Box of Happiness

A friend messaged me asking if I'd be interested in a box of vintage patterns that she had. For free. Just pay for shipping. 

WHAAA? YES PLEASE! 

Then the box came. A brown paper package with my name on it (but no strings, so I couldn't sing the song - but this certainly is one of my favorite things) . 

Opened up the box to breathe in deeply the smell of antique patterns (yes, they have a smell) and to behold the beauties within. I couldn't stop smiling the entire time I was going through it; it felt like Christmas. 

The collection includes patterns from the 30's all the way through the late 60's (I also spied a children's dress pattern that could possibly be from the early 70's) - the time where you could pick up a pattern for $0.25 at full price. Some are in incredible condition, while others have seen better days. But what can you expect from old paper and is designed to be used again and again? Patterns are from McCalls, Simplicity, Butterick, Advance, Vogue, and more! 

 Want to see some of the patterns? Sure ya do! 

Here's some of the men's shirts. Admit it, you've always loved those vintage cowboy shirts. ;) 

 And there's quite a few children's clothes. ALL THE CUTENESS! I couldn't help but think, "Wow, kids dressed well back in the day..."

 And then there are some sub-teen patterns as well. Looking at the measurements, we would probably call them 'juniors' today. Can we see more of these in the juniors department please? 

 And now we continue onto women's patterns. Here are shirt patterns. These will definitely come in handy this summer. Maybe I could use one of them for my costume for comic con. That would be :amazing: 

Hmm... 

 And pajamas in all their fabulous vintage glory

 And twirly 50's (and early 60's) dresses! Perfect for swing dancing. ;) 

 Lovely 60's mod. One of my sisters loves this fashion era, so I think some new dresses and separates are in order. 

 And these yummy patterns from the 30's and 40's. Personally, I love the 30's playsuit; I just don't think that I could pull off a silhouette like that with my thunder-thighs and food baby. :P I might need to make the coveralls for working around the farm though.

 And now for one of my favorite patterns. I give you: A VINTAGE SWIMSUIT!!! 

I might actually wear a swimsuit if I had one like this. ;) 

I just need to learn how to sew knits, and we're all good to go! And I'll need to alter the pattern a bit to fit my measurements better. 

Well, I better focus on other things now (like making dinner and doing homework). 

Until next time! 

SG

1975, Tiny Foxes, and a Stash-Busting Dress

My unofficial New Year's resolution was to use fabric and sewing supplies that I already had and not buy any more unless it is absolutely necessary and it had an end project in sight. No buying for potential projects. No buying because it's pretty. Only if it is needed for a current project. It's high time for some serious stash-busting. 

This project took care of one of the many fabrics that I've had on the shelf. :chuckles: Only one. 

A few years ago, a friend and I were wandering around the local quilt shop just visiting and hanging out. I wasn't looking for any material in particular. Just browsing. This is the sort of outing that is most dangerous for the bank account. Then I spied it: a gorgeous grey with tiny foxes and vines scattered all over it. In a heart beat, three yards became mine.

And on my fabric shelf it sat (sound familiar?). Waiting for the perfect pattern to make it become the perfect dress. Somehow some vintage patterns came into my possession (either given to me or I found it antiquing). I didn't really put two and two together until I was cleaning out my pattern collection, and then the inspiration struck.  

I was :really: hoping that this pattern would work. It certainly would fit me, but someone in its past cut the pieces to the shirt length. I didn't have it in me to draw out the missing skirt, so back to the pattern collection I went finding this 1975 Simplicity gem. Similar, but this one is a button up front. Oh well. That's no biggie. 

 Looking at the measurements, I wasn't sure how things would fit, so a mock-up was made. In all of it's funky glory. I had an old flannel sheet that had started to shred for the material. It all went together rather swimmingly. Almost too easily. Since when does that happen with a new-to-me pattern? Once 'finished,' I showed my mom saying that I had finished the project. She turned around expecting the tiny foxes and instead there was this snazzy flannel shirt. 

Lousy selfie skills

Since there weren't any alterations needing to be made to the dress (yay for loose fitting clothes!), I was able to jump right into cutting the adorable fox fabric. The only cinch? The pattern calls for almost 4 yards of fabric and I only had three. And it has a nap (directional print). Each piece was carefully laid out and pinned to ensure that the essentials would be able to fit. The only things that I had to sacrifice was the matching belt and the 3/4 sleeves that I was wanting (short sleeves are fine by me). Not bad for cutting that much yardage from a pattern. 

Everything was sewing together just fine. Until I got to the pockets. For some reason I had to pick those seams several times before my brain could wrap around the concept (and these aren't my first pockets either). I'm going to blame spring fever for this one. The garden was beckoning, but it was raining. Again. 

Not how a pocket is supposed to look

Then I finished it! Well, almost. I still needed to do the button holes and sew on the buttons, but I didn't have enough of the same kinds of buttons for this project. So Lady Catherine modeled the dress until I was able to get to the craft store. 

 Once at the craft store, I was very underwhelmed with their selection. I'm not sure if it's because I went to a different store or if they were changing out the product. Either way... I wasn't ecstatic about what I found, but they sufficed.  

Now it was finished. And it looked like a mumu. A very comfy mumu, but a mumu nonetheless.

Selfie skillz I haz not

 But it's nothing that a belt can't fix! 

I'm a dork. 

 To finish my 1970's librarian look, I added a sweater and some vintage-inspired shoes that I found at the thrift store. 

I hope to get better pictures once the weather plays a little nicer. 

I still can't get over how adorable the tiny foxes are. 

The lo-down:

• Pattern: Vintage Simplicity 7050
• Fabric: 3 yards of OOP - Probably $10/yard
• Notions: 9-3/4" light grey buttons from Joann's - $6
• Time - Could easily have been a day project if I had all the supplies on hand

Until next time!

SG