Verity Vintage Studio

Item of the Week - Crochet Pattern for Lace Shoulderette

Item of the Week in my Etsy shop is the crochet pattern download to make this lace shoulderette. Half price for one week only - slashed from $4.

Airing Last Summer's Dress

Last summer I made this 1950s sundress, but never got photos of it on me. Time to remedy that!

 

It's one of those earlier sewing projects, when I had grown a lot in sewing skills but still cut corners that I wouldn't cut now. 

 

Also, the fit isn't too good. But nice wide sashes hide a lot of faults! 

 

I already told you all about the dress in the earlier post about it, so I won't repeat myself here. But I will reiterate...it has such a very, very wide skirt! When standing, because my crinoline isn't wide enough, you can't tell. But it's actually a circle plus skirt.

 

My sister said, "You look like a dish!" Not sure if that's a compliment or not...

 

And also this time I get to show you a lovely vintage hat I added to my collection after an antiquing trip last winter. 

 

I'm not quite sure which era it is, but it fit with the garden-party look of this dress so I paired it. It's a versatile classic style and very shady. And also, hard to take pictures of when it's breezy! :-)

 

You can see the influence of an earlier era in this style, especially when paired with this type of hat. My sister told me I looked like Jo March, on the 1949 version of Little Women.

 

On some of these pictures, I will understand if you are looking at the mountains behind me, instead of at me!

 

This dress just has so...much...fabric. I glanced at the hem and saw it was top-stitched, and remembered just why I did it that way!

 

I often prefer a more tailored style, but occasionally there is nothing more enjoyable to wear than this quintessentially feminine 1950s style!

 

 

 

 

Item of the Week - Coral Flower Pendant

This dainty flower pendant is Item of the Week in my Etsy shop, half price for one week only - slashed from $6.

1930s Blue Print Dress

I picked up 3 yards of this fun print at JoAnn last winter. It reminded me of a 1930s feedsack fabric, and I thought it would be perfect for an everyday dress since it is a dark print. And in my favorite colors.

 

Well, I learned something - next time I'll get at least 3 1/2 yds if it is a one way print! It was very tight to get the pieces all on the right direction, though there were only three of them and the dress is slender. I had to take a pleat in the sleeve and it still hardly fit. 

But I was so pleased with the result! It's perfect for summer. My little sister calls it my "fireworks dress" because of the colors. Come to think of it, it would be a good dress to wear on the 4th of July!

 

This is the second version of this pattern (the first was my gray dress) so it was doubly easy to put together since I knew what I was doing already. I did the same adjustments to the pattern as last time, making it open with a back zipper instead of a side zipper. 

 

I changed it up a bit by looping back the collar (made from white linen) instead of crossing it, and adding tiny red buttons as decoration on the sleeves and bodice.

 

I really like how the skirt isn't too tight, but also isn't too full to be a bother for wearing it while doing housework and normal activities. 

 

Again, it can be worn without a belt. The triple front darts are both decorative and useful for a proper fit, and I probably will wear it without a belt during the hotter summer days ahead. But I also like pairing it with a red belt.

 

These are my newest vintage shoes. Not quite the right era, but I'm having a terrible time finding 1930s shoes. But I love these even if they aren't just right to wear with this outfit and was happy to snatch them off of Ebay for a good price. 

 

It takes so much less time to cut out a dress that has only a few pieces to it! And not so long to sew it up, either. I made it from start to finish in 4-5 hours, I believe. Though I cut some corners by topstitching the hem on the sleeves and skirt instead of doing it by hand. The only hand work was for the collar and zipper, and adding the buttons. Hand sewing on a breezy back porch with a gorgeous view, is definitely not a trial!

 

I do love it when I can combine a needed project with a want-to project - and that's what this one was. Besides being fun to make, almost period correct, and a success. Can't beat that combination!

Item of the Week - Crochet Lace Cowl

This crocheted lace cowl is Item of the Week in my Etsy shop, half price for one week only - slashed from $16.

Plaid 1940s Asymmetrical Dress

One of my projects last year for Linden was a navy blue 1940s cocktail dress. I still haven't gotten pictures of that dress, but I finally got around to taking pictures of the trial dress made first from the same pattern last summer!

 

I call it my peach dress, but it actually has fine red threads woven through it. The fabric was a thrift store find and it's vintage. I don't know the content, but I'm guessing it's a rayon/cotton blend. Very nice to work with and wear. And I think it's from approximately the right era, for this pattern!

 

The bodice has scallops on one side and closes with snaps. The ruffle was intended to be twice as wide, but I didn't like how it looked, so I folded it in half and tacked it down. The buttons are not functional.

 

I added bias band to trim the sleeves, just because! 

 

The belt I cut on the bias too, to add some plaid play, and used a long hoarded novelty turtle buckle. The skirt was fun to do, with the slanting yoke and gathered panel, and looks so very 1940s!

 

 

I finally gave up waiting for the breeze to die down, so this is the best picture I have of the back. Since the dress was on the short side, I ended up doing a very narrow rolled hem, but otherwise adhered to the pattern instructions for the most part. This was one of the first "interesting" 1940s dress patterns I made.

 

For a trial dress from a brand new pattern I was pleased with how this one turned out, overall, and I enjoy wearing it during the spring and summer.

Item of the Week - Toddler's Crochet Pinafore

This cute crocheted toddler's pinafore is Item of the Week in my Etsy shop, half price for one week only - slashed from $16.

Colorful 1950s Picnic Outfit

Today I'm going to show a new project and an old project, combined to make a rather unusual outfit that (I'm hoping) kind of works in a slightly zany way.

 

 

The blouse was recently finished, as a badly needed addition to my summer blouse wardrobe. I used leftover fabric from my blue 1950s house dress, which meant it was a great stash-buster.

 

The skirt, however, is from a few years ago, made during my first few months as a budding seamstress. And it has issues.

 I used an 8-gored skirt pattern taken from a 1950s dress pattern. The green broadcloth was too lightweight and so the wrong choice, and I don't think the pattern I used worked the best for the alternating panels, but hey, at least I was being creative in my early sewing days! The fun retro cherries-and-blue-bowl print is why I call it a picnic skirt. A matching blouse was planned but never happened. Maybe it still will.

 

It's not quite a circle skirt, but pretty wide. Wider than the only crinoline I had that was the right length, so the poof isn't as much as could be desired for the perfect 1950s silhouette. 

 

 

Just to add another splash of color and pick up on the berry theme, I paired it with my strawberry straw purse, and tied in the navy blouse with navy vintage sandals, but otherwise red accents.

Oh, and sunglasses are needed with any picnic outfit! These I picked up at a thrift store. They are modern but have a perfect 1950s cat-eye shape, without being too exaggerated for my taste.

 

The blouse was a mostly complete success and quite easy to do. My first raglan sleeves like this, and it was so nice to not have to set sleeves. I'll have to do patterns that feature raglan sleeves more often. The collar had a few rough spots, but otherwise everything went well and it's exactly what I need for the summer. If I make another version I'll play around with the fit a little more to see if I can get it a little more to my liking.

 

Cherries make me think of summertime, and summer's on its way here in Idaho's Upper Country. Might as well meet it 1950s style! :-)