Verity Vintage Studio

Item of the Week - Vintage Children's Book

Item of the week in my Etsy shop is this vintage hardcover illustrated children's book, half price for one week only - slashed from $10.

 

With the Best of Intentions...

This week I had planned to make and blog about a slip made from a vintage sewing pattern, with alterations for nursing. But the best of intentions don't always come to fruition when something more important happens!

In this case, I have a good excuse. Our precious son Davy was born on Tuesday. We are busy enjoying him and adjusting to life with a new baby, so no sewing or vintage posts this week after all!

Caramel & Daisy Version of 1930s Transitional Dress

One last maternity make...

 

Earlier this year I tried out this waistless 1930s pattern because I didn't want to make something I would grow out of right away, thus wasting my sewing time. Now at the other end of the pregnancy, I made another version with the thought that I can both wear it now, and it will transition to me being a normal size again!

However, I really wanted it to look as different as possible from my first version...I didn't want to just do the same dress again. 

 

The fabric I used is a rayon dress weight suiting I bought online, which is where I got the rayon dress weight suiting I used for the first version. It demonstrates the handicaps of buying online, since the first dress's fabric is smooth and limp, while this one has a lot more body and a brushed finish like a twill or lightweight flannel. Which is fine, but I was a little uncertain about how it would drape for this pattern since it does have more body to it. I still think it would probably have been more suited to a more structured jacket/skirt set...

Yet I had already made the dress in my mind using this fabric, so being a stubborn seamstress, I went ahead and kept to the original plan. While it's not as drapey as the first fabric and doesn't flow quite as well as the first dress, it hangs well enough I think.

 

Even though this one is a caramel houndstooth, and the other is a darker mini plaid, they both have brown themes so I had to have other ways to make them different from each other. Instead of black velvet accents, I went with the other end of the spectrum for this dress - white eyelet contrast. I wished after I had done the neckline that I'd used a different collar style to change it up even more!

 

This one does not button on the yoke, and I used a different sleeve pattern. I suppose 3/4 sleeves would have been even better to change it up, but it was still summer when I made this dress and I decided I would get more wear out of it if I had short sleeves and could layer if necessary when it gets cooler. 

 

The biggest difference from the original, and the most fun touch, was using vintage daisy trim to draw attention to the round yoke shape. I didn't want to just sew down the trim, and considered tacking it down by hand, but if I was going to do hand work anyway I thought I might as well make it fun. So I decided to embroider the trim in place, even though I am not one of those people who blissfully choose hand sewing as a general rule.

 

After pinning it on the yoke to get the curve right and everything even, I started by adding a touch of color with yellow French knots in the center.

 

Then a touch of coral, to define the petals...

 

And ending subtly with ice blue on the petal tips and between the flowers for the finishing touch.

 

I was really pleased with how it turned out. The lace is securely in place; the color adds interest but not so much that it affects how I have to accessorize it. I'm not good at freeform, but the trim shape gave me a base to work with. Embroidery and embellishment on clothing is very vintage and I rarely take the time to do it, but now I want to incorporate more of it in my sewing projects! It really didn't take that long, I actually enjoyed doing some hand work, and I love the finished look.

What do you think? Did I succeed in making this dress look different enough from the first version?

 

Because I had already made this pattern before, it was easy and quick to put together the second time, despite the self imposed differences which added a bit of time. I can see this becoming a base pattern for me for maternity in the future...it would look quite different yet in dark blue with wrist-length bishop sleeves and alternative collar.

Really, the biggest problem overall was how the fabric liked to fray. I was grateful for a serger as I could gradually encase all those hairy seams and make them tidy.

 

 

I paired it with late '30s accessories - my favorite off-white gloves from the 1930s or '40s, gorgeous brown and white spectator heels that also cross over the decade (Royal Vintage's Peggy), and a close fitting hat in the same color scheme. 

 

It's kind of fun to realize that my first maternity make and my last were the same pattern, thus creating bookends to this particular season of sewing.

Later this fall I'll style it again and show how it looks when it's not maternity wear. But for now, I'm really pleased with how comfortable and pretty it is, and enjoy having people look closely at the trim and say, "That's pretty. Wait...did you embroider that on??" :-)

Item of the Week - Crochet Afghan Quilt Pattern Download

The pattern PDF for this crocheted quilt style afghan is Item of the Week in my Etsy shop, at half price for one week - slashed from $7 per download.

Makeover: Maxi Dress with 1930s Inspiration

I hesitate to even call this a makeover, since it wasn't that involved. I didn't even get a "before" picture because I didn't think it would be worthwhile. But I found that even a little creativity can make a big difference.

 

This started out as a modern dress, picked up at a thrift store because it was dirt cheap, I like polka dots, and the waist detail was cute. It went into my alterations/mending pile where it stayed for over a year. Not long ago, towards the end of my pregnancy when I had outgrown a lot of my other clothes, I realized it had potential for a maternity dress and pulled it out to see what I had to work with.

It's a polyester knit, which I would never sew with and don't usually buy. However, the flow is nice and the print is very vintage. It's quite stretchy, so that worked well for maternity. It was a basic sleeveless maxi dress with a plain, lined bodice, and it went to my ankles or past. Maxi dresses aren't my thing, so I started with the makeover by cutting off about 4 inches. 

 

The nice thing about knit is it doesn't ravel, so I could just turn up and top stitch the hem. I left it long but not almost-puddling-on-the-floor long. I had faint hopes of making at least look 1930s inspired, but wasn't sure I would achieve that.

The shorter length helped to make it more wearable, but it still could use some help and I had the 4 inch strip I had cut off, so I put my mind to what I could do with it. The plain neckline could use some jazzing up...neck detail is huge in the 1930s, and I had plenty of leftovers for a nice size bow. It was a pain to work with since the fabric was so limp and slippery, but I persevered and ended up stacking hemmed circles to make a generous double bow, which I tacked to the center of the neckline. Suddenly it looked a lot more 1930s!

 

Styled with a pearl edged sweater left open (partly to hide the slight distortion of fit and partly since so many of their outfits were fitted under a boxy jacket), I accessorized it with 1930s accessories and actually think that in the end I achieved my hopes for a 1930s overall style, though it's far from period correct. 

 

Regardless of that, however, it's much more feminine and wearable now - much more my style - and all it took was a few minutes to shorten and hem it, and a bit of thought on decoration. Maximum rewards for minimum effort! 

 

Again, I am encouraged to look for potential in thrift store finds, especially if I'm short on time for a whole new project. No need to settle for plain or boring!

 

Now I just wish I had altered it earlier so I could have worn it more while expecting. Oh well, it's served me well already in the past few weeks and probably will in the few remaining.

Item of the Week - Vintage 1960s 2 piece Dress

This handmade 1950s/1960s era two piece dress in a pastel cotton stripe is Item of the Week in my Etsy shop, half price for one week only! Slashed from $25.