Vintage Pattern Sale

Hello again, fellow sewing fans! I'm dropping in here to give you the news that I am closing my Etsy shop, Down the Street Creations! Life. Sometimes you just have to know when to move on.

Anyway, I have all these patterns, which is a dilemma. My first method of dispensing with them is through the shop itself. I'm placing them in groups of 2 to 5 patterns, all similar in size and decade, but hopefully a good mix. There are some individual patterns listed simply because they were the only one in a particular size, or were too specialty (i.e., a wedding dress).

The groups can be mixed and changed, so if you contact me through the shop, and let me know which ones you want to swap, I'll be happy to do that. We'll have to talk if you just want one pattern in the group. This is an experiment that may not work, but it's just step one in the liquidation of my inventory. (Oh, yeah, I am keeping some of them!)

If you've stumbled back on this little blog, use the coupon code BLOG10 for an additional 10% off your purchase. And even though I have unashamedly linked my stop throughout this post, you can even click through directly to it from the "Come See me on Etsy" box in the right sidebar.

Thanks! And if you have ever purchased patterns from my shop, thank you twice!!

A Vintage Pattern Sale

Are you looking for a CyberMonday deal on vintage patterns? Denise, of the Blue Gardenia, is holding a sale that could be considered more of a CyberDecember kind of deal. Her website will be having a Grand Re-Opening January 1, 2014, but until then, you can still shop. And more importantly, the more you buy, the more you'll save!

The details:

Spend $100 (before the discount) and get 20% off.

Spend $200 (before the discount) and get 30% off.

Spend $300 (before the discount) and get 40% off.

Spend $400 or more (before the discount) and get a whopping 50% off.

Sounds great! She's only accepting Paypal during this sale, and you can also buy gift certificates with the sale rates that will be honored during January.

Head over to the Blue Gardenia now! 

Shoe and Dress Update

Finally! The shoe decision was made, and yet I still managed to pack 4 pairs in my carry-on. And still wished I had my sneakers. But let's get to the dress first. You saw the picture on the mall and it was covered by the lovely green raincoat. How about the end result and just a few details (like what pattern is it, after all!).

Jacket: Vogue 8640. Originally blogged here. I shortened the length by 2" to make it less weird and somewhat wearable, but the honest truth is this is not a good shape jacket for me. Too boxy. I obviously forgot that I was not shaped like the drawing on the pattern... i.e., model tall and thin.

Dress: Bodice is McCall's 7569, a vintage pattern from 1964. Skirt is the Colette Macaron.

Fabric: from fabric.com. A cotton/linen blend designed by Valori Wells for Free Spirit. These 2 patterns were from the same collection which is a couple of years old, and now the remaining bits are on clearance.

The Starting Point:

 (which I had in my Etsy shop, but is now sold)

And my dress:

Many of the sizing changes were mentioned in this post, complete with pictures of the muslins, and the altered pattern pieces, so I won't repeat myself here. I will mention that instead of the ruffle from the pattern, I used self made piping from scraps from the jacket.

The piping went around the armscyes and the neckline, and down the back. Subtle, but I like it. Don't you love the birds?!

I tacked the crossover in the back just to avoid any gaping, though I don't think there would be any.

An alternate jacket (and possibly a better look than the jacket I made)... a linen Talbots blazer I bought a few years ago, that I don't think I've ever worn:

And the shoes?

Well, I wore the wedding shoes for the Friday graduation, but took them off after the walk to the restaurant. Those were seriously not walking through the city shoes. Last Sunday was drizzly in Washington, DC, and tromping across the Mall was way better in these closed toe, T-strap Naturalizers, with a sensible 2" chunky heel.

Finally... pockets!

Yeah. Barrett walked up to check out the photoshoot, and I was bracing for the "kiss".

Puppy love!

A Celebration

Today has been a fantastic day! Sure, I wore a me made dress, but the reason I'm taking this little vacation and able to participate in the mini me made event is all about my daughter, Laura.

And, if I remember correctly, the Flickr group Friday theme today is "hat".

Congratulations, Laura, on your Master of Arts, Security Policy Studies from the Elliott School of International Affairs, George Washington University!

Great hat!

Posted with Blogsy

Three Muslins and a Pattern

I'm using a vintage McCall's pattern to make a dress for Laura's graduation next month. It's a Bust 38 which is more or less my size. For me, making a fitted, vintage pattern usually means that I'm going to have to tweak it to fit my 21st century body, and I often find that it's easier to tweak a larger pattern than a smaller one. Anyone else have that experience, no matter when the pattern was published?

I'll show y'all the pattern soon, but I'm feeling too lazy to go look up the number, etc. Suffice it to say that it is a fitted sheath with a waist seam and in a the back a faux wrap with a low V shape. Oh, to top it off, I'm using Colette's Macaron pattern for the skirt. I've made it before and know it works.

This fitted style definitely called for a muslin, at least for the bodice, and I ended up making 3! Not my usual MO that's for sure!

Number 1:

 No tweaks to the pattern except to take a 1/4" off each dart leg, and make the 5/8" seam allowance on the sides taper to 3/8" to the waist just to be able to zip it up.

Number 2:

You can see the pins at the neckline. Above the boobs, I am just much narrower than a Bust 38 size. I also had to scoop out some from the armscyes... the fabric just bunched up. In the back, I raised the "V" so that it will cover the bra. This style made it easy to shorten the back length, and I needed to add to the front length.

Number 3:

Above the boobs still needed tweaking, as you can see. That was pretty much it. All these alterations ended up with this:

The back piece is usable, but I re-traced the front piece to flatten out all those darts and tucks.

Finally, I've made the lining first, just to make sure. No pictures of that, but all is well. The bodice will be lined with a lightweight batiste for comfort, and the skirt will be lined with bemberg lining for the swish.

So... later this afternoon, I cut out the fashion fabric, plus 2 more tops. When the mood strikes to cut stuff out, you just have to go with it, amirite?

Mad Men Challenge Shirt Dress

Is shirt dress one word or two? Perhaps you call them shirtwaist dresses. Regardless of what you call it, this style dress was popular in the 1950s and 1960s, and was prominently featured in at least the earlier seasons of Mad Men. My inspiration for this challenge could have been any number of the dresses featured, primarily on the wives of the "mad men". This one that Betty is wearing, is one of my favorites:

source

I really wanted to find a stripe, to really replicate the look, but couldn't find what I wanted. You had a sneak peek of my heron covered fabric last week... and here's the dress:

As mentioned last week, I used Simplicity 4003. The changes I made include:

• eliminated the side zipper
• did my own button placement
• the placket is backwards (oops), so the buttons/buttonholes are on the "wrong" sides
• shortened the skirt a lot
• added side seam pockets
• gathered the skirt around the entire waistband.

And darn... I should have posed like Betty, complete with glass of wine!

Parting shot with styled with cardigan...

Herons and the Side Zipper

With the Mad Men Season 6 premiere airing last Sunday, that can only mean one thing! The Mad Men Challenge is nearing an end. My shirt dress is 95% finished... just needs buttonholes/buttons and a hem.

Great Blue Heron picture source

There we go... that's the heron portion of this post. The herons on the right? That's my fabric, from Cloud 9 Organics. The one on the left? Well, duh... that's a real heron.

And the side zipper? If you've sewn, or even looked at, any number of vintage patterns, you've probably noticed that they seem to have a love affair with the side zip. Even my shirtdress pattern, but I feel that buttoning up the front, and zipping up the side is a bit of overkill. I do know why my pattern, Simplicity 4003, uses the side zipper... the skirt design demands it.

My solution was to eliminate the side zipper, and make a placket extending into the skirt. I used another shirtdress pattern, Simplicity 3487, that has a placket, for the skirt pieces... mostly because I was feeling too lazy to figure it out on my own. {note... I'm finding that selling vintage patterns gives me a vast source of information that I can use for pattern tinkering... and if you're wondering why I didn't just use that pattern to start with... I didn't feel like grading up when S4003 is in my size}

My rough sketch from the instructions of S3487:

Basically... stitch along those long dart-like lines, slash to the point, encase the cut edges with bias tape. Easy, right?

How mine looks:

For the record... I think that second picture isn't folded correctly because you don't see the bias tape. And the next time you see these birds, I'll be wearing the dress!

Mad Advance 8623 Skirt Finished!

I've decided to make something else for the Mad Men Challenge, so I'm going to show off the Advance 8623 "pencil" skirt that was part of the original plan. Truthfully, it's really an A-line that I made more "pencil-y". Lopping off 9" off the bottom makes it more 2013, as well.

Finally, instead of a back vent, I added a feature that was inspired by a skirt I saw on Eugenia's blog (remember her?). This one. 

A couple of other changes to the original pattern... I added a lining, moved the zipper to the center back and used an invisible zipper.

Pictures taken at work, by my fellow bridesmaid consultant, Ashley...

Yep... there are a few wrinkles.

Vintage Pattern Sale

If you're not into vintage patterns, or sewing bloggers that promote stuff they're selling in posts in their blogs... well then, you can just skip right over this post.

1960s McCall's 8735

Here's the thing though. I started on Etsy 5(!) years ago with the idea that it would be my "full-time" job, the kind that gave me enough money to spend on hobbies without making too much of a dent in the family budget. Fast forward to last September when I started an actual full-time job in an actual brick and mortar retail shop where they actually expect you to spend all your waking time 40 hours a week there.

1990's Butterick 6662

But I do still have my Etsy shop, Down the Street, and you can still find lots of vintage patterns there. I just don't have the time to properly maintain and promote it. That means patterns are hanging around too long. In order to try to move some inventory, I have a new SALE SALE SALE section, where almost all the patterns will be $6 or less. Mostly less. All the patterns featured today are in that section.

1980s New Look 6664

And bonus if you happen to be still reading! Coupon Codes! These will work for anything you buy in the shop...

READER10 ... 10% off any purchase

READER15 ... 15% off purchases of $25 or more

READER20 ... 20% off purchases of $45 or more

There will be a maximum of 40 patterns in the Sale section, so start shopping, and new patterns will be added.

1970s Simplicity 8694

Please share with all your tweeting, facebooking, and blogging friends, too! Email me the link to ellen.sews (at) gmail (dot) com and I'll send you an unrestricted coupon code.

Thanks! and have a great day, y'all! 

Simplicity 5030, Version 2

Have you ever thought up a project, and you couldn't make anything else until you've seen if that project can work? Yep, this is one of those projects. Here's how it came about:

Step 1: Daughter Laura cleans out her drawers when she graduates, and presents me with 2 large shopping bags full of t-shirts, and wants a quilt.

Step 2: I make a quilt.

Step 3: There's still a overflowing bag of t-shirts left. What else am I going to do with them?

Step 4: Get inspired by a girl I see at a folk art festival who is wearing a pillowcase-style sundress, clearly made of t-shirts she (or someone) has sewn together to make a new "fabric".

Step 5: Decide Laura wouldn't wear that kind of dress in public, but she might wear a nightgown.

Step 6: Make Simplicity 5030 for myself, and decide it would be a great pattern to use for this project.

OK, enough with the steps... this is a project that just took on a life of it's own, and words just can't do it justice. So, I'll just let the pictures speak for themselves.

Sam (the dog) is just mesmerized with the awesomeness!

Mad Men Week 4

Week 4! How is that possible? Well, I do actually have a bit of sewing to share. So... let's remind you of the pattern I've chosen for my black pencil skirt.

As one of my astute readers, lsaspacey, pointed out, view 2 is not actually a true pencil skirt. I knew that, but was hoping, since it's so darn long, that by lopping off the 9" from the bottom, that it just wasn't too much of an a-line.

Well, I wasn't that lucky, but my plan of starting with the lining has paid off. I put the lining together, using a long basting stitch for the side seams and the back seam. The waist fit well, so it was just a matter of tapering the side seam. I'm not sure it's still "officially" a pencil skirt, but it works for me.

Keep in mind that while I'm making this for the Mad Men Challenge, I'm also making this to wear "in real life". Like to work, where I've got to be able to move and bend, and pick up stuff off the floor, etc. In fact, I may be changing my Mad Men Challenge plan, but I'll let you know about that next week.

There you go. It only took 2 tries to get the side seam I liked. I saved the cut off pieces and traced them onto my traced tissue. I went ahead and hemmed the lining after removing the seam in the back center, which will be sewn later.

Finally, what did the best grandma in the world wear in the early 60s taking her adorable granddaughter on a walk around the block? Why this of course:

Mad Men Monday Week 3

Progress! Sort of. You know the story... 2 steps forward, 1 step back. I had this weekend off, so took full advantage for this project. Of course, I had a previously started project that had to be finished, and I'll tell you about it in a post later this week. And, yes, it did take longer than expected.

Back to the Mad Men challenge. I traced the skirt, and made no changes except to lop off 9". As drafted, it would hit lower than mid-calf after hemming. Not a good look on me in any decade. The skirt will still be black, with a colorful lining. The lining is also an addition, and a construction change will be to move the zipper around to center back and to make that zipper invisible. I don't plan to make a muslin, so this is ready to be cut out.

But what to wear on top. This pattern:

source

says full on Joan at the office to me. And the blouse is my size. So I traced the blouse and the vest, which could be useful at my workplace (that's a post all by itself). I have some gorgeous silk, but the reality is that it wouldn't be so practical for my real life. And it just doesn't seem like me. But THIS:

source

I love! The short sleeve version. So, now it's been traced... just the bodice, because I want it to be a blouse. The downside is that I will have to grade it up to a bust 36, and it has a unique construction with the yoke and sleeve cut in one with a center back seam. I've got some ideas, so I'll be working on that this week in my "free" time. I WILL be making a muslin of this! Fabric choice for this TBD, but there are options in my stash.

Our blast from the past photo is one from 1960. It's quite possible that my grandmother (on the left) made both her suit and my mom's shirtwaist dress. But look at their hats!! Fabulous! The occasion was my Christening.

Mad Men Monday Week 2

Progress has been made! Well, not tangible progress anyway, as so far scissors have not been taken to pattern or fabric. But it's that kind of intangible progress that involves making a decision.

First, from the 1960s archives of my family photo albums:

I guess the focus of this picture is my adorable baby self, but look at the fabulous suit my mom has on, complete with slim skirt, jacket with bracelet length sleeves, possibly bound buttonholes (the picture is a bit too fuzzy to tell), and real fur collar... that I have in my possession now. Back to the decision making.

Decision 1: garments that I make should be useful to my daily life, and not just "frosting" as they say around the sewing blogosphere.

Decision 2: I'm going to attempt to make 3 (and maybe 4) garments for the Mad Men Challenge. (If Project Runway contestants can make a couture gown in one, surely I can accomplish this in 10-11 weeks!)

Decision 3: Garment #1 is going to be a black pencil skirt, inspired by Joan and the other secretarys at Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce Advertising. Boring, yes, but oh, so useful.

The Pattern:

 This was purchased last year from The Blue Gardenia. True, it's probably late 50's, but it works for me, and it's my size. I'm making view 2, though I really do like view 1, too. First change to make the skirt more late 60s (and frankly, more 2013) will be to shorten it.

More pencil skirt options from my own shop:

McCall's 5460

Don't you love the ribbon detail on the green skirt? I might do that on mine to give it a bit more interest.

Simplicity 6636

Closer to the vintage of the newer seasons of Mad Men, this Simplicity from 1966 has it all... shorter skirt, blazer, shell and slacks.

McCall's 9505

Finally, from 1968, this McCall's suit pattern has the short pencil skirt, Nehru jacket AND a cape. Three great pieces!

What Do You Sleep In?

Me? My favorite thing to sleep in is a short, cotton nightgown. I've been sleeping in some version of this as long as I can remember. Sure, pjs come and go, and the long, flannel nightgown has had it's day, but night in and night out, this is what I grab. I'll add some comfy pj pants if it's cold out.

And one other thing... I'll sleep in the same gown until it's almost threadbare.

Why am I confessing this? Because my current go-to gown was purchased probably about 10 years ago. It's time for a new one. And I decided to make one after making an impulsive purchase at a fabric sale right before Christmas. A children's design, Monsterz by Cloud 9 Organic Fabrics, no less... what else am I going to make with it, I ask you?

The Pattern (still available in my shop):

I made view 3, with only one pocket. And one change. I added 4" of width to both the front and the back. If I make it again, I'll eliminate the opening in the back, as the neckline is plenty wide enough to just pull on over my head. I didn't change the length, but it hits just about mid-thigh on me. I used contrasting orange thread for all the decorative top-stitching.

A quick and easy way to add extra width to a pattern when you're tracing:

This may or may not be an ongoing thing, but I decided to "grade" my project, in a Home-Ec kind of way, so here you go:
   Sewing Skills: B
   Creativity: A

And the final result, details first, (which I slept in last night... giving it a big thumbs up for comfort... no twisting at all):

Back closure: snaps for baby clothes I had in my stash.

Pocket, with rick-rack and decorative stitching. Hem with also with a decorative stitch.

Yoke, with rick-rack and decorative stitch around neckline.

The end result!