Vintage Sewing Books

I love collecting vintage sewing books. I recently picked up two vintage sewing books. Gifts You Can Sew is from 1942 and Gift Bazaar Sewing Suggestions is from 1944.

Gifts You Can Sew has dozens of apron projects in it. They all look very straightforward and easy to make. I want to make them all but some of my favorites are the Pot Holder Apron that has button on pot holder pockets. Then there is a Gardening Apron that has a kneeling pad that snaps or buttons on the apron at the knee. I love the Baby Feeding apron to keep baby clean and safe in his high chair. This little apron has sleeves for baby's arms and ties that tie onto the high chair and the bottom of the apron covers the entire tray of the high chair. I think this would be a great idea for using in a restaurant highchair. Another one that was on the page labeled Presents for tots and children is a knitting apron that conveniently folds into a bag. The knitting apron has a gathered pocket on the front to hold your ball of yarn. There are many toys and accessories as well as a section of gifts for men in the service. As far as I can tell these gifts would be useful for anyone man or woman in or out of the service. Here you will find directions for making a scarf. a money belt and a book cover to name a few. Some knitting and crochet projects are scattered throughout the book too.

The Gift Bazaar Book has some sweet aprons in it too. My favorites in this book are the children's toys. There is a lamb, a Scottie dog and an adorable pig. I love the illustration with the gingham pig. he is standing in a pin made with straight pins and there are some trees made with clothespins and thimbles. There are four handbags that look right in style now, They all look very simple to make too. And I must try the cute pig pot holder and the sweet kitten potholder. They would be fun to make and I can always use a cute potholder. I love making up a quick small project. What shall I make first with so many cute ideas? The shaped patterns must be enlarged but I think I can do that on my scanner printer. I think I would make the potholder slightly larger than suggested because I think most vintage potholders are just a bit to small. I need to look through my stash for just the right fabric for some of these projects.

Lace Ruffle Backpack

A friend of a friend gave me a huge stash of ruffled lace trims a few months ago. There are yards and yards of all different styles and colors of lace trim mostly white and ecru. As soon as I acquired this stash I began thinking up ways to use it. My first idea was a ruffled apron, and then maybe a ruffled tote bag. But when I saw this Ruffled Backpack idea on Craft Goodies I decided a ruffled lace backpack would be so cute. She even has a mini tutorial.

I used her idea but did my own construction method. This is my trial project and I am going to try and write up a tutorial for it. There are a few things I want to change. So hope fully I can come up with a tutorial in the next couple of weeks. I think this would be perfect for a little girl to carry her treasures in. I do have a couple of little girls in mind to give these to. But I don't have any little girls around to model this for me. So I rigged it up on this chest of drawers.

This really was a quick project because all the lace was pre-ruffled. The other cool this about this project is the fabric I used as the base. It is a polyester gabardine with a nice heavy feel to it and I got it from a friend as part of a huge fabric stash she gave me. So basically this project is from free supplies. The only thing I did buy is the white twill ribbon I used for the drawcord strap. I used three ribbons braided together to give the strap more strength. I bought the ribbon at a salvage store and paid $2.99 for a spool of 500 yards. That is a lot of ribbon!! I have used it for a few other projects. I also used some lilac flowered cotton for the linning of the bag. That was a freebie too.

Baby stuff

A coworker is having a baby girl

so it was the perfect opportunity to make up this baby quilt. I bought this simple quilt kit at Joann fabric several years ago. The kit had everything needed to make the quilt including the backing. I seem to be on a pink and orange kick lately. I do like that bright color combination. The quilt does not have batting between but I think it is just a nice weight for a simple quilt. The middle patch and the edge strips are orange dotted Minky with a soft cozy feel. The backing fabric is white flannel and the the rest is quilting cotton. This went together quickly and I am only a little happy with it. It will be an OK baby gift. The blanket is about 32" by 40".

There was a small piece of orange Minky leftover and a strip of the flannel backing too. I decided a little taggy blanket would be a nice additional gift. I have recently come across a few tutorial for taggy blankets on some blogs. I wanted to link to the most recent one I found but I can't seem to find it now. They are pretty self explanatory. They are just a tiny quilt with ribbon tags inserted all around the edge. I made mine about 10" by 14". I used various lengths of ribbon but all are small so there is no danger of a baby getting caught in one of the loops. I used what I had on hand with various textures from grosgrain to satin ribbons as well as some Ric-rack and woven brocade trims. I like the little taggy blanket made with scraps much better than the quilt. I think this is a cute little baby gift. I may make more of these when I have another baby gift to give.

Silk Top

I have had this pretty pink and orange silk chiffon fabric in my stash for a couple of years just waiting for the right project. I decided to sew up Simplicity 2599 view E. The fabric is shear so I wear a cami under it. It has a button and loop opening in the back with a faced neckline. The armhole are bound with a bias binding made out of the same fabric as the top. The ruffle at the neck edge is made with a 2" bias strip with a narrow hem on each side. Hemming the ruffle was probably the most challenging part of the project because of the delicate fabric. And then to top everything off there is a fabric bow added to the neckline.

I love the finished top and it fits great and feels very dressy when I wear it. I will definitely make this pattern again there are several different ruffled views included in the pattern. It sewed up quickly which is a real plus in my book. I think I could eliminate the button and loop closing at the back of the neck because I could easily pull the top on and off without unbuttoning. And I was having a hard time unbuttoning it while wearing it myself anyways. I have about a yard of this fabric leftover maybe I will make a little coordinating cami with it.

Damask Jacket

Several weeks ago I picked up this vintage damask tablecloth at my local Goodwill Store. I only paid $2.00 for it. It was in pretty good condition with only two tiny holes that were easy to avoid when cutting out my pattern.

The pattern I used is the Damask Jacket from Barb Originals. I bought this pattern several years ago at the Sewing Expo. For some reason I have never sewed it up before. It is a loose fitting swing jacket. As the name suggest it was designed to be made using a Damask Tablecloth. You can use any fabric that has a nice flow to it. Barb also sold some very lovely linen in her booth at the Expo. My tablecloth had a nice drape to it but I didn't want a white jacket. So I tried my first dying project. I followed the directions on the package of Rit Dye and dyed the fabric in my front loading High Efficiency Washing machine. I think it turned out great. The petal pink color shows off the damask pattern better too. It was quite a large tablecloth so I have some leftover. Not sure what I will use it for there is not enough for another jacket. This was a very easy pattern to sew.

Since I was using a vintage tablecloth for my fabric I thought this was a perfect place to use a few of my vintage hankies too. I used two of them, one was added to the peplum at the back and the other at the collar and cuffs. I had a tiny piece of hankie left over from my hankie tops. I decided to make it into a flower pin to add to the lapel. that added just the right finishing touch.

The buttons I used are some vintage buttons someone gave me. I really wanted to use three different large vintage buttons. I had in mind some gold toned buttons with pearly centers. But I could only find one that I liked in my stash. So these gold dome buttons are temporary until I find some better ones. I wanted to wear this jacket to work tomorrow so these buttons are OK for now. It is really hot around here right now but I go from hot to cold with the air conditioning. This is a very lightweight jacket and it will brighten my day. I just have to decide what to wear with it. I love my pretty pink jacket.

















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The Catherine Coat

I have been popping over to Hawthorne Threads from time to time to enter their giveaway contest. Well you know that after a few visits I couldn't resist placing an order for some new fabrics. One of the fabrics that I purchased was this lovely cotton by Micheal Miller called Delilah. I didn't realized until it arrived that is had glittery gold incorporated into the print. I didn't know what I was going to use it for which is often the case when I buy fabric. I decided it would make a nice lightweight jacket I could wear to work in warmer weather. I used The Catherine Coat Pattern by Serendipity Studios. I had some light grey sateen weave cotton leftover from a pair of pants I made last year. There was just enough to make the collar and the faux pocket flaps. I thought it coordinated nicely with the Delilah print. This jacket is unlined and quite simple to put together. I pretty much followed the pattern except for the sleeve. Where the pattern had a separate cuff that the sleeve was gathered into I opted for a 3/4 sleeve with one pleat in the center. I had some vintage gold buttons to complete the look. I used four on the front and one on each sleeve. I like the look of this jacket and it fits very well. The only thing I wish I had done differently is match the print on the front. I never thought about it until the jacket was complete. A bit to late to do anything about. It would have been nice to have those large motifs match at the front. I have worn it several times already. The fabric does shed a lot of glitter for the first few times of wearing. I will probably make this coat again. I already have some fabric picked out for the next coat. I am thinking about incorporating a vintage doily into the design.

Kay Whitt Design for McCall's

I was pleasantly surprised a few weeks ago

when I discovered several Kay Whitt patterns in the McCall's pattern selection. Since the patterns were on sale for $1.00 I picked up two of them. This one is McCalls's 5882. In Kay's typical style the pattern includes various length options as well as ideas for contrasting design elements such as hem bands and tie belts. There is even an embroidery design included. I chose view B the tunic length top. The pattern has a shorter top and several lengths of dresses.

I had the brown and turquoise floral linen in my stash. It was leftover from a skirt I made a few years ago. I found the embroidered brown linen to coordinate for the bodice. I had the turquoise silk dupioni in my stash that I used for the hem band. I also wanted to show some of that silk at the neck edge. My original plan was to make a bias piping at the neck edge. Well when I tried to make a continues bias strip something went wrong and my strip did not end up on the bias but the straight of grain. Since that would not lay well around a curved neckline I opted for a narrow ruffle. I did make the tie belt included in the pattern but I didn't like the way it looked on this top so I removed it. Overall I like this top and the way it fit. One thing I would alter for the next top or dress I make with this pattern is the neckline in the front. For some reason almost every pattern I use the neckline end up being an inch or so to big in the front. I am still wearing this as it is a minor issue and probably the only one who would notice this is me. But it is an easy change to make the next one better. All in all I like this pattern and this top.