Make it quick

Earlier this year someone offered me some sewing work on a film shoot, it was a student film but it was pretty cool. I was sewing 10 hours a day for three days, it was all simple stuff but against the clock. I was a flurry of hands, scissors, cloth and I loved every minute. It felt like being on the Great British Sewing Bee. One of things that pleased me most was my collection of precious sewing scissors all proved indispensable. When my serrated shears (£50 to replace) went missing for half a day of the project I was beside myself, but they re-appeared thankfully.  

Anyway, sewing against the clock was productive. I usually indulge my vintage sewing habits with tracing, fitting, muslin making, re-sizing, and more tracing before actually making stuff. It's the only way I have ever done it so I never thought much about it. After the speed-sewing trip I felt the need to remove some of that faffing about. And here is the result.

Green on the green in Cambridge.

Unprinted 1950s/60s Blackmore 9128 for wide skirt dress with a cummerbund. 

The fabric for this project was a jungle/floral pattern, probably 1960s. It was 3 metres long but only just worked out to be enough. The Blackmore pattern is probably late 50s or early 60s. The total cost for both fabric and pattern was £2.

I always do a muslin for a fitted bodice, but this was not quick enough, so instead I used a tracing off the Emery pattern from last year, and compared it to the bodice of this pattern. I adjusted the shoulders and the back bodice, both of which were shortened by half an inch or so. I think I also changed the back bodice dart. It took all of 10 minutes.

Fiddling about with cummerbunds.

The cummerbund was a bit of a different story, but I had this piece of fab chartreuse fabric in my off-cuts stash and it's such a nice match. The amazing Laurien describes how to make this simple belt. It's made from two pieces of bias fabric cut to fit your waist exactly, you rely on the bias cut to make it comfortable. There are two pieces of boning at the left and right waists, which you have to gather the fabric around (quite fiddly) and finish it with hooks and eyes. My belt is thinner than it should be due to lack of fabric, and I think I should have added some stiffening as it's too soft and it rides up. I do like the effect though, and it's more comfortable than a belt so I think I will be making more of these.

I put in my standard lapped zipper, then finished with a machine hem. All done in a jiffy and pretty satisfactory. In fairness, this faff-free approach to a fitted bodice is only possible if you have done a similar one and the adjustments are directly transferable. But there's going to be a bit more speed sewing this year.

But for now now I'm going back to my first ever trouser project - which is now on it's 4th muslin. On with the faffing!

A slippery vintage fix

When it comes to sewing I am a cotton girl. Even though silk chiffon is the stuff of my dreams, it just gives me nightmares. It's a bit trixy, slippery, sheer and fragile. Add draping and that's a whole month of hair ripping. So when I saw lovely chiffon dress in need of alteration, I fancied it as a good introduction to working with slippery fabrics.

This beauty of a mid to late 1960s dress in turquoise silk chiffon is by Blanes. Here she is fixed up and ready to sashay off my tailor's dummy towards some posh bar replete with blue cocktails.

It's all about Elizabeth Taylor.

But when I got it that midriff was a mess. I mean, what is happening here? It looked like someone had tried to alter it.

 Midriff madness

I opened up the lining to have a look. I couldn't tell if someone had in fact altered it but I was not going to wear that baggy mess.

The doings:

First I tried it on and pinched out the excess, then pushed it through to the inside securing with pins. Then I marked out my new seam on the outside using tailor's tack stitches. These stitches are short and open ended so they whip out easily rather than get bunched up under the seam. I did one side in black the other in orange. 

On the inside my marking stitches are visible but I still have room to adjust. Because of the all the folds in the midriff I needed to do some fiddling to get all the fabric to sit right.

Before sewing and trimming it, I re-enforced the new seam with a strip from my precious half a metre of silk organza.

Major surgery

Silk Organza; the queen of fabrics

Quick word about silk organza; this stuff is so good every sewer should have a piece. It's light yet strong, very versatile and widely available. It comes in different weights, mine has a bit of body but it isn't the really crispy kind. It would make a good lining fabric for a really posh dress, or used in place of tape or interfacing when working with a lighter fabric. I am planning a voile dress with a sweet heart neckline and I will probably use a strip to help the neckline sit properly and prevent gaping.

When I read that people use it as a pressing cloth I though it was bit extravagant! Then I tried it. The sheerness prevents you from putting creases where you don't want them, and its got a great heat tolerance so you don't ruin your lovely garments. I use smallish patch for pressing but it does the job. That and it's myriad other uses make it well worth a ten quid note.

Anyway, happy hour is here. Chin Chin everyone!

Pink and green should always be seen.

Following my tasteful cool blue post, here's some hot pink and acid green - especially fitting for a nice summer dress.

Vintage shirt dress Simplicity 5124 

I like vintage prints but ditzy florals are not usually my thing. My friend spotted these two prints in our local fabric shop, and it was love at first sight. The dotty fabric is for contrasting collar, cuffs and belt the other fabric is for the main body. I am planning lurid green button holes. I don't want anyone thinking this is not a handmade dress.

My couture class has recently covered collars. I have quite big issues with collars. Everyone has one area of sewing that they dread tackling and collars are, or rather were, mine.

Above are examples one done before the class and one after. I am sure you can spot the difference...

Right BEFORE - Absolutely shocking. It's horrible and that sludge green is not helping.

Left - happily ever AFTER!  Clean, crisp and properly pointy shaped. Although I can't work out which side the interfacing should be on: my teacher says top, some books say bottom, I just read something on a website that said you can do it either way or both! Anyway I will stick with putting it on the top, use good quality stuff and just hope it doesn't go lumpy in the wash.

My lovely teacher Amy studied menswear, which is quite unusual. Her techniques for collars are quite unusual too. A very mysterious, meticulous process and one she partly made up herself. I wrote it all down and tried it at home where I could concentrate properly, it was fiddly but it all worked.

I feel I have suddenly been allowed into the magic circle of people who can make things properly. I have learned so much on this course and we are only half way through.

Blue summer outfit & vintage charity shops

Blue summer outfit & vintage charity shops

I am reliably told the colour of this 1950s Chrysler is "Sea foam".

I do like an arresting blue. I recently found this very charming vintage umbrella in a local charity shop. I used it as a parasol last weekend at Hedingham Castle vintage fair. That handle and contrast lining alone are worth the £15 price tag. I love the way the colour really pops in the sunshine.

Classy handle with sparkly sapphire stones.

The charity shop I bought it in recently relaunched as a Vintage shop. It's right in the middle town and the prices are reasonable so it's proving quite popular. They do have some advantage over other vintage sellers, with free stock and an army of volunteers. There are now half a dozen sellers, as well as pop-up shops and fairs in our little town, so competition is tough but I suppose there must be enough customers to go around.

A bamboo grove at Hedingham

The dress was from ebay in 2012, one of the first in my 'new' vintage wardrobe. I sold all my vintage dresses about 10 years ago because they were too small for me and I needed the money. Silly me.

The dress turned out to be Marcel Fenez, it is nylon and quite sheer so I found a frilly petticoat to wear with it at the same shop as the umbrella. It has pink bows too! I didn't plan it but the whole outfit (umbrella and bag included) is from the mid 60s.

And finally a bit of blue from about a month ago. A view of bluebell woods on the Essex / Suffolk border. Blue doesn't get more delightful than this.

A spectacular view over ancient bluebells in West Bergholt. I think that's Suffolk over there.