Completed Project: Butterick 4228

Well, it's done!  This was a fun pattern to sew and I'm quite pleased with the result.  If you've been following along, you know that I did a wearable muslin of the top of this pattern last month.  I wanted to be sure that the top would fit.  Here it is.

I made the entire dress from lavender linen.  I love linen!  The hand, the drape, the fact that it's a natural fiber, the ease of sewing!  Well, everything about it!  Here's the result.

The skirt will go with either top nicely.  Here's a dtetail pic of the little front vent on the linen top.

I would definitely consider making this ensemble again.  It was a very easy pattern and I love the way it came out.  I'm sure I'll be wearing it a lot this summer.  Thanks, as always for peeking, and your comments are always welcomed.

Lesson From the Past:3 - Collar Craze

I went to college in the beautiful and historic city of Troy, NY.  Troy has many an historical claim to fame.  It was the home of Uncle Sam, the place of the first publication of A Visit From St. Nicholas ('Twas the Night Before Christmas) and it was the birthplace of the detachable collar.

The detachable collar was first invented in 1827 at #139 3rd Street, Troy, NY, by Mrs. Hannah Lord Montague (1794-1878).  Mrs. Montague was tired of scrubbing her husband's collars.  The inside of the shirt collar seemed to magnetize sweat and dirt, while the body of the shirt remained quite clean.  In answer, Mrs. Montage fashioned a detachable collar so that the shirt could continue to be worn while the collar was removed, and replaced with another, while laundering. Her husband, Orlando Montague, proudly showed-off his wife's invention and soon several commercial concerns embraced the idea, including the Cluett-Peabody Company, makers of the Arrow shirt.  Troy became a major producer of shirt collars for the entire country and earned its moniker as the "Collar City".

Women also embraced this new fashion creation.  Especially in the lean nineteen thirties and forties, detachable collars and faux blouse fronts, called dickies, were used to extend the wardrobe by making it seem as though one owned multiple different blouses.  One could wear one well made dress or suit and change out the collars or dickies for different looks.  Make and Mend for Victory includes several ideas for making these incredible wardrobe stretchers!

Completed Project: Butterick 4228

I completed the wearable muslin top portion of Butterick 4228.  This is a pattern from the sixties, an era I seem to have suddenly become enamored with. 

As touted on the pattern envelope, this top was easy!  And it has a very flattering drape.  Here is a picture of the completed top.

I thought it would look nice styled with this cardigan.

My plan is to do the complete suit in this lilac linen.  Then the skirt will have two interchangeable tops.

I need to prewash the linen, so I think I'll jump into a couple of other projects first, but I'll be back to this one pretty quick because I can't wait to wear it as an outfit!

HB 2 Me!

I'm sure I'm not alone in treating myself to a couple of goodies for my birthday.  At least I hope I'm not just utterly selfish and the only person who would do such a thing. 

I "found" a new antique shop on the outskirts of town.  Apparently they've been there since February, but who knew?  Certainly not me.  Anyway, I decided that today, being my birthday, I was not going to clean or do other housework, I was going to treat myself to an outing.  So, I went to the antique shop.  There I found two soft cover books of interest to sewists.

The first is the 1940 Simplicity Sewing Book, which sold for 15 cents at the time!  This gem is packed with advice on everything from fabrics to pattern fitting and alteration, and all manners of finishing, including facings, plackets, buttonholes, frogs, edging and hems.  The copy I got is worn around the edges, but still in very servicable condition!

The second item is the 1942 Make and Mend for Victory, produced by the Spool Cotton Company. The inside front cover contains the Consumer's Victory Pledge:

     "As a consumer, in the total defense of democracy, I will do my part to make my home, my    community, my country ready, efficient, strong.

     I will buy carefully -- and I will not buy anything above the ceiling price, no matter how much I may want it.

     I will take good care of the things I have -- and I will not buy anything made from vital war materials which I can get along without.

     I will waste nothing -- and I will take care to salvage everything needed to win the war."

Good advice to this day, really!  This volume teaches how to mend and patch, reclaim used wool, and restyle a variety of garments.

I had also indulged myself in a couple of patterns from Sandritocat's Etsy Shop.  I can make patterns larger to fit me, but I love it when I don't have to.  She had a couple of larger sized patterns I loved, so I treated myself and they came in today's mail.

Butterick 4228 is a skirt and top with the look of a sheath dress.  There is no date on the envelope, but it certainly screams 60s.

McCall's 6199 is copyright 1961, and is a suit with two skirt options, a slim pencil skirt, or a flared skirt.  I'm eager to sew both of these.
As far as the UFO dress, goes, I am working on that as well.  Just a few more tweaks and I should be able to reveal!  Thanks for attending my little birthday party and watching me "open" my gifts!

Another UFO Project: Butterick 4355

OK, so several years ago I started this pattern.  At the time, my job entailed dressing professionally for meetings and conferences.  Now my job entails sewing in jeans and a t shirt, mopping the floor in my jammies and walking the dog.  This will not exactly meet my everyday needs.  Perhaps an interview suit, should something open up locally in my line of work.  In any case I cut it ages ago, the dress and the jacket.  As you know, my goal is to sew through all my UFOs until there are no more, so, now's the time to finish this one.  Dress first, then the jacket at a future date.  What do you think?  Is it too dated?

Completed Project - Boxy Jacket

New Look 6619 is done!  I'm not sure why I relegated this to the UFO pile, but I'm glad it's out and done!  I'm happy with the way it looks with the previously completed skirt, and it fits nicely.  Here are some pictures:

My biggest critique of myself here is that I did not carefully match the plaid.  I remember not really caring at the time I cut it, which is very uncharacteristic of me.  I remember having enough fabric to cut it, but not to match.  All in all, not bad for a UFO completion project.  Have a super day!

Buttoning Things Up

Having worked all morning on it, the lining is in, tacked, hemmed, and generally looking good.  Or, at least I hope its looking good.  The jacket still needs some final pressing and the buttons and buttonholes.

Which is what led me to my button stash.  Modest I suppose, compared to my fabric stash(es), it's still always confusing to pick buttons for a project.  With the sailor dress, I really did not already have in my stash, the button that was needed for that project, but with this jacket, I was pretty sure I had something that would work.  That being said, it was more work than I anticipated to choose!

First I sorted a little by size and general appearance.  "The One" needed to be about an inch in diameter in order to be seen, but not so big as to steal the show.

Some were too brown for a grey suit, some were too bright.  I finally settled on these, a 7/8ths inch faux tortoise shell set.  I hope to finish this one tomorrow, but we'll see what the day brings!

Next Project: UFO #1, New Look 6619

So, the first of my UFOs to be rectified is New Look 5519, a cute boxy jacket.  I believe I started this two years ago.  I had a great menswear wool suiting fabric on hand and I decided to make a suit.  I completed a nice pencil skirt, and chose this pattern to make a jacket from, and then cut it out and never began the sewing.  Though I have made many successful jackets in the past I remain intimidated by them - buttonholes and buttons and linings - oh, my! 

I have now gamely started the process of sewing and have put together the main body of the jacket, view C.  Next up is adding the sleeves.  I'll keep you posted!