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!

It's a Fishy Friday in Frinton.

With only a few days until mid summer, and school break-up around the corner my favourite seaside towns are soon going to be choked with holiday makers. So last week we took the beloved camper and ourselves down to Frinton-on-Sea, where the signs should read "Welcome to 1957".

This is Miss Marple meets Poirot middle England, where they take pride in maintaining that post war village feel, with a bit of Deco-by-the-Sea thrown in for good measure.

There are plenty of tea rooms but they only got their first pub a few years ago. They do some decent beers and samosas in the local deli though, so after a quick tour of the charity shops we packed a picnic and headed off to the green.

Vintage dress ebay. Jacket, belt and scarf and earrings all second hand. Shoes Office.

The never ending green at Frinton on Sea.

Get a load of the green - it's probably half a mile long. On a windy day it's perfect for a nice spot of kite-boarding.

 Windy happening hair...

This rose festooned white cotton dress cost £25 from ebay - cheap for a 50s dress. When it arrived it turned out to be handmade, and the armholes were too small for any adult. I had to reshape them and the facings too.

I have decided to stop buying vintage and make more clothes myself. It's hard though, I have had a couple of relapses. I love vintage clothes but I do tend to be a bit precious about wearing them. It's not good to have a wardrobe full of clothes that don't get used, but they are quite old and mostly one-offs.

I have enough vintage, for now, what I need is to do is wear it all this year so I can sell it on and buy some more next year. Anyways, for now I prefer making stuff and that takes up all the time I used to spend on buying and caring for my vintage pieces.

A thin tissue is all that is protecting my vintage frock from greasy spills.

Felstar Lightburst, bitter and refreshing, highly recommended with fish and chips.