The Mean Reds

I'm in the middle of exams at the moment so I haven't been doing that much sewing or op-shopping. I have a couple of almost finished sewing projects but they will probably have to wait until after Saturday when my last exam is.
Above are two recently acquired items in my favourite colour. The bag is vintage and was given to me by a friend of my mother's and the gloves I got for $1 at the Sallies. I've been looking for a pair of red gloves for a while after buying a pair and then promptly losing them. They are a tiny bit tight but look like they have never been worn so I'm hoping that I can stretch them a bit.

Stash reHash

On Sunday I went to the second Stash reHash fabric market. I managed to get some lovely fabric and some vintage buttons, all for about $25. Since I have used much of my stash fabric over the past few months I needed to stock up so I can make some more winter appropriate things for Me-Made-May. While I was there I also ran into the fabulous Helga von Trollop, who managed to score some great fabric too .
Now I better go and do some sewing if I'm going to have enough clothes to wear in May.

Simplicity 1192

When I first contemplated sewing Simplicity 1192 I thought it looked fairly straightforward and fun...how wrong I was. The bodice went together perfectly until it came time to attach the ties for the bows. When I tried it on the bateau neckline was so high up my neck it looked like a skivvy* gone wrong. Since I (mostly) followed the instructions I'm going to tell myself that women in the 1950s had ridiculously swan-like necks and that is why the neckline came up to my chin. After a few small tantrums and a lot of unpicking I decided to remove the ties. I was determined to still use them somehow because they were bias cut and it had used up about a metre of fabric making them. I tried various methods of attaching them at the shoulder seams and sewing them to the facings but none looked quite right.

I finished the rest of the dress, including my first lapped zipper (which was easy compared to fixing the neckline). I decided that it would be easier if the ties were removable so I could wear a cardigan over the dress. In the photo above I've just tied them around the shoulder seams and then into bows. They look really uneven but that's mostly because I was in a hurry and couldn't be bothered playing with them until they were the same. Sorry about the wonky photo, that's what happens when you try and take a self-timer photo using a sloping bookcase as a makeshift tripod.

*Turtleneck if you're not a New Zealander

Andrea's Vintage Sale and Me-Made-May

Yesterday I had the pleasure of attending Andrea's Vintage Sale. I got 2 dresses and a hat at a great price. It was really nice to meet Andrea and some other bloggers including Helga and Eva (who, it turns out, is in one of my classes at uni).

Peach doesn't really suit me but I couln't resist this dress.


I love the cute apple print on this dress.

This hat makes me think of something Dandy Gilver would wear in one of Catriona McPherson's mystery novels.

I also joined Zoe's Me-Made-May Challenge yesterday. She just finished Me-Made-March where, for every day of March she wore clothes that she had sewn (excluding bras, shoes, tights and socks). For Me-Made-May she's inviting others to join her, so if you're interested click the link above. I'm going to do the Lite version which involves wearing at least one handmade garment every day throughout May, because it's going to be Autumn/Winter here in NZ and most of the clothes I sew are light summer dresses.

Mellow Yellow

I usually steer clear of yellow clothes because, as I am about as tanned as the Corpse Bride, they tend to make me look ill. I saw this yellow polka dot fabric at the op-shop a while ago but didn't buy it. When I went back the next week it was still there so it came home with me. I find it hard to resist anything that has polka dots on it.

It was only a small piece of fabric so I decided to make a short sleeved blouse even though we are heading into winter. I adapted a vintage blouse pattern I've made before and added a few tucks to the neckline because it was too wide. Even though it's completely inappropriate for the autumn weather I'm just going to wear it with a thermal and a cardigan and hope no one asks me if I'm feeling ill.

Gored Skirt

Recently one of my favourite skirts (seen here) has started falling apart. Since I bought it second hand I couldn't go and buy another so I set out to sew one similar. The original skirt was made up of 10 gores so I made a pattern using its measurements.
Using some grey suiting type fabric I had in my stash, I sewed the gores together and added a zip and a waistband. This is my test version/wearable muslin. The hem sits slightly strangely which I think is due to the type of fabric I used.
For the real one I'm hoping to find some pink fabric in a similar colour to the original skirt. I think I will also try and find something a bit lighter weight than the fabric I used for this version so it sits better.