Verity Vintage Studio

Item of the Week - Vintage Novel On Tiptoe by Stewart Edward White

This hardcover vintage novel is Item of the Week in my Etsy shop, half price for one week only - slashed from $7.

Just Published: 1930s Beret Repro Crochet Pattern

I'm excited to share this news! My latest crochet pattern PDF download in my Etsy shop is a reproduction 1930s beret! It's quick to make and looks oh-so-authentic, especially when modeled by the lovely Cate from Vintage Gal, who kindly reviewed the pattern and allowed me to use her photos to illustrate it!

 

I've read her blog for a while, and love her crocheted sweaters from actual vintage patterns. She usually does 1930s outfits, so I knew she would be the perfect model. I was thrilled when she agreed to make and photograph a beret using my pattern, writing a very kind blog post about the process. Connections are one of the fun things about the online vintage community!

 

My version is in black, with the cutest little vintage glass oval buttons to trim the embellishment. Here I'm wearing it with my bold plaid 1930s Thanksgiving dress.

 

The beret features a simple crown and a lace openwork brim, along with a ruffled embellishment that adds perfect Art Deco flair. Wear it several ways; make it in just a few hours in any color to compliment a 1930s outfit!

Read more and purchase the pattern here.

 

2017 Sewing Recap

 

I always enjoy looking at a roundup of my year's projects. It helps to get an overview when everything is in one place instead of scattered out over weeks and months. I can spot gaps or trends more easily, and hold myself accountable to last year's goals.

This year started and ended with projects made from the same fabric - interesting to see the differences and similarities 2 different decades make. Perfect bookends to the sewing year!

   

1940s dress with removable peplum, 1950s Christmas dress

 

Actually, there were quite a few repetitions throughout the year, more than I had realized until I looked at them all here. I made two new makes of patterns already tried, and 3 new patterns twice.

   

1930s plaid dress, 1930s coral print dress

 

This was the Year of Needful Experimenting. Because of my pregnancy, I laid aside my current sewing queue and tried various patterns with a mind to their versatility. Some worked better than others.

   

1950s seersucker blouse, 1940s adjustable waist dress

 

Versatility meant making patterns that would work for pregnancy and after.

   

1930s waistless dress without baby bump, with baby bump

and again in caramel gingham

 

I even made a more modern pattern for the first time in ages!

1980s seersucker dress

 

I did a lot of need-to sewing, like adding to my house dress collection...

   

taupe/blue 1950s house dress, early 1940s striped dress

1950s coat dress

 

...and made some patterns I wouldn't otherwise have tried - namely, vintage maternity patterns, some of which worked great for afterwards too.

   

   

1940s linen maternity dress, 1930s blue maternity dress

1930s 4th of July dress with baby bump, without baby bump

 

However, these weren't my only firsts. I also got more creative with embellishments including button placement and embroidering lace, altering dress patterns to accommodate nursing, and used a challenging fabric (rayon crepeon) to make probably my favorite sewing project of the year:

1940s Easter dress

 

Plus I made a hat!

 

I also accomplished several refashions that I was very happy with.

   

maxi dress to 1930s style makeover, skirt makeover to 1950s skirt & matching blouse

 

Because of several slack sewing seasons, I had to get creative about subjects to blog about, so I did a lot more thrift store find posts, random outfit posts, and wrote various articles, but I did get all but 2 of my sewing projects photographed and blogged about this year.

   

1930s white twill suit, 1940s house dress

vintage slip with nursing alterations

 

But despite the majority of need-to sewing, I also had time to do some purely extra want-to things, like my new favorite coat.

 

Compared to last year's sewing recap, this year feels pretty scanty. Yet when I consider that there were whole months I hardly did any sewing (pregnancy fatigue early in the year, and then after the baby was born) I think it was still fairly productive (5 of them were made between Thanksgiving and year's end!) even if a lot of these aren't wearable for me right now. The earliest ones are too small and the maternity ones are mostly retired for now, so the projects I currently actually wear aren't that many. 

1950s cocktail dress

 

While not as varied as last year, I still incorporated a number of different styles and decades. I made 7 1930s projects, 8 1940s,   6 1950s, and 1 1980s. 

And how did I do with my goals? Last year I said "I want to sew more things I need, and most of all - sew from the stash! I have a huge amount of fabric and hope to get excited about fabric "shopping" on my own shelves. I'd like to continue the variety of silhouettes, fabrics, and colors implemented this year, and hopefully improve the photography, modeling, and historical faithfulness along the way."

I'd say I met the 1st goal of sewing more things I need (or needed at the time). And probably failed the 2nd goal of sewing from the stash! While several projects were major stash busters, using fabric I've had on my shelves for years, I also bought more new fabric than I had intended. Oops!

 I feel pretty good about the variety of silhouettes and fabrics - from taffeta, linen, and lace overlaying to corduroy, cottons, and various rayons which handle completely differently, my sewing machine saw a lot of variety this year. Colors not quite so much...I see a lot of blues and tan or brown, but there is some coral, pink/red, and black/gray to round it out a bit. No green this year, surprisingly!

Overall I'd say my modeling has improved, and there are only a few posts I cringe at because of a rough hair day, since I learned a lot more about how to handle my hair this year. Oh, and this was the year of shoe reproductions! Adding quite a few reproductions to my wardrobe helped fill in some shoe gaps which improves the historical accuracy of some ensembles. 

the search for casual shoes post

 

My 2018 goals might sound a bit repetitive. I've already talked about sewing more purposefully to meet wardrobe needs. My project requirements of Versatile, Simple, or Useful for Prints still applies, as well as a renewed determination to sew from the stash. I have many, many projects paired with fabric I already have, so all I have to do is Stay Away from Fabric Sales and stick to my sewing queue - I'll have more than enough to do! I really must get my mending/alteration pile under control (maybe force myself to alternate a mending or remake project with a new one). I hope to be a little more varied in my color choices this year and experiment more with trims, but my 2 major new goals are:

1. Make several 2 piece dresses and some mix-and-match outfits (like a jacket and 2 different styles of skirts).
2. Make 1 really nice quality, time-consuming garment with some sort of hand work like beading.

But obviously, whether sewing goals are met or not, it's always good to enjoy the creating process. Refocusing, not stressing out, is what these sewing recaps are for!

Item of the Week - Vintage Style Crochet Quilt Pattern

This vintage style quilt/afghan crochet pattern download is Item of the Week in my Etsy shop, half price for one week only - slashed from $7.

The Fabulous Forties: Women's Suits

While I have never made a perfectly fitting, lined, tailored 1940s suit, I have a huge amount of appreciation for them, and not just because they are work intensive! In sharp contrast to the mostly similar silhouettes of women's suits of other decades (think 1980s...) the 1940s seemed to be especially creative in the variety of cuts and embellishments that made the suits of that decade fascinating to me. The same attention to detail that you would expect to see in a hostess dress or dinner gown can be found in many suits of that era, some of them even elevated from the original use of business wear to suitable for a more formal setting.

Every woman had at least a basic suit for traveling or church wear, if not for business. Yet the changes that were rung on the simple idea of a skirt and jacket are amazing. For your own inspiration, here's a look at some of the gorgeous variety in vogue then.

Of course there were some just basic suits without any trimmings - the secret to looking classy in the basics was to have it perfectly fitted and in a nice fabric.

 

But why go basic when there are so many options for fantastic? 

One of the easiest and most dramatic ways to spice up a suit is a creative use of buttons! In triplets, in decorative tabs, in multiples, in slanted lines, in statement size...looking at these photos is enough to make me rethink the common button row as boring!

 

More ways to play around with closures was to go asymmetrical.

 

There was a variety in jacket styles, which certainly would have helped the wearer find one that flattered her body. From the bolero style cut away in the front and just joined at the waist, to one with an inserted belt, you could get creative if you didn't like the usual suit jacket.

 

How about embroidery to make things interesting? Here Loretta Young sports a suit with dramatic embroidered panels.

 

Fabric choices can make a big difference too. A simple suit style makes the most of the gingham fabric with bias belt insert and pockets, and pleated skirt.

 

Here are stripes in play.

 

Use bands of another fabric for trim!

 

While one color suits were most common, you could also coordinate for a 2 piece look.

 

Collars and cuffs are a great place to step out of the ordinary.

 

As for added detail, the appliqués, tabs, pleats, ruffles, and pocket detail on these models are breathtaking!

 

Here's a fun idea - a perfectly plain suit is the backdrop for a giant chain that goes from one breast pocket to another for a necklace look.

 

This image shows 3 different classy suits, all of them subtly special in some way. The one on the left has contrasting pocket detail and collar binding, as well as bias play. The center one has an interesting closure and some amazing contrasting appliqués. The simplest one, on the right, still has pocket detail and is double-breasted for an out of the ordinary look.

 

While some of these would be challenging without a pattern, some of the detail additions or closures would be easy to adapt to any basic suit pattern. Each of these ladies look so perfectly put together and smart - it's a real challenge to bring as much attention to a suit as to a cocktail dress. All these images have inspired me...one of these days I will have to find the right fabric and tackle a sophisticated 1940s suit. 

Only with so many ideas and options, how on earth will I settle on which one I want???

Made for Christmas: 1950s Raspberry Gingham

I avoided the tempting novelty holiday prints this year to make a dress suitable for Christmas but not unseasonal to wear during the rest of the winter. 

 

I made it the week before Christmas and it came together quickly, and much as I had envisioned it when I mentioned it on my to-do list a few months ago (the 3rd or 4th completed project from that list already!) 

 

As usual, being the 2nd time I've made this dress meant it went together pretty rapidly since I knew what I was doing.

 

I used black velvet for the trim, and black faceted glass buttons actually from the 1950s add a bit of subtle sparkle. The only thing I altered from my original plan was also adding velvet bands to the sleeves.

 

The top stitched bias panels add such cute detail to an otherwise basic dress.

 

My one difficulty with this dress was the contrasting collar. My first version had a self collar from the facing, and when I looked at the pattern this timeI saw it had a facing piece and a collar piece. I thought, "Why not just use the facing piece in contrast and not bother with the added collar?" Well, I found out. The way it twists to become collar at the top of the buttons made it extremely difficult to look right with the heavy velvet. I ended up taking a pinch out of the underside and sewing a long horizontal dart, but even still it rolls back a bit and shows the gingham underside and doesn't lay right above the buttons. I gave up after a lot of fiddling with it and decided it was passable. It would have been a lot easier to do the facing in gingham and add the separate collar piece on top! I suppose I should stop thinking I know better than the pattern instructions. :-)

 

I love the rayon, and when I realized that my first dress of 2017 and my last were made from the same fabric, I was tickled at the perfect bookends they made to my year of sewing projects. (2017 recap hopefully coming soon!)

These photos were taken the day before Christmas when we had little snow and it was quite gray and chilly out, so they were a bit hurried. However, that night (Christmas Eve) we got a few more inches so our Christmas was whiter than it shows here!

 

I paired it with long black 1950s gloves and my favorite black vintage heels. Item to Note: vintage shoes have leather soles, and leather soles are very slick in the snow!

 

Also a lovely vintage wreath brooch in non-traditional colors I picked up at an antique store a few years ago and just love. I added it to make me look a bit more festive and holiday-ish since my dress is more generic.

 

The project I was most excited about, however, was the hat. When I saw Va Va Voom's halo hat tutorial a while ago I just knew I had to make some for myself, especially since this shape of hat is one I consider wearable and flattering for myself. I bought some wool felt and whipped this one up in a very short time one evening and was so happy with how it turned out - now I can make my own in any color needed to round out my hat collection! 

 

I trimmed it with a vintage veil from my collection and some sprays of white berries found at the craft store years ago and squirreled away until now. They were originally a small wreath, which I unwrapped to use the sprigs separately. Unfortunately they are styrofoam and thus not very good quality, but they look pretty nice and accurate as long as you don't touch them. I pinned them on so I can remove them and put other trimmings on at any time - I have a nice feather spray that would look good on it as well.

 

Now I need to make a gray halo hat, and a navy halo hat, and a red halo hat...

 

My biggest problem with the dress is that I accidentally made it a bit too small to be completely comfortable. Ah well - another incentive to lose those remaining baby pounds! (And the added holiday pounds...;-)

 

So there it is - this year's Christmas dress! I'm quite pleased (and surprised) at the amount of sewing I've accomplish lately and have a few new projects planned, but first a sewing hiatus is in order so I can work on some other projects including diminishing my out of control mending-and-alterations pile!

 

Item of the Week - Lot of 2 Vintage 1960s Patterns

These lovely 1960s vintage sewing patterns are Item of the Week in my Etsy shop, half price for one week only. Slashed from $14.