Suzy Patterns: Design Inspiration

The main inspiration behind the next design for Suzy Patterns is the 1950s, the sea and the summer! All elements I adore.
Even though the first years of my life were spent far from the sea (inner Germany to be more precise) I moved to southern Portugal when still a child and remained there until I moved to the UK. Hot weather and the sea were natural and somehow mundane things. Popping to the beach at lunch time for a quick swim or after work was very normal and summer was always from May to September, uninterrupted.

Lazing on the beach with constant trips to the sea for a refreshing swim were a favourite of mine. And I loved the feel and taste of sea salt in my skin.

My parents are not "yacht" rich but I was lucky to have some friends whose parents were and those day trips out to sea were fantastic. On a hot day (proper hot, like at least 30 Celsius. No nonsense talk about 20 Celsius being hot ;)) feeling the wind as you travel by boat and diving in the cool sea water is beyond description.

(Sigh) Now I live in the UK where I am very, very happy but I do miss the hot weather and the sea. And I love to bits my other half but he's with the nonsense crowd of "20 Celsius is so, so hot";). There's no convincing him of Summer holidays anywhere southern of UK.

I decided to bring all these memories, inject some vintage elements I adore and create a pattern for the Summer. I've had delays: had to change design elements 3 times (once quite dramatically), my full time day job is reaching crucial deadlines and key staff has left, meaning many days working 8am to 8pm. I am also organising my wedding and the date for that is fast approaching. Saying that I am hoping I can pull it in time for Summer. Wish me luck!

Love Fabric Vintage Shirt

Another project whipped up from my sewing list, with the fabric left from the Love Fabric Skirt! This was also my second project from an original vintage pattern, a lovely wrap shirt from Simplicity 4255! I have to say the instructions were a bit tricky to follow and I have improvised on some construction aspects.

The interior is not as neat as I would like but it is still acceptable. The facings don't seem to hold very well and I have to spend some time arranging them inside the shirt.

I quite like the end result and now just have to make some more high waisted skirts and trousers to go with this, as I think it goes super well with my Corduroy trousers.

Vintage Knitting Gorgeousness - A book review

Now this is why I took on knitting and I'm not giving up!

These are just some of the knitting patterns on the gorgeous book "A Stitch in Time - Vintage Knitting and Crochet Patterns 1920-1949: Volume 1" . Aren't these gorgeous? The book consists of knitting patterns adapted to the modern knitter (current yarns, techniques, etc) but it also includes the original pattern with gorgeous vintage images.
I love sewing but I also love knitwear, and one of my biggest frustrations is not finding any knitwear in shops that I truly like. I dabbled before but it was this book that made me decide to take on knitting and persevering with it. I am already preparing to start one lovely cardigan from this book with a easy stitch pattern. I think many of these will be an awesome addition to my self made wardrobe, don't you think?
Volume 2 is coming out soon and I already pre-ordered!

All images are copyrighted to Arbour House Publishing.

My Sabrina Dress #6 - Bodice construction

I have made lots of progress on My Sabrina Dress and spent much time and attention getting the bodice right. The front piece has soft pleats which were quite straightforward to sew. I just pinned them down and pressed the lower end to help when taking it to the machine.

 The back is darted and I used my favourite method to do them. Start at the raw edge and when close to tip reduce stitch length. Don't back sew to avoid puckering. When you reach the end raise the presser foot, move the fabric so the needle goes inside the dart and the back sew. You can see a proper explanation of these here. I learned this awesome method through Gertie's Blog For Better Sewing when sewing along the Crepe Wrap Dress.

 I decided to follow pattern instructions and use bias binding to finish facing raw edges. I went for a soft pink just because it doesn't show on the outside. I really do not like wearing a lot of pink. I started by opening the binding and pinning to the edges of the fabric...but...I didn't take in account cloth allowance so the binding didn't wrap around the seam nice and smoothly.

The end result is a bit shoddy, as you can see from photo below but I overlooked it as the front of the facing isn't as bad. (You'll see a inside shot when dress is finished).

When the time came to attach the binding to the armhole facing I took in consideration the cloth allowance and the results are much, much better. I do need to practice sewing bias binding. With my underbust corset the bias is also very poorly sewn.

And voila, the bodice is completed! The end is near and I suspect I will have a whole dress to show you by next weekend. Before that I'll post about waist seams and seam finishes!

My Sabrina Dress #4 - Fitting alterations

It has been slow over here, for a number of reasons I won't go into right now. I managed to finish the fitting alterations I needed on My Sabrina Dress. The final bodice looks something like the below.

Much better than this, don't you think? So what did I do? I followed the advice given by Alexandra in my previous fitting post and pinch excess down the middle of the bodice. You can see it pinned on the photo above. It made all the difference, so thank you Alexandra. I ended up removing 4cm at top reducing towards the midriff. I also took some excess out of side seams, 2cm at top phasing it down. The midriff fits perfectly well at the waist so none was removed there.
This all sounds very easy and straightforward but do not be fooled, my dear readers. It was a nightmare to transfer alterations to pattern pieces and I did 4 more muslins before I was happy with it. The problem was very simple: maths! Do I need do say more? Me and numbers do not go well together and even simple, logic problems leave me stumped. A bit embarrassing, I have to say.
This weekend I will be cutting the fashion fabric and if I'm successful at matching florals in the way I intend to, I will share it in a post with you.

My Sabrina Dress

I am about to start work on what I am already calling My Sabrina dress. Simply because it is a Sabrina dress...

Audrey Hepburn in Sabrina...featuring a Sabrina dress!
Have you ever watched this movie?

I will be using Simplicity 4808, dated 1954 on Vintage patterns Wiki. That's right, I will be making my first ever original vintage dress. Not a reproduction, not a inspired pattern, the real deal. How nerve wrecking and exciting at the same time!

"Junior Misses' Jumper with Two Skirts: "Simple to make" jumper may have a slim or full, gored skirt. Empire bodice has soft pleats at bustline and joins a midriff. A low, rounded neckline is featured. View 1 is outlines with top stitching at neck, armhole and midriff. View 2 shaped tab at center front neck edge is trimmed with buttons. Slim skirts has a pleat at lower edge of center back and soft pleats at front waistline."

After some of you expressed an interest on my twitter account, I have decided to make an indepth coverage of the making of this dress so look out for a lot of posts on tracing a vintage muslin, decipher it's instructions, make a muslin/toile (oh yes, muslin/toile is needed), cutting fabric, sewing final fabric, etc, etc, etc. I also think it will be interesting for those wishing to work with vintage patterns to read about my own experiences working for the first time with one. It might also help me, in getting tips and hints from more experienced vintage seamstress.
I do have a deadline for this dress but a very comfortable one so will take it easy and slowly. And of course, I will have a few sideline projects, as usual!

So next on My Sabrina Dress...Tracing a Vintage Pattern

Vogue patters on my way!

After reading this blog post by Julia from Sew Curvy Corsetry  and learning that Vogue was having a 50% off sale on all patterns I couldn't resist to take a peek at Jaycotts website and... the rest is history.

I got these two blouse/shirt patterns, Vogue 8476 and Vogue 8557. I was undecided so ended up getting both.

Nothing out of the ordinary but I quite like this Vogue 8295 skirt so ordered it too. I think what made it for me was the wide waistband and the fact the skirt seems to sit quite high at waist. I used to hate high waisted stuff when I was younger but love it nowadays and don't have that much of it.

Next is Vogue 1092. I looove the sleeves in this suit and liked the overall look with buttons et all.

I order two patterns from vintage section. The first is this beauty, Vogue 8615, which Gertie has sewn and looks amazing. Hope I could do a good job with it.

And I cannot begin to tell you how excited I am with this lovely Vogue 1044. This is the one I might tackle first (after my corduroy dress and the sew along). I have high, high plans for it and already have fabric chosen. Literally so excited with it I might start it before I finish the other ones.

Do you have experience sewing any of these and have any useful tips and advice? Would love to hear them :)