Now & Then Vintage Inspired Patterns

Remember me waxing lyrical in this post about Til the Sun Goes Down? Just to recap, they're a UK-based company producing beautiful dressmaking fabrics in limited edition prints. The fabrics are all inspired by vintage prints from the 1920's to the 1960's and are just exquisite - they really have to be seen to be believed! Having purchased from them before (some beautiful crepe de chine which ended up as my 1930's Made Up blouse) I'm on their mailing list, so was delighted to learn that they've recently branched out into sewing patterns. 

Now & Then Patterns are described as 'vintage inspired, but in today's sizes'. These sizes range from a size 8 (33" bust, 26" waist, 36" hips) to a size 18 (43" bust, 34" waist, 46" hips). There are three patterns to introduce the range.

The 1930's inspired Amelie Tuck Blouse has a gathered yoke to the front and back shoulders and tuck detailing at the waist. There's a choice of sleeves (short with an inverted pleat or sleeveless) and two collar options (double or single pointed styles). 

I like the authentic 1930's design details in this pattern, probably because it's eerily similar to the Simplicity 2844 pattern I used for my Made Up blouse. I don't really care for the double pointed collar though and was alarmed to see that the pattern requires 11 buttonholes. 11? Really? Just for a blouse? That does seem a bit excessive to me, but I suppose that number of buttons would eliminate any problems with gaping! 

Next up is the Clara Bow Blouse (love the name!) which has a distinctly nautical feel, hoorah! The pattern comes with four sleeve options: straight or gathered short sleeves, long sleeves or sleeveless. There's a removable bow at the centre front and it fastens to the side with buttons, which I think is a lovely touch. Double darts to the front and back shape the waist. This pattern ticks a lot of boxes with me!

The third pattern in the range is the Molly Dress. This 1940's inspired dress has a bias cut skirt which gives a draped, fluid shape with lots of swing. 

The waistline is slightly above the natural waist to create the illusion of a smaller waist and longer legs - yes please to both of those! The neckline is bound, with gathers up to a shoulder yoke and there are two sleeve options: a short, straight sleeve or a long sleeve with gathers on the sleeve head. The dress closes to the side with either a zip or placket for press studs. Although I LOVE this style of 1940's dress and have made a couple, I very rarely wear them, so I'll probably give this one a miss.

I haven't seen or worked with the patterns yet, so can't comment on the actual fit, but based on the sizing chart, they do seem to be designed with modern body shapes in mind. As an example, the measurements from the size 16 vintage pattern I used for my Made Up blouse sit between the size 8 and 10 on the Now & Then sizing chart. Quite a difference! I'll be very interested to see what the instructions are like too. 

The patterns are quite pricey (£16 for the blouse patterns and £18 for the dress), so the Clara Bow Blouse will probably be added to my Christmas list as a treat purchase. I have too much going on at the moment to make it before then anyway, so it will be a nice project for the New Year. How about you? Do you like the look of these new patterns? Any favourites amongst them ?

Have a good weekend! x

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

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