January Accessories

As I mentioned in one of my last posts, I'm planning a challenge to sew up monthly accessories (inspired by 1940s fashion) to go with my 'Tabula Rasa' or basic black dress (pictured above).

For the first month, I've decided to make a hand muff out of some faux fur fabric I had in my stash.  I was inspired by the cover of the January 1940 McCall Style News:

I also got inspiration from the 2 February 1940 Marie Claire magazine, which featured my exact fabric:

I've used this faux fur fabric before to make a short jacket back in 2011, which is also from a 1940 pattern (Simplicity 3529), you can read more about the jacket construction here.  The jacket was inspired by the cute little tilt hat that I found in Washington State.  I searched high and low for matching faux fur fabric and after a couple of months, I found some on the Emma One Sock website (the fabric is long since gone but I seem to remember the website being a good source for faux fur fabric in general).  So the hat inspired the jacket which inspired the muff!  And I still have about 1 meter of fabric left--so maybe I can sew something else up with it too!

We took these photos at St. Giles Cathedral in Edinburgh.  There is a fascinating account of the history of the cathedral here but it's been the site of a church since 1243.  During the reformation, John Knox served as minister (from 1559-1572).  After the reformation, the Parliament met in the buildings to the back of the cathedral until a new Parliament was built in the 1630s.  The cathedral was also site of the movement of Covenanters, or the Scottish Presbyterian movement.  This beautiful site has seen much history and it is still as breathtaking and awe-inspiring today as I'm sure it has been in the centuries past.

To make the hand muff, I followed an amazing online tutorial made by A Vintage Vanity.  It took less than 30 minutes to sew up the muff and I'm very pleased with it.  It's nice and toasty and perfect for cold January weather!

The hand muff is lined with black silk fabric and has three layers of black cotton batting encased in it to add extra warmth (about 1/2 meter total).

Dress: Me-Made 'Tabula Rasa' Dress, McCall 3953

Jacket, Me-Made 'Faux Bunny Love' Jacket, Simplicity 3529

Hand Muff: Me-Made using A Vintage Vanity's online tutorial

Shoes: Aris Allen, 1930's black and silver heeled oxford

YAY! Super happy for my first accessories make!  I'm sure I'll get a lot of use out of it in this cold weather (I admit, I even like wearing it in the house, it keeps my hands warm!...hahahha)

My mind is already buzzing for other accessories I can make to go with this dress.  What should I make next?

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