After an unproductive week, I ticked off quite a few sewing projects from my list over the weekend. (So I’m going to break them down into 2 or 3 little posts.) The first one I’m going to share is this silvery grey 1930s silk dress that I rescued at a local flea market. It is literally coming apart at the seams and for a while there I had it decorating the wall of my studio:

It’s the yellowed and faded blue one on the far left.   Despite, or perhaps because of, it’s sorry state I fell in love.  It’s extremely delicate but I decided that I really wanted to wear it, even if only for a day.  The first step was to do something about the color: I soaked it in a diluted solution of water and Pearl Grey Rit dye.  Then I…

• Took up the shoulders and gathered the extra collar/capelet where I took them in
• Cut a foot off the hem (my hem turned out very wonky – yay for bias cut fabric!)
• Removed a very sad little bow on the back
• Repaired the major holes, rips and loose bits.

I can’t decided if it needs any embellishment as I sort of love it unadorned.  I thought about lightly stitching on a black satin sash either at the neck or in the back.  Or perhaps using a sash as a belt around the waist.

What else went into the dye bath?  This lovely Edwardian blouse from 1385:

This one started off white and yet took on the same lavender-grey color of the blue dress.  This top is also extremely delicate and I bought it for cheap “as is” because of all the holes in it.  But I had to…

…I cannot get over the details!  This handiwork – can you imagine creating all this from scratch?  I’m crafty but I would not have the patience for or the will to do something like this.

So I fixed the holes:

Little patches.  I got the fabric from the sides as the blouse was too big and there was a big whole under the arm anyway.  I reset the sleeves; I did not re-cut them so they are big-ish but it seemed like more effort than I wanted to spend and I think they look OK.

I know, a lot of work for such a delicate little thing.  But the patches are a nice touch, don’t you think?  I rather like them.

I love to watch movies for the costumes.  (And if you’re anything like me, you do too!)   I had placed Kit Kittredge: An American Girl in my Netflix queue months ago for this very reason.  I’ve never had much interest in the American Girl doll phenomenon (I have to admit, I’ve been more of a Barbie fan) but when I saw the trailer for this movie I figured it would be a wealth of Depression era fashion inspiration.

“Depression era fashion inspiration” sounds rather contradictory.  But even those families who had to pinch their pennies often managed, with a lot of creativity, to produce unique and pretty clothing for themselves.  Feedsacks, scraps and old clothes were given new life and transformed things like day dresses and quilts.

My favorite part of everyday 1930s fashion (besides the sweetest prints and handmade sweaters) are the little details: plackets, collars, ties, buttons, etc.!

I don’t want to spoil the movie for you so I’ve only posted some of my favorites. There are plenty more highlights in the movie, including lots of inspiring grown-up wear!  (I even spied some Remix shoes.)  It’s a cute family film with a wonderful cast (Stanley Tucci, Abigail Breslin, Joan Cusack and Julie Ormond), albeit a little slow at times.  It would be a good movie to watch on a Sunday afternoon or weekday evening with a pot of tea and some vintage sewing or knitting to work on.

Have you seen this movie?  If so, what are your thoughts?  What costumes movies do you find inspiring?

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!)