My first completed make of the year! One of the lovely things that made my last few weeks so pleasantly busy was the arrival of some beautiful fabric from Riley Blake Designs, which was sent to me to feature as an independent part of their project tours. I was so delighted for a chance to collaborate with them, especially since that means I can comb through their upcoming collections to pick out vintage-appropriate prints to feature.
Often I get inquiries about the fabric I use, and usually it's one-of-a-kind vintage, or out of print. But now, if I feature a print you like, you may be able to find it easily and snag a piece for yourself!
First up is this sweet daisy print from the Blue Stitch collection. Most of the prints in this collection are more modern, but this one works equally well for my type of fashion sewing. In fact, I got some yardage in two different color ways (besides smaller cuts for some quilty projects coming up), and my sister ended up using one of them to make herself a coordinating outfit to mine.
You can see how versatile this print is - working equally well for 1930s or more casual 1950s.
It's funny how well both these outfits express our style and personality. I gravitate toward the more detailed dress patterns from the 1930s and 1940s, while Elsie prefers the classic simplicity (or floof) of the 1950s.
She did a simple 1950s cap sleeve blouse – and it's easy to see how versatile it will be! She was inspired by Audrey Hepburn's outfit in Roman Holiday, and did such a great job on the blouse to match me as well as all her mix-and-match coordinating pieces. She'll be doing a blog post all about it in the near future, so hop on over to Elsie's Adventuring to follow all those fun details!
This pretty daisy fabric comes in 3 different color ways, and while I love them all, I chose the one I liked best to do my dress.
It seemed to be a good fit for a 1930s dress, so after looking over my patterns I decided to do a remake of my Christmas dress a few years back (and just barely squeezed it out of my 3 yard piece). Rayon was not a good original choice for such a structured pattern, and I ended up doing a lot of fudging and making-do, and wasn't even going to ATTEMPT that scalloped collar in such a limp fabric – so another version in cotton was on my to-do list anyway.
Sure enough, cotton was a great choice for this pattern and was sooooo much easier to work with. I decided on a whim to outline the top stitched yoke (so you could see it better) with some teeny tiny white pompom trim from my stash, and I love how it turned out.
The collar too – using a classic white-on-white Swiss dot also from Riley Blake in their basics line – adds a sweet finishing touch.
Since I had made the dress before, it wasn't hard to assemble this time. I had to tweak the fit a bit with the wide waist band, but otherwise it was straightforward and pretty quick, with just enough details to keep it interesting – but no frustrations.
Only took me 3½ leisurely days to make it, which is pretty much instant gratification in the sewing world!
The sleeves turned out so much better than my rayon version, and the cotton is stiff enough that it holds the cute puff shape pretty well without stiffening.
Also found the perfect home for these adorable kiss shaped vintage buttons. I had 4, but one was broken, and since I only needed 3 anyway it was meant to be. The little ribs mimic the daisy shape, and they add the perfect Art Deco touch.
This will probably be an everyday housedress for me, but it is dressy enough that I enjoyed pairing it with white gloves and heels (long awaited navy and white pumps from American Duchess!) for this photo shoot.
Incidentally, this local building in our little town is just the best for indoor photos! It has all kinds of cool old props too, kind of like the Cracker Barrel I used to visit as a child. It's a great place to take photos when the weather doesn't match our outfit's season.
If you like this daisy print, look for it online or in stores! I have more new fabric to show you soon, as well as smaller things using this collection, so stay tuned! February will have lots of blog posts coming up.
Comments