Flashback Friday - 1993 and the fashionable toddler

Short and sweet flashback today as I'm on my way to an all day workshop. Don't feel badly for me because the entire day is devoted to face painting! I know, I know, you all think a sewing workshop would be more fun, but trust me this is just as interesting and stimulating.

So, back to the flashback.

The 17-year-old niece that is excited to get back to sewing her own clothing is quite the fashionable young lady- and she likes dresses and skirts.

She's always loved to wear dresses and if shoes and accessories matched - well, all the better.

Here she is, with one of her adorable younger brothers, 15 years ago dressed in trendy sundress with matching sun hat. Sewed for her by her loving aunt (me!)

Now if only she'd let me practice my face painting on her... Pin It

And now...back to sewing

I sew. I really do. Not as much as I'd like to, but I really do sew.

Here's proof.

I squeezed a few hours out of the day yesterday to sew a silk jersey knit top (McCall's 4716 - out of print) and a Amy Butler cotton print skirt (Simplicity 3962 - out of print).

Why I may even write a review over at PatternReview while I'm on a roll! Pin It

Sneak Peek - Sassy Apron Swap

It just dawned on me the other day that the deadline for the summer sassy apron swap is rapidly approaching. That means I better find time to get in the sewing studio and sew an apron.

A vintage apron pattern was chosen along with this bold Alexander Henry print and bright ric-rac trim. Perfect for an outdoor summer fiesta!

With rain predicted for most of the day it looks as if I'll actually have a chance to spend time sewing. I'll admit, not as much fun as hanging out with Stacey all day but a good way to spend a rainy day. Pin It

Flashback Friday - Mazatlan 1979

I don't know about the weather where you live, but here it felt as if winter would never end. The long cold dreary days dragged well into April and May. You know the saying "April showers bring May flowers"...well, we wondered if that included April snow showers since we had many of those also.

The cold weather lasted long enough that we wished we had made plans for a warm weather getaway - like Mexico. I've only vacationed in Mexico twice. Once in Mazatlan in 1979 and again in the Mayan Riveria in 2004.

Half the fun of planning a getaway is sewing the vacation wardrobe, right? These vacations were no exception.

As I was going through my pattern collection, deciding which to keep and which to put in my Etsy shop, I came across McCall's 7594, a pattern I used in 1979 to quickly whip up some knit tops to bring along. Obviously I couldn't sell it. Not only is it destined for the sewing scrapbook, the pattern is incomplete - all that remains is the inside envelope and pattern pieces for one view.

Did you notice this pattern includes a wrap top version that is just as current today as it was 29 years ago. (Was it really 29 years ago?!?) I sewed every version *except* the wrap version.

My fave, however, was the off the shoulder number. Sewn in horizontal rainbow stripes, modeled here with a pair of white cotton short shorts. See? That tiny little speck right in the center of the rock formation. You can see it right?


I may not have a warm weather vacation planned, but I do have plans to spend the day by the river with hubby. And the weather is predicted to reach almost 70 F! Now if only I could find my sunscreen... Pin It

Dogs on Thursday - inspiring story about author of Rudy's Little World

A year ago I wrote a post about a friend who writes wonderful children's stories from the point of view of her dog, Rudy (aka the cute poodle). Now lots of people write children's stories but these are special (and not just because Stacy's my friend.)

See for yourself - Stacy was interviewed on a local news station a few weeks ago.

The story lead: "Even though Stacy Waibel lost her sight, kidney, and pancreas to diabetes, it hasn't taken her passion for life. "

Click here to view the television interview and here to visit Rudy's Little World.

Rudy's (er, Stacy's) first book is not yet published, but will be soon so be sure to bookmark her website.

More Dogs on Thursday blog posts here.


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Just doing my part to stimulate the economy

What are you doing with your stimulus check? We originally planned on tucking ours into our savings account but decided to use most of it to finish the remodel on our second bathroom.

However, I did allocate a bit for my annual trip to SR Harris Fabric Outlet. Going into this warehouse with a set budget was a good idea as I only purchased items I knew I was going to use soon.

This stack of cottons will become aprons.

These following four fabrics were the only ones purchased for clothing and all will work nicely with the basic black items already in my summer wardrobe.

Top to bottom: print - lightweight knit - knit wrap top; white stretch cotton with a hint of metallic - summer jacket; aqua cotton pique - summer jacket and skirt (not to be worn together); stretch metallic denim - for my niece to sew up into a summer jacket or skirt.

I haven't chosen the exact patterns I'll use yet, but I did purchase with a plan in mind. (Oh! Did you catch that Carolyn - I have a P-L-A-N!)

While it wasn't my usual mode of fabric shopping - you know, browse until something catches my eye then purchase 3 to 4 yards with no idea of what it will be used for - shopping with an idea of what I needed to add to my existing wardrobe kept me well within my budget and left me with fabrics that won't find a home in the stash for long. Pin It

RetroRama - a celebration of '50s Suburbia

The ladies relax with a martini in the living room after a hard day of cooking, cleaning and chatting.

Linda, wearing an apron from her mother's estate over her vintage inspired shirt dress, just finished putting the pot roast in for Sunday's dinner. The black velvet square purse sits on the table right where she left it after church. This purse is also from her mother's estate.

Sharon said she donned her vintage black cotton dress - adorned with white dogs and polka dots as well as pink pom-poms - to take the dogs out for walk, but secretly she wanted to show off her new dress to the neighbors. She hoped the poodle wouldn't notice that the dogs on her dress were Scottie dogs and not poodles. (Note: this is the dress I sewed using Simplicity 3509, c. 1951.)

Beth, after trying on multiple dresses from her vast wardrobe, settled on a vintage inspired silk house dress with large brown and black polka dots. She mixed up a batch of martinis to offer to the head of the household when he arrives home after a long day of work. However, she just couldn't resist sampling a few herself, but if you asked her she would say it was only one!

As you can tell, we had a blast. We had our photos taken and were asked if we'd be willing to take part in the audience participation portion of the fashion show (that took about a second to say yes). The stories above are what we came up with to describe our outfits as we walked down the runway.

We played retro bingo, saw a demo of '50s era appetizers and cocktails, looked at vintage furniture, made a souvenir placemat ("a first step toward better home accessorizing!"), and of course enjoyed watching the fashion show as well as the many others wearing vintage attire.

This was number three in a series, and at only $15 it was a bargain. Oh, how I do hope they continue with this series.

More photos are posted on my flickr account - there's too many to upload to the blog, so you'll need to click here to view them. Pin It

Fifties dress - done!

The are not showing up too well in this photo, but the pink buttons were definitely the way to go on the dress. Thanks for the input!

Sadly, I didn't have time to sew the matching belt or the petticoat I had planned to wear with the dress. But this still has a 50s feel to it and I must say, I think it will be fun to wear this dress with those pink pom-poms flopping around.

I'm bringing my camera so look for photos of the event soon! Pin It

Another step closer to completing the fifties dress

After pleating the skirt portion and basting it to the bodice I realized I needed to remove two inches from the waist. While I prefer my dresses to fit loosely, to maintain the fifties look the waist on this dress needed to be more fitted.

The faux pocket flaps are sewn over the side seams and I didn't wish to remove them, so rather than take in the waist at the side seams, I added a second dart in the back of the bodice. That meant redoing the pleats in the center back of the dress to match the smaller center back waist ...sigh, more math.

The fun adventure with this dress has been following the 1951 instructions. For example, the seams have been finished with a pinking shears rather than a serger or zig-zag stitch. Another item in the instructions was the addition of seam binding along the waist seam to act as a stay. I even found vintage seam binding to use for that step.


All that's left now is to add the pom-pom trim around the neckline, sew the buttonholes, buttons, snaps, and hem. With only one more day left before the event, I may cheat and sew the buttons in place with snaps and add proper buttonholes later on.

Question - I was just going to add black buttons, but o you think it needs pink to match the pom-pom trim? Pin It

Sewing continues on my Retrorama '50s cotton dress

At the moment, it doesn't look too spectacular. But it's actually coming together quite nicely.

I had to do an FBA to the bodice and also add width to the waist. The entire skirt is pleated, which meant I had to add extra width to the skirt but still keep the pleats even. And here I thought those junior and senior high school math classes were a waste of time.

It's beginning to look a lot like the cover of the envelope.

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Sneak Peek - sewing project for RetroRama

The pink pom-poms and black cotton fabric - scattered with white Scottie dogs and polka dots - will soon become my '50s suburban housewife dress for the upcoming RetroRama.

After all, what says '50s suburbia better than a button front cotton dress? Worn with heels and pearls of course. Pin It

National Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive today

Today, before you settle down at your sewing machine, take a few minutes to pull together a food donation for the Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive. Place it by your mail box, or wherever your mail is picked up, and your postal carrier will pick it up and donate it as part of their annual food drive.

We' re all struggling a bit right now - some more than others - and this is a simple way to help you can help out those might need a little extra help making it through these tough economic times.

You can read more about the food drive here. Pin It

Flashback Friday - 1975 Prom Season

My husband and I celebrated our ten-year anniversary a few weeks ago with dinner at Jax Cafe. We were joined in the restaurant not only by others celebrating special occasions but with a large group of high school students going to prom.

It was so fun to watch this group of teens. Most of the young men looked like they were playing dress up in the daddy's suits and appeared to be quite uncomfortable. On the other hand, the girls were a completely different story. They were beautiful. Their hair, makeup and nails were all perfectly done for the evening. And oh my! the dresses! Slinky, sparkly and downright s*xy - except for the sweatshirts and letter jackets tossed over the shoulders for warmth, LOL. They were gorgeous dresses but nothing like what we wore to prom back in the day.

See what I mean? Here I am in my dress for either my junior prom or the winter snow ball dance. It's been too long...I just don't remember which it was.

Anyway it doesn't matter. The dress was pretty typical of what all the girls were wearing. Except for my best friend, a tall, thin, beautiful blonde, who wore a halter gown.

My dress was sewn from a floral print satin in shades of orange, peach and cream. Cream lace trimmed the neckline and wrists, and the fullness was cinched in with a tie that extended from the empire waist and ended as a bow in the back.

And don't forget the accessories! Although you can't see them, I accessorized with platform shoes and huuuuuuuge hoop earrings (ala Cher circa the Sonny and Cher Show years).

Now isn't that dress sweet? It's actually quite quaint with it's long sleeves, loose fit and a high neckline. And I didn't have to toss a letter jacket over it to stay warm either. Pin It

Sewing gift tags

As I've been going through the huge stash of patterns in my possession (I swear they multiply overnight...I think I need to set up a surveillance camera for proof) I've been pulling out those I know I won't use. I've sent a few boxes to PatternRescue and I've begun placing others in my Etsy shop (named Abby + Sophia...hmmm, wonder how I came up with that name? LOL) .

Inspired by the beautiful work that Charity at Vintage Threads creates, rather than toss the patterns that were incomplete I decided to use the artwork to make cards and tags.

So tonight after work, instead of sewing my 50s era dress for next week's RetroRama, I completed the first step in a set sewing gift tags. Add a few more paper layers are needed, punch a hole at the top, and add some vintage ric-rac or buttons and the tags will be done.
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Weekend's over...who managed to find time to sew?

I tried to find time to sew. Honest.

Perhaps if the weather wouldn't have been so beautiful and I hadn't spent Saturday helping hubby with a home improvement project I would have spent more time indoors in the sewing studio.

I did, however manage to find time to trace a few patterns:

• Burda 7828, a long sleeve knit top and short sleeved knit dress.
• Vogue 1045, a Sandra Betzina design that looks like it would make a nice summer top. The mid-section is shaped with 1/2" tucks sewn to the outside of the top. If I'm happy with the way the muslin turns out I'll be looking for ways to get creative with those tucks.
  
• Dress 103 from February 2008 Burda World of Fashion - this is the knit dress with the twist front at the waistline that I meant to start on a few months ago. (reviews from Patternreview here and here.)
  
• Skirt 111 also from February 2008 Burda World of Fashion - a pencil skirt with band detailing across the front.
  
• Dress 116 from April 2008 Burda World of Fashion - another knit dress. Although after tracing the pattern I read reviews (here and here and here) on patternreview, I've changed my mind about sewing this one. I think the style is too young for me and I would be uncomfortable wearing it. Now if my daughter is interested I've got the pattern all set to go!
  

As I mentioned, the weather was so gorgeous today that we took Abby to the dog park in the morning. It's a beautiful off-leash dog park that is well maintained and completely fenced in so the dogs can run and play as much as they want to.

There are walking trails, an open field to toss sticks, plenty of bags for picking up doggy-doo and bowls of water for the dogs.

This is her second visit and she still is incredibly submissive when other dogs approach her. We're hoping more time at the park with all the dogs will help her with that. For now she's quite content to stick close to us.

Sophia had to stay behind - she's just too small to play with the big dogs - and she cried as we left. But don't worry about little Sophia. The tables were turned in the afternoon when Abby had to stay behind while Sophia had her hour walk.


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Flashback Friday - Summer 1974

Have you ever sewed from one pattern that you absolutely loved? One that you used over and over again?

I did. When I was fifteen I had a pattern for cropped smock tops that I used many times. I wore them all, but apparently my fave of the lot was the top with the curved yoke and small ruffled sleeves sewn from green gingham.

See that big smile? That's because I hadn't yet learned that green is not my color. Green was a popular color in the early 70s and as a teen my fabric choices were heavily influenced by what was trendy versus what worked best with my coloring.

Oh look! Here I am again wearing the same green smock top! This time I'm with my youngest sister who looks a whole lot more interested in whatever she's holding than in having her photo taken. That's because she would just ignore you when she got tired of you or something you were doing. She must have been sick and tired of my friends and I taking photos of her all the time.

Notice the recycled denim hat and shoulder bag located on the left side of the photo? Oh yea, I was into the green movement back then also. Too bad I can't locate a photo of my pants that were sewn entirely out of fabric scraps :-)
The shirt served me well as there's another photo of me wearing it soon after my daughter came home from the hospital in 1976. She's just over three months old in the photo and had only been released a few days earlier. I'm obviously exhausted, but isn't she just the cutest little sweetie-pie ever? (I've blogged about her birth before, but if you haven't read her story here's the post.)

This pattern, McCall's 4401 was one of my few TNT (tried and true) patterns. (I located a copy in an Etsy shop if you're interested.)

Perhaps I should take a clue from my sewing past and spend more time working to identify some new TNT patterns. Pin It