Work in progress: Sew For Victory project number 2

As I mentioned in my previous Sew For Victory! post, I am working on two dresses for this challenge. Number two is going to be an evening dress/ formal dress. I need a just-in-case-a-formal-occasion-comes-up-dress. With a soldier husband, formal events are sometimes just around the corner and I always like to have a dress to pull out for unexpected occasions. This will be it.

I had no pattern to butcher and frankenstein to create this, so I tried draping it myself.

and then in fabric:

I decided for a nice rich green satin.

Little sneak peak. I think this is going to be a winner!!!!

 Hope you are all making great progress on your sewing project, part of the challenge or not.

Knitting: staying warm with this little scrap project

Since my diving into the world of knitting last year and now some projects later (and some crochet projects from many many moons ago), I have been left with several scraps of yarn that I am to frugal to throw away. So I decided to make myself a cowl to keep me warm through the English winter and whats left of it.

 

 

I knitted about 90 stitches in the round on a size 5 needle. The stripes are not all the same width as I didn't want this to be too neat. Just a tube scarf to keep me warm. This is a great beginners project and can be made in any colour or colour combination, as wide and as long as you like.

 

 

I tend to wrap it around slightly and then tuck it in one side if I am wearing it down like a scarf.

 

 

It goes really well with my offensively pink cycling jacket (hello high visibility!!!) and a pint of cider. We were lucky last weekend and had beautiful sunshine here in Berkshire. Perfect for a bike ride and a pub stop.

 

PS: If you have any yarn scraps left you don't want to use up get in touch with Suzy. She is volunteering for an animal charity called Hula. Some crafty ladies are knitting blankets for the animals from scrap yarn. What a great idea.

 

 

 

Sew For Victory! The design and pattern

Its time for an update on my Sew For Victory! project(s).

I have decided to make two dresses because I was so exited and I couldn't decide which one to go for and also I wanted to make (and then have) patterns for both styles.

Number one is a cotton shirt dress. Yes, a shirt dress, because I can not have too many and I just love that kind of dress.

I didn't have a pattern to make the dress so I had to come up with my own.

My design was inspired by elements from my inspiration dresses in this post here.

Ignore the dress on the left, that was just another idea I wont be working on for now.

I used an existing pattern I have and moved the darts to where I wanted them to be in the pattern. The original pattern has a bust dart and a waist dart so I eliminated the bust dart added darts to the shoulder and one more dart to the waist to keep the fit of the original pattern and create the new look that I was after.

So sorry about the blurry picture (original pattern above, traced and manipulated on the right and new pattern piece on the left)

I used a turquoise cotton for this first dress. I don't own a lot of dresses in solid colours so I thought it was about time to make a few.

The collar in the drawing is white but none of my scraps were the right shape and size to squeeze one out. Trying the whole nifty thrifty make do and mend-thing of the war time era, I decided to just make it in the same colour.

And then I had another major fail due to my pattern butchering and over excitement. I cut the front piece of the skirt to small. It wasn't wide enough to match up with the waistline of the bodice. Panic!!!!!!!

And then I thought, before I go and buy more fabric I get that make do and mend - mentality working again and find a solution. The solution was a quick and quite easy one and resulted in another design change from my drawing.

 Pockets!!!!

The day was saved, the dress and my wallet, too.

Sorry about the blurry pictures. They were all taken at night while I was working on the dress. I didn't check them on a bigger screen until today. Lesson learnt!

Oh and I'm sure someone will ask about this, the shirt bodice front I used to manipulate is Simplicity 5022, a (I am guessing) 1960s pattern.

How is everyone getting on with their projects?

1950s inspired garden party dress

It's a little ironic that I am sharing these dresses with you today while it's snowing outside my window. Oh well, at least they will take your thoughts to an already warmer place. I really hope Spring is not too far around the corner so I can wear them out to play.

I used the same pattern as I used for this dress I made last year.

Fitted bodice with boatneck front and low cut back and full gathered skirt.

I made it in cream, green and red and of course they are available to purchase in my shop in all three colours and various sizes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I hope you like them.

Sew for victory! 1940s sewalong and I am in!!!

Rochelle from Lucky Lucille has called the united vintage sewing world to do their bit for the sewing community and their wardrobe and take part in this awesome sewing challenge.

http://luckylucille.com/2013/02/sew-for-victory-a-40s-sewalong/

 

As a dutiful sewing blogger, I decided to take part. Especially after browsing around for inspiration. I love the 1940s fashions. Most dresses have wonderful pleating details, interesting dart shaping and small but effective embellishments that make the pieces pop and best of all they require very little fabric. As much as I like the big full dresses and skirts of the 1950s as well as the lush evening wear of that time, the 1940s really are my favourite era.

I haven't set my mind yet on what I am going to make exactly but it'll probably be a dress of some sort and I will have to draft the pattern myself. I hope it all goes to plan.

I will leave you with some inspiration. I cant wait to see everyone's prioject(s)

 

 

 

 

 

All images taken from the 1943 Bella Hess catalogue (Thanks Rochelle for the link!!!)

Work in progress...knitting and sewing

I haven't got any finished and photographed items to show today but there is quite a few things I am working on at the moment.

I am working on my first knitting project for my husband. He is a very picky guy when it comes to his clothing and only likes what he likes. He's is not a vintage or retro kinda guy and I'm not very inspired by the thought of sewing for men anyways. Most patterns (vintage or not) for men are kinda blah anyways and knitting patterns are often even worse.

 

source

However we did find a knitting book a few weeks ago at The Works (hurray for being cheap, too) which feature a few designs my husband actually really liked.
 

 

So I bought it, we picked a pattern and found wool in acceptable colours (I never thought we'll get it all together) and I got going.

 

So far I have the front and back piece finished and one sleeve started. A few more evenings and it should be finished. I hope it turns out alright and he loves it and will actually wear it. For now, I will leave you with some great versions of the pattern here on revelry.

 

Have any of you got this book and made anything from it? Do you sew or knit for your husband, boyfriend, partner a lot? If you do, can you recommend any patterns you have successfully used? Maybe I can suggest some of those to my hubby.

I have seen a McCalls shirt Suzy has made for her husband which could be a success.

 

I have also treated myself to some knitting patterns from The Vintage Knitting Lady (as if I haven't bought plenty of knitting books recently) and hope to get my hands one one of them as soon as the mister's jumper is finished.

 

I got Bestway 731

available here if you scroll down a little

Bestway 866

available here if you scroll down a little

 and Bestway 1391

available here if you scroll down a little

I think that will keep me busy for a while!!!!

I am also working on a few new styles for my shop which I shall be sharing with you shortly.