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.

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?

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.

 

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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.

Happy Easter and a little preview of the Betty Draper dress.

First of all I hope you are all enjoying a wonderful Easter weekend. Good food (after weeks of giving up ... for lent) good company and fun activities.

Dave and I have occupied our time with the usual. Hiking in the countryside. It was too cold for cycling, so the outdoor kit came out. I can deal with drizzle when walking but not cycling. I also kind off pulled a muscle and had to take it easy for a bit.

I wouldn't mind living here

Countryside obstacle course...

Of course a little pub stop as usual. Check my awesome non-vintage Lycra look.

I wonder how many ghosts are haunting this place. It's gorgeous!!

We also spend some good time making fresh bread....house still smells pretty good.

And the Betty Draper dress in the making. The actual dress is finished but I don't have the right colour blue for the sash. I am making it separately so I can wear the dress with or without it. I tried the blue I had in my stash (see picture) but I am not thrilled with it. I think I need to go darker. Any opinions?

Anyways, what are you up to this Easter weekend? 

Also, the hubby and I are off to the Isle of Wight next week. Have you got any good tips on where to go, what to do and what to see? We do have a long list of activities but some advice will make it much easier to choose.

Mad Men challenge update and inspiration

I am behind on the Mad Men challenge and probably will be for a little longer. This is not because I am not working on it but because the fabric I have chosen for my project is not available until later this month. I shall be patient.

I have had a good look around the interwebs to find the dress to copy. It's not easy with all the beautiful fashion in the series and all the wonderful characters. At first I couldn't decide which character I wanted to chose and then of course which dress???

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At fist I thought Peggy as I would probably get most wear out of one of her wardrobe pieces.

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 Then I thought Joan as I looooooooooooooooooooooooove her style but unfortunately I am just not blessed with her shape. I would need major sock support to fill a Joanie.....

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I also love Trudy's wardrobe but couldn't find any good pictures online of something I wanted to make.

So in the end I picked the beautiful Betty Draper as my major inspiration.

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 I know there are many other stylish women in the series (show me one that isn't stylish) but I wanted to stick with one of the leading ladies.

I just recently started re-watching all seasons and in season one episode 2 (I believe it's episode 2) Don, Betty, Roger and his wife are out to dinner together and Betty is wearing a gorgeous white/floral print dress with a huge blue sash. I am absolutely in love with that dress and can see myself twirling around in it on Summer functions and events.

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 There are not too many pictures of it online but it's basically the one the Betty Draper doll is wearing.

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I decided to make the dress and sash out of this lovely floral print cotton and a matching blue plain cotton.

 I am also planning on making a matching petticoat to go all poof Betty style. Hopefully I get this finished in time for April. My husband and I have booked a little short trip to the Isle of Wight. It would be nice wearing Betty's dinner dress out to dinner myself.

Are there any other Betty-dress-sewing-Mad-Men-Challenge-participants?

Valentines outfit inspiration

This year I decided to make myself a Valentines day outfit. I don't even know yet what we are going to do. Dinner date? Movie? Both? Hanging out at home? No idea. But I know I want to do it in a Valentines day outfit.

I got so into the idea after revisitng the Lena Hoschek website, drooling over her beautiful collection. I love her blouses with the heart shape pockets. Perfect for Valentines day, no?

Since I get carried away with sewing pieces that are not wearable this time of the year, I need to change focus for a little while and make something I can actually wear now. My plan is to make an outfit inspired by the one by Lena Hoschek. Skirt and Blouse, ready for whatever on Valentines day.

(working on the skirt already)

Is anyone else making an outfit/piece of clothin/accessories/present etc. for V-day?

What I am working on this week...

It's the week before our next and final move for a while. Fortunately enough this time we have a removal company doing all the hard work for us, meaning I can squeeze in some extra sewing time for myself.

I ordered a few different fabrics last week and picked the lovely floral print crepe to work on first.

I was a bit indecisive whether to turn it into a dress or blouse but in the end the dress won.

I am planning on wearing this out for a little leaving dinner and drinks with some of our friends. Proper outfit shots will follow.

BTW, I know some of you lovely readers are crazy cat ladies like me. Does your cat also magically appear as soon as the fabric comes out? Mine can be asleep somewhere in the house all day and never be seen. As soon as I get some fabric out.................this happens:

Please note the innocent but surprised expression on her face.

The wedding outfit

I was working on this outfit all through last week. If you follow me on Twitter (@Beatrice_Winter) or Instagram (@beatricewinter) you will have seen a few pictures of the work in progress already.

My husband and I were invited to go to a wedding in Frome in Sommerset on Friday night and decided to make a weekend of it. I will blog about the whole trip throughout the week. We decided to include day trips to Bath and Bristol on Saturday and Sunday as both places were close by and we had never been.

First of all the main reason we went down to Sommerset for though. The wedding of my husband's colleague Dale and his beautiful wife Anna. The lovely couple got married at Orchardleigh House in Frome. One of the most amazing places I have ever been to. We were wondering why they had chosen to get married here, when it is quite a track from either of their homes. This is why:

source: http://www.weddingvenues.com/venue3262.html

Of course I needed a new dress to wear to the wedding. I love jewel colours and opted for a teal satin.

The fabric was a dream to work with. I didn't use a pattern really, I used 2 to complete the whole look. I used the bodice of New look 6557 view E

For the skirt I chose New look 6917 view D without the waistband and attached it straight on to the bodice.

The Frankenstein project resulted in this

I decided to add a belt with a heavily beaded detail to the otherwise rather plain dress. I enjoyed beading the headband a few posts back so much, I wanted another beading project.

Work in progress, unfortunately once I encrusted the whole piece in beads it didn't go with the dress. At least not as a belt. I had attached it on some ribbon to tie around my waist but then decided to chop it off again, attach it to a comb and wear it as a head piece instead. It worked a treat.

I also wanted a little jacket to go with the dress. It's January after all.

I used another New Look pattern 6675 and made the little bolero from it.

I didn't add the bows or any other detail and kept it rather plain.

It looks more midnight blue in the picture here. It is however the same colour as the dress. This is what you get when you play around with photo apps to much.

In the end I wanted a little beading on the dress and just added a few rows of slate coloured seed beads around the neckline and et voila, the finished outfit.

 Dress, jacket (all lined in midnight blue as you can see in this picture), head piece and way to high shoes....

And one of the handsome guest couple for good measure...