Tuesday, April 27, 2010

What I'm Working On....Blouses!

I ended up finding a repro pattern that is from one of the 1938 McCall dresses I posted about on Friday (not the green one though!).  The purple one, aka McCall 9906, can be found at EvaDress in a size 16 (B34).

I've been doing some planning for the Me-Made-May challenge and realized that I do not have enough me-made blouses to go with my trousers or two skirts I have made!  So this week is all about the blouses for me!

I'm working on the blouse from the Simplicity pattern that gave me the wonderful trousers:


The funny thing is that I am actually not a huge fan of the design of the blouse as it appears in the photo--so we shall see how it turns out!  I am making it in a bright pink satin!

Inspired by Susannah's blouse, I'm ready to get started on Simplicity 1722:


I'm going to give View 2 a try in a blue-grey cotton with bright pink buttons and trim.

Here's hoping I have some me-made blouses to wear in May!
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Friday, April 23, 2010

Friday Fashion Inspiration

Check out these amazing McCall dresses from 1938:

I'm particularly in love with #9919 above.  Check out the buttons running down the back, and the neckline!  SWOON!

And how about #9921 below?  I LOVE the little blouse underneath the long flowing dress.  I do not, however, envy the process of sewing all those teeny tiny buttons down the front (but it would be worth it, no?)


And in case you were wondering what the green number looks like from the front or the others from the back:

Which one is your favorite?
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Wednesday, April 21, 2010

I need to do more lounging...

Sorry for the silence on this end.  This last couple of weeks have been INTENSE at work and I'm still recovering!  So, I think it's appropriate that I have been working on a lounging outfit from the 1930's:


It's a good reminder to do more lounging!! Or to work on a better work/play balance!

I made this up in a really nice navy blue stretch satin that was a dream to work with.  The bow ties are in a cerise satin.

Overall, the unprinted pattern was pretty easy to sew.  It called for a placket on the side but since the material is stretchy and is quite low in the back, I found that I could just slip it on.  YAY!  The longest part was probably the blind hemming around the neckline and shoulders but even that went quickly once I stopped dragging my feet and actually started doing it :-)

Here I am lounging in my hotel room on a recent work trip:


The outfit is super comfortable.  The ties are removable so I can play with the color and the waist is tied with an obi style belt with a removable tie.

I love the back of the top:


And how wide the legs are:


I just love the color combo...plus it fits in with my spring/summer wardrobe planning:


Here's another view of the outfit:


Now I just need to make a bed jacket and some matching slippers.  I'm also thinking it would be fun to use this pattern to make a nautical inspired outfit from the 1930's.  It's a great basic pattern and I didn't have to make any changes to it, so I definitely plan on using it again! 








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Friday, April 9, 2010

Spring and summer wardrobe planning....

I've been doing a lot of planning for my spring and summer wardrobe and I've decided on the main colors for my sewing.  Most of the colors I've chosen are dark with a pop of bright colors.  I've decided to base my wardrobe around two tartans:

This one is called "Bright" and it is produced by the Scottish clothing company called Ness:


 And this one is called "Teal" also by Ness:


I have accessories in these tartans (so far three pairs of shoes and one purse) and also a jacket in the teal tartan.

My base fabrics are going to be navy blue, black, purple and grey.  My pops of color are going to be cerise (sometimes leaning towards fushia, sometimes more of a cerise color), both lighter and brighter blue, gold, white and purple (in my opinion you can never have enough purple).

Here's what the palette looks like at the moment:


I am super excited to see what I put together for my spring and summer wardrobe and I have some fun ideas planned!

I also signed up for the Me-Made May challenge that Zoe tried out last month.  For the month of March, Zoe only wore things she made (of course excluding underwear, socks, accessories, etc.)  I'm signing up for the 'lite' version of the challenge which includes wearing something me-made everyday for the month of May!  I think I can do it!  I would go for the full challenge but I lack me-made outerwear and well, Scotland in May isn't exactly warm yet.....I look forward to documenting the challenge!
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Thursday, April 8, 2010

The wall came down....

I am SO sad and angry!  Despite what the Fife Council told us the developers (Lomond Homes) knocked down the 300 year old wall in our village:

On Monday:

Today:


It's absolutely horrible!  Here's the link to a video right before it happened.  I'm so upset that the developers could get away with this.


Lomond Homes insists they had to take more of the wall down that planned as it became unstable, but this is because they refused to remove the section by hand as planned (and as guaranteed to us by the Fife Council), instead sending in a JCB which made the wall more unstable than necessary.

A number of local residents have now parked their cars up to the wall to prevent further demolition:

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Wednesday, April 7, 2010

What I'm working on...

I've been wanting to make a vintage nightgown/pjs for awhile.  I was over the moon when David got me this pattern for Christmas:


I am currently sewing this up in a beautiful navy blue satin!  I can't wait to finish!!
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Monday, April 5, 2010

Trying to save a little piece of history....

I started out my day feeling unwell--so I got a lot of extra sleep...


Yesterday evening, David and I had gone to an emergency community meeting about a historic wall in Scotland that a developer was trying to take down.  Everyone agreed to meet up again today when the community council was coming to visit the site.  So I mustered all my energy and showed up for moral support and WHAT a gathering!


The old walls and buildings beside this stretch of road have been declared unsafe and were planned for immediate demolition.  Community members rallied and did a bunch of research on the wall.  These buildings and wall are part of an old farmstead clearly shown in an engraving by Andrew Thom from 1845:


See that wall on the right hand side of the engraving?  That's one we are standing in front of today in 2010!  It may even be much older than 1845 since there is another engraving from 1693 that it looks like it is in.

So, why tear it down?  Well, a very small portion of the wall is leaning towards the sidewalk.  But instead of taking it down, fixing it and rebuilding...they were planning on destroying it!  What's really behind this is a developer that wants access to a large field behind the wall.  But instead of going through the Planning department of the City Council they are going through the Transportation Department by trying to declare it unsafe (and thus it can be taken down with no thought to the historical significance because of a loophole in the system).  Unfortunately the wall and adjacent buildings are not listed (though the original farmhouse is a listed historical property--so you could argue that the wall that was part of the farmstead is included) and the wall is included in the parameters of the historic conservation village.

What was really wonderful and uplifting was to see the community spirit of everyone--we've really rallied together:


JCB is the company that makes the demolition/heavy machinery.



Here's a close-up of the wall:


The outcome of the City Councillors' meeting?  They are going to take down the very top piece of one small part of the wall that is leaning too much.  But instead of demolishing it, they are going to take it down with a stonemason present so that it can be rebuilt in the future. 

Here's the bit of the wall they are taking the top part off (this used to be an old chicken coop--you can see it in the engraving above):


They are also going to assess the gable attached to the house below.  That house (the one without the roof) --is the shady bit.  Apparently, all the terracotta roof tiles were smashed in by someone and crushed into bits with a hammer.  Without the roof, the structural integrity of the adjacent gable/wall might be compromised and considered unsafe...hmmm...wonder who did that!  AWFUL!


So, we will see how it progresses!  It's a really important fight because it sets a precedence for historical sites (often in very small villages) all over Scotland and the issues they might potentially face in the future!

It was invigorating to be there with everyone. Nothing like a good protest to make me feel much better :-)
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Sunday, April 4, 2010

Saturday, April 3, 2010

Another lovely day...

It is such a lovely day today that I decided to put on a vintage spring dress I have had in my closet for a long time and take some pictures in our beautiful village.


I tried a new hairdo, loosely inspired by the "4 ways to wear it short" hairset featured on one of my favorite blogs, Beauty is a Thing of the Past.  I took inspiration from the hairstyle "for the home-maker".




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