Blast from the past: McCall's 6074

Once upon a time I embarked on a Voyage to Vintage. I was full of plans and schemes and exuberance. I would collect vintage clothing items on ebay and vintage sewing patterns - all the while full of grandiose dreams of what I was going to do with them all. Newly married and in our first home together - built in 1921 - we were going to live the vintage life.

I collected FireKing Jadeite and Fiestaware and 78 records and so on. I tried to make my better half highwaisted pants, I bought Blyer wedges and we went to USO dances, but it never really clicked. Perhaps because we're not living in another era? I don't know. This post isn't really about my headspace, although I'd be willing to explore it at some other point.

My first experience sewing with a vintage pattern was McCall's 6074, a play suit. You may recall that I dubbed this one "The one that got away" because I'd thought I'd lost the pattern. Recently inspired to look in the one place I hadn't looked before, I found it, none the worse for wear. I actually did finish this in 2002 - roughly a year after starting it. By the time I'd finished it, I was pregnant with our first child and I converted it to a maternity playsuit by adding a wide elastic in the front waistband casing. At the time I'd put it together, I'd botched it pretty well and didn't know what I'd done, so adding an elastic waist seemed to be the best solution. It worked like a charm! I've only worn the outfit once though. And try as I might, neither I nor Hildegarde can fit into it. That was 9 years and {ahem} pounds ago.

I remember being pressed for time when I was finishing it to wear to our annual Easter Party at my aunt's house and so I totally cheated and used iron-on hem fastener or whatever it is it's called. I will say that 9 years later, the bond is still pretty good. No loose spots or anything. I must have had some trouble reading the pattern, though, because my sleeves don't have the cuff. Instead, it acts like a facing. Ahhhh.... How much I've learned in the intervening years!

One other "flaw" is that the pleats aren't nearly deep enough. I think that's where I went wrong with the waist. Maybe? I'm definitely going to put this pattern back into the rotation of things to make because I really love the look of it. I remember that when I made it, the bust fit *perfectly*. Ahhh jeunesse... Motherhood has taken it's toll on the mammaries (and other places)!

Pattern Description: Misses playsuit

Pattern Sizing: Size 18/Bust 36

Did it look like the photo/drawing on the pattern envelope once you were done sewing with it? YES! I was pleasantly surprised.

Were the instructions easy to follow? For an advanced sewist, yes. It's a printed pattern, but even so, I had trouble following it (the first time). At this point, I'd probably be able to breeze through it since my skill level has grown by leaps and bounds.

What did you particularly like or dislike about the pattern? I love the style. It's a fun alternative to tank tops and cargo shorts. I don't like that it doesn't have even the tiniest pocket. I love pockets.

Fabric Used: 100% Cotton.

Pattern alterations or any design changes you made: None

Would you sew it again? Would you recommend it to others? Yes and Yes! Except for that fact that I can only find one other one out in internet land for a hefty price... I might draft a repro version of this, though.

The ever-growing "collection"

Of patterns...


It's a darn good thing that I didn't commit to not buying any new patterns in 2010. Because just this month, I've acquired at least 20. With another couple dozen to go. Today was the beginning of the Simplicity 99¢ sale at the local Mega Fabric Mart. It's always nice to know that there's a "10 per customer" limit so one doesn't go too nuts buying patterns.


And while I'm on the subject of nuts, I really want to say - to those of you who pull umpteen zillion patterns out of the drawers and leave them piled all over the top of the pattern drawer shelf: SHAME ON YOU. There's NO REASON AT ALL why you should just haphazardly dump your rejects rather than trying to replace them from whence you took them. For one thing, it's RUDE. I'm hoping you were raised better than that. For another, it makes more work for other shoppers who are desperately looking for the LAST one of something that you just left in a pile of pattern detritus. Beyond that, it makes more work for the people whose job it is to restock and straighten the area at closing time. Hourly retail isn't exactly a high paying job and restock? It's one of the WORST parts of the job.

Okey dokey. Now that I've got my little spleen vent over with, I can get on with my adventures at the Fabric Mega Mart. Let me say that I had no intention whatsoever of buying fabric. I was going there with the singular purpose of acquiring 10 of the 12 Simplicity patterns on my list of wants. But today was Day 1 of the "Winter Warmup" 3 day (or so) sale and so all those lovely clearance fabrics that are already 50% off or so? Yeah, 50% off the red tag price!

I'd previously blogged over at Sew Retro about a dress that I need to make - fast. As it turns out, there was some AMAZING polyester sari fabric in "dusty turqouise" with gold threading that would be [Jack Black voice] AWESOME [/Jack Black voice] for the project. Just enough sheen and detail work to be dressy but not so much that it would be the overdressed WOACA trying to look 20 years younger dealio. And it's a little shout-out to a portion of my ethnic heritage. Full of WIN anyway you look at it.

And check out the awesomeness of the sheer fabric. Perfect for Butterick 5032. Just perfect. I couldn't have asked for more from a fabric really. And of course, it's nice that turquoise is the "it" color for the spring season. Go on wit' my bad self. Go me, it's my birthday! Actually it's not, but you get what I mean.

Beyond these two awesome fabrics ($2/yd and $2.50/yd respectively) , I scored this lovely allover cotton eyelet for $3/yd. Regular price? $12.99/yd. It was like Christmas all over again. I'd wanted to make the girls some kind of springy eyeletty something and so now I can. W00T! Back to the reason I went to the fabric store in the first place... The patterns.

The first group are "Crafts":

2445

2454

2761

The next group are 3 vintage reissues:

2592

3544

3673

The last grouping aren't exactly crafts in my mind. More of accessories and possibilities to sell in my etsy shop:

2553

2916

3583

4391

The last one in this group is going to be fun because I'd really like a laptop bag that fits me and my laptop.

The funny thing is... Once I've made a pattern into something once, I'm fairly likely to completely rework it and change it around. It's just what I do. Patterns are more of a jumping off point than a set-in-stone thing. I'm so looking forward to playing with them.

Vogue and McCall's go on sale at the end of the month...

Pattern Stash!

Some people have fantasies of rolling around naked in piles of hundred dollar bills... Others... sewing patterns...

 

You know how it is. You're a collector of vintage patterns. You must have them. Suddenly you find yourself overwhelmed with them. And then it's not just ~vintage~ patterns anymore because you have children. And then those children have "Melody" dolls (American Girl clones to the uninitiated). And then there are Barbies and baby dolls who must be clothed. Next thing you know, you're drowning in sewing patterns both vintage and modern AND vintage reissues.

 

One day you realize you have a problem: Fabric Super Store pattern sales. 99¢ pattern sales are like the Siren's song luring sailors to their doom. You try and stay away. But with a "10 pattern limit", you figure it's not that bad and that you can stop anytime. Sure you can.

Well, as I said, one day you look around you and realize, "Hey! I can't get in my sewing room. The piles of patterns are a recipe for a massive trip and fall injury!" So you attempt to categorize them by type. Which works OK for a while. You have "Women's Vintage", "Current Women's", "Childrens' Vintage", "Current Childrens'" and "Costumes, Accessories, Crafts, Toys". So you organize away. Now if you've got a photographic memory, all is well. But you don't. So what happens? Next time you run in the fabric store for "just one thing" knowing FULL WELL that there's a pattern sale on (you sly dog), you sit down and take a little "me time" perusing the pattern books. And you jot down the pattern numbers on your handy dandy notepad and then get the (Limit 10 per customer, please) patterns and off you go home.

Now the thing is, you saw some AWESOME patterns that you'd REALLY like to make. But what you DON'T realize is that you already HAVE said pattern(s) because you bought them LAST TIME. But you won't realize it. Not for a few MONTHS anyway. So what's a geekgirl to do? You saw this coming right?

Yeah. You write a handy little spreadsheet with columns for "Pattern #", "Pattern Co.", "Category", "Description", "Size", "Picture" (because you're thinking about that database app for your mobile phone that you want your Hubs to write for you) and "Notes". And you grab a bin and get to work. And it goes FAST all things considered. You groove to your favorite tunes on your music player and tippity-tap-tap goes the keyboard because the "Cows That Type" aren't in your office going all "Click Clack Moo". You're a much faster typist than a typing cow, anyhow.

So you get done (except for the UFO patterns that are lurking around) and realize a couple of things:

1. You don't have THAT many patterns when they're all corralled. After all, the bins still have room in them, so you MUST have room for more.
2. You've "only" got 165 patterns and you know people with more than that.
3. That spreadsheet you've got? Can be PRINTED and taken with you to the fabric store. Which would require a teeny bit of preparation on your part, but you can do that. Right?

All that remains is to stay out of the fabric store until you've sewn down some of the FABRIC STASH. Which we'll talk about in a later post.

New Year, New Leaf

I'm not generally one for making resolutions because they're so easily broken. So this year, no resolutions! I've got a few goals though.

1. Rejoin Wardrobe Refashion. I'm working towards a "life" membership. It's a scary prospect to actually head towards sewing everything new or thrifting. Especially when sewing new is more expensive than shopping clearance and thrifting is NOT easy when there aren't any Op Shops about.
2. DONE!!! Catalog my pattern stash in a spreadsheet complete with picture and category. I might even get crazy and add a catalog number. But we'll see. I don't want to act all "SuperWoman" or anything. It might ruin my rep.
3. Write one pattern review per week. This should be easier to do now that I'm going to catalog my stash. I think I'll break these down by category (Men's, Women's, Children's, Crafts) and do them on a rotating basis. So you'll see 12 of each category per year. In a month with 5 weeks, you'll get a "bonus review" of my choosing.
4. Try one new thing per month. It might be knitting or needlework or something I'm not very familiar with or haven't done in a while. We'll see.
5. List one thing per month in my Etsy shop. It could be something I made or maybe something vintage, I dunno.
6. Participate more regularly in Iron Cupcake: Earth challenges.

Sew Say We All...

Today I finished the two piece vintage skirt/midriff top (except for buttons). I'm saving the buttons for TV time. See? I can multi-task. One thing though... Simplicity 9978 only calls for FOUR buttons for that outfit. For the top. It's plain to see that the skirt buttons, but I guess we're just supposed to *guess* how many we need for the skirt. Meh. I bought some lovely sand infused ones that are semi-transluscent and they totally go with this better than the mere FOUR buttons I purchased earlier that there were no more of today. I guess it was meant to be since I wasn't really keen on the first set anyhow.

I also started on the Vintage Vogue 2636 I posted about earlier. Because I've got a weird shape, of necessity I must pin-baste the thing together FIRST and then go back and sew it. Which is PITA but oh well. I'm 98% done with that step and tweaking the fit. I will say that it looks very nice on the dress form. Better than I anticipated. The backing of the fabric is super silky polyester knit. No slip necessary, yay! The skirt on it isn't nearly as full as some of the others, but it's got plenty of ease.

And in other news, I bought a new pair of scissors. But this time, instead of buying the "chipper chicken" (name the movie this references & win a prize), I sprung for the spring action knife edge Gingher scissors. Sure they were a mere $44 & change. But I was SICK TO DEATH of having to find the doggone "sweet spot" on my POS spring loaded scissors so as not to mangle whatever I was working on. And did I mention I got 40% off? WOOHOO. So they only ended up being $26 + tax. Not too bad, really.

Also, I've begun conceptualising my oldest's First Holy Communion Dress. That's for Easter 2010. I've already got the fabric and the pattern and the thread. I've had those for years now. Today I scored (on my button run) a pearl headband for the veil. Tissues out... I'm going to use the pearl enhanced netting from my wedding veil for hers. Sniff sniff. My baby is getting so big. And I got 40% off the headband, too. I had a dream about it last night actually. And there it was.

Last week I got the most adorable cuddle fleece for oldest daughter's winter coat. Again 40% off. Which since it was already $13/yard was VEEERY helpful. It will be lined with cotton interlock fabric that is super soft so it has a little extra warmth and body. I found the perfect pattern for ONLY $1 folks. A BUCK!!!! Crazy, no?

I'll post pictures of all this madness later on. Right now, I'm too pooped to pop, so I'll sign off and check you on the flip side.

Hidden Treasures

It's funny how the Universe gives you little surprises.

I've been cleaning out my pattern stash. Not the "good" ones that I keep in acid-free envelopes and protected from wind, rain, sleet, snow, fire-breathing monsters from outer space and small children... You know the ones. The ones that you have no idea how you got them, where they came from, or maybe even they were the ones from when you were a kid and now they're missing pieces and parts.

I realized as I was cleaning out my last bin - hacking, coughing and wheezing all the way - that I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that I had NOT intentionally bought them. Nope. Because if it's a vintage pattern, I'd have all the bits-n-bobs that go 'long with. Then it came to me... There was ONE pattern envelope that didn't contain what it was supposed to. I only paid a quarter for it, so no big, BUT! Goldmine!!! THREE vintage patterns in varying stages of completeness... All Simplicity...

Simplicity 3335 which is either from 1940 or 1950. My money is on '50 based on the style. See?




Next is Simplicity 1790 which again could go either 1946 or 1956. Since S3335 has more stuff printed on the pattern paper, I'm going to say that S1790 is from '46. It also has these AMAZING little transfers for embroidery. I wish I had a picture of this one....

The next one is from 1972 - Simplicity 5214. Again with the "no envelope/cutting directions" stuff. This one is an easy pattern to figure out though. I've got 6 out of 7 pieces which means it's definitely functional.

Strictly speaking, ALL of these patterns are functional because I can always redraft what I'm missing. I can't wait to make these up. Except for one small problem... None of my kids are small enough anymore. I guess I'm going to have to wait for grandchildren. Which had better not happen ANY TIME SOON. Otherwise I'll have to kill someone. And then it will end up as an episode of Law & Order: SVU...