2 shirts - Butterick B5526

I can never get a ready-made blouse/shirt to fit.  It is either too big on the shoulders or too small on the hips.  Trust my pear shape!  So I decided to make one.  I bought this current (not vintage!) Butterick pattern as I thought it is versatile and I can make lots of different shirts from the same pattern.  I was pleased to see that LLadybird likes this pattern too!

This lovely orange butterfly fabric came from my local shop More Sewing.  It's actually quilting fabric, so has a nice weight to it.  It is a lot brighter in real life, and lots of people comment on it when I wear it.   This is view D with princess seams, and lots of top stitiching.  I lined the collar and cuffs with yellow fabric, which makes it look very Spring like.

One clever little touch that Laura at More Sewing suggested was to sew little triangles into the bottom of the side seams to give even more room for my hips!  I love the way they make it look like a  peplum.

This one is View A (without the pockets).  So this one has no darts or princess seams.  I bought this lovely fabric with vintage bathing ladies all over it as a remnant ages ago.  I have seen this fabric made into dresses and tops all over blogland!  This fabric is much softer, so probably more suitable for summer warmer days.

Here's a picture of the extra triangle in the bottom of the side seam, see how I fussy cut it to have a whole lady!

I am so happy to have shirts that fit!  I would like to make one in a drapey silk type of fabric next.

Vintage sewing - Vogue 1772

Hard to believe that 1990s patterns are now classed as vintage!  This one appeared in a batch I purchased for my SewLindyLou Etsy shop, and I put it to one side as I liked the jacket.  It is a DKNY designer pattern for Vogue, a dress and jacket, dated 1996.  Just over 20 years old!

I decided to try and make the jacket.  I chose a light jersey fabric, which in hindsight is perhaps a little too lightweight.  The pattern had been used and was cut to size 18, so I cut mine to that size.  It was far too big!  With some help from Laura at More Sewing we took it in to make it fit.  I decided not to line it, but instead finished off the inside seams with a pretty floral binding.  I bought 3 vintage 1980s buttons to complete the look.

Sadly I have not worn it much.  My idea was to make a light jacket that I could just sling on and off, but this isn't it!  It is too light to wear as a jacket, but quite good as a top on it's own.  It rides up as soon as I move in it and I am forever adjusting it.  Also the sleeves are too wide, which I could rectify by taking them in.  I think it would be great made in a heavier weight fabric like a ponte roma.   I do love the shape and may well try it again.

Vintage sewing notions - Bias Binding

I have just uploaded some more Vintage Sewing Kits to my Etsy shop.  They are small collections of vintage sewing notions in a variety of colours.  It has inspired me to do some research!

I came across these lovely packets of bias binding complete with their original labels:

Rayon Bias Binding

Rayon itself is a fabric manufactured from cellulose.  Cellulose comes from wood pulp and goes through several stages of manufacture to become rayon.  First it is purified, then dissolved and forced through a spinaret to produce filaments.  The filaments are then chemically solidified, resulting in synthetic fibres of nearly pure celloulose. 

Rayon can be tricky to sew, as it is very light, drapey and slippery!   

Here's a blog post on the Colette blog about sewing with rayon challis, a luxurious, silky form of rayon.

Nowadays, Hug Snug make a rayon seam binding.  Here it is on Amazon

Laura Mae uses rayon seam binding here. It is very light and makes a lovely finish for inside your garment.

Nainsook Bias Binding

I had never heard of Nainsook before!  Wikipedia tells me that 'it is a soft, fine, lightweight form of muslin.  The word 'Nainsook' was first documented in 1790, and derives from the Hindu and Urdu 'nainsukh' which literally means 'eye's delight!'  Nainsook was often used to make lingerie items and babies' clothing up until the 1920s.  It was often used to make bias binding in the 1950s and 60s.  

Thus, it would be another lovely light binding for the inside seams of your garment.  

Here's a blog post with more information about Nainsook.

You can find the yellow rayon and the yellow nainsook bias binding in this kit for sale here.

And the green nainsook binding is in this kit available here.

Tilly and the Buttons Cleo pinafore dress

Every Tuesday morning I go to a sewing drop-in at my local sewing shop More Sewing.  As we sit sewing, drinking coffee and chatting, we are surrounded by the most beautiful fabrics!  I spied this gorgeous baby cord fabric sometime ago, and wondered what I could make with it.  When I saw Tilly and the Buttons Cleo pinafore I knew I had a match made in heaven!

I have to say I was a little hesitant as to whether as a woman in her 50s I would get away with wearing a pinafore like this, so I didn't want to make it look too 'little girly'.  I decided to skip the top pocket and just have the hip pockets at the back and front.  I also opted for the longer length.

The fabric was easy to sew - here's my flat felled seam, about to sew the pockets on.

I ordered the dungaree buckles and jeans buttons from Tilly.  They were really easy to fix, no pliers needed!

Here's the final garment:

And me wearing it!

It felt a bit strange at first, as it so loose around the waist.  I love it!  My one slight little niggle is that I think I stretched the baby cord a  little across the top of the bib, and I could have placed the buttons in a little.  But no matter, I love wearing it!Such an easy pattern, I would make it again, maybe a plain one?

Inspiration for Christmas party frocks

Do you need some inspiration for your Christmas party frock?  How about sewing one of these gorgeous evening dresses from the 1960s?

Or maybe 1970s is more your thing?

 

There is even the possibility of machine knitting your evening dress:

 

All these patterns are available in my Etsy shop: https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/SewLindyLou

I am offering a 10% discount for the rest of the month.  Please use the code NOVE10.

Happy sewing!  And happy partying!

Are you a Strictly fan?

I love this time of year when Strictly Come Dancing arrives on our tv screen!    I love the colour, the glitter and the glamour!

So imagine my delight when this pattern turned up in a bundle of vintage patterns I acquired recently.  It is a 1960s pattern for a ballroom dress, with variations on neckline and sleeve.  It has been partially cut, but is complete and in good condition.

 

 

The pattern is recommended by Bill and Bobby Irvine.  Here’s their wikipedia entry.  They were dancing in the 1960s, and won 13 world titles during that decade.  Here they are dancing:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KfD72raCfKU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j-ESsqnYguo

 

I can’t find anything out about Theatreland Ltd.  All I can find online is a company with the same name which provides theatre guides and websites which began in 2003.

Just fabulous!

It is for sale in my Etsy shop: https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/487288861/vintage-ballroom-dress-pattern?ref=shop_home_active_9

One pattern, Three looks

With the price of patterns so high nowadays, it’s great to use a pattern more than once.  I think people call it TNT, tried ‘n tested.  I fell in love with this Kwick Sew pattern, K4026

My first attempt at making this dress was for Christmas last year.  I bought this gorgeous printed jersey from More Sewing.  The rich velvety look to the fabric suited a Christmas dress.  It was a very straight forward make, the only alteration was to grade out at the waist.  I love the skirt on this dress!

The next iteration of this pattern was a top.  Another gorgeous jersey fabric from More Sewing, but this time much more drapy.  Indeed, I had to alter the cowl neckline as it was so low!  But I just love the colours in this fabric.

Finally, a dress I made this summer for a friend’s 60th birthday party.  This is my least favourite of the 3, as it is a very bouncy fabric and it feels like the cowl neck sticks out!  I am not sure about the sleeves either, maybe it would look better sleeveless?  I made this one longer in length, and the skirt is very swishy!

Finally, talking about saving money, here’s a plantain top (Deer and Doe free pattern) I made with the leftovers from the Christmas dress.  There is a seam down the back, and the sleeves are made from a lovely tweed look fabric.  The only problem is that the sleeves are a little bit tight as this tweed is a woven fabric.  If I do it like this again, (which I am sure I will!) I will either use a stretch fabric or cut them a bit bigger!  I do love the elbow patch detail on this top!