Such austerity...

I think this is a 40s or 50s pattern. It is one of the one's salvaged from my grandmother's house. She must have been fairly waif-like back in the day. This pattern is for a size 14, which falls somewhere between a modern day UK8 and 10.

With some pattern modification and inserts though, I managed to make this.

It's made with a really light and floaty dress fabric bought on a 13m roll, so expect to be seeing more of it! They didn't exactly go too low with the necklines - this is the more daring v-neck style! The pattern asks for shoulderpads but I just couldn't bring myself to do it...

I need more and more dresses as summer approaches and I have a few old patterns to keep me busy!

Quilting from the heart

Ok, so this isn't one of mine, I haven't reached that point of my life yet. All my attempts at quilting lie in various carrier bags where they have been abandoned as my attention wandered to other projects that offered so much more in the way of speedy gratification.

No, this beautiful quilt and cushion have been painstakingly pieced together by my loving mother. Fabrics chosen to reflect my devotion to 50's kitsch, including some genuine 50's pieces from a recent clearout of my (passed) grandmother's house.

I love my new quilt, it makes quite an impact in my living room and is spurring me on to paint the furniture I've been wanting to do for a while, namely to make baby blue and pink a bit of an accent. Apparently the cushion was run up for a workshop so was a bit of an added bonus for me, hurrah!

Plans plans plans!

I do have a couple more things that I've made recently, including a very decadent Victorian inspired burlesque outfit that I will talk about as soon as I organise pictures to go with it.

However, there are a few things in the pipeline as the sun starts to shine and summer approaches. I have a NEED for more skirts with a good twirl-factor, and dresses I can just sling on and have an instantly glamorous outfit. Luckily (with a little help from a very wonderful friend) I am just about to acquire this little beauty to keep me company in the shop. It's a vintage version of the modern workhorse I have at home so I'm trusting that it's going to be a good little runner - and it looks gorgeous too!

I'm very excited :)

Che Guevara silliness

This was what I made my father for Christmas. I did a hell of a lot of knitting in the run up to Christmas, nearly all of which went horribly, horribly wrong. The only other ones I managed successfully were Jackie Chan and Ghandi but sadly I don't have pictures of them.

That dress finally!

I completed this dress a while ago but I've been slack about getting the picture up on here. I decided not to put the featherweight bones in in the end as I didn't want them getting creased and looking rubbish. It does roll down a little at the back, especially when wearing a corset, but I think that could be fixed for future incarnations. It needs a decent petticoat which means I need to spend some time with my Ultimate Ruffler! In this picture I'm wearing it with my longline white underbust corset which looks great on the waist. It is wearable without a corset though, which is lucky for dancing :)

Thanks to Chris W Parker for the photo x

1954 Halter Dress

January's effort has been to make myself this dress.

I found some lovely dark navy cotton with a small and busy cream paisley pattern that I picked up for a song. (I'm trying to branch out beyond black, red and white!) It's really light and floaty - perfect for dancing in! I've faced it with some plain navy sheet-weight cotton.

The wide halter straps are really flattering and I like the modesty of the insert behind the sweetheart neckline. The bust and strap sections were quite fiddly but will be much easier when it comes to doing them again I think.

I've pretty much finished except for hemming and some finishing touches. I'm still trying to decide whether to add the featherbone stays the pattern calls for at the front, though it definitely needs the ones at the back to stop it rolling down...

One thing I did not expect was how true to the picture it would be! The insanely waspie waists of the illustration were merely artistic licence thought I - not so! Good job I'm not averse to a corset as the hip/waist/bust ratio is a bit extreme! I love a dramatic waistline as much as the next woman, but I will be modifying this for future incarnations of this dress.

I hope to finish it tomorrow and I'll post pics asap :)

Resolute

When I was about 13 I made a New Years resolution to never again make new years resolutions. This year I'm breaking it (it did pretty well!) and I'm making 3 resolutions.

1) Wear more silk. This also means sew more silk as my budget doesn't exactly allow for trips to Agent Provocateur every other week! On the few occaisions I have sewn with silk in the past I've run into a fair few problems with its tendancy to fray and it's light and floaty ways. It does also give me the opportunity to learn more about the different types too and I do so want to improve my textile knowledge.

2) Watch at least 1 classic b&w film a week. Ok, not massively sewing related, but I imagine I will be wanting to copy the odd design. I watched It's A Wonderful Life for the first time a few days ago and I just wanted to recreate every single outfit I saw! Please put any recommendations in the comments, I need to build a big 'to watch' list.

3) Make myself at least 1 garment a month. I need to find time to sew for myself too - and not just the hastily thrown together fancy dress things I'm always doing. Things like a dress, a corset (finally!), or even a petticoat.

It's going to be a pretty busy year for me! I'm managing a shop full-time now while still keeping the corset-making/seamstressing side going. I think it'll take me a while to get used to having to be at the shop all the time, but at least my lovely friend Dr Sid got me a handheld sewing machine for Christmas so I can still make progress between customers! I'm working on a bullet bra at the moment, it's a strange garment - I'll let you know how I get on!

Happy New Year everyone xxx