Catalog Sunday

Catalog Sunday: Birthday Edition

Hi lovelies. This Catalog Sunday I thought I'd post some seriously coveted fashions by yours truly. If I had the time, means and place to wear these amazing pieces, I'd be all over that shit.

Lane Bryant 1931

All about details!

Catalog Sunday

Catalog Sunday

Eat, sleep, sew, work, dance.....

Not in any particular order. 

I'm sure you lovely people are tired of me saying how busy I've been. Even though it's true, still, I should have let you know :)

Catalog Sunday

This Sunday as I wade through this...

This is my Sewing Area. I just have to neaten it up a bit :)

...I finally set up my scanner and am bringing to you lovely scans from Singer in a sampling of all the major pattern companies from winter 1939.

July Pattern Showcase!

Oh, I have been bad this past month. Ohh!

Free 1930s pattern: The first NVL giveaway!!

Hi everyone.

It's time for a giveaway. My first real one in fact. As I mentioned in my sewing karma post a while back, I wanted to continue the generosity in which these patterns came into my life.

Up for grabs is this lovely turn of the decade Advance button front dress. Most likely dates from the late 1930s. I thought 1940 at the latest but I've been informed its most likely 1938 at the latest. I think thats cooler!

Its condition is apparent, but its complete and itching to be made into a lovely frock. Its measurements are 40b 32w 43h.

Now, what do you as a reader need to do for a chance to obtain this lovely? I'm making it pretty simple. I know a lot of people require that you follow their blog to be able to win. I'm not that demanding, although it would be nice.

I want to see a picture of your most accomplished sewing project!

Whether it was for you or someone else does not matter. Clothing or something else is perfectly alright. Vintage or not, does not matter, just your most acomplished. A brief description of the creation would be lovely. You can either post a link in this post, or use the flicker user group I have set up. I'll be checking it a few times daily. I created a special thread for this giveaway.

I'll look through the contestants and choose my favorite and announce it on September 27th. then send out your pattern to you! Easy enough, right?

Well, lets see those creations!

Sewing Karma follow up

I must have pretty righteous karma after all.

I'm sure you all remember my stories of pattern and sewing woes from last month. I talked about the void in which I lost a few patterns I was really excited about. I was sad, mostly for a McCall that I so desperately wanted, and a 30s cape dress that I was in love with, still am. Well, I guess I had some built up karma points, because although things didn't work out as linear as one would expect, it all came to a heartwarming conclusion.

The amazing cape dress will soon be in my possession.

The friend of mine who won it is allowing me to buy it from her! Yay! You have no idea how happy I am about that!

My second pattern woe was when I purchased two patterns form one eBay seller that got lost in the mail. I got them for a bargain, so I wasn't too distraught, but I so wanted the style of one. *sigh* The seller, was a champ. She refunded me and looked in her supply and FOUND an exact copy, size and all, of one of the two patterns I purchased.

Yay #2.

Secondly, she found a nearly complete copy of the McCall that I truly wanted. What are the odds!?

Promptly she sent them, and when I opened the package, I discovered three more complete patterns from the late 40s each 40 bust and over. Yay #3! I even contacted the seller to see if I could give her something for all the patterns as I thought her gift was so generous. She said no and just enjoy them. I plan to!

Oh, its not over yet. The McCall that was partial was only missing the front and back bodice. That wouldn't be too hard to make shift. But, it seems I won't have to. One of my lovely blog readers from Italy sent me an email saying she had that exact pattern, only a smaller size.

Yay #4!

So she mails it to me, but its not alone. Seems she has some extra patterns that she said she will never get around to altering. So she sent them.

Lovely late 30s/ early 40s dresses, my favorite eras. Yay #5!

I'm exhausted from all these yays!

How sweet is that!? I was near tears looking through them. She wrote a note saying she was moved by my VPP section of adding back to the collecting pool. I thought that was so lovely, and she's right. We all should spread the pattern love around.

In the spirit in which these patterns were given, I'm going to offer two of them as give-aways in the near future (like a week or so). You heard me right, a late 30s and an early 40s dress patterns in a 40 bust...Im going to make sure they go to a great home and give them away.

I think we all should offer up the occasional pattern we like (and I do like these!) to someone who can use and/or love them just as much if not more than we would.

What a surprise all of this was! You think something is going to end one way,

and you go in a complete circle and end up better for it.

Thanks for the patterns, Suzanne. And thanks just as much for the kindness. :)

Happy sewing everyone!

August Pattern Showcase

Despite some major setbacks, last month was an awesome month for personal pattern collecting.

Here are a few I managed to pick up.

And last but not least...

I even finished both blouses.

More pictures on NVL.

Using my slopers for the first time, on a blouse!

Sleeping dog...

So as you all recall I made these slopers a few weeks ago. Ive been mixed up in other projects and finishing random things, but the main goal of them was to use the against patterns that are not my size.

Then this pattern walked into my life. I mean look at it. This blouse is fabulous! The scalloped yoke, the gathers and the blousy look. Mmmmm. But its size. A 34 bust. Still, I had to get it. I haven't bought a 34 bust in YEARS. YEARS I tell you (I'm totally lying...)! But she's a beauty, and I had to have her.

I laid the pattern and sloper out on the table and using this as a loose guide, I went to work.

The good thing about the pattern is that it's a pull over, so no buttons to deal with. I traced off the pattern in its original size, them cut it up and matched it to the sloper proportions. The challenge was the blouse front.

I mean its quite wide, so I thought about how much drape I wanted then measured the original and compared that to the 34 bust the size is intended for.

I took great liberties on the sleeves.

I made them kind of a mix of both sleeve styles in the pattern. I wanted some gathers at the shoulder, but not too much. They have great drape.

My largest mistake is the gathers at the scallops.

Not only did it take nearly 40 minutes to lay and pin them, I was a tool and didn't pay attention to where they should have started, so I just gathered all of them.

Silly me. Still, I tried on the blouse and it drapes really well.

There is a heavy drape on the side which if I simply adjust the angle of the back piece would go away.

I'm going to do that on the next go around.

I faced the cuffs, the back opening, and the neckline with a basic cotton to stiffen them.

I still have to finish the cuffs, hem the blouse (which I will add about 1" on the next go around in the front to compensate ye old boobs more), and add buttons.

I'm going to use these flashy green numbers. I'm generally not the gal who goes for bling, but I think these will work great against this gray rayon.

I so plan on making this blouse again. Next time paying more attention to the gathers, teehee.

The Vintage Pattern Primer: Collecting Accessory Patterns.

Sleeve patterns, collars, dickies, hats etc. If you are just starting your vintage pattern collection, you might ask yourself, is it worth it to collect these patterns?

I would say yes and no. Perhaps I'm not the *best* person to chime up on this, seeing as I am gaga over accessory patterns. And if you do decide to collect these, I'd like to offer up some tid-bits of advice.

Accessory patterns are by far some of the most expensive patterns you will ever come across. Why? Because despite their incredible variety, they are genuinely rare. Having collected for years, I've seen duplicates of perhaps...three of the patterns I've collected floating out there. I've seen many, many different versions of patterns from hats to sleeves, but finding a complete, wearable accessory pattern is a challenge in and of itself.

#1
Be prepared to pay.
In my last Vintage Pattern Primer, I listed a 30s hat pattern that got away from me. $100+ is not unusual for a hat pattern, at all. I've even seen 40s hats go for that, and those pop up much more often. You could get a stroke of luck and get find a pattern underpriced, or get one from Ebay that didn't get a lot of bids. Consider your self LUCKY, and I will be eternally jealous.

These types of patterns are not just sought by gals who might want to make them up, but by collectors because of being scarce. So don't be too dismayed if you find them way over your pricing budget.

#2

Is it worth it to pay so much for an incomplete pattern?

Desperation leads to higher prices.

This 30's Du Barry sleeve pattern was on Ebay and went for $50+. Its missing an entire sleeve (#1). It makes you wonder, did it sell so high because it's a great pattern, or because its a sleeve pattern?

This one went for $74. Its spectacular, but it was too small for my comfort, so I didn't try for it. But I wanted to.

But on another site, I got this pattern for $20 because the instructions were missing.

This. Was. A. Find. I'm still beaming over it!

Because these patterns often have so many pieces, they come up for sale a lot of times incomplete. Sometimes its a cuff, or a whole sleeve, or collar. Often its the interesting part that made you want the pattern in the first place. While buying it as is might be good, you have to ask yourself if its worth it, or do you want to wait and see if another will come along.


#3
Are you actually going to use it?
Is this going to be a collection piece or functional piece? That might change your attitude.

#4

Hats

One of the most sought after accessories patterns around. The hot ones are 22 and 23" heads, but you can find tons of 21" head patterns that dont go down that much in price either. They come in all styles you can muster. And pay attention to that. Look on the cover, is it just one basic style refashioned into many, many different styles, or is it genuinely lots of different hats in one pattern. Find the value there.

#5

Sleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeves!

One of my absolute favorite accessory patterns.

I LOVE sleeves! LOVE them. I'm a huge advocate on changing a sleeve of a regular frock to make it into something new and grand. Sleeve patterns offer up countless options in doing that. The trick with changing sleeves on dresses lies in the armholes. Often, depending on the sleeve your shoulder measurement can change inches. You might consider doing a mock up of the bodice prior to cutting it out.

Thats what I found so interesting about this Du Barry pattern. It offers a bodice mock up in the envelope to address such an issue. So, so clever.

Thanks Du Barry.

#6

Collars

This is an accessory pattern that is getting big.

But I do think these are some of the most scarce. I have two, both from the 30s and both complete. I'm super lucky. I think this is one you have to ask yourself are you going to collect this because, or are you going to make it up. I mean, how many of us alternate collars anymore (perhaps this is the wrong crowd to pose that question to...)?

#7

Gloves

Often all the glove patterns I've seen are for teeny tiny hands. The cool thing about gloves is you can find modern equivalents that can pretty much do the trick.

Like this one. I'm not going to grade a glove pattern, no way. Gloves fit into that special category of, "They still make this type of pattern but no one wears them anymore." I can cheat with a modern pass.

#8

Miscellaneous Patterns

Slopers, flowers, dolls, costumes, aprons (well, aprons are their own world, really).

I wouldn't get any of these types of pattern unless they were complete.

So you've been priced out of an accessory pattern and you are disgruntled. What do you do?

#9

Look for patterns with included accessories.

Most dress patterns have two sleeves, or a sleeve that is alterable into a completely different design. While I don't think you need to grab a pattern based on one design facet, look at it overall in your collection and see if adds to the dimension.

#10

If shopping online, grab a screen shot.

You might not have the pattern, but who says you can't have a picture of it? Try to get both back and front of the pattern envelope. You never know. You might run across a dress with a sleeve or collar a lot like the one you adored.

#11

Lastly,

Don't count out reproductions, especially if you want to make the pattern.

Dresses, pants, and the like are pretty easy to find repros of, but accessories are not. I guess thats why I reproduced some (with a collar one in the pipeline). Not saying buy mine (thought that would be awesome), but look around and see what's out there. If someone is lovely enough to want to share their original with the world, then perhaps you might want to support that.

Thanks everyone!