And here’s my jumper . . .

Silly pose and I’m not sure what is going on with my hair, but a decent shot of the jumper.   I went out and bought red tights and shoes today.  Well, the shoes are really “cordovan” but there were no suitable red shoes in my size. 

Better of me, but hard to see what the jumper looks like.

Detail of the armhole princess seam that curves to waist, covered button (non functional), inverted pleat, gathers, and the topstitching I did in black thread before I realized the fabric was navy blue and tan houndstooth. 

If I were to sew this over again I would have eliminated the bust dart.  I thought it was a nice detail on the pattern, but isn’t so great on the finished product—the result of the combination of a very short dart; thick, stretchy fabric; and my middling dart-sewing skills.  

My 1963 blouse

Here are a couple shots of my black batiste blouse made from McCall’s 6986 circa 1963.  If you see a funny thing on the shirt that looks almost like a stain, it’s the pattern of my skirt showing through the batiste.  It took me a while to figure out what that was–I kept thinking I had some mysterious stain on my shirt that only showed up in digital pictures.  The front of this blouse was very easy to fit–I really only had to do a narrow shoulder alteration, lower the bust dart a little,  and adust the side seams a bit (take in at bust and add to hip).  I was worried about the upper chest being too big, but with the narrow chest alteration, my upper chest was also narrowed slightly and everything turned out well and I didn’t need to to a FBA!   I moved the shoulders forward and altered for square shoulders as well.   I had a lot more difficulty fitting the back.  I have a sway back but sometimes the two side back waist provide enough shaping for me.  Not this time–I had to add a side seam and take a couple tucks in the center back above the waist to eliminate the extra fabric pooling at my waist.  I did some sleeve alterations, but I’m only 75% satisfied with the sleeves. 

 

It’s been one of those weeks . . .

I have been busy sewing every spare minute I can find in order to complete my last project for the vintage sewing contest.  Well, make that two projects.  I was making a blouse and co-ordinating jumper from this pattern.  I’m nearly finished with the blouse which is made from fabulous Italian batiste from Gorgeous Fabrics.   I picked out a black and tan houndstooth from my stash to make the jumper.  I’ve had this fabric for years in my stash.  It was listed on the website I bought it from as being black and tan; I’ve always thought of it as black and tan.  But after I’d sewn a good deal of the jumper I happened to look at it under an OTT light and saw that it really wasn’t black but very very dark navy blue.   Logically, I know that if the color is so dark that it appears black that I could wear it with the black blouse, black tights, and black shoes or boots.  But now that I know it’s navy blue I just can’t pair it with black.  Navy blue is a color I avoid so I really have little to match.  I was thinking that red tights and shoes would be cute, but I’m not 100% certain that I could get away with that look (not to mention that I own neither).   I do have a cream turtleneck to wear underneath.    This jumper is turning out to be a trial–there were fitting woes and other fabric issues (the fabric has lycra in it and is stretchier than I originally thought which has made fitting a little tricky).  And with a jumper there is a fine line between stylish and, well, I’ll just say not stylish.    Speaking of jumpers, I love this one from the October Burda WOF

More for the vintage sewing contest . . .

 Here are some photos of the jumper and blouse I made for my daughter from Marian Martin 9847.  I did have to alter the blouse and jumper slightly to make them narrower and to make the shoulders less sloping on the blouse.   I described the blouse in an earlier post, so I’ll just describe the jumper here.  The jumper has front and back bands that go around the armholes and that are cut on the straight grain.  The main front and back pieces are cut on the bias.  I used a linen/rayon blend fabric that worked wonderfully on the bias although of course it wrinkles easily which you can see in the photos of my daughter wearing it.   I made bias facings for the neckline and armholes which I slip stitched, following the pattern illustration.  I’d probably use a different stitch if I sewed it again–something with less exposed thread on the interior of the garment.   I hung the jumper for a week,  then put the jumper on my dd and marked the hem and  a one inch hem allowance, which I double folded and basted.  I drew in the basting and steam shrunk any excess fabric in my allowance (this worked great with this fabric) and hand sewed using slipstitch hemming.   I tried out a ton of different buttons on this jumper and considered buttons covered in self fabric, but decided on buttons in a matching shade of blue instead. 

I am really pleased with how this jumper  and blouse turned out.  Never have I made a child’s outfit with so much hand sewing.  I actually love to hand sew, so this was no chore for me and while I stitched I thought of all the other mothers who made this outfit for their daughters and I wondered what kind of lives the mothers and daughters had lived.  

My new favorite workout

This is an off-topic post, but I need to share.  Yesterday my Crunch Cardo Go-Go DVD arrived so I tried it out last night.  I highly recommend it.   The instructor is very cute (note: in the video she is not wearing the outfit she wears on the cover) and it is a very good cardio workout.  My heartrate was up the whole time other than the warm up and cool down portions.  I prefer dance-based workouts and this is the best one I’ve ever done–both in terms of keeping the heartrate up and in enjoyment.  The retro  moves are so fun to do and most are easy to follow.  It usually takes me a few times to get all the moves on any workout dvd and this was easier than some the first go-round.   Lately I’ve been forcing myself to exercise and finding little joy in it, so my routine needed this boost.  I can’t wait ’til my next exercise day. 

Photos–finally!

Luckily there was no power outage when I was downloading these tonight.  Here’s my late 40’s simplicity skirt 2608

I think it looks best with my shirt untucked, even though it covers up the nice waistband detail in front.  I’m just too shortwaisted to tuck in.  I think the back pleats look better in real life than the photo because in real life they swish and sway very nicely when I move.    You may notice something that looks like puckering or wrinkling in the fabric–it’s  the embroidery.  It’s definately a fall/winter skirt and I’ll wear it with boots most of the time.    

Here’s the Marian Martin girls’ blouse

I am done machine sewing the jumper and just have to finish handsewing the  bias facings, hem it, and sew on the buttons.  I’m letting it hang right now before I mark the hem. 

Jumpers are in fashion for fall–so what about this one?

Only two views are shown here, but the straight skirt version can be make into a dress and the a-line into a jumper.  I really, really  like the jumper with the straight skirt but I need a dress that I can easily kneel on the floor in, carry a toddler, bend over to pick things up in so I am planning to sew view C which is the jumper top with the flared, inverted pleat skirt on the bottom.  And the blouse which is fitted with bust and vertical waist darts in front and shoulder and vertical waist darts in back.  I love the shape of the sleeves and the little collar.   Maybe I’ll make the blouse in white, maybe in black batiste.  The jumper will probably be sewn up in a black and tan houndstooth cotton fabric that I have that has a lot more drape than I expected from a fabric of it’s weight.  It will be wonderful for fall.  I need another coverable button for this project.  I may have to do some altering to the upper chest in this pattern as it should fit my full bust–usually I fit my upper chest and add everwhere else so it will be interesting to have a different fit issue.    

I’m still working on the little girl’s linen jumper (the muslin had too much ease so I altered the pattern and have cut out the pieces–just have to sew it up!).  And my 2 year old starts his morning out program this week so I will have a little more time to get these contest projects finished!