I’ve had this dress for almost a year, picked it up for $15 at the antique market.   It is almost a relief to have finally done my fixes on this dress; clothes are really moving from the to do rack to the closet!  I really love this dress, I feel really at home in it.

Here’s a look at the before:

A 1970s version of a 1930s dress.  You can’t see it in the photos but the little flowers are flocked which I love (not much flocking left but still counts for something).  There’s absolutely nothing wrong with the style, only it needed some repairs here and there.  But for the most part I don’t like high necklines; I feel too closed up.  And the sleeves were shortened in a slapdash fashion by its previous tenant (Hmm, I sense a trend) so I had to do something about that.

This is what I did:

• Cut out and lowered the neckline; removed neck facing that was clearly visible under the sheer fabric.
• Added a pleated Petersham collar that I tacked down by hand. (The stitches seem very obvious to me even though I tried my best to not sew too tightly; I might redo it but it’s fine for now.)
• Cut the sleeves down, leaving a little bit of the previously gathered fabric which I hemmed creating little ruffles.
• Fixed some general wonkiness around the bust seam.
• Cut off the lace and ruffle at the hem and shortened the skirt.  I considered fixing and re-attaching the ruffle but decided I liked the simplicity of the plain hem.
• The ties were very much uneven so I shortened one. (I did not match the lengths exactly as I don’t see a problem with them being off just a little.)
• Fastened a little brooch to the neckline (from Seventh Muse).  I’ve fashioned other things like a yellow velvet bow and such which I can switch out at will!

I have to say I quite enjoy detailing all the repairs and alterations I do to my vintage finds and I hope you do too!  I think so, and I find your comments very kind and encouraging.  Thank you.

I have this habit of buying vintage for a bargain (because pieces are damaged, ill-fitting, etc.) and taking forever to getting around to making repairs and thus wearing said items.  But I’ve made the commitment to change this bad habit into a good one and I’m working my way through my to do pile. This is the first post of my vintage dress parade and I’ll detail the fixes and tweaks I’ve made for each one.  I’ll try to remember to include “before” shots next time, hee hee.

The above late 1930s or early ’40s dress was quite the steal as it was falling apart in various places, had a motley crew of ugly buttons and was an unflattering mid-calf length.  My fixes:

• Changed the buttons to clear glass ones with faceted edges; I figured this would work well both in the light-colored printed (and flocked!) fabric as well as the navy blue organdy.  (My camera died before I could get any close up shots.)
• Added bust darts for a better fit.
• Trimmed the flutter sleeves for a little bit more modern look.  (I felt like I would fly away before I narrowed them down!)
• Hemmed the skirt by a few inches.  Each tier in the skirt was a little bit wider (taller?) than the proceeding one, from waist to hem.  Instead of hemming just the bottom tier (and messing up the sequence) or hemming each tier (too much work!), I hemmed the second navy blue tier to match the width of the first one.  This way there is still some order/design to the width of the tiers.
• Used the piece I trimmed off the skirt and turned it into a sash (original belt was missing).  I can see here that the sash could stand to be shortened (that’s the beauty of taking photos of your projects - you see things you might miss in the mirror!).
• Made other minor repairs like loose seams, wonky tiers, etc.

Next: I love wearing this ’50s dress.  I found it soon after seeing (500) Days of Summer and thought it looked like something Zooey’s character might wear.  I bought a pale grey-blue crinoline just for this dress.  I’m also wearing the same pale blue slip I’m wearing under the dress above.  I considered going dark but then you wouldn’t be able to see the print on the sheer fabric very well.  Anyway, here’s what I did:

• Removed the sleeves: this dress had half sleeves with quick and dirty hems that were not so great.  Since I don’t like fixing/sewing sleeves I just took them off and finished the openings by simply folding under the edges (which doesn’t always work due to the curves but luckily it did in this case).
• Let the waist out: the wearer before me had a tiny waist and had taken it in in several spots around the ruched waist panel.
• Hemmed the skirt. (I will almost always do this!)
• Repaired little holes and opened seams.
• (I thought about pinning on that dark blue rose that I’m holding at the waist along with a ribbon sash but the flower is a bit dark and I think the dress looks nice unadorned.)

Hope you enjoyed this little dress tour!

(By the way, thanks for the Lucy love from the last post - it made her blush!)

Speaking of being tired, I’m feeling a little under the weather.  Besides lack of sleep, it must have something to do with the constant supply of chocolate chip and yellow cake, plus rum and sugar cane coke (in other words, sugar!) this past weekend.  Oh well.  My husband took me out for dinner since I didn’t feel like cooking and I had a nice, large bowl of tubu chigae which is spicy Korean tofu soup.  Despite my lack of desire to cook, I managed to make a trip to the grocery store after work when I was feeling ambitious in terms of what’s for dinner this week: grilled steak and arugula, French onion soup, roasted vegetables.  Oh, maybe some mushroom chicken too.   At the very least I can pop the vegies in the oven in the morning since they are not too much effort.

Anyway, on to sewing. Casey posted some wonderful vintage pieces she hopes to work on; my favorite being the 1930s jumper.  I love jumpers!  There is something very sweet and girlish about them, yet decidedly practical too.  I was inspired to look through my pattern stash and find some jumper patterns that I might want to work on.  I won’t commit at the moment, since you know how that goes!  I think it’s better if I practically finish something before I announce its inception on this blog, therefore we can all be pleasantly surprised by the finished product.

The pattern above is 1950s and the full-skirted version is pretty fabulous.  I’ve decided that I look good in this silhouette.  I wonder, though, if I could possibly have enough fabric?

I love this early 1940s jumper, on the right:

The blouse is pretty sweet too!

This early ’80s style reminds me of something my mom might have made and worn.  I even like that floral print.  It would be especially nostalgic in a fine wale corduroy.

I’m throwing in this non-jumper pattern because it’s another thing I find inspiring right now:

Oh my goodness, can you imagine me traipsing around L.A., sporting a bonnet??  But, really, too cute, yes?  Which one is your favorite?

Thank you for your comments and sales!  I admit, launching the new shop is a little nerve-racking, hee hee.  Anyway, I’m glad to have put the shop up because I can focus more on making things, the best part.

There are many new treats in the shop, including these vintage digital kits!  I’m really happy about them, actually.  I love vintage postcards, particularly Victorian and Edwardian ones, and I’m so stingy about them - I can’t seem to part with them!  So, along with vintage buttons, millinery, calling cards and even an old saucer, I made a digital few kits to share.  Violets & Violas, above, has a ton of high resolution PNG files which are really nice because they have transparent backgrounds which are good for layering in blog headers and scrapbooks.  (And since they are 300 dpi, you can print them out too!)

There’s also a kit with pretty blue vintage buttons, ranging from the 1920s through the 1950s, in PNG format and in a handy collage sheet (JPG) to print out (both 300 dpi).

And red & pink vintage buttons too!  Love those swirly ones.  Oh!, what projects can be made with these…

I’m so thoroughly enjoying the little rain we are having.  Staying in, snug and cozy.  For dinner tonight we’re having tacos with blue corn torillas  (I just love the novelty of them) which I need to make ready right now.

Happy Wednesday, my dears!

(P.S. Images are watermarked and degraded for posting purposes - digital files do not contain these watermarks and are high quality, of course!)