Mission McCall Mondays 9091 to 9100 and the Sewaholic pattern giveaway winner

It's been awhile since we've had the Mission McCall Mondays. And I am glad they are back!!  I'm nearly done updating the Vintage Pattern Wiki with the previous Mission McCall installments.  This week we conclude with our first 100 patterns! woot, woot!

So I present the McCall pattern images for 9091 to 9100.  I'm still missing quite a few from the first 100 images.  Can you help me out?  As you know, I am trying to update the Vintage Pattern Wiki so that it has all the McCall pattern images from late 1936 to 1940.  I'm slowly working my way through the patterns with a few good source materials and lots of online searching.  But here are the numbers I am missing so far: 502, 503, 505, 507, 508, 510, 9000,9002, 9003, 9008, 9009, 9011, 9012, 9013, 9014, 9017, 9030, 9040, 9041, 9048, 9050, 9062, 9073, 9082, 9086, and 9088. If you want to contribute to the Mission McCall--just email me (myhappysewingplace[at]googlemail[dot]com) the images or pattern covers and I'll update them in the Vintage Pattern Wiki.

So without further ado...here's this week's collection.  I'm happy to say that I've got all the images for these ten patterns! YAY!

We start with 9091 which is a lovely dress with both long and short-sleeved versions.  I absolutely adore these billowy sleeves:

Next up is 9092:

I love the back tie. So cute!


The next one 9093 is already in the Vintage Pattern Wiki (and was the one image I was missing).  It's  a very cute little girl's button-down pinafore:

I think 9094 may be my favourite out of this lot:

This image is from the Unsung Sewing Patterns blog and features this amazing divided skirt and blouse pattern.  Perfect for riding a bicycle and all sorts of sports!


9095 is a very cute child's dress:

We head back to ladies' and misses' dresses with 9096:

I really love the way a scarf can be incorporated into this dress--providing lots of potential for creating different garments!  This may compete with 9094 as my favourite!


Up next is another little girl's pinafore pattern:

9098 is already in the Vintage Pattern Wiki and is a lovely dress:

It has the back inverted pleats that I love so much!


9099 is another fabulous dress:

I love how the seam details on the front are also continued on the back!


Last up is 9100 (woohooo 100 patterns so far!) and this dress definitely doesn't disappoint:

Wow...this is so full of detail! I love it!!  First is the double line of buttons down the front.  The straight front skirt but a pleated skirt in back.  And my, oh my, how I love the details on the short sleeves.  Let's take a closer look:

I love it! Ok, this is definitely one of my favourites too!

Which is your favourite this week?

Sewaholic Pattern Giveaway Winner
I'm so happy that so many people entered the giveaway! Tasia's patterns are amazing!  So without further ado....the pattern winner is:

Jen from Austin, Texas!!! YAY Jen! I'll contact you to find out which Sewaholic pattern you want!

Thanks again everyone for entering the giveaway! More pattern giveaways on the horizon :)

{Report from the Fringe} Street Performers

Event: Checking out the street performers

Venue: The Royal Mile

Cost: FREE

Review: I love street performers and the fringe has lots of them--from singing monks, a tall faun playing the bagpipes, William Wallace lookalikes to comedians and fire eaters.  Some of the performers (like Mr. bagpipe playing faun above) are out all summer...others, like the singing monks I've only seen at the Fringe.

I really love seeing street performers!  Though I must admit I am very skiddish around mimes and performers acting like statues.  They definitely freak me out! I think I've been targeted one too many times by a statue jumping out at me! lol..

What I Wore: I wore my Ness blouse and matching blue striped skirt seen here.

My new pretty Pendrell and a Sewaholic pattern giveaway

I'm over the moon.  I love this pattern so much.

Tasia's patterns are brilliantly drafted.  This blouse has no closures and only took me 2.5 hours to make.  LOVE it! I can't wait to make all the other versions of the pattern as well!

How amazing are these sleeves?  I love them so much!  I made the blouse out of teal liquid satin material.  It started to rain as we were taking these photos--so please excuse the little raindrops on the blouse!  It was a nice stable fabric to work with!

The blouse was really easy to construct and I absolutely love how Tasia thinks :)  The construction process was really creative.  I also really enjoyed having the sew-along tutorials to refer back to as well!  YAY!

Giveaway
I'm super excited to have a giveaway for reader's choice of one of the fabulous Sewaholic patterns!  Tasia has generously donated a pattern for this giveaway!  You can choose from the amazing Pendrell, the lovely Crescent skirt or her new Lonsdale dress pattern.  Have all of these? I'm sure if you win you can save it as a credit for one of her upcoming patterns!

How to enter...
The pattern giveaway is open to readers everywhere! To enter:

1. Leave a comment on this post by midnight GMT Sunday for one entry,
2. Post about the giveaway on 1. your blog, 2. twitter or 3. facebook for an additional entry for each method (so you can have a total of up to four entries...be sure to leave a comment and let me know if you've done any of these extra things).

I'll announce the winner on Monday and I'll ship anywhere in the world.  Just note that it sometimes takes awhile for packages to arrive for those outside the EU but I'll aim to mail out the patterns by the following Wednesday.  If you win a pattern, you can't win again for another six months.  The only caveat for these weekly pattern giveaways is that you don't sell the pattern.  Keep it for as long as you want and when you are done, pass it on to someone else!

Design for Shabby Apple

I'm super excited to show you a Shabby Apple Dress design called 'Ocean Breeze' that David and I have been working on for the Shabby Apple Dare to Design contest.  The contest is to create a design and the top 15 designs will be chosen and readers will vote on their favourite.  The winner's design will get made into an actual dress for the spring 2012 line!!!

Super exciting!!!

My dress design features a heart-shaped bodice with a small contrast collar, wonderfully draped sleeves and a flare skirt. I'm picturing it in a nice rayon crepe or even wool crepe--something with a medium body but good drape.  The collar could be in white pique or another crisp fabric.

I was inspired by looks from 1933-1934, 1939-1941 and the 1950s.  This dress combines all my favourite elements of those decades.  Here's a bit of an inspiration board that led to the creation of the design:

I was also influenced by the Patone spring 2012 colour palette (which is very similar to the 1939 palette pictured above):

This dress has been designed in the 'scuba blue' colour (or the much prettier 'romance aqua' of the 1939 colour palette) with white contrast.  I think it would be the perfect spring dress!!  I really hope our design gets picked as I would love to sew up a sample dress!!

What do you think?

{Report from the Fringe} Persian Rug Village

Event: Persian Rug Village

Venue: 2 Venues: one at the Persian Rug Village store (where we went) and another tent on Prince's Street.

Cost: FREE

Review: This was a great way to learn about 2,000+ years of Persian culture and textiles while sitting in a beautifully colourful tent!  They advertised tea as well--but they didn't have any when we showed up!  We went to the less busy Morningside location.  As a bonus, we had the tent all to ourselves!

What I Wore: ooohhh...you get a little sneaky peek at my Sew Weekly creation for this week!  Let's just say the bright colour fit right in with the tent and I was super comfortable!

1950's patio dress pattern giveaway winner

I am happy to announce the winner of Simplicity 4916--the great western 'patio' dress pattern:

And the winner is.....

Cutie von Cupcake!  YAY! Congrats! Just contact me at myhappysewingplace[at]googlemail[dot]com with your details!

Also a big thank you to all your comments on my dress--I realised I may need to take the seam ripper to the skirt because of some wayward gathers! Thank you so much for your advice :)

{Ness Lovelies} The Perfect Outfit for the Fringe

The Edinburgh Fringe Festival has begun!  I was delighted to hear that the Fringe Festival was started in 1947.  I decided to wear one of my favourite Ness outfits inspired by the same time period in honour of the Fringe!!

 So how did it all begin?  According to the Fringe website:

The Edinburgh Festival Fringe is the largest arts festival in the world and takes place every August for three weeks in Scotland’s capital city. Our story dates back to 1947, when eight theatre groups turned up uninvited to perform at the (then newly formed) Edinburgh International Festival, an initiative created to celebrate and enrich European cultural life in the wake of the Second World War. Not being part of the official programme of the International festival didn’t stop these performers – they just went ahead and staged their shows anyway. Year on year more and more performers followed their example and in 1959 the Festival Fringe Society was created in response to the success of this growing trend.

The Society formalised the existence of this collective of performances, provided information to artists, published the Fringe programme and created a central box office. Its constitution was written in line with the ethos that brought these theatre companies to Edinburgh back in 1947: that the Society was to take no part in vetting the festival’s programme. To this day that policy remains at the core of our festival and we’re proud to include in our programme anyone with a story to tell and a venue willing to host them.

And let me tell you the programme is fantastic! I look forward to starting a new blog series this month called 'Report from the Fringe' and sharing our experiences.  Plus, the great thing is that a lot of the shows are free!

I'm wearing a Ness peasant blouse and a matching Ness skirt.  The peasant blouse reminds me of the blouses from the late 1940's.  I absolutely love it!  The best part is the fabric.  Close-up you can see it has cute little red tulips and the Ness logo.  This is a photo of the bottom of the skirt (called 'Cassidy') which I adore.  Such great details.

The two Ness stores in Edinburgh are right at the heart of the Fringe this month as they are both located on the Royal Mile! But the best thing is that Ness is currently having a sale! I had to share with you all that Ness is offering an additional 20% off all online orders (but hurry...it ends Tuesday!) 

Wooohooo! More Ness lovelies!  Watch this space for more Fringe fun over the coming weeks!

Fashion Inspiration

It's a cold, rainy day here in Scotland.  It's the afternoon and the weather is at a high of 57 degrees (14 degrees Celsius)....  Which is why I am gravitating toward some photos of lovely short sleeve wool sweaters!  These are all from Sears catalogues (from Ancestry.com). The scan above is from 1938.  Love the monogrammed sleeveless sweater on the bottom left.

These sweaters are from 1939.  I'm loving the stripes on the purple and green one!

Or how about from my favourite year?  1940....  I really love the ivory sweater with the sleeve ruffles!!

And from 1941...I think my favourite is the red sweater on the top!

Which ones are your favourites?  Are you sweltering in the heat, wishing it were warmer or just right?

Join Me on Facebook

I've finally gotten a facebook page for my blog! YAY!  Won't you be my friend on Facebook?  I've got a facebook box on my right side bar--just click on it and you'll be added to my Facebook page!

It's a party....

Just a shout out to all my fabulous blogger friends who have their birthdays this summer (or winter down under)!!!  You know who you are.... :)   Let's just say that I'm bringing wine to the party!!

1950's Patio Dress Pattern Giveaway

This week's pattern giveaway is for Simplicity 4916 from the 1950's.

It is a size 14 or Bust 32.  The pattern cover is very brittle.  The pattern pieces are all in good vintage condition (some uncut) and the instructions are also a bit fragile but all in one piece.

How to Enter:
The pattern giveaway is open to readers everywhere! To enter:

1. Leave a comment on this post by midnight GMT Saturday for one entry,
2. Post about the giveaway on 1. your blog, 2. twitter or 3. facebook for an additional entry for each method (so you can have a total of up to four entries...be sure to leave a comment and let me know if you've done any of these extra things).

I'll announce the winner on Sunday and I'll ship anywhere in the world.  Just note that it sometimes takes awhile for packages to arrive for those outside the EU but I'll aim to mail out the patterns by the following Wednesday.  If you win a pattern, you can't win again for another six months (but you can enter if you've won one of my previous non-pattern giveaways as those don't count).  The only caveat is that you don't sell the pattern.  Keep it for as long as you want and when you are done, pass it on to someone else!



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My 1950's patio dress...

Yeee-Haw! I'm lovin' this week's theme of 'Western' over at the Sew Weekly.  After the fun of making the 1940's sailor dress--I knew there was only one pattern that would satisfy me this week.....a 1950's patio or 'squaw' dress!! 

I jumped on this pattern when I saw it on etsy:

This pattern was a lot of fun to make.  While not in my size, I found the grading to be really simple since it's just a bodice front and back piece and then the large skirt panels (which didn't necessarily need to be graded).  It sure does take a lot of fabric.  I used about 5 metres and I didn't make it as full as it could go--plus there's 37 metres of rick rack--I went with a conservative 30 metres for the rick rack....

I love these colours together: bright purple and bright orange.  Wow...not my usual colour combination but I really like it!!

I am really proud of my matching chevron in the back.  I first attached the contrast stripe to each side of the bodice (front and back) and then joined the seams down the centre front and back and at each shoulder seam.  Phew...that was a bit intense--making sure it all lined up.  Thank goodness I had a stretchy cotton blend fabric! 

The skirt is gathered goodness :)  I didn't make it quite as full as the pattern suggested as I planned to wear it without the petticoat.  I also shortened it to knee length.  Do you notice how it matches my Ness tartan shoes perfectly?  Definitely intentional--this colour scheme is part of my summer sewing plan! 

I really love how the blouse is separate from the skirt.  I think this blouse would also look fabulous with jeans.  I love the big collar.  I did actually make a muslin of the blouse (shocking, I know!!!  It's because it's not a late 30's/early 40's McCall pattern which I never have to muslin because I know exactly how it will fit and what tweaks to make---1950's patterns always throw me a for a loop because the sizing and fit can be a bit erratic.)  Well, I should have made the muslin in a stretch cotton because the muslin was very fitted but I feel the actual blouse is a tad bit too loose (maybe 1/2 inch or so).  It's always tricky fitting raglan sleeves because you don't want to take out too much ease or you can't move your arms!!  I might go back and take it in slightly at the right side seam and maybe taper a bit more at the waist.

If you want to learn a bit of the history behind these dresses, check out the fabulous series of posts by Lil' Vintage Homemaker.  Part 1 highlights the dresses, Part 2 a bit more about the designers, and Part 3 is about a homemaker that made one of these dresses and then turned it into a career.

I'm taking a poll on whether I should add the traditional rick-rack to the dress.  Here is how the two colours look on the contrast colour:

Here is how it looks on the main colour:

What do you think?  Yea or nay to the rick rack?  Would you ever wear a patio dress?

If the answer is yes, check back tomorrow for the pattern giveaway :)