount.  I settled on using Simplicity 1692, and sewed a strip of solid blue fabric on the bottom of the blouse, a couple of inches below the waist.  I never wear the blouse untucked, so it works out just fine.

Things didn't go quite as smoothly as planned, however.  First off, I had a dull needle, so it was pulling threads to its heart's content on the shoulder seams before I realized it.  Boo.  It has only taken me, what, 3 years?  But I finally am remembering to check/change needles between projects, and in between times as well.  It's definitely worth the very slight effort to avoid ruining a garment. 

The second hiccup was one that is rather hilarious; I picked up the scissors to snip off a stray thread, and what do I do instead?  Just snip a hole in the back of my blouse.  No big deal, you know.  AGH!!!  I patched it up as best I could (which wasn't that good, but.....), so I don't really notice it now, but what a thing to do!!!  Lesson learned; be extra careful when clipping threads with giant shears.  :P 

The neckline and sleeves are edged with baby ricrac, and a bow accents the front neckline.  It's a very simple style, but a rather cute one nonetheless.

Ironically, I ended up making a scarf out of this striped fabric, which happened to be the accent fabric that I was going to use on the nautical apron.  :)  Rather unfortunate for my Etsy shop, but nice for me!! 

Paired with the blouse is my Vogue 1019 skirt.  My wardrobe is severely lacking in the skirt department, but I am working on a 1940s skirt right now, so hopefully that problem will be remedied soon.  

Thanks for stopping by!!  :)

• 4th of July Polka Dot Dress •

Since I missed posting (again....) last week, I thought I'd take a break from the Civil War series and share my latest creation; a 4th of July-themed dress! 

This fabric was originally intended for my birthday dress, but the lemon fabric ended up taking its place.  Finally I decided to make a fun 1950s dress that would be suitable for the 4th of July!  Although it's not quite your typical patriotic blue color, it has enough fun flair to fill the gap, don't you think?  ;)

I really wanted to use ricrac on the dress, but not just around a collar or some such; I wanted it sewn into some seams, like on Tara's polka dot dress.  I finally settled for this late 1940s Chicago Tribune Pattern (side note to Gina: based on the postmark on the envelope, this pattern is from 1949 or before!), with a circular skirt.  Thankfully, earlier this year when I purchased the fabric, I got 6-1/2 yards, plus an additional 1-1/2 yard piece, so I had plenty for a nice, full, circle skirt.  I didn't end up using the 1-1/2 yard piece, but that should make an awfully cute little girls' 1950s dress.  :)

The pattern I used has two tucks coming down from the yoke seam, with gathers on each side at the waist.  I really didn't want it to be blousy, but rather more fitted, so I narrowed the bodice pieces down and drafted darts instead.  Let's just say it's a miracle that the fabric survived that many unpickings!!  ;)  I was only basting the darts in each time, but it still ended up being an awful lot of sewn and removed stitching lines.  The end result is what counts though, and I am very happy with how it came out!

The ricrac I used on the bodice was from a vintage packet, but the ricrac around the skirt was new.  I went to the local fabric shop to get some, hoping to get 7-1/2 yards, because that's what I thought I would need, based on a preliminary measurement around the unhemmed skirt.  They only had 6-3/8 yards at the store, but I bought it anyway in hopes of it....growing.  ;)  Thankfully, once the skirt was hemmed, I ended up only needing approximately 6.12 yards, so I had a nice little piece leftover.  Happy day!!!  :D

Since I was going for a fun, casual look with the dress, I opted for a contrasting sash, rather than a belt.  

One feature I really love about this dress is *the pocket*!!!!!!!  :D  I used to be a total anti-pockets-in-the-side-seams person, until I was reminded of the fact that certain types of side-seam pockets are actually really nice.  As long as they are sewn into the waist seam and not just the side seam, they lay beautifully and are downright handy to have!  Hence, my first side-seam pocket.  And I am officially a convert.  ;)

Since I haven't wrapped my mind around how to insert a zipper and a pocket in the same seam yet, I'm sticking with a right side pocket for now, since I've noticed other seamstresses doing the same.  Easy, and too much fun!

When one is wearing a circular skirt, one simply *must* take the obligatory melting-dress photo.  ;)

I mentioned having changed the tucks into darts earlier; it was not such an easy feat on the back bodice!  At first I made the two little tucks on each side at the top, with a dart coming up from the waist below them on each side.  What resulted was a nice, big bubble on each side.  Hmm.  Then I tried just taking a couple of tucks at the waist on each side.  More bubbles.  Finally I had to just continue the tucks down to the waist on each side, taking in the needed amount of fabric at both the yoke and waist seams.  It worked, and hopefully doesn't look too out of place.  

This is actually the first real circle skirt I've ever worn!  I have made two of them before, one in a green diagonal plaid, that sadly did not fit, and the other being on my remade 1950s dress.  Although the '50s dress has a circular skirt, being it was taken off of my original walkaway dress, it does not hang quite like a standard circular skirt would because of the original way it was cut out.

Happily, this dress convinced me that I do indeed like circular skirts!!  :)  They might be a little frightening in wind storms (check the forecast before choosing outfits, perhaps?), and a little painful to wear when one is cutting out a project on the floor, but other than that, they are a delight to wear.

I was able to do a little over a 1" hem on this skirt as well, which was fun!  I was afraid it would have to be eased in an awful lot, but it really didn't, and was surprisingly easy to hem.  And perhaps the slightly heavier hem than on my previous circular skirt will help ward off the inevitable results of those undesirable gusts of wind.  ;)

Thanks to my mom for the gorgeous buttons!  I originally planned to use some rather monstrous red ones that I purchased at JoAnn, but they were utterly too big.  These were just the ticket, and beautiful to boot!  :)

If you haven't done so lately, do stop by my Etsy shop!  I have recently added several garments to the stock, one of which is in a smaller size, and can be custom ordered in a different fabric of your choice.  And there is a sale on through July 4th; receive 20% off when you use the coupon code HAPPYFOURTH.

I hope you all have a lovely week and a very enjoyable 4th of July!  Let us pray for our country, that the Lord would grant us a revival, and our country would return to the values and beliefs that its founders stood for.  Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord! 

• 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 •