She looks fabulous (but I'm biased) and she's giving me the don't-think-I don't-know-what-you're-doing look I used to get from my mum. In fact, with the thick dark hair and lashings of red lipstick she looked like her - just for a few seconds at a time.
As for the blouse, I'm thrilled with it. Had it not been for the Sew for Victory challenge I wouldn't have made it so quickly, it would still be on the nebulous to do list between my ears. But now, suddenly, after hours and hours of work, it is finished, and the end result doesn't look much like the pictures on the pattern.
The first big change I made was to make it button down the front. I was dying to try out the sunray darts, but I wasn't keen on doing a placket, and an undivided front with a high neck just doesn't suit me. On the finished blouse you can't really see the lines of the darts because the material has such a busy pattern - however what you can see is how the darts make the front of the blouse fall in nice soft folds.
The pattern was for a 32 inch bust, so I had to scale it up a bit. Not only did I have to widen the front and back, but also make the armholes deeper. The original pattern was definitely cut for girls with arms and necks like broomsticks. The neck came very high up to the throat, so I cut it lower front and back. This meant that the original pattern piece for the collar wasn't going to work, so I drafted my own collar pattern. The short string of vintage beads sat really nicely just above the neckline.
The scariest bit of all the alterations was cutting the blouse in half to widen the back. I used a strip where the pattern matched, so it repeats itself down the middle. This way the two extra seams don't look too conspicuous.
The original plan was to make a peplum. After having to cut into the spare material to make the extra strip down the back, I didn't have enough left to cut circular pieces for a peplum, so I made a pleated frill instead.
I realise that I could have made a toile and planned and fitted in advance, but this cotton was only about £4 a metre, and I started late on the challenge, so I just bashed ahead with the intention of improvising as I went along.
Now I'll show what you never see on the Great British Sewing Bee - the inside story! Not a raw edge or a stray thread in sight. French seams across the shoulders and down the sides - as well as the two extra surprise seams down the back - and all other seams bound with bias binding...
...narrow binding inside the collar...
... and the cuffs...
... and the armholes...
... and wider binding for the seam attaching the frill.
The great 1940s star of this project has been the 1949 Singer 15K hand machine, which I used for all the machine sewing, except for the buttonholes...
... which I did yesterday using the buttonholer attachment on the 1936 Singer 201K treadle.
It has been an intense bit of sewing, and despite the fact my daughter looks wonderful in it, the blouse is mine!
Linking up today with Sarah's blog Confessions of a Fabric Addict for Whoop Whoop Friday
This is the Sew for Victory blouse being tried on by my daughter. The fit looked fine at the front, but at the back it was just a touch too tight. It isn't obvious on the photo, but if she pulled her arms forward it pulled too tight across the shoulders. I had already tried to avoid the problem by enlarging the armholes before I even cut out the pieces, but it needed more adjustment. It was time for drastic measures.
So I cut it straight down the back so I could insert a strip to widen the back.
Scary stuff, but this was ten days ago. If all goes well the blouse will be completely finished tomorrow.
Linking up today with Kelly's blog My Quilt Infatuation for Needle and Thread Thursday.
Slowly but surely the 1940s blouse is taking shape. When my daughter is around at a convenient moment she tries it on for me. The sleeves are now on, and since taking this photo I have made the collar, but it is not yet attached.
Also I have sewn on this tiny rick rack, using the braiding foot. It is very pale pink and it looks really pretty as a trim on the cuffs and collar. It is getting easier to visualise the finished blouse...
A couple of weeks ago I discovered the Sew for Victory 1940s Sew-along at Rochelle's blog Lucky Lucille and decided I just had to jump in with the 1940s blouse. Making vintage clothes on vintage machines is what I originally decided to do about four years ago, but somehow I got sidetracked into quilting. Who says you can't do both? It's all sewing.
Anyway, if you hit the Sew for Victory button in the right hand margin, you can visit Lucky Lucille and follow the link to the Flickr group, where participants are posting works in progress and finished garments. Also, the blog has a fabulous compilation video of last year's sew-along, showing some truly gorgeous fashions.
Because the sew-along had already been running for a fortnight when I found out about it, it was a bit late to start planning anything spectacular. Also, I am trying to buy as little as possible, other than thread, trim and buttons, so I am using up what is left of the jolly red daisies material that I used for the toddler's dress.
So far, progress has been fairly slow but steady...
The sunray darts took a ridiculously long time, but they are finally done. I have been trying to work out a time saving dodge for darts, but without making another similar blouse I won't know if it will work.
The neck and the armholes are far too small on the pattern, so there is a fair amount of adjustment going on.
But we are getting there... and I have my model lined up for the final photo shoot...
Linking up today to Kelly's blog My Quilt Infatuation for Needle and Thread Thursday
Finally I am using the 1940s blouse pattern. The pieces inside had never been used, nor even unfolded. It was a delicate operation, carefully opening out 70 year-old tissue paper. It needed smoothing out, so I used the iron on as cool a setting as possible. Then I laid the pieces out onto plain paper and drew round them. The pattern markings were easy to copy by poking a pencil through the perforations on the pattern. After that I made completely new pattern pieces by tracing the outlines and markings onto greaseproof paper.
The plan is...
... to have the sun ray darts as on View C, with the darts at the top of the sleeves too...
... but with shorter sleeves with cuffs as on View B. Also, the front will open and have buttons all the way down, and I am going to put on a collar.
And just to make even more work for myself, I am going to gather it in at the waist and add a peplum.
It is going to be interesting. Let's just hope it won't be a jolly red floral disaster.
Welcome to Jessica, the latest follower - thank you joining!
This is one of the old dress patterns that I have stored away in my cupboard. I made a dress from it a few years ago, and learnt a very handy tip from it. The bodice has a seam allowance of over an inch - I can't remember how wide exactly - and the instructions say that when sewing the skirt to the bodice, the edge of the skirt should be well below the edge of the bodice.
This explains why on my last post about the little red dress that I am making, the skirt and bodice are not tacked edge to edge.
Once the seam has been machine stitched, all you need to do is fold over the bodice seam allowance and enclose the raw edges. It is much less fuss and less bulky than using bias binding.
All I have left to do on the dress now are the buttonholes, buttons and hem...
Linking up today with Connie's blog Freemotion by the River for Linky Tuesday
and Kelly's blog My Quilt Infatuation for Needle and Thread Thursday
The envelope is a bit tatty, but all the pattern pieces are intact inside, all folded together.
The long nightdress is particularly slinky, but that isn't what fascinated me about this pattern.
It was the small print on the front ...
... and the instructions inside
... which describe everything you need to do in preparation
... for laying the pattern onto panels of parachute silk.
Today's bit of fun is a link up with Beth's blog Love Laugh Quilt to join in with the Sewing Museum. If you want to see lots of fascinating sewing boxes, buttons, machines, ribbon, thread... all the sort of stuff I squirrel away into every spare corner... click on the link.
Welcome to LynCC, the latest follower - thank you for joining!
This morning I found some nice pale blue cotton chambray shirting - only a short length, unfortunately, it was the end of a roll, but it came home with me. It is 60 inches wide, so it should go a long way. When I came home I pulled this pattern out of the cupboard and started thinking about making it a project for the autumn.
Somebody has obviously thought about it in the past and done a little pencil sketch in the centre of the collar folded open. However, the pattern has never been used. The pieces are all inside folded together and in perfect condition.
These sunburst darts look really stylish and never go out of fashion. They can't possibly. It says so on the envelope, bottom right...
Fashion-Fresh We hereby certify that this style is a current fashion.
Yes, just like the hair do. I want one of those.
Or perhaps I should opt for a swept back style, more fitting for the mature lady. Would I look that serene after tackling the shaped yoke?
Perhaps I would if I avoided doing the cuffs and made a short sleeved version.
I have had this pattern for at least thirty years. I really must get round to using it.
This magazine jumped up at me in a second hand shop. Original price 3d, and the newsagent had written the purchaser's name in the top right hand corner. It is a precious little snapshot of life when the nation was anticipating the Coronation of George VI, due to take place on 12th May. There was still time to embroider tray cloths and napkins for Coronation Day, so the book of iron-on patterns was given as a free gift. And there was time to run up a new dress from the free pattern that was also included.
Wonder of wonders, all the patterns were still inside the magazine. Mrs. Millard obviously didn't have time for all that sewing. Do you think I should make that wonderful dress?
There is also another dress pattern inside marked October 1937, but I have no picture to go with it. Perhaps one day I will be very brave and make a mystery vintage dress. Could be interesting.
The pattern was on Ebay, so I snaffled it. Original price sevenpence halfpenny. A bit steep, I thought.
The illustration looks very 1920s, and I was delighted to find that the pattern was in near perfect condition. The pattern pieces were outlined on a large sheet of paper inside, so I traced them and kept the original pattern intact.
Then I looked for the instructions - there was no instruction sheet, and there was nothing on the back of the sheet of pattern pieces. Then I found them, printed on the inside of the envelope. Had I wanted to read them easily I would have had to cut the envelope open and lay it out flat. No chance, I wasn't going to ruin a beautiful vintage pattern, so I squinted inside to check a couple of things (the shoes had me a bit puzzled for a while) and set to work.
Next came the decision - which machine? It took me less than ten seconds to decide...
