Thursday, September 30, 2010

My new skirt (McCall 3968)

I finished making McCall 3968--a terrific skirt pattern from 1940.  Even though there were no directions with the pattern pieces, it went together like a breeze.  I made it with the leftover lightweight wool I had from my trousers.  I LOVE it!

Here I am wearing it with the ruffled blouse I also made:

And here with my ness shoes, bag and jacket (and refashioned 1940's hat with Ness fabric trim):


I love this jacket and the skirt goes perfectly with it!


I love six-gored skirts--they flare ever so slightly at the hem:

Here's the pattern envelope so you can see the skirt pattern again:

I'm very happy with my new skirt!!

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Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Fashion Inspiration: Striped Sundresses

Ever since making my last dress, I can't get the iconic 1940 striped sundress off my mind!  I am eagerly awaiting next summer to make some more striped sundresses!  One pattern I would love to find is McCall 3580 which I have only seen illustrated in a striped fabric:


And here it is again:

The pattern also comes with an adorable waist length jacket:


Here's the actual pattern from Vintage Wiki:

Isn't it lovely?
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Tuesday, September 28, 2010

1940's Sunglasses

I've been wanting to get a pair of vintage sunglasses for awhile.  I love the 1940's look in sunglasses:



When I was back in Portland, I found a pair of vintage sunglasses! Unfortunately, they aren't white but I really, really like them!  I'm not sure if they are actually from the 1940's or a bit later but it looks pretty close to me!


 Here's an up-close picture of the sunglasses.  I am so happy that I got to wear them this last weekend in the SUNSHINE!

Again, this post is just another attempt to ignore the current weather in Scotland!!  :-)
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Monday, September 27, 2010

Sundress in the sunshine!

I was in Washington DC this past week for a conference.  When I actually got outside the glorious sunshine was fabulous!  Over the weekend I was able to visit my grad school friends for a mini-reunion and finally got to wear the sundress in warm weather!  It was actually the warmest day in September that DC has had in the past 20 years!  I LOVED it.

First, an indoor shot.  I got this great pink flower hairclip from Accessorize in the Edinburgh airport before heading to the states:

And a close-up of the flower clip (outside with some similar looking flowers!):


And another shot of the dress:


Me and the gals enjoying some gelato:


Well, it's a good thing that the sundress came with me to DC because I got back to Scotland today and it's FREEZING!  55 degrees as a HIGH.  Eeeep....I hope we are not skipping Autumn and going straight into winter.  I better get moving with that winter coat :-)
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Friday, September 24, 2010

More color inspiration: chrome yellow and harvest brown

Two more photos for inspiring fall colors. The first is chrome yellow:

Isn't that a fantastic shade of yellow?

The second is harvest brown:


One of the shades I am thinking about for Autumn sewing is actually somewhere between these two--sort of a burnt orange or pumpkin color.

What colors are inspiring you this Autumn?
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Thursday, September 23, 2010

Beige and Red: 1940 Teammates

Some more color inspiration from my 1940 Vogue magazine... this time about pairing beige and red together.  I must admit that I usually don't like a very pale color with a bright color (I usually like dark colors with bright colors).  What do you think?



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Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Autumn Color Palette from 1940

Wow, it's hard to believe it's officially Autumn!  Where did the summer go?

The changing of the seasons always makes me think of my sewing plans and specifically what colors I want to focus on in my sewing.  Last spring and summer I really focused on pink and navy to match my two new (at the time) pairs of shoes.

Now, I'm thinking in terms of autumn and winter sewing and I still haven't decided what colors I want to focus on sewing.  So, I turned to some of my magazines from the year 1940 for a little inspiration.  These scans are from the August 1940 Vogue:

I like the use of neutral plaids and prints with a pop of color!


Though I also really like this color combination of blue and taupe:
I especially like that shade of blue--light and dusty....

Which is your favorite color combination?
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Saturday, September 18, 2010

What I'm working on...

I'm working on another McCall pattern, this one is also from 1940:


This is such a classic skirt pattern.  It's for a six-gore skirt which adds that nice little flare near the hem.  I'm going to make it up in my leftover navy lightweight wool (the same material I made my trousers from). 

The pattern is missing it's instructions but I think it should be pretty straightforward.  Plus, early McCall patterns are printed which makes it very easy to see all the markings and which sides to match up together.

YAY! Super excited to have a new skirt soon!
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Wednesday, September 15, 2010

1940 Sundress completed!

I am super excited that I finished the sundress (well, almost--I haven't completely finished hemming it yet).

Here's some photos at the Falkland Palace Garden.  It's got a great pleat in the front of the dress:


Nevermind how pasty white I am! hehehe.  I am hoping this sundress will bring out the sun!!


I love the stripes on this dress--they are pink and cream.  I've never sewn anything with stripes before but I really like it because it is very easy to match up!

I also really like the back of the dress.  Here you can see the pattern detail:


And in my dress:

Overall, I really like it!  There was a lot of hand sewing/hemming which took awhile but other than that it was pretty straight forward to put together.  I am looking forward to wearing it in a warmer climate next week when I go to Washington DC for a conference!

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Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Curling up in cosy pyjamas

It's been really crappy weather here which makes me want to curl up in some cosy pyjamas with a good book and a cup of tea!

These are some fabulous pjs and lingerie from the 1940 Home Notes booklet:



Aren't these lovely?
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Saturday, September 11, 2010

A little vintage R & B

Rolls-Royces and Bentleys that is....

A group of vintage Rolls-Royce and Bentley owners brought their lovely cars to the Falkland Palace today.  Viewing the cars was not to be missed...

Check out this amazing 1934 Rolls-Royce (drool):


Bolero and matching skirt: made by me from the 1950's Simplicity 3879 pattern
Gold blouse: Monsoon
Shoes: Payless
Purse: Vintage Mall in Newburg, OR

Here we are in front a 1936 Rolls.  It started raining for just a bit then luckily it stopped and the sun came out!

This is a Bentley from the late 30's/early 40's!  I love the red stripe down the side and the matching hub caps!  

This Bentley is around the same time period (just a little older) than the vintage pattern I made my outfit from.  It's an absolutely beautiful shade of green.


All of the car owners were very lovely.  One of them let me sit in his car:
Ahhh...they sure don't make cars like they used to...
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Wednesday, September 8, 2010

Blogger Award

You guys spoil me!  I have received two beautiful blogger awards (I think I received three--but I can't remember where I saw the last one--sorry)!  One from Steph at 3 Hours Past the Edge of the World and one from Sherry from Pattern, Scissors, Cloth.  Thank you both!



As part of the award, I get to tell you 10 interesting things about me:

1. I love cats.  Though I don't currently have one--I am looking forward to the day when I get to come home and have a kitten waiting for me!

2. David and I love the Lord of the Rings!  In fact, our wedding bands were designed by David and represent the two trees from the Silmarillion.  Here is the sketch:


One tree is silver, the other is gold.  One blooms during the day, the other at night--but they give light to each other.  Awww...how sweet is that?

3. I am currently in the process of switching jobs and I am super excited for my new job which will start in October! For a congratulations gift, David got me this AWESOME hat (see number 1 above):




How awesome is this knit hat?  I can't wait to wear it!


4. I love the year 1940 for fashion. I think you all already know how much I love the late 30's/early 40's in terms of fashion.  Here's a lovely pattern from that time period which encompasses everything I love about the year 1940 (gathers, great waist detail, wonderful sleeves, interesting collars, nice length, and very feminine yet sophisticated):

5. I used to be a part of the NY Jedi.  The NY Jedi are a group of people that meet up in NYC to do stage combat with light sabers.  It's loads of fun.  David and I both have light sabers, that we, ahem, brought with us to Scotland.  We dress up as characters (I am Sith and he is a Jedi):


(though I have the jedi lightsaber in this photo :-)

6. I am allergic to leather. Actually I am allergic to the heavy metals they use to tan leather (chromium).  I'm also allergic to nickel and cobalt.  As my allergist advised "wear cheap shoes and expensive jewlery".


7. When I was little, I used to collect paper dolls.  I loved paper dolls.  Especially the ones that had the hollywood starlets!


8. Now, I collect vintage patterns. I think I am finally admitting to myself that I will not make it through my stack of patterns in the next couple of years, which means I am collecting at this point!

9. I have naturally curly hair. Which means when I do pin curls, my hair gets really curly.  Here is a pin curl set all styled up:

Here is my hair after brushing it out (giggle):
(I don't know why my time period isn't disco--I think I could rock that look! hehehe)


10. I never thought I would be a blogger.  If you asked me a year ago if I would be blogging weekly, I would have just laughed at you.  I have a hard enough time answering emails, let alone collecting my thoughts to share with the blogosphere.  But that is before I really got into vintage sewing!  Through blogging I have met a group of wonderful people and I truly enjoy posting projects, seeing everyone else's projects and interacting via blogging.  Thanks everyone for making it such an enjoyable journey!

Now, I get to tag five other bloggers for the beautiful blogger award!  It's really hard because I follow a lot of amazing blogs.  But here I go....I nominate the following lovely bloggers for the Beautiful Blogger Award:

-Lisette over at What Would Nancy Drew Wear
-Charlotte at Tuppence Ha'penny
-The Ingenious Indigenous over at Kyla con Styla's Bitchery Stitcher Blog
-Superheidi at the Swing of Things
-Rosy at Sewingadicta
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