Google Who?

Google Reader....I just want you to know that I am NOT happy.  Why are you going away?  I just need to adopt a cat-like nonplussed attitude.  Google who? I'm sorry, did you disturb my nap??

As you all know, Google Reader will no longer be in existence as of tomorrow.  You can follow my blog with Bloglovin or Facebook instead.

Oh, and I claim this blog in the name of anti-Google Reader cat gangs everywhere.

Inserting Lapped Zippers

Seems like I'm always running a bit behind...I know Sunni has posted about her amazing FREE online class on zipper techniques but I've just gotten around to checking it out!  And man, what an amazing resource!  First, if you don't know Sunni from A Fashionable Stitch...you must go check out her blog and don't even get me started on her awesome online sewing shop...(she's just started stocking Lucite belt buckles...swoon...)

Well, Sunni has partnered up with the amazing folks at Craftsy to make an online course all about zipper insertion techniques and it's fantastic.

I usually insert all my zippers by hand (using Tasia's hand-picked zipper tutorial) but I've been wanting to master the lapped zipper for some time now.  Sunni walks through all the steps with close-up shots along the way:

  The Craftsy online course format is really neat:

You can skip through sections, or pause the video (which I have done quite a bit--running between the computer and the sewing machine...lol...)  The course includes everything you could ever need to know about zippers and covers all the different types of insertion methods (lapped, invisible, etc.)

And can I say how fun it is to hear other bloggers' voices?  I feel like I've known Sunni through her blog but we've never met in real-life and it was so much fun to hear her voice and see her sewing!!  Though I admit that I was totally distracted by her amazing me-made wardrobe :-)  Definitely check out the free course and hopefully Craftsy will offer more resources like this!

Shop my Vintage Pattern Stash!

One of the things I noticed when moving--was how many patterns I have!  I've decided to sell a few of my treasured patterns to get them out into the sewing world and also to add to my sewing room makeover piggy bank :-)

I'm offering all my readers a 10% discount on these patterns in my Etsy shop.  Just use code 'SEWINGHAPPY' at check-out!

Here's a few of the patterns I've just listed (you may recognise some of these!):

McCall 3193, gown pattern from 1939:

McCall 8501, cape pattern from 1935:

McCall 4051, dress pattern from 1941:

Economy Design E98 and E84, two pinafore patterns from the 1950s:

McCall 9759, sundress, blouse and scarf pattern from 1938:

Vogue 6625, 1960s mod dress pattern:

McCall 7143, 1960s sheath dress with neat panels:

McCall 9156, dress and jacket pattern from 1937:

Man, I LOVE vintage patterns!  Aren't they great?

Scotland Sundays: The Willow Tearoom

I have a very special Scotland Sunday this week!  It's the first feature outside Edinburgh and also represents a celebratory event--David and I celebrated our 10-year anniversary!!  Seeing as tea has played such a notable role in our relationship (our first conversations were over a cuppa tea), we decided to go to one of the famous Willow Tearooms in Glasgow.  

If you have ever visited Glasgow, you will know the name of Charles Rennie Mackintosh, a Scottish designer and artist in the Arts and Crafts movement and also influential in the Art Nouveau movement.  Glasgow has several of his masterpiece buildings (one of which, the Glasgow School of Art, is just down the street from a fabulous fabric store--Mandors!!)

Mackintosh had complete control over every aspect of the design in the Willow tearoom.  The tearoom opened for business in 1903 with a special 'Room de Luxe' with high-backed silver chairs and leaded designed glass with the trademark Mackintosh rose design.  The tearoom gets it's name from Sauchiehall, the street on which it stands.  Sauchiehall means 'alley of the willows' and willows feature throughout the design.  You can still come and enjoy a wonderful cup of tea in the willow tearoom.  We always request a spot in the 'Room de Luxe' and on the day we went, we were the only people there!  So we got it all to ourselves!!

It felt fitting to wear my 1933 Butterick 'Katherine Hepburn' dress and jacket since Mackintosh's designs went onto influence Art Deco in Scotland.

There is also a beautiful mural by Margaret MacDonald, Mackintosh's wife, in the tearoom:

They met at the Glasgow School of Art and I just love her designs.  Here's a bbc piece on Margaret that explores her life and work.

I think it's fantastic that we can still enjoy a cup of tea in the original tearoom!  There's still so many Mackintosh buildings we want to see in Glasgow (for example, we haven't yet been to the House of the Art Lover)!  What a wonderful anniversary!!

Frock to the Future

My 1940 McCall Project was featured yesterday in the Sunday Mail (Scotland's best selling newspaper) with the best captions ever.  How fun is that?  It came completely as a surprise when they contacted me and I had so much fun talking to them about the project :-)

Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day to the most amazing Dad in the whole world!!! 

Isn't my Dad's Air Force photo the best? I just love it!!

My New Sewing Room and Fabulous Blogger Meet-Up

Wow!  Moving is such an ordeal.... I had grand plans for how much I would get accomplished in the lead-up to and after our move. HA!  Never underestimate a) how long it actually takes to pack all of your worldly possessions into boxes, b) how tiring it is to pack up, clean and unpack, and 3) how chaotic it all is--any inkling of a normal life flies out the window for weeks on end.  Well, I am happy to report that we made it to the other side and we LOVE our new place.  The photo above is of my new sewing room.  I love, love, love it!  It gets so much light--look at that beautiful large window!!  What you can't see in the picture is that the rest of the room (except for my sewing machine area) is still covered in boxes.

Boxes of patterns (oh, how distracted I got packing all of these up....yeah, that took much longer than it should have...hahahha):

And of course, boxes...of FABRIC!  My goodness.  My little fabric stash is not so little anymore!  But I'm so happy to finally be settled and to start decorating my sewing room and getting/building/repurposing furniture to fit the new space which resembles an attic in that it has sloped and low ceilings.

I'm still catching up on a few things from May--one super exciting event happened right before we moved.  I got the chance to meet Tasha from By Gum, By Golly!  I was super excited as I absolutely love Tasha's blog and following her adventures in vintage sewing and decorating.

She was in Edinburgh for a very short time and I was luckily able to meet up with her!  We visited my favourite vintage store (W. Armstrong & Sons), k1 Yarns Knitting Boutique and of course, Edinburgh Fabrics!  We sneaked into this fabulous space (which is the University of Edinburgh Law School--just down the street from Edinburgh Fabrics) to snap some photos!  What a fabulous time.  Tasha is as lovely and amazing in real life as she is on her blog and I look forward to hopefully visiting her in Chicago at some point in the future!!

Hopefully normal blogging can resume now that we are starting to settle into the new space.  I will definitely share posts documenting the transformation of the new sewing space over this summer...I have lots of fun decorating plans!!

On the Move

Rita Hayworth {source}

We're on the move!  It might be a bit quieter than normal here at My Happy Sewing Place over the next couple of weeks as David, Echo and I are moving into a new flat!  We are very excited and I can't wait to decorate my new sewing room.  In the meantime, I'm busy packing everything up and trying not to get sidetracked by my sewing patterns...lol...

News Alert: The Guardian Fashion Blog Gets into Sewing!

The Guardian--one of my favourite newspapers EVER....and guess who's just joined their fashion bloggers network??  Karen from Did you Make That!!!  I am SUPER excited to see Karen's amazing work featured and that she will get more people excited about sewing, crochet and knitting!  I LOVE Karen's writing so can't wait to see some of the features she has in store (Sewing in Sixty Seconds tutorials, guides to fabric stores, Knifty Knitting Projects...and more) YAY!

Yup, I think it's official...we are slowing taking over the world, one sewing project at a time :-)

Save the Date: Massive Vintage Pattern Listing Blitz

Sorry to have disappeared this last week. I was really sick with the nastiest cold I've had in years! I'm happy to say that I am feeling much better... I have some exciting news for a save the date event:

 SAVE the Date: June 7th

The PatternPatter Team, sellers of vintage and newer sewing patterns and notions, will be celebrating the team's 2nd anniversary by hosting a Black Tie listing party!!  These Etsy sellers will be listing patterns for formal gowns, men's formal wear, as well as a variety of patterns for all occasions.

In addition to the many new pattern listings being made available, many shops are celebrating by offering discounts to their customers! 

A list of participating shops as well as links to the new listings as they become live will be available in this public thread (or by clicking the picture in my right sidebar).

I am SO excited!!!  YAY for all the Etsy sellers that bring us beautiful vintage patterns!

McCall 3908: The 'First Crepe of Summer' Dress

I feel like I say this about every 1940 McCall make..but I'm REALLY excited to show you my latest project!!  I adore this dress to bits!  It's McCall 3908, a beautiful pattern that's both fitted and bloused with interesting gathers and pattern lines:

While the pattern envelope doesn't show it, there is a view 'C' which includes short sleeves.  That's the version I made.

Can you believe this is my first time ever sewing with wool crepe?  I think I am in love.  I begged David to pick me up some when he was in NYC at the famous Mood Designer Fabrics store.  The funny thing is that wool crepe is so much cheaper in the states than in the UK.  Even when you take the exchange rate into account.  The only wool crepe I can find in Scotland is approximately £25/meter (which translates to just under $40/meter) whereas they were selling this beautiful wool crepe at Mood for something like $14/yard (or approx £9/yard).  Crazy, no?  I can't believe that in the land of wool (Scotland) there are so few wool crepe options!  Well, I know what I will be packing into my suitcase on my next trip to the States ;-)

Wool crepe is a fantastic fabric for the drape and details found in 1940 dress patterns.  This illustration is from the October 1940 McCall Style News booklet:
 

I decided to forego the pouch pockets for a more streamlined summer look.  Like with all my previous 1940 McCall makes, I am itching to sew this pattern up again.  I would love to make a winter version in a silk velvet with the pockets!

The pattern was straightforward to make and the wool crepe was a dream to sew with.  The bodice has really nice shaping with gathers at the neckline and waistline and a semi circle neckline yoke that is attached with a lapped seam over the gathers.  The waist is also attached to the bodice in a lapped seam.  This was a little tricky with the sharp v-shaped lines at the waist but I think I managed to get it pretty straight.  The pattern is designed to be bloused in the back which translates to a little bit of the bloused look on the sides as well:

The sleeve caps have three darts each.  I'm a big sucker for 40s darted sleeve caps.  The mid-length and long-sleeve versions also have this detail.  Normally the back would close with a thread chain loop and buttons but I decided to insert a zipper in the back.  There is also a zipper at the side of the dress (both handpicked).

We took these photos on a lovely pathway that runs alongside the Water of Leith.  The sun was just settling down in the sky and the light was beautiful!

I'm so happy with this dress and I just love the red colour (goes with my Ness shoes) and can't wait to wear it all the time!!

I'm curious...have you sewn with wool crepe?  Can you find it in your locality?

Me-Made-May Week 2

Another week of Me-Made-May outfits!  Isn't his month going by so fast?  Here's my round-up of outfits from this last week...

Day 5: 
In celebration of Cinco de Mayo, I wore my 'Kitten' 1950s skirt and my 'Pretty Pendrell' blouse underneath a sweater (it's still not that warm yet!).

Day 6:
It's a Scottie dog day!!  I wore my new 'Scottie Dress' (McCall 3820 from 1940) with my Scottie dog shoes from Irregular choice and my Ness jacket.



Day 7:
I love my 'Luck o'the Irish' dress (also from 1940) so much--it's super, super soft.  The green is a hard colour to photograph but it's a bit more emerald green in real life!

Day 8:
I revisited an old favourite today, my 'Midcentury Madness' dress which I wore with a pumpkin cardigan and brown Mary Jane shoes.

Day 9: Big day at work today!!  This is my power outfit.  The 'Hawk's Eye View Dress' is from the BurdaStyle Sewing handbook.  I paired the dress with my red Ness Jacket, vintage 1940s shoes and a red belt.  We took the photo in our very brightly painted hallway--which messes with the colour a bit (no need to adjust your screen...lol)!

Day 10:
On day 10 I wore my 'Rabbie Burns' dress.  I just love this dress and wear it all the time.  I wore it with black boots and a black belt.

Day 11:
Date day!  David and I went to our favourite local tea parlour, Anteaques, to enjoy high tea.  I wore my 'Celebration' dress while enjoying Margherita Assam and a tasty scone with fresh cream and jam.

Day 12:
A trip through the local Regent Road Park called for a casual dress.  I wore my 'Purple Parfait' pinafore with my 1940s Dubarry blouse.



YAY!  Me-Made-May is so much fun.  A super big thank you to David for taking all the photos!