A Red Rockabilly Dress

I am actually keeping up with my sewing 2 garments a month so far. I cannot believe it. And it has been a great boost to the sewing confidence. I have had a few mishaps . . . like this poor jumpsuit.

Don't get me wrong, everything sewed up beautifully. It looks just plain gorgeous. If only I could get it on. I somehow cut or sewed the legs wrong. What a devastating experience that was. For that weekend I put my sewing machine on the shelf and said, I was done. But after a great Monday night (can you believe that, a good Monday?) I was feeling like myself again and decided to get right back to work. 

So I began a little red rockabilly dress using Simplicity's 8051. 

Yeah, I did not get too creative with the fabric choice. What can I say . . . I absolutely loved the pattern cover's dress and I already had enough of the red and white polka dot fabric on hand! It's like it was meant to be.

This was a surprisingly quick sew. I find working with cotton usually helps . . . slippery fabrics always require a lot more pinning. And I think I am in love with the finished dress. I ended up purchasing a crinoline/petticoat on ebay to help boost the 50's flare on this dress. 

I just love a dress with a full circle skirt!

But the back of this dress is what thrills me the most. I love unexpected touches and I think the peek-a-boo back is not what you would expect to see when this dress is walking away from you!

Oh, and those buttons . . . of course from my vintage button stash . . . along with the zipper which was appropriately titled as atomic red! 

This dress gave me my sew-jo back. In fact, the very next day I took a store bought convertible dress and re-created it using some knit fabric from my stash.

It ended up being a great week for sewing over here. Let's hope I can keep up this pace! 

Some Retro Inspire Sewing

I swear I am still around . . . still thrifting for vintage treasures and still trying to sew myself a vintage inspired wardrobe. I just took a nice long break for a much needed family vacation. Coming back rejuvenated and happier than a clam gave me the push I needed to tackle one of my biggest fears . . . sewing pants! I don't know why but I avoid sewing pants the way my children avoid eating peas! So I pulled out a super cute pattern by Gretchen Hirsch (Butterick 5895) and I got to work. And then I realized it. Sewing pants isn't scary at all! GASP! Dare I say they may have even been easier than the top? I do!

I used a stretch denim (found at the thrift store for a whopping $1.99), and added a pop of color in the pockets by using the same cotton from the blouse.

Don't mind the winkled look on the back . . . I had worn these out for the day before I got the chance to photograph them. What can I say, busy mom was just lucky enough to be dressed in time for our appointment that day.

And the back zipper on these totally reminds me of Sandy's pants in Grease. Yeah . . . I may have to make another pair of these in black, though I think I will pass on the ultra tight leather. 

The blouse was another Gretchen Hirsch pattern (Butterick B6217). Again, please excuse the worn in look. But let's just be honest . . . I wear my clothes! This top was actually fun to make as I got to play with some trim to change up the look. I love the retro vibe that ric rac instantly adds. I am still improving my skills and had a little trouble with the armhole facings not fitting right. So I actually swapped them out for the simpler finish with seam binding. The ric rac was an estate sale find and the fabric was thrifted for $1.99! And the buttons were vintage goodies that were found in the drawers of my treadle sewing machine. They were just perfect for the project.

I absolutely love the darting on the back of the shirt . . .such a nice fit! My only adjustment to the pattern itself was adding 2 inches to the length. As much as I love vintage, I just cannot do short shirts. Lifting the kids and running after them leaves me needing as much extra length as possible. Considering this was my first non-costume garment, I am soooo pleased with the result. I wore it out the entire day! It's also not too shabby for about $7 in supplies. 

I am already dreaming up the next outfit I will sew. Hoping to find some time at some point during this long weekend! 

Hitting the Jackpot

I had an unbelievably lucky weekend when it came to scoring some great vintage finds. It was almost one of those weekends where I had to believe that I kept ending up in just the right places at just the right time. After all, I would take amazing vintage finds at these prices over winning a lottery jackpot any day! I only had time to stop at 3 estate sales and a Goodwill, but it was more than enough time to find some forgotten treasures.

The first estate sale was actually fairly picked over as it was their last day and items were an extra 50% off. But I was absolutely thrilled as I dug through a closet of mostly 80s sweaters and discovered these two hidden treasures.

An original 1950's petticoat by Hoops My Dear! It is a beautiful pale blue with white lace in the middle. 

It has definitely seen a lot of wear and tear in it's over 60 years. There is some sticker residue on one hip and torn binding on the crinoline. I will have to get creative in repairing the torn areas. But I hope to focus my attention on repairing these once I catch up on a few projects in progress.

The stitching also shows signs of it's age. 

Next is a luxuriously soft petticoat in a pale pink by Charmode.

This one was also needing some special attention with tears in the seams, as well as some runs in the fabric itself. Hopefully I will be able to find a creative way to fix up the fabric.

I cannot wait to fix these up so I can use them as foundation pieces under the dresses I hope to actually make this year. 

Finding these 2 almost made me regret purchasing one a month ago at the vintage shop for over 4 times the price of these 2 combined.

Though this unique slip will be absolutely wonderful under a wiggle dress or pencil skirt! 

The estate sale also had just a few hats left that hadn't been scooped up. I absolutely had to get this pill box hat!

It was made by Junia Hats for Carson Pirie Scott. I am guessing it was made late 50's/early 60's. 

The body was made in Italy and there is a gold label in the hat that says Brigitte. Could this be named after the beautiful Brigitte Bardot?! 

Another hat that I will definitely be using come fall/winter!

From this estate sale we headed to the same estate sale from before. Apparently this woman had had storage lockers full of goodies (in fact, there will be one more estate sale at the same house again this month with even more things added)! But this visit had them offering everything at 75% off to make room for the next batch. I am so kicking myself for not picking up a few more things. 

My questionable find from there was a simple white dress, still brand new from Loehman's in 1981. 

So what is so questionable about it? Horrible age spots (I hope). The belt was very yellowed and upon trying to clean it up it began developing some immediate rust. So that has already been tossed. Let's hope the dress fares much better.

And of course, you need some summer gloves for with a summer dress! Just look at these drool worthy pleats!!!!

But, my absolute favorite find from this house was a housecoat! My mother was quite surprised at my attachment to this find but I just couldn't leave it there. 

There was something wonderful about the deep reds and the cute ruffles around the sleeves and collar.

And of course, it was brand new! I am not sure the date but I can say that it was $14.95 and the price tags were sewn in.

This will just be so cozy on those super chilly winter nights. 

Between the 3 estate sales I also managed to pick up quite a few miscellaneous vintage sewing goodies. 

I have not had the luck of finding any vintage patterns as those seem to be scooped up by re-sellers almost immediately. So I was pretty pleased to find some I could sew up. 

A Merry Hull Pattern

Simplicity 1366

And how do you like the disclaimer?!

Simplicity 3777

Butterick 4262

Simplicity 4520

Not vintage but a beautiful Victoria Jones Collection Pattern - 309

A Modern Miss - missing it's cover but just as fun to look through!

A McCall's Easy Sewing Book from 1958 

A nice collection of vintage trims and notions! 

But my favorite of the sewing finds, two things I have actually been looking to buy new. A chalk skirt marker and a tailor board! I will be one very happy sewer now! 

Well that was a lot to share. It is rare that I have such great finds all in one trip out but I sure do love the times that this happens! Now to make some time to repair those petticoats and sew up some of these wonderful patterns . . . 

The Hunt For Vintage: Some Lucky Finds

A few weekends ago I got to spend a day hunting for vintage treasure. I love the rare weekend where I am able to spend my day digging for treasures at unique estate sales and thrift stores. I was lucky enough to enter an estate sale that seemed to be a time capsule. It was like stepping into a department store in the 60's/70's. Everything was brand new with tags and there were clothes everywhere! There were items from every decade too! It actually was almost too overwhelming, especially when trying to be thrifty. So here are the goodies that followed me home.

The very first thing I grabbed. I just had to have this hat. It is just too beautiful and will be a wonderful statement piece next winter!

Unfortunately, there is no brand tag inside and no way for me to figure out when this might be from. The hats were one of the few used items that were at this sale.

Pretty sure this dress is from the 70's from what I can tell. 

A simple but cute dress. I just love the details on the belt. 

This is an Anjac dress by Marc Needleman.

Still unworn and bought at Lord & Taylor.

I wasn't totally in love with this one but I bought it in order to get a lower price on all of the items (the more you bought, the more they were willing to take off on prices). But I do like the polka dots and with a good petticoat/crinoline it might look more vintage.

Pretty sure this Taurus II Petite dress is from the 80's, it definitely has an 80's waistline.

The final items I couldn't get enough of looking through were the collection of aprons in the house. There were so many beautiful hostess aprons. It took a lot of restraint to not scoop up a ton but I settled for just 2!

This was definitely one of my better thrift days. I also ended up purchasing a pair of pajamas, and some vintage lace for sewing but I did not photograph those items. I am hopeful that there will be more vintage finds in my future!