The Swing Jacket Suit

I have always loved vintage style clothes.  As a teenager I raided my mother's wardrobe for several of her old clothes which dated from the 1950s.  I remember with great fondness the circular skirt that had a pattern of fireman climbing ladders on it.  I also wore her old short duffle jacket for a long time, it had a slight swing back and I thought it was wonderful.  Skip ahead to present day and there is now great interest in making vintage style clothing and many patterns are now available.

I found this wonderful Vogue V8146 pattern, note that has one of my favourite pattern descriptions - 'very easy'.  I had been thinking about this pattern for a while and I kept my eye out for finding it and some suitable fabric.  I found both at the Great British Sewing Bee, the pattern was on offer on one stand and the fabric on another.  All I needed was the perfect lining fabric for the jacket which I managed to find at the Harrogate Knitting and Stitching Show and I had all I needed to get started.

I also had some help, Esme decided to help me cut out the lining.  I fell in love with this bright birdy fabric, it was perfect for what I wanted to do.

Whereas Bruce decided to help me cut out the suit material.  I cut out the pieces very carefully, I really wanted to make a good job of this and I was determined to take my time and do everything as good as I possibly could.

The dress came together well,

It was, as the pattern had promised it would be, nicely easy.  I even managed to match up the pattern, I was extremely pleased with myself for doing this.

The jacket also came together well.  I had some button-angst and had to walk around it for a day or so deciding which button to choose.  I nearly put all four on like this and still at times I think I might revisit this thought.

I actually chose this greeny-blue button as it matched the greeny-blue part of the check pattern well.

Making the bow might have been the fiddleyist part,

It sets off the back of the jacket perfectly and I like the bow, that I will never see when wearing it.

The suit turned out well and I am pleased with it.

I am also incredibly pleased with the lining.  it worked as I hoped it would.

There is however one slight detail where I slipped up.  If you look carefully the pattern on the jacket is the other way up to the pattern on the dress.  This is of course completely deliberate really.....  (every day is a learning day).

A prickle of pincushions

I have a confession, I am a collector.  I get interested in things, often by accident and then before I know what is happening I start collecting them.  I love finding out about new things and I can (do) get a little obsessed.  So it is no surprise to anyone who knows me that one pincushion was not enough.

It was indeed an accident, I have a perfectly good standard tomato and strawberry pincushion but it was not quite what I wanted.  It is very small and light and tends to move around when I am using it.  I wanted something more stable and less likely to slip about.  So I started an internet quest to find the perfect pincushion. Suddenly a whole world of pincushions, particularly pincushion dolls and half-dolls was opened up to me.

So now I have a few, (but then again, too few to mention).  I firstly bought the large girl in the bathing suit, then the smaller one with the cocktail brolly (I assume her original parasol is long gone).  I then bought the n*ked girl with a puppy.  Whilst she is pretty I just do not understand why she has lost her clothes?  I then bought the fine lady at the back complete with thistle hat pin.  I decided I needed a complete doll with pincushion skirt.

Then this pincushion caught my eye (wot - no doll? I hear you cry!).  This one is made up of dark wood with a spiral of paper which the pins are pushed into.  

Then there is Miss Tippy-Tappy, she is called this as I am sure she can be heard tippy-tappying around the sewing room in the dark hours of the night.

and finally, my latest acquisition.  She also has lost all her clothes in a slightly disturbing way, but not disturbing enough to stop me from buying her.

I have to pause for a moment though in all this excitement to give a mention to the tomato and strawberry pincushion; that may have been feeling a little discarded and unloved. 

Whilst on my quest for the perfect pincushion I found out why the tomato pincushion is a tomato.  Apparently it stems from Victorian times when it was allegedly believed that a tomato could ward of evil spirits.  Obviously tomatoes are time limited in their lives and can go horribly mushy, which would be rather inconvenient.  The pincushion tomato is therefore a good way of having a tomato always to hand.  I now appreciate my tomato pincushion just that little bit more than before.

None of this though helped me though in my quest for the right pincushion.  

Did I mention I collect things?  

I also have a penchant for vintage Portmeirion, the pre-botanical garden patterns.  In the sewing room I had a small early piece of what I would call Dolphin-period Portmeirion.  It sits on my sewing desk just being pretty as it is too small to be of much use.....

unless.....

.... unless I turn it into a pincushion....

Ta da! and here it is complete.

the more excitable Portmeirion collectors might notice that not only is this a piece of Dolphin-period Portmeirion,

the cushion itself is made from Talisman fabric that I bought I few years ago and never knew what to do with.

So there it is, my perfect pincushion and it does what it should.  It holds pins and does not slip about like the tomato did. (Now I have to stop buying pincushions, I have enough, though there was that one I saw......)

The Knitting and Stitching Show, Harrogate November 2017

Several years ago, when I was in my dressmaking dormancy but knitting and crossstitching regularly, I visited the Knitting and Stitching Show in Harrogate. I lived a bit closer to Harrogate at that time so it felt a reasonable day trip.  When I started to think about going this year to my delight I discovered that whilst I live a bit further away; the total journey time is much the same.  I was lucky to have been given a press-pass and so I enlisted my crocheting daughter as company for the day and we set off relatively early on the Sunday morning.

We arrived in Harrogate just in time to the show’s opening time.  My trusty sat nav helped us find where to park and we excitedly made our way to the venue.  As we got closer we just followed the steady stream of crafty looking people to the entrance.  It is a fascinating building, it looks very modern from the outside, but inside we discovered there is a wonderful old theatre.

Where we found a seat to drink tea and eat cake.  Energy was going to be needed for the day ahead.

It is a place with a lot of history and I loved that so much of the original building was kept intact.

My memory of the event was that is was large, I need to correct this, it is huge!  I think there were five large halls full or stalls and workshops. I say I think there were five as I am pretty sure that we actually didn’t find one of them. This is despite the plentiful extremely helpful staff on hand and lots of large maps and a Show programme. We had run out of oomph when we realised there was still a hall to find and decided that next time we would find that hall first. 

It is the most eclectic show you can imagine. There was plenty for me as a sewist and knitter, my daughter was in crochet heaven and I managed, just, not to buy any crossstitch, but only just.

One thing we did both buy was a guide dog.  Ok, we didn’t actually buy a dog, but we did both sign up to sponsor a puppy.  The man who was trying to convince us to do this convinced us both with one sentence, that they receive absolutely no government or lottery funding.  Think about that, think about the job that these dogs do - we were shocked and signed up straight away.

I went with a set budget.  I took the amount of money I wanted to spend and in a very disciplined way managed not to resort to card payments.  I felt a little proud of myself.  So what did I buy?

Well:

I came away with a rather good haul.

Firstly I bought some thread.  It might not sound the most exciting thing in the world, but I needed some this colour and it was a good opportunity to buy it.

I also bought these bargain buttons, I think you can never have too many buttons.

I had to buy these ones with poppies on.  Readers who follow my gardening exploits know that poppies are a very favourite flower of mine.

These kits from Til the Sun Goes Down were at a bargain price.  I love their patterns so I had to buy a couple, it was rude not to.

The fabric for these kits is perfect, I am in a paisley mood at the moment so I am really looking forward to making up the dress in particular.

I also bought these wonderful fabrics, I am thinking of using them for linings.  I am having a bit of a thing at the moment about lining in general and being more adventurous when lining.

Yes this is exploding Tardis fabric, how exciting is that?!

I also bought this amazing birdy fabric, which is already being made up into the lining of a jacket.  The birds are clearly very realistic as Esme was happy to help me when I was trying to cut out the pieces.

I do enjoy a good knitting pattern, and I love a good vintage knitting pattern.  So this little booklet had to be bought.

I really want to knit this suit soon. Isn't it fantastic?

I also bought this large ball of wool, no this is not to knit the suit from, but I will enjoy finding something exciting to make from it.

Finally I bought these very pretty little scissors.  Perfect for snipping threads.

We made our way homewards, tired, but very happy.  I think I probably have enough sewing projects now to keep me going until the next Knitting and Stitching Show in spring, which is at Olympia 1 - 4 March 2018.  The show returns to Harrogate in 22nd -25th  November 2018.  The show also takes place in Dublin and Alexander Palace, see their website for more details.

When I got home I found my daughter had left her trademark reminder of her presence, did I mention she crochets all the time?

A peacock dress and a new sewing machine

Whilst at the Great British Sewing Bee I bought some rather lovely peacock print material.  It was love at first sight and I knew exactly which pattern I was going to make with it.

I had recently bought this pattern from the Avid Seamstress, the A-line dress.

I really like the shape of this dress, the a-line form is generally quite a flattering one and I thought that the pattern looked quite straightforward to put together.

It was indeed a nice dress to put together though I did struggle with getting the 'V' of the neckline perfect.  I need to practice this sort of neckline more.

The dress itself did not take too long to put together.  I had some angst as to whether the peacock feathers should be facing upwards or downwards.  I decided it did not really matter as long as I was consistent.  I chose downwards.  Once completed I was very happy with the dress and went to try it on.

Oh dear,

It was just a fraction too tight around the stomach area, my general tricky bit of body.  I had measured myself whilst the chest and hips were fine, the 'apple shape' middle let me down again.  I chided myself for not measuring properly, it is such an easy error to make but so so annoying.  The dress is now hanging in the wardrobe and I am determined to fit into it hopefully soon.  So it was all a bit of a disappointment really.  Not the pattern's fault but my own.  I feel like I got carried away with myself, over-confident in fact.  Now I need to regroup and be more careful in future.

The plus-side of this project is that it was the first one I made with my new sewing machine, a Singer 9100.  I bought this after considerable thought and research.  I bought another Singer as I hoped that it would be more familiar to me and also hoped that any accessories would be interchangeable.  I spent weeks deciding which one to buy.  I got totally confused by quilting or not quilting and computerised vs mechanical.  I worked out fairly quickly that there was little point in changing my mechanical machine for another one as I would be gaining very little.  I also finally worked out that if I bought a machine that did more that I might use it for more.  The quilting vs non-quilting bit became less of a concern after having a discussion with some sales-people at the Great British Sewing Bee.  A key reason for going was to research sewing machines and whilst I am a huge fan of online-buying, sometimes you need to talk to someone.

I practiced on some scraps of fabric to begin with.  I struggled getting the tension right and I began to get that 'oh no what have I done, I have bought a machine I cannot work' moment.  I resorted to googling the problem, but that did not help me very much.  I seemed to find people panicking not unlike myself but few helpful answers.  Finally, deep in the pit of despair, I decided to try changing the bobbin from the plastic one supplied with the machine, to one of my existing metal ones.  It did the trick, the tension was sorted immediately.  Relief washed over me and sewing could commence.

There are things that I decided I loved quite quickly about the new machine.  I like the needle up/down button, it is very handy.  I love the top-loading bobbin that I can see through the clear window and check how much thread is left on it.  My favourite favourite thing though is the speed-limiter.  It has transformed how I sew.  No longer does my heavy foot make the machine run away with me; now I can do careful and steady sewing.

As time goes on I will learn how to use more of this machine, but I am really happy with it and expect to be using it for quite a while.

The paisley blouse

Isn't paisley a lovely word?  I have always liked the word and I have a real fondness for the pattern too.  This next sewing project was driven by the fabric first and then by the pattern.  I had fallen in love with some paisley fabric from Merchant and Mills and I was determined that I would make a blouse from it.  A bit of hunting and I found the perfect pattern from Butterick: B5538.  I liked this pattern as it has several different adaptations you can make from it.  The sleeves and collars are all interchangeable so you can mix and match to make the blouse you want.

It is also quite a straight forward pattern.  At first when I cut it out I thought it had a lot of pieces.  A lot of pieces to me meant it was probably going to be tricky, but they went together quite well.  I find I have to look at a pattern almost from a distance at first to work out what it is trying to do and then see how it makes it happen.

There are things I like very much about this blouse.  I like the interfaced front very much.  It makes it feel sturdy and also means that it is not scarily see-through.

The cuffs are also things of wonder.  I had not made a blouse with cuffs before and I worried that I might find them difficult.  They did take me a bit of fiddling around with, but nothing serious and they look really good.

I chose some vintage buttons to finish the blouse off.  I am very pleased with the buttons.  I am becoming completely convinced that a good button can be the make or fail of a project.  I have worn this blouse a few times now, for leisure and for work and people have commented on how nice it looks.

Mid-sewing this blouse I bought a new sewing machine (as you do).  I decided however to finish off this project on the old machine, partly as a courtesy to the old machine rather than just shelve it, and partly so I could have a play on the new machine and get used to it before committing to starting a new project.   I shall introduce you to the new machine in the next post.

The hunt for the Union Dress

I have mentioned previously that I have become quite a fan of Merchant and Mills patterns and fabric.  Whilst wandering around the internet I found the Union Dress but not on the Merchant and Mills website.  It became apparent that it was an old pattern that they no longer produced.  I really liked the design so tried to track down a copy.  In the end in mild desperation I emailed Merchant and Mills and asked if they maybe had an old one at the back of a drawer.  Sadly they did not have one but they knew someone who had one left, just one last paper pattern, so I quickly ordered it and waited for it to arrive.

I already knew which fabric I wanted to make this from.  I had seen the most wondering smouldering mustard coloured cotton fabric on the Merchant and Mills website and I knew it was destined to be made into this dress.

The dress was very straightforward to make up.  It did not take too long and I was really pleased with it.

It has many pockets, two at the sides and two 'pouch' pockets at the front.  I like the pouch pockets and if I make (who am I kidding, when I make) this pattern again I shall have a go at edge stitching the pockets.  This time I decided against and I am happy with this decision.

I chose these rather wonderful metal flower buttons for the dress.  They work with it very well I think.

This dress is the perfect comfy wandering about dress.  I have already worn it quite a lot and every time I wear it someone says what a lovely colour/style it is.  This makes me very happy.

A massive thank you to Michelle at Merchant and Mills for helping me track down the pattern.

A massive thank you to Cool Crafting for having the last paper pattern.

and there is a happy postscript to this story as it was going to be called the 'last Union Dress' but it turns out it is not.  Merchant and Mills have made the pattern available again by PDF only.  I feel I played a small part in bringing it back from retirement.