The Facts

Fabric: Vintage black and white marlin-printed cotton from stash
Pattern: Vogue 8812
Year: 1940
Notions: 1 red zipper
Time to complete: 3 1/2 hours
First worn: June 2012
Wear again? Already have : )

Total Cost: ~4.32 for pattern

I was SO looking forward to this weeks challenge after last week! I even had a mini vacation planned out with my daughter – take a day trip on Saturday up to Napa where a friend would do our hair; have brunch or lunch, do some pics, shop in some vintage stores and maybe stay for dinner. Sunday was the annual Pirate Festival in Vallejo that is a must-attend every year if only to see old friends and buy a new mini hat : ) Oh the plans we make…

I was on top of things Sunday. Had the dress cut out and ready to sew. Monday I had another project come up that pushed everything aside so I didn’t get back to my dress until Thursday. As far as construction this pattern is a breeze. There are a few things that I changed/would change in the future. First, I lined and interlined the lower bodice pieces. Unless I missed something in the directions they only have you cut one layer of fabric which may be fine for someone with better abs : ) I like feeling secure and held in there! I shortened the skirt by 3 inches and then put in a 2″ hem so for those of you who are of”average” height check the length. This was a vintage piece of 36″ wide goods so I had NO room to mess up and those few inches made the difference between squeaking by and being comfortable with the layout.

In the future I wouldn’t gather the top piece they’re calling the “bra” all the way around, I’ll stop it at the side and finish the edge off. I see no reason to have the back pieces with the gathering since they tend to puff out and make it look like gravity has taken over more so than it really has : ) I will also get a second set of hands to help fit the top, trying to pull it around and mark it myself meant I was almost 2″ too big when I went to put in the zipper.And why a red zipper? Because I thought I had a black one and couldn’t find it Saturday morning, an hour before we were supposed to leave. I did have a red one so in it went and it’s really not the worst thing I’ve seen…lately…

We started off in downtown Napa after hair appointments. We LOVED the HUGE lights in front of the Post Office. This pic is from my daughters Instagram experiment. We had to do something when our regular camera got too hot and stopped working briefly. Why would that be?

That’s why : )

And it was still raising, it hit 105 as we were finishing up around 4 pm. Seriously, it’s only like this a handful of days each year but this was one of them.

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And just let me reiterate, that was 102 IN THE SHADE, as in where I’m standing!

There is an actual river that runs through the town of Napa, it’s rather small and this time of year a bit sluggish. We went down there anyway on the off chance it was a tad cooler.

Cool (as in nifty, not temperature!) kinetic sculpture behind me, no shoes on the feet. It not only wasn’t cooler, it was probably more like 110 taking into account the reflected heat! You’ll notice I’m in the shade. We tried a couple pics in the sun but since one of my best friends’ husbands describes my skin color as “two shades darker than milk” we vampire-type girls tend to stay where its shady whenever possible.

This may be the most telling pic of the day:

We stopped in at a major celebrity chef’s home goods store and crashed in the big comfy club chairs. A picture says a thousand words…

We did *briefly* go into Chef Morimoto’s restaurant (one of the original Iron Chefs) but we took one look at the enormous ancient table for tasting parties and knew there were too many zeros to the left of the decimal point for our budget.

There were no thoughts of further meals or shopping, we beat it back to the relative comfort of the air conditioned car, passing this piece of public art:

Curious about how to do the Cha Cha Cha? You can learn right here. In the sun, and the heat…

I did say there would be pirates, right?

Arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr………

When my daughter was very young we worked at a fencing booth at the Renaissance Faire here in Northern California. I had my fill of breathing in clouds of dirt, fencing in 100 degree heat and giving up three months worth of my weekends so I stopped working there but we still keep in touch with the people. Every year during Father’s Day weekend a group of historical re-enacting nuts decided to put on a Pirate Festival on the edge of the Bay in Vallejo. It’s fun, irreverent and if you need to let your inner pirate self out every once in a while this is the place to do it : ) We went a-visiting.

Isn’t my parasol cute? Perfect accessory to my dress.

I promised my daughter she didn’t have to dress up (full pirate regalia is layered and then there’s all the weaponry..) and there was shade and breezes off the bay : )

This pattern gets an A+. It was comfy, moved well, once I had the top fitted just right I wore NO BRA and didn’t feel unsupported. I did wear a pair of  cotton-lycra shorts underneath in lieu of a slip. They allowed me to move and not get sticky or sweaty in places that shouldn’t be, if you know what I mean : ) I wore this dress for 2 days straight and am looking through my fabric stash for a suitable candidate to make another.

If I go on another “vacation” this is at the top of my list of things to wear!

Fabric: Green linen for Mary skirt, white w/green and blue print for Mary shirt, Purple/pink printed poly plaid for Rhoda dress from stash
Patterns:  McCall’s 3955 for Mary skirt, Simplicity 9204 for Rhoda dress and Vogue 8424 for Mary blouse
Year: 1970′s
Notions: Interfacing, 9 vintage buttons from stash for Mary shirt
Accessories: Coat from Swap last week (free!), hat from collection
Time to complete: ~7 hours
First worn: June 2012
Wear again? I doubt it, maybe for Halloween
Total Cost: $11.45 for shirt, 13.09 for skirt, so $24.54 for all

Soooooo much inspiration, so little time : )

This took some discussion amongst friends to decide what to do. I actually put my top three choices on facebook and had people vote – it came down to Julia Child, Mary Richards and Emma Peel. Emma Peel was a very close second, the deciding factor was how much I would have to tuck and suck and corset to do her proud and in retrospect, I’m glad I went for Mary Richards.

Let me just say up front, the word of the week was “uncomfortable”. I didn’t feel good, even called in sick mid-week just to stay home to nap and do not a whole lot of anything. I didn’t start sewing until Thursday and once again my daughter needed to do photos on Saturday so there was a push Friday night to finish. I just didn’t feel good the entire time so my heart, while I REALLY wanted to do Mary proud, just wasn’t in it.

Why Mary and Rhoda? What is Mary without Rhoda : ) They were friends and I loved them equally. I did a lot of babysitting, and one family in particular liked to go out Friday nights so I would settle into their couch after the girls went to bed and watch “Mary Tyler Moore”, “Bob Newhart” and “The Tonight Show”. The first few notes of any of those theme songs takes me back instantly : )

I always wanted to be Mary, that mixture of self-assuredness and humanity wrapped up in cool Evan-Picone clothing. I figured I had a shot at actually being more like Rhoda, her being artsy and all. They were the first single women, other than “Julia” in the 60′s, that made it OK to be single and thirty. I loved Mary’s history – moved to Minneapolis to get away from the man who didn’t want to marry her, and then turned him down when he showed up to try to woo her back. She set up a new life, made new friends, got a cool ableit-under-paying job and “made it”. Interestingly the lyrics of the theme song started out questioning her whole purpose and life and then the second season they became much more positive.

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How do I like the outfits? They’re ok. They’re appropriate for the time, I certainly felt a lot closer to myself as Rhoda but the fabric is an inexpensive poly print I bought to make one of the new vintage Vogue patterns out of to see if I liked not only the pattern but that much plaid on me. Can we say static city? The pattern was super easy, so if anyone wants to make it it goes together quickly. The Mary shirt has three fatal flaws, which is why it will most likely end up on ebay this Halloween season. Nothing wrong with the pattern…if you’re paying attention. First, I sewed the sleeves in precisely backwards. The left sleeve is in the right armhole and vice versa. It will be easy to change when I feel better but for now I look like a dork. Second, when I went to press the front placket down the iron “had a moment” and fried a lovely hole in the lower portion. I cut off the melted piece and replaced it but You Always Know.

The third flaw isn’t really a flaw, it’s just that ginormous collar we loved so in the 70′s. Thank goodness the fabric is soft otherwise it would be poking me in my ears.

The Mary skirt went together in a whopping 40 minutes. No seams are overlocked, not even the hem. The waistband is “faux”, just a folded over strip of fabric sewn on to look good for pictures and held together with a safety pin. Why? I like the fabric so I’ll take the waistband off, taper the seams so it’s straighter, overlock everything and put it back together correctly. Done is beautiful.

My daughter helped me with hair, we went through several translations of Mary’s hair, first trying a “rat” to give it some height and mimic her first season style. (The producers didn’t want her to be mistaken for Laura Petri so they put a fall on the back of her head and combed her bangs back. When the show became popular Mary insisted in the second season using all her own hair so its not as “big”.) Nothing like not being able to see what your daughter is doing to you:

Snookie : )

She made me Snookie, not Mary. Corrections were made : )

And because one of the most iconic things about the show is the beginning where Mary throws her hat, and because Kazz had to REALLY up the ante with the whole photoshop/gif thing last week (that dancing sequence was CRAZY AWESOME!!) I did my own hat toss scene.

There are a couple things you should check out. First is the story of Hazel Frederick, the woman scowling with the glasses and blue head scarf behind Mary. Turns out she was a pretty cool woman, read about her here. You can also read about Mary’s wardrobe here.  And here are the two versions of the theme song –

How will you make it on your own?
This world is awfully big, girl this time you’re all alone
But it’s time you started living
It’s time you let someone else do some giving
Love is all around, no need to waste it
You can have a town, why don’t you take it
You might just make it after all
You might just make it after all

Seasons 2-7:

Who can turn the world on with her smile?
Who can take a nothing day, and suddenly make it all seem worthwhile?
Well it’s you girl, and you should know it
With each glance and every little movement you show it
Love is all around, no need to waste it
You can have a town, why don’t you take it
You’re gonna make it after all
You’re gonna make it after all

I made it! I finished the outfits, finished the challenge and got my 70′s groove on and out of my system. I can’t even tell you HOW excited I am about next weeks challenge!!

Fabric: Purple Italian Sueded silk from stash, wool felt for hat
Patterns: Hollywood Pattern 1274 for dress, Vogue 7464 for hat
Year: 1940′s for dress from swap and vintage inspired Vogue for hat
Notions: Interfacing and three safety pins; milliner’s wire and buckram from stash
Time to complete: ~6 hours
First worn: June 2012
Wear again? Maybe, most likely the skirt and hat with different top

Total Cost: $ 7.20 for wool felt for hat

Me and the Royal Family…we go way back : )

It was just a question of WHO to use as inspiration. I know many fellow contributors will probably use Kate Middleton, but I am an original Diana fan. I was entranced when she got engaged, she was only a few years younger, and guess what the inspiration was for my first wedding? Yep. I stayed up all night to watch her wedding, named two of my cats William and Harry and many years later stayed up all night to watch her funeral. She was my generations’ JFK. I have an entire (large) box full of books, magazines and newspapers from the wedding, throughout her life and her funeral. I thought at first I’d make something based on one of her dresses but she was tall and thin and I’m…not. I am honestly shaped a little closer to the Queen and since I’ve already channeled an earlier Elizabeth (pic to come!) I thought maybe I’d do something reminiscent of a younger Elizabeth II.

I loved the purple shoes I wore with my Grandma Bertha dress and the silk that I made the belt out of was an almost perfect match and what is more royal than purple? Plus it was free and free is delightful. The only downside to “free” in this instance was the age of the fabric. I had bought it in 1993, as I left House of Fabrics to go design and teach at a junior college. It was in my “Special Projects” box, sitting on a bottom shelf under a cutting table when we had a flood at school. It was saturated with muddy water, then dried and cleaned so fortunately the dirt came out but there are bits of dye transfer from something else. I had a good sized piece, 5+ yards so I figured I could cut around the spots. I also discovered sun damage from less than fabulous storage in the intervening years, so a good 2 hours of the production time was spent cutting each piece individually. I also had two pieces, one had been cut from the main piece, so I had to carefully and thoughtfully guess which way the grain went since it has a grain like satin or corduroy and the last thing I wanted was one lighter/darker skirt panel and sleeve. I think it worked out well : )

Kazz TOTALLY upped the photoshop ante last week so I scrambled to find a suitable background! This photo from Life magazine will have to do.

As far as construction of the dress went it was straightforward. The pattern was clear, the only problem was the actual tissue. I would bet money (since I can’t find any copyright on this) that this was made during the war, probably 1943 or 44 since the tissue is SO thin that breathing on it wrong will tear it! Other than that, the only thing I changed was the peplum construction. The pattern calls for facings and I *hate* peplum facings. They require acres of hand stitching to lay right and for something like this I wanted durability. I lined the whole thing and interlined the back and left side front so it has some substance. That shadow you see in the pictures is just that, it actually lays flat really nicely. I’m not sure tucks like that are the best look for me, maybe in another 10 pounds I’ll feel more comfy in it.  I’m also being completely transparent here saying that I did NOT sew on the hooks-n-eyes the pattern called for, I just pinned myself in for now : )

And now the hat…

(Since so many people were interested in construction details of my Joan shamrock green linen hat I’m including the highlights of this hat here – if you’re not interested you can skip to the end : )

Oh the hat…It took three people with half a dozen advanced degrees a combined IQ of well over 450 to figure out the last two steps of that pattern!

The hat went together well in the beginning but it becomes some origami crane-like thing at the end and I’m still not sure I have it right! I’ve made hats from scratch before, I’m not a novice but I wanted to make THIS hat (view B) EXACTLY like the instructions said to do. I chose this pattern for two reasons – 1) It’s really cute in the picture and 2) it doesn’t ask you to buy a hat frame and just cover it like the first couple of vintage hat patterns did!

My feeling is if you’re going to put out a hat pattern then you should show the customer how to make the WHOLE thing from beginning to end. I thought at first I’d made it match the dress exactly but when I read the directions I realized I really needed the hat wool so off to Joann’s I went. The one thing I really appreciate about the pattern is it does NOT assume everyone has a hat form (but I do) and they tell you to buy a 10″ styrofoam ball and use a terry towel to steam the buckram.
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So I cheated a little. Here is my form, covered first with foil and then plastic wrap. You don’t want to use just foil unless you want to pick bits out of your hat and hair and you don’t want to use just plastic wrap as it will move about like silk charmeuse, just wanting to be on the floor. Use both : )

You can buy buckram online or at a better stocked store, Stone Mountain Daughter has it in Berkeley. It’s embedded with rice starch so you just get it wet quickly, let it sit for a few minutes until it gets limp, don’t soak or wring, and stretch it on the form.

The elastic band keeps the drying buckram in place and smooth. Pins keep the elastic in place. Keep away from cats, they remove pins. Let dry overnight

Here is where Vogue and I part ways construction wise – they don’t cover the frame with anything other than the felt hat but it isn’t stitched down in very many places. I covered the part of the frame that you might see if a wind flipped up that front wool piece.

Then they don’t have you insert any wire into the edge of the frame so it holds its shape. I didn’t either, just to try the pattern out, but in the future I’d definitely change that. They also have you use grosgrain to finish off the edge, which is a traditional technique but I needed the purples to match so I cut a strip of bias and finished it that way.

The pattern tells you cut a point in the frame but then never really clarifies where the point should go so I guessed! It leaves several details unfinished, like the stitching of the main “point” that sticks up as part of the bow and how exactly they get the shape in the photo. Their line drawing doesn’t give any more clarity but all in all I’m happy with the result.

I made sure I had the requisite handbag:

I just haven’t mastered the whole shadow thing in photoshop yet : )

Here is part of my history with the Royal Family:

My Princess Diana-inpsired wedding dress and haircut…

And my Queen Elizabeth I dress from the Ermine Portrait : ) I even made a tiny one for my daughter –

See? Me and the Royal Family…we go back a ways : )

The Facts
Fabric: Leopard printed polyester for blouse, black gabardine for pants
Pattern: New York pattern # 1779 for shirt, Simplicity 3688 for pants
Year: 1940′s
Notions: Interfacing and 7 buttons for shirt from stash; 1 hook-n-eye & waistband interfacing for pants from stash
Time to complete: ~4 hours
First worn: May 2012
Wear again? YES!!

Total Cost: $13.03 for blouse fabric, pants fabric from Angie’s stash but I did buy pattern for $1.08

Vegas….Vegas….what to do…

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Many years ago I actually worked in Las Vegas designing uniforms for casinos such as Cesars, Treasure Island, Mirage, MGM Grand and Binion’s. I know there were others but memory fails me at the moment. It’s not as glamorous as you may think, you spend a lot of time in meetings trying to out-guess the competition and trying to explain the evils of sweat-shop produced clothing. Not that I didn’t meet a lot of nice, hard working people but trying to make an item of clothing cheaper than a factory in Vietnam isn’t my idea of the dream job. And the day I was trying, very delicately, to explain to a roomful of men why having a leotard with an 8″ wide crotch might be uncomfortable to the average woman (and then having Steve Wynn walk up behind me…yeah…) was the day I knew that I needed to do something else : )

So when it came to the Vegas challenge it was just a matter of picking an era and an icon AND it needed to be something I could wear in public. The last time I was in Las Vegas was about six years ago and the highlight of my trip was getting to shop at the Elton John store in Ceaser’s. One of the prized items in my wardrobe is the shirt I bought, here is the label:

The very first Elton John song I ever heard was “The Bitch is Back”. Considering that I was raised on a steady diet of Bach, Beethoven and Mozart and was in the third grade before I heard that “rock-n-roll stuff” this song just made my JAW DROP. We were able to play records during Art classes in high school and this was the first song played my first day there. I was IN LOVE. Elton John was the first live concert I ever went to, it was the first live show I took my daughter to (but she dragged me to No Doubt, Offspring and a BFD concert so she returned the favor, at least I side stepped Korn). I tried making some of his outfits, I played the piano so I got some of his sheet music, I saw his shows as often as possible and onetime spent a whole 20 seconds talking to “him” on a radio station!  He may not be Mr. Las Vegas (I think Wayne Newton still has that honor) but to me he epitomizes Vegas. So I’m channeling the outfit he wore on the very first album of his I ever bought, Caribou.

I was tired this week, work was busy but I knew I was REALLY tired when trying to describe what I was thinking of making to Angie and I said “He’s wearing a shirt on the cover that is zebra print only orange and black” and she looked at me funny and said “You mean tiger?” Yeah…. My big mission of the week was to find some sort of animal print that wouldn’t make me look like I re-worked little kids PJ’s or a Halloween costume. I actually found the leopard print at JoAnn’s and was set. I decided to try the retro 40′s pant pattern that Trish most recently raved about and guess what? It’s fabulous. Just as easy as everyone says, the only tweaks I made were tapering the outside leg seam an inch and altering the waistline of the pant so the waistband sits in the right place. When I put these on I felt like they shaved 10 pounds off!

I used the same shirt pattern I’ve used several times lately because I wanted that yoke at the top and this time I made the long sleeved version and just gathered the sleeves instead of doing those pleats.I used three different styles of button, it’s what I had on hand that worked and ironically the buttons down the center front were left over from a project for the Mirage! Little touch of Vegas there for you…

That is the album I bought in 1974, my very first, along with the piano I grew up playing : )  Cool glasses too, huh?

Then my daughter and I started playing around with photos and photoshop-

But my favorite photo that came out of the day has to be this:

We were trying to figure out just WHAT the heck his hands were doing in the original shot. Was he dancing? Was he grooving to his own drummer? What was going on there?

I tried to see if we could reproduce that postion without feeling totally awkward…

Yeah…dork central…but what the heck…we were laughing and having a good time : ) I think when I wear this to work I’ll leave the glasses at home and not dance on BART.

And now for one of my prized possessions, the shirt I bought in the boutique:

I don’t wear it often, not because of the reaction I might get but because I don’t want the glitter to wear off : ) At least you know what you’re getting into if you see me in this…

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The Facts
Fabric:Stretch Denim, red and white polka dot fabric from stash
Pattern: New York pattern # 1779 for shirt, Folkwear # 250 Hollywood pants
Year: 1940′s
Notions: Interfacing and 5 buttons for shirt; 4 buttons for pants all from stash
Time to complete: ~4 1/2  hours, SIX hours and an emotional journey for photos
First worn: May 2012
Wear again? Yes! but not together

Total Cost: $27.67 for denim

I will unequivocally say this weeks challenge has so far produced the most emotional journey, and that’s saying something since the two family challenges nearly sent me back to therapy! One week ago I had no idea what I was going to do but since I have a stack of vintage 40′s patterns I wasn’t worried. It wasn’t until I was talking with a friend Monday night about some of the current political nuttiness that inspiration struck like a lightening bolt…I just HAD to channel the most recognizable iconic figure of the 40′s!

Made a fast trip to Joann’s for some basic stretch denim, I knew I wanted dark blue something with some stretch to it and denim was the best candidate. Washed, dried, pre-shrunk, good to go. Wednesday everything was cut out, Thursday I figured I had a few days to sew and then my schedule changed and photos would have to be done Saturday or I would be learning all about the timer feature of my camera : ) I used my go-to blouse pattern for the top and the knickers pattern of the Hollywood pants since I wanted a smooth waisted slimmer legged pant. I did not want a jumpsuit that, while period accurate, I would never wear so separates it was. All I did was taper the leg a bit and cut them longer. Then it was a mad sewing session Friday during which I watched, of all things, “League of their Own”. Oh, and the fly of the pants is all buttons, no zips!

In researching Rosie I found out we have not one but MANY Rosie sites here in the Bay Area, after all this was her home : ) Here is a brief synopsis of the Rosie story:

“World War II profoundly changed the status of  American women. As the military’s need for manpower increased, so did industry’s need for womanpower. In 1940-1944 over six million women joined the workforce. Despite initial concerns, by WWII’s end women had proven to be an invaluable and formidable force in the War effort.

The ‘We Can Do It’ poster created in 1943 by J. Howard Miller, encourage women entering the workforce. 1942′s “Rosie the Riveter”, a popular homefront song, became a nickname for women in the workforce.

As men returned from WWII most women left the factories. But the confidence, competence and earning power they had experienced forever changed the American workplace. Over time Rosie has become an icon symbolizing women’s strength, determination and ability to do any job.” That’s on the back of my new Rosie lunch box that I purchased at a museum shop : )

I mean seriously, how could I NOT channel that this week?

We started our journey at the Rosie the Riveter Memorial Park in Richmond. It is this very open steel structure meant to evoke the form of an unfinished hull. The walkway is the length of a ships keel, slopes towards the water and aligns with the Golden Gate Bridge. A timeline about the homefront and quotes from women workers are inscribed on the path. There are photos of the women in their various jobs on panels around the structure, you can just see some on the right. This was one of the more poignant quotes, almost made me cry:

And this was one of my favorite pictures:

At the bottom it says “We may have thought a year ago we couldn’t get along with them. Today we know we can never get along without them. – Aircraft Executive” They’re all sitting in a life boat eating lunch: ) You can read more about the memorial here.

Next we wanted to see if we could get on the USS Iowa. It was docked nearby and being towed to LA on Sunday to be a floating museum but for boat aficionados and WWII buffs this was a REALLY. BIG. DEAL. We quickly discovered we couldn’t get anywhere near it so we headed to the Red Oak Victory ship.

We got lost, we were in a part of town that two women in a red car with one wearing a red head scarf was perhaps not the best idea : ) When we finally found the ship we discovered a vintage T-bird car show in the parking lot!

While drooling over the pristine cars we came across the 1942 Fire truck that had been discovered somewhere in the mid-West (I think) and brought back “home” where it had served at the Kaiser shipyard #3 during the war!

Yes, its kind of a “wreck” and I have no idea if they’re planning a full restoration or just going to maintain it “as is”. You can see the official website here. This was pretty awesome, touching history like that!

Angie and I headed on board only to discover several large events, almost all participants of the generation that had either served in the military or supported those who did during WWII. It got a little intense : )

To get this shot we had to ask permission of the gentlemen in charge, all volunteers and all who had served onboard. They took one look at me and had big smiles on their faces. There was posing while some had their pictures taken with me : ) When you portray an icon so recognizable you have to be prepared for the reactions of others and so my college motto came in every handy “Remember who you are and what you represent”.

What’s important about this shot is what’s in the upper center of the pic – the USS Iowa.

We wandered the ship and found the museum, they have an original welders suit from a Rosie!

And as one of the gentlemen pointed out, by the time the Red Oak Victory was built they had moved away from riveting to welding as a stronger technique so that ship was built by Wendy the Welder : )

I posed by the original poster just for fun. On our way out, HOURS after we meant to leave, the park rangers asked me if I would come by on May 26th in my outfit for the grand opening of the new Visitor Center : ) We’ll see…

I was honored to have portrayed Rosie for a day, I was humbled by the smiles of a generation that is leaving us with just their stories and as the unnamed woman said on the sidewalk stone “I would appreciate if you would check and find out that I was truly there and did my part to the end.”

To all the women who just wanted, and still want, to be known that “they were there and did their part to the end” I honor you.

The Facts
Fabric: Three pieces from quilting stash, two of them very VIP!
Pattern: New York pattern # 1779 for shirt, skirt self drafted
Year: 1950′s
Notions: Interfacing and 5 buttons for shirt; interfacing and hook-n-eye for skirt
Time to complete: ~4 hours + 4 days of searching for inspiration
First worn: May 2012
Wear again? Yes!

Total Cost: ~$8.80

This was one of those challenges that I figured I’d just magically come up with some brilliant idea in the middle of the night, pull together the fabrics and BOOM! Done : )

Hah! I had absolutely no idea what I was going to do until Thursday. I spent three days looking through books, looking through boxes of fabric, asking friends for ideas… It started with the shirt fabric. I really love that piece and thought that if I HAD to do something with multiple prints then this was as good a start as any. I had several choices from two other pieces that were black/red/white combo to several co-coordinating prints that were so cutesy they were giving me a toothache.

What finally got me going was finding the Golden Girl of the West and her wonderful Mix it up print dress!

Isn’t she fabulous? You can check out her blog here. This outfit of hers is from August of 2010 and most likely a rayon or nylon print skirt/top combo. I also adore her hair, the snood, the shoes….

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So I took my cue from her simple top and pulled out my new favorite top pattern, the same one I used for the Childhood challenge and wore with my circle skirt. The only thing I changed was cutting the sleeves about 2″ shorter. Easy, right?

The other two fabrics are in my “highly prized” collection, not only because they are cherry fabrics but because they are designed by someone I actually know! Sandy Klop designed the bottom two prints for Moda Fabrics and used to work at a local quilt store in town. She also does professional machine quilting and has quilted a couple of my quilts. The only one I’ve ever entered into a show won first place, partly due to her amazing work : )

I bought those fabrics at least 8 years ago and had plans to “one day” make a fabulous cherry quilt. When I pulled them out of the box they were so bright and cheerful that I figured if I didn’t like the finished outfit I could at least cut the skirt up and make my quilt anyway!

I wanted a skirt like Syd’s above, a little swingy but not full. I wanted the prints to work together and not look like I either skimped or was on my way to square dance social. I finally decided to try doing small pleats using my ruffler (you do know you can makes pleats with a ruffler as well as ruffles, right?) and liked the even-ness here, the slight 1.5/1 ratio works.

Had I know what I was doing from the start I could have had this sucker done by Wednesday and cruised through the rest of the week. Total sewing time was around 4 hours with lots of fussing in front of the mirror making sure lines were hitting me in the right place, considering whether I wanted to line the collar and sleeve edges with one of the skirt prints or…? The key to making these things work is editing! Otherwise I’d look like one of the Wicked Step Sisters I designed for a 50′s version of “Cinderella” and THAT was orange, yellow and lime gingham AND polka dots! (I’ll pull it out one of these days along with the platform shoes that match…)

I went a *little* overboard with the accessories! My cherry bakelite necklace HAD to be included and I piled on the red and butterscotch bakelite bracelets. I left some at home believe it or not : ) Those patent red “leather” shoes with bows over the toes are a very recent Target purchase. I’m telling you, ladies, since you liked my purple shoes of last week so much, you’ve gotta check out the shoe section at Target this season : )

My daughter and I went back to the local community gardens and park to take advantage of the 50′s Chevy wagon and the roses. I also tried doing Victory rolls with my hair for the first time in years. Turned out pretty well and when I took my mom an orchid for Mother’s day she said my grandfather used to call that hairstyle the “toilet seat”. I can see what he meant : ) BUT more importantly, my grandmother used to do this daily so I’m going to go see her for a one-on-one tutorial!

While I realize this isn’t multiple prints this is how I will most likely wear the shirt : ) Because I was so relieved to have finished this outfit and LIKED it I did a little dance of joy –

I’m including this last picture because it made my daughter laugh –

It’s a total blooper and makes me look like I’m in the middle of an “I Love Lucy” routine : )

Have I mentioned how much fun the last 20 weeks have been?

The Facts
Fabric: 4 yards linen, 2 1/2 yards from stash, had to purchase 1 1/2 more yards to make sure I had enough
Pattern: Vogue 2960
Year: 1954
Notions: 1 zipper, interfacing, 9 self-covered buttons all from stash, belt
Time to complete: ~3 1/2 hours
First worn: May 2012
Wear again? Definitely!
Total Cost: $10.65 for fabric, $4.36 for pattern for a total of $15.01

When I saw this challenge in the list I knew immediately I wanted to make something like my Grandma Bertha would have worn. She was my dad’s mom, the one who taught my mother’s Girl Scout troop how to make circle skirts (you can see I come from a long line of radical females!) and eventually taught me how to sew. Sewing is like breathing to me, it’s just part of my soul and who I am. I sewed my way through junior high, high school and college, I sewed my way back to financial health after my first husband went rogue and I’ve sewn everything from Greek chitons to yellow patent leather Gwen Stefani pants for my daughter. You name it, I’ve probably made it or made a conscious decision NOT to : )

Now I work at a job where wearing something like this isn’t really going to raise any eyebrows. And I work in an office, not a shop underground that is prone to flooding and has widely variant temperature changes. Dresses are quickly making their way into my wardrobe and I’m pretty happy about that!

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Me, my Grandma Bertha and Wendy the dog

This is me around 9 months of age, my mom thinks it was Memorial Day weekend. In this photo my grandma is one year younger than I am right now. She taught sewing for a living, believed in dressing “correctly” all the time (I’m pretty sure my habit of wearing jeans to work would HORRIFY her…or she would have embraced the change and worn them too!), and if you can’t tell from my blog, she believed in setting a “correct” table ALL the time, even if we were eating macaroni and cheese. You just never know who might stop by and heaven forbid if  there were no spoons on the table… I can guarantee you she has a camisole and half slip on under her dress or a full slip. A lady NEVER went without! She loved purple, which was pretty radical at the time, and I don’t remember her ever NOT having something purple on her self.

She also had a pretty cha-cha shoe collection, I have one pic of her in a lilac colored chiffon dress with super full pleated skirt and dyed-to-match shoes. I’m sure Michael Kors and Issac Mizrahi would be horrified but that’s just too bad. I thought she was wonderful and she would let me wear her shoes if I didn’t get them wet : )

When I saw this print many months ago I bought a random chunk just to have, a concept I’m sure one or two others might understand : ) As soon as I saw the pattern and that voluminous skirt I bought the extra yardage just to make sure and yes, I needed all of it. Too bad you can’t really tell I’m wearing one HUGE petticoat! A friend sent me her old bridal petticoat so I just cut 16″ off the top, re-gathered the pieces and put on a new waistband. That extra heavy netting and layers of gathered nylon make one really big pouff. It wasn’t until I saw the pics I realized I should have put on 2 petticoats! The purple hat with the rose on it is vintage as are my rhinestone earrings

This dress was easy, easy, easy to make! I looked at the very low cut back and raised it up about 3″ so I could wear a bra and not worry about something showing. I did NOT make the bound buttonholes down the front! One thing I’ve learned through the years is that my boobs and button front dresses aren’t friends. I just tacked the fronts together and stitched on the buttons so they’re not functional. Instead I inserted a zipper up the center back and called it good. Now I can get in and out easily and I don’t have to worry about gap-osis, pulling or popping a button.

. The only problem I had with this outfit was the darn belt! I did eventually get the belting that was inadvertently left out of my bag back in February but now I’ve put it somewhere so safe even I can’t find it! I covered another belt of mine with some purple silk close to the color of the shoes. I’m sure my grandmother would have approved : ) The dress is super comfy, I feel pretty (oh so pretty!) and if the weather keeps up like it is you’ll be seeing it on BART very soon…

The Facts
Fabric: 2 yards 16 inches of vintage 70′s Qiana from Mena’s fabric swap earlier this year, cotton/poly lining from stash
Pattern: Simplicity 2549
Year: Most likely mid to late 70′s
Notions: 1 zipper, scraps of interfacing
Time to complete: ~3 hours of actual sewing time, 6 hours over 3 nights of futsing time First worn: April 2012
Wear again? Probably not unless to a period costume party
Total Cost: $1.09

Let’s just say up front that pink just isn’t my thing any more. I almost sat out this challenge, and honestly if I hadn’t received this fun piece at the fabric swap Mena hosted a while back I would have been silent. But what is a challenge without being challenged so I tried, I REALLY tried to MAKE IT WORK! I pulled out no less than 7 patterns, including one Issey Miyake jacket pattern, to make something cool. First problem – 2 yards and 16 inches of 44″ wide and a border print to boot. OK, need to show off that border otherwise half of the fun factor is for naught. Second problem – holes in the fabric. Not a surprise considering its age but I doubt moths had a feast on all this polyester goodness : )

Two nights of nothing but trying design after design I went back to the pattern I used for the “Make this Look” challenge (that you can check out here). It fit, barely, with an issue in the border print but I went for it anyway and kept trying to make it work in my dreams. Finally around Thursday I ended up piecing one side of the skirt back border that, if I don’t point it out, most people don’t see. That’s ok, when I finally put it on I was so “Meh” about it I almost didn’t finish. The print reminds me of those dreadful Good-n-Plenty candies that people tried to convince me were “good” when I was little. Are you kidding me?! Even at 6 years of age I knew the only “real” candy must be chocolate, and good chocolate like See’s, not that icky chocolate you get at the drug store in plastic wrapped boxes…

I know full well not to judge a project when its not done and frankly this one worked out a little better than I thought, but the thing that really kept me going? The shoes : )

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That is not a typo, they are Fluevogs : ) If you’ve never heard of them, or even if you have but never checked out their website go here. Peruse the “About” section and be prepared to laugh. They are amazingly awesome, stupidly comfy and my inspiration for finishing the dress.

I went to my girlfriends house for photos since her roses are in bloom, but she just got bees into her 2 hives so in the interest of not disturbing them or getting my daughter stung we kept our distance. I did channel my version of a “The Real Housewives of…” with her lemon tree. Did I like the dress any better at the end of the day? Not really. I also managed to nicely sabotage myself just about every step of the way – wore a dark grey bra instead of white, put on black underwear instead of a light color, forget my lipstick, did nothing with my hair…I mean really…and after a week of chilly temps mid week we were back up to 90 degrees and the sweat was dripping down my back…

Speaking of the back…I didn’t have enough fabric to match the print exactly but I did have enough to make it match in a little different way:

It matches yet doesn’t and you can see the right side of the border print is a “little” different. I can live with it, at least the hole the size of a quarter is gone.

If I were to give myself a grade on this project it would be a “C”. It went together quickly and easily once I solved the fabric problems but I find it pretty unexciting. (Looking at it here it reminds me of Neapolitan ice cream that I didn’t like as a child either!) I get a “B” for perseverance and finishing but as far as style goes, if it weren’t for the shoes it would be even more “meh” and I don’t think it does much for me or me for it.

Win some, lose some but its done : ) The good news is I used a good part of my weekend cleaning up my sewing room, even got the floor mopped! AND I’m very excited about the next challenge so life is good. Onward!!

The Facts
Fabric: The most amazing piece of pre-printed vintage fabric (almost) ever!
Pattern: None
Year: Most likely mid to late 50′s
Notions: 1 zipper, I hook-n-eye, 8 buttons from stash for grey sweater
Time to complete: 1.5 hours
First worn: April 2012
Wear again? Yes but most likely without petticoat

Total Cost: NOTHING…although the sweaters worn with it came to a total of $15.99

This could have EASILY been used for the VIP challenge – this is a VERY PRECIOUS piece of fabric, I think I found it at the Peddlar’s Fair in Martinez years ago and might have paid $5. I liked the printed poodles on it at the time and thought maybe I’d use it for curtains or appliques…didn’t really know. It sat in a box (away from the sun, thank goodness) for years. One day I pulled it out, needing to decide whether to keep it or throw it away and I saw this:

This small white mark, near the selvedge..and there were two of them marking the middle of the poodles…I had someone grab one end of the fabric and hold the whole thing out and it hit me – this was a piece of pre-printed goods meant to make a CIRCLE SKIRT with poodles galore! SILVER poodles, with lime green bows and butterflies, how AWESOME is that!???! That’s when this went into the Revered pile, not to be touched until….

Now. Now it’s been transformed into all it’s fifties poodle glory : ) If you go by the technical definition of a circle skirt then this isn’t technically a circle skirt since there are gathers at the waist. Why? Because the basic skirt was HUGE. Here it is with the side seams stitched up and a preliminary hem cut, on a 5 foot round table:

If I were to have no gathers then the skirt would either be A) dragging on the floor or B) meant for a 48″ waist. So there are gathers : ) I made this backwards – after sewing the side seams together I measured from the bottom of the poodles, which was about 6″, and then cut the hem. Once that was done I measured from the hem UP and cut out the waist. It was VERY important that the full pattern of the poodles be kept intact as well as having a good even hem.

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Now you can see the poodle glory : ) And that is one full skirt, let me assure you…

This was my original idea for this skirt – a nice crisp white blouse with green earrings and a silver belt. Believe it or not I do have my petticoat on underneath and I felt like I was about 5 feet wide. I also felt kind of blah. I had cut this out, including a cute little grey sweater (remodeled from a $3 silk/cashmere find from Salvation Army!) when it was about 68 degrees. While taking pictures today it hit 90. I had ditched the idea of the sweaters until I looked at these photos and then felt like I really did need to suck it up and change the look.

Silver sweater, black camisole, same silver belt and shoes, and a vintage green rhinestone pin and earrings from my grandmother and I’m feeling better…except for the sweat dripping down my neck and back : )

And now we’ve got the cashmere/silk sweater re-do with the black camisole and black belt. Still sweating but this is much more “me” than the white shirt. The “halos” in the photo are the result of near direct sun shining on the outdoor studio my daughter set up for a photo project for school. She was nice enough to take these photos for me at the end of a long, hot day for her. She says its called the “Madonna effect” and rattled off a way I could fix it in the Bridge section of Photoshop that made my eyes roll into the back of my head. I’ll just take the halo for now : )

Finally, when I could feel the sweat soaking through my waistband, I decided to ditch the petticoat and see how the skirt did on its own. I like it : ) I would totally wear this to work, on BART, without hesitation!

And since this is a circular skirt there was twirling…

And while I love those silvery Kazz-inspired shoes, at some point I’m going to need to be practical so I found a pair of lime green flip-flops to match the lime green polish my daughter brought me special for today.

I am SO glad I finally go to make this skirt! I used it as a table cloth for my blog here. As I was ironing the skirt to wear today my mother told me she met my aunt (and then my father) through her Girl Scout troop in about 1948. My future grandmother came to teach the girls how to make circle skirts and after they measured their waists it came time to figure out how big a circle to cut, she had to do the math for each girl since they were too young to have learned fractions yet! I’m sure she’d like this skirt today, not so sure she’d care for green nail polish but you never know…

So thanks to a circle skirt my parents met, I came along, my Grandma Bertha taught me how to sew and here we are! Big circle of life.

My mother and me

Fabrics: Black and white gingham from another project, white quilters cotton from stash, 1 icky red sweater from Salvation Army
Patterns: Shirt – New York Pattern 1779; Skirt – Simplicity 4013; Sweater – self drafted Year: 1950′s
Notions: Interfacing and 5 buttons for blouse: 1 zipper and cotton/poly lining for skirt
Time to complete: Skirt – 3 hours; Shirt – 2 hours, Sweater – 1 hour.
First worn: For this photo
Wear again? Yes!

Total Cost: ~$6 for skirt, $6 for sweater

The theme for this week was to make an outfit inspired by a photo of ourselves as a kid.

THAT was a toughie : ) Fortunately my mother not only has a pretty complete photo album from my early years but is blessed with a memory for details. I actually found a couple of photographs with clothing that didn’t completely turn my stomach so I felt like I had SCORED!

In the end I decided on the photo of me, my mother and my middle sister as a baby in the Japanese Tea Garden here in San Francisco. My “lightbulb” moment was to re-create that image today as best we could : )

So here we are in 1966, March 9 to be exact (it’s on the back of the photo not from memory!). I have NO recollection of the dress or the day but I like the black/white/red combo. My mother says my grandmother bought me that dress from a very nice kids store in Claremont. She also distinctly remembers the outfit she was wearing – the blouse was pink with orange trim which matched the pants. And she LOVED those glasses which I’m sorry to say we used for dress-up a few years later and managed to mangle in the back yard. Sorry Mom!

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My version took the black and white gingham idea and blew the squares up. I had bought the gingham last year with the intent to do a Peggy dress from “Mad Men” but never got there. No problem, this was perfect. Until I went to cut it out. The three hours of construction time included an hour spent running up to Joann’s to show them how they incorrectly cut the fabric (they cut both layers at once thereby shorting me 3 inches of pattern on one half, instead of cutting along the woven line in a single layer.) I had to BUY an entire length so I’d have enough to match the lines whereas if they’d cut the fabric correctly I would have been fine. Harrumph…but oh well…

I also didn’t pay attention to ALL the pattern as I first assembled the skirt front and ended up with this:

Ooops…

If you look at the left side of the photo as compared to the right you’ll see the lines mis-aligned perfectly. The right side is fine : )

Took that side out, re-pinned and stitched and we were good to go. I underlined the gingham since its pretty sheer and I didn’t want to HAVE to wear a slip in the summer. I was also able to do the high waisted scallped version this time <insert squeal of delight here>

I did not want the large collar of the original dress – I learned my lesson about those collars in my Laura Ashley stage in the 80′s. One good breeze and those things fly into your face leaving a perfect impression of your fabulous red lipstick on the center front, never to come out. Besides, I’m past the Laura Ashely thing now and wanted something I’d actually wear. Enter the fabulous shirt pattern. I had ZERO issues putting this together, other than a cat laying on the pieces and refusing to move. I will probably make three or four more of these and shorten the sleeves a little but other than that, it’s perfect!

The sad red sweater was a Salvation Army find the same night I found the blue sweater with the beaded snowflake that I used in the re-fashion challenge here. That big turtleneck piece? You’ll see that again sometime this year, I have plans for it : ) Once again I used the sweater for fabric, completey re-cut it and used binding off another sad red sweater to finish off the front.

I convinced my mother to find clothes in her wardrobe this last week that could come close to what she wore back in 1966. THEN I convinced her to get up REALLY early on Saturday morning, do full hair and make-up and drive out to Golden Gate Park in the city to visit the Academy of Sciences (where she could see her favorite penguins get breakfast) and then try to find the spot the original picture was taken. Isn’t my mother a good sport?We’re pretty sure we got it right : ) They’ve removed the bamboo fencing but this stone lantern was the only one that could have had a picture taken next to it from the right angle.

And even though I’m not six I had to twirl like I was : )

You can also see I made sure all those lines lined up perfectly and that high waistline works. Even though my mom said it reminded her of a tablecloth this is going to be in heavy rotation this summer : )

This also helped create a nifty mother-daughter moment for us this last weekend so it was an extra special challenge that went from “What in the world and I going to do?” to creating a really great memory. I’m pretty sure this will end up in my parent’s Christmas card this year…