Liberty Madness

OMG you guys, I have hit the jackpot. I recently found a bunch of vintage Liberty of London fabric on the remnant table. It is kind of rare and expensive here in the USA., and to see it anywhere except NYC around me was kind of amazing.  Some were full yards of fabric others were bits and pieces already cut. There was even some for free in the scrap basket! AHHH! I'm the kind of person that squeals for joy in a store. People think I'm crazy.

I can spot a liberty fabric from a mile away. There is just something so distinct and lovely about it. And they are SO SOFT.  These fabrics are all Tana Lawn and 36 inches wide. There is no writing on the selvage, the print goes all the way to the edge. From what I gathered on the internet both of these facts= vintage. They were from group of fabrics that were dated from the late 80s early 90s. 

I went home and sorted it into piles on the floor. Most are recognizable prints, (Nike is even using them for sneakers now) and some I have never really seen before. One piece even has the tag on it from the Liberty shop!

I listed some of the 1 yard and over pieces in my Etsy shop. Now to decide what to do with all the scrap pieces. Some are very long (maybe 10 inches in width and 2 yards) some are square sizes.I could make a quilt for myself. The liberty quilts online are gorgeous but I find the idea very daunting. Quilting just may not be fore me..cutting out all those little pieces with the rotary cutter gives me anxiety. I have seen bags of Liberty scraps sold on Etsy, not sure if I should do this and am open to suggestions. 

                   

I did make myself a headband with some of the scraps. The tutorial can be found on the Liberty website.           

                     

These are the fabrics I HAD to keep for myself. This paisley is everything. There is 2 yards of it. Not sure what to do with it yet, but it will be beautiful. The floral on the bottom may become the Simplicity blouse 2154. There are a lot of versions of this blouse floating around the internet and they are all cute. 

So have you ever found some Liberty? Have you ever sewn with it? Any advice as to what to do with the scraps?

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Halloween Costume: Vintage McCalls Pattern

My Aunt did my hair from 1962

Finally I can reveal what I've been working on. My Halloween costume; I'm McCall's 6351! I wanted to do something sewing related this year, and was thinking of things to do, maybe a pin cushion, maybe some ric rac, and then boom I'M GOING TO BE A SEWING PATTERN!

I quickly ran to my pattern stash and picked this one McCall's 6351 from 1962, I knew Fabricland had the most perfect wool polka dot crepe I have been eyeing up. Halloween costume and cute new dress afterwards..yes please. 

Source

 My husband made the frame for the pattern from lightweight plastic pipes from Home Depot and then reinforced it with wooden dowels. The pipes were about 5 dollars total. I got some super cheap white fabric from Fabricland, and cut out pieces for the front and back. Then I just wrote all of the requirements and pattern pieces on the back, and McCall's on the front. I sewed some webbing in the middle of the front piece so I could strap it to my back. Then I sewed the two pieces together like a pillowcase, leaving the bottom open and I tied it shut. 

I wore the costume to work one day and then to the Halloween Parade yesterday. Everyone kept asking if this was the dress. Yes, of course I made the dress! I'm view A, the slim skirt. My aunt teased the crap out of my hair for the parade yesterday, I looked like a character out of Hairspray, it was hilarious. 

 Happy Halloween! I will post more about the actual dress tomorrow.

What are you doing for Halloween?

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8 Easy Halloween Costumes

The great thing about sewing your own clothes is the excess of awesome things to wear. This October at work we were encouraged to wear a costume to get everyone into the Halloween spirit. I took this challenge as well as one upped it. I wanted to see how I could make the things I made, and the accessories I already had into some costumes. 

The one thing I bought this halloween was this amazing wig, it's Chris March from Target. I loved his designs as well as his show "Mad Fashion".  I added it to my ric rac dress and viola, I was channeling Miss Yvonne from Pee Wee's Playhouse.

This was a fun one.. curlers in the hair, vintage looking shirtdress, petticoat and apron, makes an easy vintage housewife. 

I wore this earlier in the month when it was a little bit warmer. This is the Ceylon dress, from Colette patterns made in blue gingham. Red shoes and a basket, easy to be Dorothy. I even had a dog bracelet as Toto.

 My Dad's old old denim shirt, wideleg jeans, saddle shoes and wrapped my hair in a red polka dot remnant, Rosie the Rivetor. This was a great costume, because I had a lot of work to do that day and was running around like a mad woman. 

 One of my idols....Miss Piggy. I already had the tail and ears, just add pink! The dress was a vintage pattern I had from last year. 

I wore this one, and no one really realized I was in costume. Obviously I was channelling Joan from Mad Men. I raided my mom's old Joan Rivers jewelry from the 80s (clip on earrings) and wore my purple wiggle dress. 

 Off the shoulder black top, cigarette pants (collette patterns clover pants) and leather jacket, makes a quick costume. But beware when dressing like Sandy from Grease, certains songs will play over and over in your head all day.... whoo ooo ooooo

 Yes I had a Carmen Miranda headpiece in my collection, doesn't everyone? My tropical sundress, plus a ton of jewelry, makes a fun costume. Halloween is all about accessorizing so pile on that jewelry!

So stay tuned this week for my actual Halloween costume. If you follow me on Instagram you have gotten a little peek at it! What kind of costumes do you guys love to wear? Have you ever made your costume?

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Halloween Craftin'

I've been hard at work creating some Halloween costumes and decor for display at Fabricland. I was even featured in The Star Ledger, New Jersey's major newspaper!  My favorite quote from the article "She doesn't slash and dice her pumpkins. She dresses them. In lace. And sequins." Makes me sound so professional, lol. Anyway, I thought I would share some of the pictures the professional photographer took for the article. 

photo credit: Ed Murray/The Star-Ledgerhttp://photos.nj.com/star-ledger/2013/10/halloween_decorations_15.html

The mermaid costume is Simplicity 4043, which I found to be overly complicated, and the directions were definitely hard to follow. A costume should always have clear instructions, so many people are trying sewing for the first time at Halloween, and this pattern would definitely scare them away! 

We had the most perfect sequin fabric, that actually looks like scales up close. Sewing sequins is super easy, as long as you have a microtex needle. I embellished the tail with the sequins strands of my own design. Everyone asks how she walks, but as you can see there is a slit for your legs to hang out of. The bodice is made from purple taffeta, with a blue glitter tulle overlay. The secret to a good Halloween costume is a lot of trim! I used 4 different kinds on the bodice, all in purple. I also made the tulle puff balls to float over the mermaid like she is under the sea!

photo credit: Ed Murray/The Star-Ledgerhttp://photos.nj.com/star-ledger/2013/10/halloween_decorations_15.html

I made the wreath from one of those Styrofoam wreath forms,and just tied strips of black tulle. The witch hat is a cardboard one from Michael's, covered in shiny metallic fabric that i just glued on and ribbon and orange glittery ric rac (you know how much I love Ric Rac). The skull and the skeletons are from the dollar store. 

photo credit: Ed Murray/The Star-Ledgerhttp://photos.nj.com/star-ledger/2013/10/halloween_decorations_15.html

 Witch glam was the theme of this display, I decorated three different pumpkins to show the different things you could do. ALL SO EASY! this one is just different kinds of glittery and lacy trims, I used black and different metallic colors to keep in glam. The pumpkin behind this is just the silver sequin trim, glued in a spiderweb form. 

photo credit: Ed Murray/The Star-Ledgerhttp://photos.nj.com/star-ledger/2013/10/halloween_decorations_15.html

 This pumpkin I covered in black lace, by cutting a hole in the middle of some lace and just stretching it around, and glueing it to the bottom, with a scrap of black felt to cover the fabric on the bottom. And then just put a bird on it! All of these crafts are excellent for all those extra bits leftover from projects that are too good to throw away.

photo credit: Ed Murray/The Star-Ledgerhttp://photos.nj.com/star-ledger/2013/10/halloween_decorations_15.html

The pillow was super fast, I cut the letters out of leftover black fabric, then went to the sewing machine and just sewed them, and sequin trim to a square, and then made it into a pillow. The i is dotted with a skull and crossbones button. 

photo credit: Ed Murray/The Star-Ledgerhttp://photos.nj.com/star-ledger/2013/10/halloween_decorations_15.html

 This wreath came from my front door! I found my inspiration on Pinterest. Wrapped a form in yarn, and cut out leaves from felt. Then I stitched them on the machine to look like the stem and different veins. 

photo credit: Ed Murray/The Star-Ledgerhttp://photos.nj.com/star-ledger/2013/10/halloween_decorations_15.html

 This pumpkin is just made with the leftover sewing notions from the classroom, zipper and boning eyebrows are my favorite. 

This is one of those plastic bucket pumpkins everyone has laying around. I just took strips of leftover fabric, mod podged it to the plastic and then ric rac and a bow finished it off! 

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Pencil Pencil Skirt

 I found this tiny vintage remnant of a cotton pencil print, only 3/4 of a yard. I loved the print but it was too small to make much out of clothing wise.  Then I had the idea to make side panels and the pencil. pencil skirt was born. 

For the base of this pattern I used the skirt from Gertie's New Book for Better Sewing. I made it up in orange last year, so I knew it would work. After that I used a hip curve ruler to make a pattern for a black panels on the sides of the front and back. I used a red rayon bemberg for the lining, I love a surprise on the inside of garments. 

I also tried a couture method on the waistband, found from sew daily. I used hair canvas and organza to sew channels to stabilize and the facing is covered in red ribbon. It definitely makes a waistband that does not curl under and was rather comfortable at work all day. It was fun to do, but mine did not look nearly as neat as the picture! 

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Rick Rack Dress

You might know this about me by now, but I am obsessed with Rick Rack. I have taken my obsession to a new level with this dress. I first saw this vintage dress on the Coletterie blog, on a detail inspiration post: Rick Rack. I've been dreaming of it for over a year now, and deciding how to make it. 

 

We got a new shipment of this perfect shade of blue rick rack at work, I snatched up the entire spool, all 28 yards of it. We also happened to have the perfect shade of blue dress cotton, with a bit of stretch to it, and I took home 3.5 yards of that. That was a few months ago and been debating which way to sew this dress.

Last week I had off from work, and we decided to have our first anniversary party on Sunday, so what better time to make this dress. I started on Tuesday, had a freak out about the rick rack placement, went to work and my boss who is a couture goddess, helped me out of my freakout.

If you look closely at the picture above, the rick rack is sewn into seams running across the bodice. The bodice is sewn in six horizontal sections. That's a ton of work. After much debating, I decided to just sew the strips of rick rack on top and get it over with. I think I looks the same and it saved my sanity, which is already hanging on by a thread. :)

 For the top I used the bodice from Colette Patterns Lily, I made this dress not long ago and the bodice was already fitted. The band at the top was omitted, and I added a semi circle skirt. To sew on the rick rack I marked the pattern, and then the bodice every 2 inches, and then sewed the bodice and skirt, and attached the rick rack across, leaving the left side open.

 I wasn't sure if I would have enough Rick Rack, and ran out with about with 8 yard still to go. We did not have anymore in stock at Fabricland, because I bought it all, so a trip to NYC to seek out the rest was in order. Thank God, I found some at my first stop, M&J trimmings. It was the same brand, color and size but the zig zags aren't as tall. The top two rows of the skirt are this new rick rack, but it is unnoticeable while wearing it. 

 As you can see, I had to curve the rick rack in the front bodice to accommodate the girls, and my more dramatic princess seam than the tiny original. We took some pictures on our anniversary, at the same place as our wedding day, at Acorn Hall in Morristown NJ. It's a gorgeous old mansion, that was right next to our reception.  I'm also wearing my wedding shoes, which I am still obsessed with. 

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Vintage Stripe Dress : Simplicity 3338

Pinterest is a dangerous thing. All these gorgeous vintage dresses that get re-pinned I just HAVE to make for myself. They are always in the tiniest size, I could never own one of the original beauties myself.  I'll just have to make my own versions! My dress was inspired by this green striped shirt dress  with the detachable scarf. 

source

 I found a light blue striped shirting at Mood, very close to the original mint green. It's very light weight and silky. I cut the fabric on the crossgrain to get the stripes vertical, like my inspiration. Also I am hesitant to wear horizontal stripes. I had a pattern in my stash that was similar to the original dress, with the exception of the collar and bow, vintage simplicity 3338 from 1960. This simple version, version 3, without the square dancing sleeves, even includes a ric-rac trim. I will have to try this out another time, I am obsessed with ric rac. 

Even though my pattern is a bust 38, I still had to tweak the fit. The top button fit but everything down from that point in the front had to flair out. The back in my muslin fit almost perfectly to I left that alone. It is still pulling a hair in the front, so I will have to adjust that if I make it again. I tried my best to make the stripes match up in the front and shoulders. The skirt also has three seams that are invisible due to the stripes, making it easy to sew together. 

I had the buttons covered by Pat's Custom Buttons and Belts, and got them in record time (from across the country) Love this service SO MUCH. I should have got a belt too, but oh well. I will eventually make the scarf to wear with this dress, like my pin-spiration but I think it's cute without it. 

Are you obsessed with pinterest? Ever copy a vintage dress?

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