Showing posts with label vintage fabric. Show all posts
Showing posts with label vintage fabric. Show all posts

Wednesday, October 24, 2018

• 1940s in the Forest •



A couple of weeks ago my mom and I had the honor of attending Remembering WWII down in Linden, TN.  It was an absolutely amazing event that I will never, ever forget.  This was the second time we have attended, but the first time that we were actually able to participate.  What an amazing time!  I hope to have some more pictures to share with you of that soon, but for now, here is one of my outfits that I made for the Sunday after RWWII.





We rented a house out in the boondocks, and nearly became permanent residents there due to the a nearly impassable road that led to the house.  A lot of prayers, a lot of mud and a slightly scraped up undercarriage later, we made it!  Aside from the interesting surroundings, it was a nice house, and the land around it was gorgeous.  It was situated right on a river, so there was a nice little stairway leading down to the riverside that made for a nice backdrop.




A few months back, we found a cute little '40s dress pattern on Ebay for just a few dollars, and it has turned out to be one of our top favorite patterns ever.  It's a fairly simple style, but with those quintessential 1940s details that make it *so* fun.





As an aside, I'm pretty sure I'm putting ties in every single dress I make from now on.  I love the freedom from wearing a belt, while still getting the nice fit!  :)





The dress features a slit-and-gather detail on the front bodice, making it almost appear like it has a yoke.  The collar and facing is cut in one, and the skirt features about 8 or so slim, flared panels that give it a very swingy effect in the front.




The back skirt is a simple 3-panel style.  I used some vintage '40s yardage that we had in the stash ($9 or so at an antique shop - for a little over 4 yards!!), and squeezed the dress out of that.  It would not have been a "squeeze" if it were not for the fact that I am 6' tall - that does make a difference when cutting out skirts!  In any case, the dress fit in that amount of fabric perfectly, and I got a nice little hem as well, finished with my favorite vintage Hug Snug.

I paired the dress with my favorite shoes of all time - Royal Vintage Ritas (if some benevolent stranger ever wants to buy me something, just get me about 7 more pairs of these so that I will have them 'til my dying day.)  Hahaha!!!  They are seriously that good though, I wear them while standing on my feet all day long at work, and my feet aren't even tired at the end of the day.  Love them!!





I'd been hoarding these cute little green buttons for years, and they finally found their perfect home.  They were a little grungy looking at first, but after a quick wash, they looked like new again!




Hope you enjoyed this post!  Thanks for reading!


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Monday, June 29, 2015

• Rose Chintz 1940s Dress •


I had several other posts scheduled ahead of this one, but this gorgeous dress of my mom's is such a favorite, I couldn't help making it the first in line!
She just made this dress last week, but it's already my favorite garment she's ever made. She found the fabric for it at an antique shop in Wisconsin, and at the time, I really didn't like it. But as soon as I saw it becoming a dress, I fell in love too!


The fabric is only 39" wide, so it is quite obviously not modern fabric, and most likely pretty old. Does anyone know when manufacturers started making fabric wider than that? 
In any case, she happened to have some gorgeous peach (I call them sorbet) buttons that matched the fabric perfectly, so it all came together very nicely. Our green buckle (also shared with my '40s Gumdrop Dress) was the perfect match for the belt.


She used Simplicity 3847 for the bodice of the dress, adding tucks in the front and back for a fitted-at-the-waist style. The skirt is gathered, but I love how it almost looks pleated!


Aaaanndd, this is her grand premiere of bound-buttonhole-making! Fortunately (or unfortunately), she seemed to have caught on to the finer aspects of the art much faster than I did; her buttonholes put mine to shame!


The pleats are only sewn together for about 1 1/2" from the waist seam, but they give it that perfect "shirtwaist" look. So gorgeous!!


The buttons. Yummy. 


She only had 3 yards of the fabric to begin with, but managed to squeeze the whole dress (and belt!) out of it. The scraps that are leftover, however, are not going to make too many little girls' dresses; that teeny pile includes what she cut off of the hem. That's what I call economical sewing!


~
I hate to bring political subjects up on my blog, but what happened last week goes far beyond the realm of politics; our country has indeed been fundamentally changed.
I, as a Christian can not stand by in silence when vile sin is celebrated and uplifted. 
The Bible says, "Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil..."
The morals of our country are fast disappearing, and if Christians do not take a stand, who will?
Let us pray for our country to turn from its wickedness toward God.
"Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord..."
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