Is she pretty on the inside?

I bought this pattern with a bunch of other early 60's ones. I liked the bow-type thing on the neckline, but didn't find either of the skirt styles very appealing. I decided to do a box pleated skirt instead of the a-line or straight skirts from the pattern.   

Most of the seams are french ones because I'm lazy. You see, the overlocker is in a different room to my sewing machine. This means I have to go all the way to the other room if I want to overlock anything. It just seems easier to stay at my machine and sew an extra seam. As an added bonus, the finish you get with french seams makes the inside pretty.

This is the detail on the neckline.The background colour is weird. It looks white next to cream things and cream next to white things. I topstitched it in white which looks alright, but doesn't match perfectly.

There was a picture of me smiling in this pose, but the dress didn't look good so bored face it is

I love this dress. Yellow and cream/white are not normally colours I would go for, but I love lemons, both real ones and prints.

Sunglasses: Vintage shop in England
Dress: Simplicity 4987
Belt: Op shopped
Shoes: The Warehouse

Lost and Found

While looking through my fabric stash recently, I found a project that I started almost two years ago. I'd given up on it because one side of the front bodice would not fit properly. The other side fitted fine, and I had done a muslin so I couldn't understand why it wouldn't work. I spent weeks pinning, sewing and unpicking. When I finally got the fit looking better I was so sick of the whole thing, I just put it away and forgot about it. Two years later, I've finally finished it.   

It didn't take long. All I needed to do was attach the skirt to the bodice, put in a zip, do the hem and sew on the buttons. I didn't line it because I'm lazy, and I wear slips all the time. 

The left side bulges where the zip is which really annoys me. I've tried steaming it but that makes no difference. An invisible zip would probably solve the problem, but I hate them with a passion. They break so easily. Maybe I'll take the zip out and put in some snaps instead. 

The button closure makes it look like a space uniform. The pattern is from 1963, so I'm guessing this was meant to be the 'tame' version of the space age fashion trend that was around at the time.

Hat: Op shopped

Belt: Op shopped

Dress: I made it

Shoes: Tony Bianco

  

I'm laughing at clouds

I took these photos before I went on holiday which is why my hair is way shorter. 

I can't remember which sewing blog it was that I first saw a raincoat made of laminated cotton on, but I immediately went searching to see if I could find some similar fabric. I bought this Michael Miller laminated cotton off Etsy and then it sat in my sewing stash for about a year. I didn't sew it up because I was scared of ruining it. Usually when I sew I use my unpicker quite a bit. With laminated fabric you can't really unpick your sewing if you do something wrong because the needle leaves holes in the fabric. You can't use pins or iron it either. My trip to England finally spurred me on to make a raincoat because I didn't have one to take with me.          

The only coat pattern I had on hand was Simplicity 8452 which I had picked up at an op shop for 20c.  I didn't really love it but couldn't find anything better in the limited time I had.   

Luckily, it doesn't look that much like the pattern envelope. It's longer (although that could just be because I'm short) and more a-line than the picture. I really like the pleat at the back. 

Don't look to closely at the topstitching, it's a bit wonky

The construction wasn't actually as hard as I thought it would be. The worst part was the topstitching. I hate topstitching at the best of times but it's a million times worse when you know you can't unpick it if you screw up. I used bulldog clips for holding the pieces together instead of pins. My Mum has a sewing machine foot she uses for making things out of oilcloth so I used that because a normal foot would stick to the fabric.

I used snaps instead of buttons because I thought that doing buttonholes in the fabric would be difficult. The snaps were the most fun part because I got to use my hammer to bang them in. 

I didn't end up taking the raincoat to England because it's quite heavy and if you get the laminated fabric creased it stays like that. I did wear it a couple of times before I went though and I'm sure I'll get lots more wear out of it when summer's over and we start getting rain again.  

Butterick 9305

I started this dress months ago when it was still wintery but then I got bogged down with essays and assignments. I've finally finished it but it's decidedly springy now and I probably won't get to wear it much until autumn.   

The pattern was from Two Squirrels Vintage.  It's Butterick 9305 which, according to the Vintage Patterns Wiki, is from 1960. Interestingly, the image they have has different colours than my pattern envelope does. I've found that with quite a few of my vintage patterns. Maybe they printed them in different colours for New Zealand?

The fabric is a really fine wool that I got from Trademe. I underlined it with some black cotton because it was too thin. Seriously, though, I hate having to cut out all the pieces twice, and then having to baste them together. It takes so long.     

Ugh, my fringe is all funny because it was so windy yesterday

I made view A. I changed all the pleats in the bodice and skirt to darts because it was way too gape-y. I also put buttons all down the front because I couldn't see the point in sewing the bottom of the skirt shut and only having four buttons. I had to cut about 20cm off the hem because this pattern was obviously made for tall(er) people.

Yeah, I'm wearing the hat backwards because I like it better that way

I was a bit worried that the massive collar would be overwhelming but I love it, especially from the back.

 

Dress: I made it

Shoes: Golden Ponies

Hat: Op shopped

Belt: Op shopped

Bakelite Bangles: Etsy

Pear Brooch: Trademe