Phew, a narrowly averted UFO

Really? It's been two weeks since I last posted? Time really does seem to speed up when you get older, doesn't it? Been a busy two weeks though - we had our half yearly council rubbish collection so while my husband wasn't looking I chucked out heaps of junk from our garage and we can now fit one car in our (two and a half car) garage. Just in time too, because we've bought a new car, a station wagon to signal our recent arrival at mid-life, although my husband wasn't too keen to let his youth go and we've bought a sporty Volkswagon Passat. My lovely parents also came to stay for a few weekends to help us repair the floor in the dining room and that's all back together. Anna is still growing teeth and not sleeping at daycare so she's still spending most evenings crying and whinging instead of sleeping. And to top it all off, I'm been given the world's least fascinating project at work, writing a policy for the sustainable use of soils which is a very important issue but oh so dry.... (pardon the drought related pun there)

Anyway I did manage to finish a top that I had cut out before my overlocker went beserko. I do admit though it was only because I had publicly pledged on this blog not to create any new UFOs that I finished it at all! A combination of bad fabric choice and operator error is to blame, but the end result is passable to wear. I made this top:

using McCalls 6237, a 1960s vintage pattern that I got from Zip Zap Kap etsy seller, part of the prize I won from Sew Retro. It's a simple shell top with a bateau neckline, centre back zipper and the arm and neck facings are sewn on the clever way of lining a sleeveless sheath dress (sew back and front together at shoulders, sew the facings down, pull the back through the shoulders to the right side and then sew the side seams last of all), which is proof that despite the crappy way the Big 4 pattern company now instruct how to sew sleeveless dresses (handstitching the shoulder seams) wasn't always the way. I wonder why they changed their methods, when the clever method is easier and looks better?

The fabric I used is a floppy polyester chiffon (I think), that I bought from a garage sale from an elderly lady who used to work for Carla Zampatti for many years. I don't know if this fabric is something she got from the Zampatti workrooms, but it is a very pretty fuschia with little grey random squares. The floppiness of the fabric was the problem though, the fabric kept slipping and getting pulled under when I was sewing the invisible zip at the back so that I had to re-do it at least three times. And since I couldn't try it on for size until the side seams were sewn (almost the last step), I didn't realise until the end that the top was a little loose around the bust but too tight to slide down over my hips! Damn my pear shape and my lack of careful pattern measurements before cutting out!

But I perservered, let out the side seams as much as I could and finished it off. It's not perfect, look at the side view and my misplaced hunchback that I don't really have:

I think this is caused by the zipper being much stiffer than the fabric and because it's still a little too tight around the hips. Ah well, it is so cold in my office, even on the hottest day like today I always wear a suit jacket (and still my hands get so cold I can barely hold a pen), and the top certainly gives a much needed colour boost to this boring grey suit I had made for me in Bangkok a few years ago:

I even made the matching scarf to go with it, which gives the neckline a totally different look:

Overall I'm pretty happy with it, and will still wear it as long as I wear a jacket over it to hide that back!

Thank you all for your handy tips on stopping the ripply hem on knits, I will keep an eye out for either some embroidery stabiliser or fusible webbing next time I have to go to the fabric shop and will try that out. My next few projects are with my old friends woven fabrics in natural fibres, so I know I'm in safer territory there.

I can't say I've worn the dotty skirt since I took the photo in the last post, so I haven't had a chance to test out all your fashion advice. But I can say Carol that I just happened to buy a pair of hot pink shoes a few weeks ago, so I'll definately try out your suggestion!

UFOs are hereditary.....

It's no secret that I am prolific at creating UFOs (unfinished objects). But now I realise I can't fight genetics: when I was putting away some fabric I inherited from my gran I came across quite a few UFOs, and my mum, even though she doesn't care to admit it, has her fair share of UFOs as well. The last thing I need are more UFOs of someone else's making to add to my ginormous to do list, and since my gran seemed to have a fancy for shiny plastic fabrics, I was happy to shed most of hers. However, she had started this one dress made from a lovely textured cotton that had been basted into a loose fitting shift so I decided to finish off.

This must be at least 20 years old or more, because I certainly don't remember my gran wearing dresses or when she was a large lady, but this dress was so large that I was able to cut a completely new pattern from it, so I guess in a way this is a refashion as well. I've made my dress from a 1968 McCalls pattern (McCalls 9193) which is a misses shift dress. I chose this pattern because not only is it in my size (yay, no more grading headaches!) it also appeared to be front opening so I could wear this dress during summer while I'm still breast feeding Anna.

However what makes this dress "easy to sew" is that the button front band and those pockets are fake, as in they are just top stitched down, which is of no use to me. Easy fixed though, I just sewed the front seam closed below the band, and attached the band to one side of the dress by wedging the dress fabric between two layers of the band and then top stitching it to the dress, and putting an extra band of dress fabric on the other side to sew the buttons on to. I did top stitch the bottom of the band to both sides of the dress though, just to keep it neatly closed. Some buttons from the stash (which is why there are only four buttons and none on the pockets) finished it off.

I thought about making pockets behind those pocket bands, but in the end chose not to since I certainly don't need extra fabric and bulk around my hips and thighs. But to add to the illusion of the pockets being real, I top stitched it down on the sides and bottom of the pocket band, leaving the top to gape open slightly. I think it might fool people:

I also added some darts to the front and back, and also took in a few inches at the back seam to add shape because this dress was very shapeless and a bit potato sack looking. The dress only had one dart, which is weirdly placed halfway down the armhole that points downward, which is the first time I've seen a dart like that. I'm thinking maybe because this is a misses pattern and pattern makers in those days thought young girls don't have busts to shape around,but are flat chested (which I practically am now). Because the vertical dart I sewed on the front came close to the end of the weird dart, I decided to join them up in a faux princess seam, ending at the pockets. Some more fakeness for you, but it actually looks pretty good.

And speaking of fake, I've started playing around with Photoshop and while I haven't been able to work out how to make me look slimmer or tanner as yet, I have been able to create this digital mischief which I think is pretty funny:

Is this worthy of Sew Retro?

I hope so, because I have now joined Sew Retro and this is my first project I posted there. I'm in total awe of the amazing things people sew and post there, some of the turn of the century clothes look so complicated, others get such a good fit with their fabric and pattern choices and some talented (gluttons for punishment?) use actual vintage sewing machines as well.

Anyway, my contribution is a 1960s Simplicity pattern skirt, purchased from an op shop of course, hence the 50c price sticker on the front. I used a black, white and yellow houndstooth check wool purchased from an op shop, as well as thrifted buttons so all in all a skirt made for probably 1960s prices.

I only made a few changes to the pattern - using an invisible zip and installing a lining, two things that I think make skirts look just that little bit more professional. I also didn't change the pattern sizing because even though my measurements are almost 3 inches more than the sizing on the pattern, it had far too much ease for modern day pencil skirt styles and it fit perfectly the way it is.

Now I feel a need to make up more vintage patterns to keep up with the Sew Retro-ers. Oh the pressure............

Loooong term WIP finished! Only 12 years in the making.....

I started to sew clothes when I was about 18 - I had just started university and didn't have any money to buy the clothes I wanted and I was also at that experimental stage in terms of image and identity trying to be too cool for school. My mum taught me to sew, and this dress was one of the first things we started together. I clearly remember measuring, cutting out and pinning it on the dressform, and there it stayed for several years even after I had moved out a year later! No reason for not finishing it, I just suppose that it was a style too sophisticated for an 18 year old (ie nowhere to wear that kind of dress).


Fast forward 12 years and I have finally finished it! Ironically it only took a few hours to complete it, and thankfully it still fitted. To liven it up and give it a mod 60s feel I added black piping and some black buttons to the shoulders. Paired with a delightful pair of black and white gingham t-bar heels I recently purchased it made the perfect summer dress to wear to work. And yes this is another early morning shot taken in my front yard on my way to work - my neighbours must think I'm like, so vain to have my photo taken every few mornings in a new outfit!




The pattern is a 1995 now OOP Butterick, and the only modification I made was to make a plain centred zipper back instead of the diamond cut out shape (which I think is actually a little 80s)

So after this little success I am going to try to make some real inroads to the UFO pile and make an extra effort to those WIPs that are in danger of morphing into UFOs (which is actually quite a lot 'cos I quickly lose interest when something stuffs up...... )