colorkitten
busy busy bees
July 19, 5:05 PM

So far this summer has been HOT (we don't have central air, just two rooms in the house have window units and we're enduring official heatwave after official heatwave - it's been well over 90° in the house more days than I want to think about) but very busy. I've been doing a lot but it feels like I've been spinning my wheels quite a bit. A lot of work and not much to show for it, really. I've also spent a lot of time just contemplating...a ton of things really, and I think some of them may end up here. Someday. I've also spent some time feeling pretty out of sorts, okay, in the dumps really. But I think we're digging our way back out these days.

I did make a set of seven nightgowns for my poor child who'd grown out of every pair of PJs she had (all also made by me). Why seven? I had the knit fabric pieces and now I'll never run out. Also, two of them are too heavy for summer wear. Here are four of them!


nightgowns

Do you notice a theme? Maybe if I decribed the other 3...let's see, there's pink fabric with little hello kitty faces....light pink with pink butterflies....and heck, I can't remember the last one but yep, you guess it, PINK. I use the farbenmix Hannah pattern, just made them long, long, long. She should be able to wear them for years.

I also managed to make three versions of advance 6936, the first polka dot version, a version in moomin fabric, and a version in a pink pirate skull fabric. Too unorganized to have good photos or a post written up, but I'll get to it! Eventually! When it's not so HOT.


Advance 6936

Emily also got some capri-length leggings to go under all the dresses; black and white stripes for the pirate dress, white ones for the moomin dress (it's orange and white). They're the Laguna pattern from Studio Tantrum, just chopped off below the knee and finished with stretch elastic. They went over like gangbusters, no photos have been managed yet though.

Two projects are in the works for Emily, one is this raincoat, the other is the "Rose Dress" that I've been figuring out for her for months now, that's a whole post on its own! I'd hoped to have it done early this month for summer wear, but instead I've been caught up in sloper-making....the little bits of sewing time I've scrounged in the last 2 months have been spent trying to finally get better fit in her clothes and so far? It's like banging my head against the wall. I have high hopes for today's effort though! If it's cool enough tomorrow am downstairs I'll assemble it and fingers crossed I'll be done at last.

Once that's done, it'll be time to finally work on my own sloper so I can at last make my clothes fit with a lot less work. The learning process has been a bit grueling so far but I have no doubt that it'll pay off!

That's maybe half of it, but I'm obviously way behind....stay tuned for actual project posts including a giant FAIL coming soon eventually. I'm also standing firm on my stashbusting! But more about that later, too.

I've also accumulated a ton of interesting links and info I've meant to post, but my organization just goes out the window over about 90°! Here's one that I think is really cool -- I found this on the site for the Smithsonian's libraries. It's a guide put out by Greist in 1957 with info on how to use all their attachments. I have a similar one that was adapted for teenagers that's got slightly different info, but this one is really cool. Click to open! (Note - on the slotted binder attachment, the packaged bias tape they call #5 is the equivalent of today's 1/4" double fold or 1/2" single fold.)


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Enjoy and thanks for putting up with my rambling today! I'm off to stand under an avalanche of work that's about to fall on my head -- hope it doesn't hurt too much!

1950s instant dress kits!
June 2, 8:27 AM

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How cute are these kits? I found them on ebay, the seller has a whole bunch of them! The whole dress pattern is printed on the fabric, ready for you to "Cut 'n' Sew". I know from experience that it would be useless to get one of these and make it for Emily since I doubt you can alter them and they would be far too short (or too wide if I got a larger size). And I can't really justify buying one just to display....although I think it would be an awesome thing to put on the wall of a sewing room! (You know, if I had a sewing room....). Something to keep an eye out for, I'd definitely grab one if I ever find one thrifting someday!

the crazy ice cream cone
May 26, 9:11 AM
ice cream

That is an ice cream cone I ate in Toronto two weeks ago. The flavor was "MIckey's Birthday Cake" and it was cake flavored ice cream, with frosting swirled in (frosting!!) and lots of sprinkles swirled in as well. With whipped cream and a mini-oreo on top. Holy smokes. To heck with everyone else and their "cupcake" flavored nonsense. It was amazing. But....I had to let Evan eat half of it and I still felt awful later! Emily had french vanilla and said it was delicious. (Both bought at "The Big Chill" which was, I think, right on Bloor College! Thanks, Gal!)

1930s sewing amazement!
May 17, 8:26 AM

I stumbled across the most amazing set of ebay listings yesterday -- six portfolios of sewing and design samples by a 1930s (late 1930s, I think) Belgian fashion student named Hilda Servotte. Seriously, you must check them out while they are still up! Two albums are full of her clothing designs, the other four are actual sewn samples of all sorts of things. A few of my favorite pages:

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from the "pockets" portfolio (yes, nothing but pockets! and all gorgeous!)

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Buttonholes I wish I could make (from the "Intuition" portfolio),

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All sorts of detailing techniques on one piece (from the "Lingerie" portfolio), and:

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bias application - I love those stripes! Possibly the most amazing portfolio is the one that is nothing but mending. It took me a few minutes to realize what it was, most of the mending is so amazingly clean. It's an incredible display of work!

I do actually have two very different sets of samples -- one is a class notebook from 1913 with some sewing samples and notes (very small, nothing like this) and the other is a 1950s Singer Sewing Center album of techniques with sewn samples. But these are astounding, and they'd be on their way to my house right now if I had that kind of money to casually toss around. I hope they go to a good home! (Preferably one that I can visit to see these in person, ha ha!)

the cotton candy dress
April 29, 11:42 AM
cotton candy dress

Isn't it cute? Full post forthcoming.

bad luck and then good luck
April 21, 10:09 AM

Emily's dresses are getting underway (she'll need at least one new one within about 2 weeks!) and yesterday disaster struck! I got this pattern (which I'm crazy about) out to trace before adjusting, as the fabric is all ready to go:


Advance 5578

And a major piece was missing. I had just bought this one on ebay, listed as complete and checked. Argh! I wrote the seller to see if they might have it loose from checking and I scanned the pattern diagram to see if I could reconstruct it, but the answers were no and no. (I printed out another piece from the scan and it was so far off the actual pattern piece it was amazing. So much for using pattern diagrams to reconstruct patterns correctly!)

But then good luck kicked in -- the ebay seller immediately refunded me, and then I found the same pattern on etsy for just a little bit more -- one size bigger but since I have to make huge adjustments one way or the other on her clothes it doesn't really matter. And as an added bonus, the seller had this super-cute 1950s pattern for tops in 3 styles, which is exactly what I've been looking for to go with all of my skirts!

In the meantime, I'm about to muslin this dress for her:


Advance 6936

which is simple, but is making me nervous, since it's going to use some irreplacable fabric. Wish me luck!

Participating
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Exciting!
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