Finished: Made Up Vintage Blouse

Yay!!! All done and finished and I have to say it is a massive relief. That's the last time I'll take on a sewing challenge during the school holidays! I can't seem to concentrate properly when I only have small pockets of time to work with, and consequently there was a lot of faffing around and unpicking with this blouse.

I've sewn the pattern twice before (here and here) so dived into the project thinking I could just cut it out and sew it up. What I failed to account for is how my tastes have changed in the four years since I last had this pattern in my clutches. Although I still absolutely love working with vintage patterns, I've had to accept that I can't pull off that authentic head-to-toe vintage look that seems to come naturally to other people. It's much more effective in the long run for me to take a vintage pattern and make a few adjustments so that the finished garment works better with my modern wardrobe. So that's what I did with my 1930's blouse. The small changes I made have allowed me to style it with modern separates and accessories and it will get a lot more wear this way.

As I outlined in this post, I changed the blouse from sleeved to sleeveless because of lack of fabric. The original sleeves had quite a lot of extra ease in the shoulders plus they had cuffs, so a sleeveless version will actually be far more practical underneath a cardigan. I also increased the height of the trucks at the front so that they opened up at the bustline, a little like the bodice of the BHL Anna dress. The blouse still had a very boxy look so I curved the side seams in by about an inch at the waist, grading out to nothing at the hips and I'm much happier with this shape. 

Underlining the silk seems to have really helped bring out the beautiful colour of the fabric as well as sort out the stubborn creases I was whining about here. The blouse is still nice and drapey, but because of the underlining, it now has an added weightiness which makes it lovely to wear. The fabric itself was a revelation - I fully expected all kinds of trouble from it, especially as it was such a pain to launder, but I couldn't have been more wrong. I cut it out using a layer of muslin underneath (see full tutorial here) which worked perfectly. Using very sharp scissors helped too, as did using a fine needle in my machine (a 60) and silk thread. The only change I had to make during the actual sewing was to decrease the tension significantly to stop the stitches gathering (I set it to 0 rather than my usual 3). Once I'd sorted that out it was a pleasure to sew. I had to do quite a bit of unpicking (including, horror of horrors, a buttonhole…), but amazingly there are hardly any marks left on the fabric, it's surprisingly robust. This was also down to using silk thread which I found easier to remove than standard poly thread.

For buttons, I asked the opinion of my new Instagram sewing pals on which of these two sets to use. It was a close call, but the more subtle, swirly ones on the right hand side won in the end. They're vintage buttons (incidentally, from the same set that I used on my vintage shirt dress) and I think they match the fabric beautifully. 

I finished the armholes and bottom hem with bias binding, catch stitching it to the underlining. The collar and lapels still refused to lie flat after extensive pressing so I edge stitched them to mirror the shoulder seams and yoke. They're still a bit wavy but it doesn't bother me. I underlined them with silk organza, rather than silk cotton, and I think this was the problem. This was my first time using silk organza and I have to say, I found it a nightmare to work with, urrgh, horrible stuff. 

Simplicity 2844 is the oldest pattern in my collection (it dates from the 1930's) and I have a real soft spot for it because it was the first vintage pattern I ever owned (I won it in a giveaway by Debi at My Happy Sewing Place). I think making something from an 80 year old pattern definitely makes it eligible for my Vintage Sewing Pattern Pledge, so I'm including it as my third entry for the year.

Making this blouse was also part of another pledge - the Made Up initiative - set up by Karen at Did You Make That? to raise money for the National Literacy Trust.  I have to say, sewing this blouse turned out to be more than a slight pain in the arse.  BUT…I wouldn't have made it without the pledge, I know that for a fact, the fabric would just have sat in my stash forever. So yes, it was a challenge, but a good one, with a happy outcome. There's just one more day to go until the challenge deadline, any other sprints to the finish?! x

I'm on Instagram!

Yes, I've taken another plodding step into the 21st century and opened an Instagram account! As you know, I'm pretty useless when it comes to social media (I still haven't quite got the hang of Twitter…), so adding Instagram to my repertoire feels like like I'll be running up and down constantly spinning plates. The main thing is that I've set up an account (well, my son did it for me actually), so I can be on the scene whenever there's a flash fabric sale or other exciting happenings going on. Hoorah! If you'd like to follow me I'm @janemarland and you can follow me here. Don't get your hopes up though, there are currently only two pictures on there, one of which is a pan of jam… It will get better soon though, I promise!

In other news, I'm getting there with my Made Up pledge. Just buttons and buttonholes, binding the armholes and hemming left to do. It's definitely starting to look like a blouse now! x

Progress on the Made Up vintage blouse

The Made Up initiative seems to be going from strength to strength. The good news is that at the time of writing, the total has just skipped past the £2,000 mark, which is almost double the initial target! Hoorah! The slightly less good news (for me, anyway) is that we've also skipped past the halfway point to the deadline. Hmmm, I think a bit of a progress report is needed….

Considering I have to fit my sewing in between fairy cake making and regular trips to the swimming baths (shudder), I don't think I'm doing too badly. Everything will rev into gear soon when the boys go back to school, but in the meantime, there's plenty of prep work to be getting on with. 

The one major change I've had to make to my plans is that my 1930's blouse will now be sleeveless. This is partly down to me stubbornly insisting to myself that one metre was enough fabric and partly because of the fabric itself. It was only after washing and ironing the fabric (more on that in a minute) that I realised there was a sizeable chunk missing from one corner - a 7" x 5" rectangle to be precise. It took me ages to work out what this was, then I remembered - a couple of hours before I'd actually purchased the fabric I'd asked for a sample, and the hole was the sample I'd been given. I wouldn't have minded if I'd been given a bit more to play with, but my fabric still only just measured a metre in total. In fairness, this may not have been intentional, but all the same, it was bloody annoying and meant I had to omit the sleeves. 

Whinging aside, the pattern pieces have been cut from the fabric, so the fun's about to begin! I got to use my razor sharp serrated edge scissors for the first time and they were fab, they made the cutting so much easier, thanks Alex for the recommendation! I had to make a couple of tiny adjustments to the yoke and to the front and back bodice pieces to allow for lack of sleeves. I used this tutorial, the same one I used to convert my Granville to a sleeveless version, and it worked fine. I also decreased the back width slightly, which is an adjustment I made on my other versions. 

As I didn't want to take any chances with silk crepe de chine i.e ruin it in the wash before I'd even taken the scissors to it, I did a bit of research on how to launder silk. This involved asking my regular laundering guru - my mum, Lily. Lily's advice was to gently wash the fabric in lukewarm water with a very mild soap, no rubbing or squeezing, just swirl it around. Then rinse it well, smooth it out and lay it between a towel to dry flat. This is more or less the same advice given on the Til the Sun Goes Down website, so I knew it was sound. It washed beautifully, but it was a bugger to get the creases out of. I pressed the fabric whilst it was still damp, but they were still pretty stubborn. It's definitely NOT going to be an easy care garment!

I've now underlined the front, back and yoke pieces with white silk cotton to brighten the colour and make the silk less transparent. Even with the underlining, the fabric has still retained its silky hand and slight sheen, which is encouraging. My next step is to interface the under collar and front button band with silk organza to add a bit of crispness. I'm using silk thread to underline and to sew the actual blouse, along with a sharp needle and Entomology pins. If you're interested, my silk thread came from here, which offers a much wider choice of colours than Gutermann silk thread. I also have some vintage silk thread in exactly the right colour (see photo above), but sadly, not enough. Aren't the old thread bobbins so much more attractive than the modern ones?! 

I've given myself until the end of this week to finish all the underlining and interfacing. Then all I have to do is sew the blouse together, which should be straight forward (nervous laugh). How are you getting on with your Made Up pledges? Started? Finished? Still thinking about it?!  x

The Made Up Initiative

I'm very excited to help spread the word about the Made Up initiative, the brainchild of Karen at Did You Make That? The initiative - which launches today - is in support of the National Literacy Trust, a charity dedicated to raising literacy levels in the UK. But how does it work? Well, like all the best ideas, it's a simple one and it combines two of my great passions: sewing and reading! Readers of Karen's blog are invited to donate an amount of money to the National Literacy Trust via Just Giving. In doing so, they pledge to sew, make or otherwise create something to a deadline. It's as simple as that, all you need to do is donate and get sewing! As an added bonus, all finished creations that meet the deadline of September 10th are automatically entered into a fab prize giveaway worth over £300!

The Made Up initiative is a wonderful idea and one that's very close to my heart. I was brought up in a book loving household and could read before I started school, thanks to the patience of my mum and a set of flash cards. That was just the start of a lifelong love affair with books. I'm always reading, always, always, always. I couldn't wait to start reading to my sons when they were born and happily, they've both turned out to be book lovers too. I was lucky and my children are lucky, but this isn't the case for every child, which is why raising money for the National Literacy Trust is so important. I'm delighted to be able to support this venture through my love of sewing, even if it is on a small scale.

"Support like this is vital to our work and helps ensure that we can continue to give disadvantaged children the literacy skills to success in life." - National Literacy Trust

It's also an excellent opportunity for the sewing community to come together and make a real difference.

The big question is, what to make?! I must admit, the timing's not ideal as it's still the school holidays for a couple more weeks, but I like a challenge…! So I've decided to stretch myself and finally start work on my 1930's crepe de chine blouse.

I'll be using my beautiful aqua posy fabric from Til the Sun Goes Down and this 1930's blouse pattern.

I talked about making this back in March, but haven't actually lifted a finger since then, so this is just the kick up the arse I need to finally get sewing. I've made my pledge, will you be joining me? I hope so!  x


Further details about the Made Up initiative and a list of the amazing giveaway prizes can be found at Did you Make That?  Donations can be made on the Just Giving page. 

Silk crepe de chine madness

I briefly lost the power of rational thought at the Knitting and Stitching Show last week. Not quite to the same level as the lady next to me who had four carrier bags of wool and was mumbling, "I didn't really need any wool"… but still! I stumbled on a fabric company I'd never heard of before and fell head over heels in love with everything on their stand. The company - Til The Sun Goes Down - produce a unique collection of beautiful dressmaking fabrics in limited edition prints. Most of the fabrics I saw were silks, satins and rayon, all inspired by vintage prints from the 1920's to the 1960's and all absolutely breathtaking.

I kept leaving and looking at other stands, but my feet kept bringing me back to the stall and to one fabric in particular - this beautiful aqua posy print. I had a vintage inspired blouse made from a near identical print about twenty years ago. I loved that blouse and was devastated when I caught the front on a nail at work (god knows how) and ruined it. 

I caved in eventually and bought a metre. The fabric is a lightweight silk crepe de chine with a slight sheen to it. It's also eye-wateringly expensive (£36 a metre), which is the most I've ever spent on fabric, but it was the only thing I bought, so I'm telling myself that justifies the expense. I have big plans for it anyway - I want to recreate my nail-shredded 1930's style blouse! With fabric this special I don't want to mess about with an unfamiliar pattern, so I'm going to use vintage Simplicity 2844 which actually dates from the 1930's and which I've made twice already (here and here.) 

It has some lovely vintage features such as gathered shoulders and a back yoke and I think it's a perfect pattern for my precious fabric. The crepe de chine is very fragile - recommended garments to make from it are French knickers, camisoles and slips! - so I'm going to fully underline it with white silk cotton. This will make it a little more robust, especially for areas like buttonholes. It will also boost the colour too as it currently looks a bit grey rather than aqua next to my super pale skin.

I'm going to consult my new sewing bible - Fashion with Fabric - for recommendations on sewing with silk. I'm also wondering whether it's worth using silk thread for this blouse? If anybody has any thoughts on this or on working with crepe de chine in general, I'd love to hear them.  x

Mystery Vintage Dress

A few months ago I was given this beautiful vintage dress by my mother-in-law.  She bought it from a vintage shop several years ago but having only ever wore it once, decided she'd like to pass it onto somebody who would appreciate it.  Me, me, me!!  

It fits me perfectly, but the dress and my figure are probably not the best pairing.  I'm too curvy and I think the style would look best on somebody taller, flatter and a bit more gamine.  Nevertheless, it's a wonderful period garment that I'm very happy to have in my wardrobe and get out to play with from time to time.  I'd also love to give my mother-in-law a little more information on what period the dress hails from, and date it as accurately as I can.  This is where I need your help, lovely readers!

My guesstimate would be that this is a 1930's piece.  Perhaps earlier rather than later in the decade as there's definitely a hint of flapper style about it.  I also feel very strongly that this dress would have been worn with a hat as was typical then. If anybody who has knowledge of clothing from that period can shed any light, I'd be SO grateful.  Or indeed if you have anything at all to say on when you think the dress might originate from, please chip in, I may be completely wrong so I'd be really interested to hear your thoughts.

Here are a few tailoring details:

The dress is totally handmade, from what appears to be plum coloured silk crepe with dark green lace inset details.  There's an impressive amount of hand finishing too.

It has two kick pleats to the front and back and a dropped waist.

The neckline is low, with a ruffle detail and shoulder tucks.  

It has what I think is called a dicky i.e. a detachable triangle of fabric that fits across a low neckline to preserve one's modesty!

The sleeves are slightly puffed with a cuffed edge and lace inserts to add volume. 

It's just below knee length on me (I'm 5' 2").

There's a lovely shaped detail to the skirt, which is mirrored on the back bodice yoke.  

This is what made me think it was reminiscent of 1930's styles as my 1930's blouse has a V-shaped yoke.  

But when I re-examined it more closely, the V on my blouse was pointing down rather than up like the dress.  Anybody know if this is significant?

So, lots of nice period details, I just need to work out exactly what period we're talking about.  What do you think?  I know there are many, many bloggers out there who are very knowledgeable about such things, and I'd love to hear your thoughts. Thank you so much in advance! x

MMJ: Days 15, 16, 17 and 18

I think four days of outfits is about the maximum anybody can stomach at any one time, so this post will take me up to two days ago.

Day 15

MMJ: Day 15

Top: Me-made from a 1950's pattern

Vest: Primark

Skirt: Me-made 1960's A-line skirt

Shoes: Clarks

Me-Made Category: Top, now a B, skirt B

I wish I could claim it was my own idea to wear these two me-made items together, sadly it wasn't, it was Roobeedoo's!  She was spot on though, as I love red and turquoise together, why didn't I think of it?!

Day 16

MMJ: Day 16

Top: Me-made from a 1930's pattern

Trousers: Me-made from Simplicity 3688

Shoes: Clarks

Me-Made Category: Top B, Trousers A

Still feeling in a turquoise mood, hence the top.  I did try the two turquoise items together but I looked like a nurse.

Day 17

MMJ: Day 17

Dress: Socialite dress

Belt: Anthropologie

Cardigan: Marks and Spencer

Shoes: Clarks

Me-Made Category: A

Strangely enough, I wore this dress a lot in the winter with tights and a cardigan. I was hoping to wear it in a summery way today but couldn't because a) my limbs were a similar hue to the actual dress - not a good look and b) weather conditions in the UK in June were positively wintery (!) so tights and cardigan it was.   

Day 18

Top: 1950's Blue Roses top

Trousers: Me-made from Simplicity 3688

Me-Made Category: C, never worn

...and with good reason.  Even though the fabric is gorgeous I'm really cross that I wasted it on this top as I hated wearing it and will probably never wear it again.  Reasons?  Too short, too drawstringy and the neck is still uncomfortably high.  The fabric is too pretty to cast aside though, so I think I can refashion it by lowering the neckline (again) and taking the casing out at the bottom to increase the length.  Grrr. I even look like I'm smiling through gritted teeth, which I was!

Apart from the blue rose top, these were a good few days - I do love wearing my handmade clothes.  Happy Monday. x

Another 1930's blouse

A few weeks ago, whilst on a wonderful blogger meet-up with Karen, Shivani, Zoe and Stevie, I had the pleasure of visiting Ditto Fabrics in Brighton.  I’ve bought a few things from Ditto online before, but the actual shop holds way more exciting and reasonably priced fabric than is decent.  Whilst I was in there, I found the perfect bluey/green cotton fabric for my second 1930's blouse, here's a reminder of the first one, the rabbit blouse.  

And here's the second one..

For some reason I’ve been desperate to make this blouse - I’ve been trying to sneak the odd hour in here and there but my children have been on school holidays, so I’ve had very little opportunity to sew. I finally finished it when I had my first free day yesterday.  

I used the same 1930’s pattern that I used for my rabbit blouse (Simplicity 2844) and it was as straightforward as I remember to sew together.  The big difference between this version and the rabbit version is the fabric.  There’s lots of catch stitching in this pattern.  This wasn’t a problem with the first blouse as I used a double gauze fabric, so there’s an entire extra layer to catch.  The bluey/green fabric was too tightly woven to catch stitch without it showing through on the outside, so I improvised and topstitched the facing to the front edges and collar.  

Because there’s already top stitching on the yoke and shoulders, I think it works pretty well.  To finish off, I used some of the vintage buttons I picked up in Bath – a perfect match.  I already like the shape and fit of this blouse, so didn’t bother messing about with the pattern.  This version does seem a little baggier than the first version, but I think that’s more to do with the lighter coloured, plain fabric making it seem bigger. I really love the colour though – it’s so 1930’s.  

Trying to look 1930's and blending in with the wall

I had to match it with these white sailor trousers for the photos as I needed a high waist - and I couldn’t subject you to yet another shot of my 1940’s navy strides!   On a final, gleeful note, I had enough fabric left to make something else, which isn’t quite finished yet.  More on that in the next post….

Happy Thursday. x

Rabbit blouse

This 1930's pattern (Simplicity 2844) was the very first vintage pattern I acquired and it’s only the second vintage pattern I’ve made.  I won it on Debi’s giveaway and have been wittering on about sewing it for months - I kept being tempted away from the straight and narrow by all those pesky sewalongs.  Now they’re all finished, I’ve finally got the time to sit down and concentrate on it - and what a pleasure it’s been…

The front cover doesn’t do the blouse justice.  

It looks like a pretty plain piece of “sports casual” wear, but don’t be deceived by appearances, it has some delightful details which I discovered as I was sewing it.  I made a muslin first and only had to make two changes:  I extended the length of the tucks at the front to make it more fitted under the bust and took 1cm out of the back width. 

Here it is from the back

The gathered shoulders and top stitched yoke were a doddle to sew after my swing dress

The one area where I wasn’t faithful to the pattern was with the buttonholes. If I was being a good seamstress, (instead of a lazy, slapdash one) I’d have made bound buttonholes to give it that perfect period touch. Buttonholes aren’t my favourite thing at the best of times, and bound ones look so time consuming that I guiltily just made normal ones.  I finished the blouse with some vintage flower buttons from my stash.

The instructions were a delight – lovely clear steps accompanied by little illustrations. 

They were much easier to understand than some modern day patterns, even with unprinted pattern pieces.  Ah yes, unprinted pattern pieces….  when I first opened the pattern I thought, in my naivety, there had been a printing error i.e. they’d forgotten to print any writing on them.  Duh, all the relevant circles, grainlines etc are punched onto the pieces and you then work out what’s what from the instructions.  It sounds complicated but it really isn’t, it’s actually a very efficient way of printing a pattern.

Fabric-wise I used a beautiful double gauze I treated myself to before Christmas from this Japanese website. As soon as I saw it, I knew exactly what I was going to make with it because the pattern looks so 1930’s.  The print is actually little rabbits, but you can’t really make them out unless you’re close up.  

Inside view

Double gauze is a strange fabric.  It’s basically two layers of gauze held together by a grid of tiny stitches.  This particular double gauze is reversible, so the other side of the fabric looks like a negative, which I quite like.  It’s a lovely texture, somewhere between brushed cotton and linen and the drape is nice and heavy.  

A perfect match with my 1940's trousers

I really love this blouse, it’s the sort of thing I’d have jumped on if I’d seen it in a shop in the olden days (before I started sewing).  I’m very tempted to make another one immediately just because it’s so me.  I’m thinking of a greeny/blue voile with white buttons...

Thank you so much Debi for your generosity in giving away this beautiful pattern.  x