I mentioned the other day on Facebook that I was going to start going through my sewing to-do pile.  I can’t help but collect pretty vintage things that need repair or alterations, or start and stop sewing projects.  But then I end up with many garments (things that languish at the bottom of my fabric stash for months, years even) that could be rather fetching when done–eep, if they ever do!  It’s a bad habit I’m trying to break; alas, it’s difficult since I get so excited by new ideas and outfits.

Please excuse the crappiness of these photos.  Taking pictures of one’s self can be quite the challenge and it’s something I haven’t taken the time to master.  I’m for sure making the goofiest faces in these so I must continue to bombard you with headless images.  (Oh, but don’t you love this bag?  It was a bargain and a birthday gift to myself last year!)

First up: this $5 1960s blouse.

I don’t like long sleeved blouses and there was a stain near one cuff anyway so I just chopped the sleeves off to create short ones.  The hems stuck out in a funny way so I threaded some 1/4″ elastic through them.  I thought about changing the buttons and maybe even widening the neckline but that’s a lot of work and I think it looks OK as is, especially if I leave the top button undone. (I don’t like tight necklines; I feel too closed up!)  The rows of lace and eyelet are the best parts.

Now the skirt:  I started to make this before Christmas, from vintage Simplicity pattern #7869 (View 5, specifically):

It’s of fine wale red corduroy.  I didn’t finish it in time for the holidays because, ha, I gained some weight and could not zip it up!  (Yes, before the sugar cookies and turkey and such.)  Shame-faced, I tucked it away only to find it again while reorganizing my fabric stash.  (Which is something I have to do periodically as it can get quite messy and chaotic in there.)  Thankfully I’ve lost that extra cushion around my middle and was delighted to find that the skirt fit; all I had to do was hem it.  The hips seem a bit big now and I wish I had clipped and notched the seams of the waistband  a lot more (especially in the front) since the thickness of the fabric is creating a ridge that is a little too obvious for my liking.  Oh well, not all my projects need to turn out perfectly and at least it’s wearable!  (I was, however, able to install the zipper in one take which is pretty darn fantastic as that’s one of my least favorite things to do and it’s always a headache for me.)

I do like how the vintage ivory and gold buttons look against the red:

It’s a bit like Christmas in the spring!

Per my statement above, I cut down the armhole ruffles quite a bit.  Even still, I feel like these are very pronounced.  ”Hey everyone, check out my armhole ruffles!”   But I’m sure it’s just me and my desire to be inconspicuous (so says the girl who BLOGS).

Cotton voile, how I love it.  The weight and print are perfect for this vintage style.  Because it’s so floaty, I added a ruffle at the hem to weigh it down and balance the silhouette.  And you may recognize that belt – it’s from my vintage shop.  I decided it went perfectly so out it went, into my closet.

The next dress is a doozy:

It’s bright seafoam green!  And synthetic!  But also really fun and cute.  (Via Clever Nettle’s shop.)  I really wish I had taken a “before” photo (I’ve got to remember to do this!) because I changed out the collar.  It seemed like a trend back in the ’60s to make necklines look like they are backwards: high in the front, low in the back like in this dress.  Personally, I’m not a big fan mostly because I don’t like the feeling on stuff on my neck with the exception of a really soft (and loosely applied) scarf.

Back to the neckline: the front was high and wide with a standing collar that came down in a “v” in the back, tied is a bow.  I really liked the bow idea and wanted to retain that.  Here’s what I did:

• Removed the collar (2 pieces) and bias tape.
• Cut a “v” down the front (I put in the dress and pinned the bottom of the “v” so I’d know where to cut).
• Lined up the collar pieces to the front and cut off the access length; sewed down open ends.
• Restitched the collar pieces on by hand (Doing it this way seemed to leave little room for wonky seams even though it takes longer [but it's better then picking out stitches!]).
• Restitched bias tape to areas of neckline that did not have collar pieces sewn to it.
• Created a loop from left over collar to make the bow in the front.
• Stitched loop to front and fed collar ends through it.

I like it!  It’s just sassy enough.  Now I just need to figure out how to get wrinkles out of this material!  (If anyone knows how to get wrinkles out of stiff, synthetic fabric without melting it, I would love to know.)

I didn’t have to do anything else to the dress, surprisingly.  The skirt doesn’t even need hemming but it looks better if I fluff it up with a proper crinoline.

Now I’m ready for some early fall dresses.  I’ve had more ’60s dresses on my mind but instead of fitted waists and full skirts I’m looking into my stash of patterns for late ’60s a-line mini dresses.  Something that would look cute with leggings or tights and clogs and clog sandals.  (Here is L.A., I wear sandals for as long as humanly possible even when the weather gets chilly and my toes go a little numb.)

Thank you, dears, for stopping by!  I hope you enjoyed the dress parade.

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!)

Phew!  It took a little while to get all of this up; I wanted to get the shipping as accurate as possible as well as list all necessary details for each piece.  I’m just making my September 1st self-imposed deadline!  Anyhow, please take a look when you can.   I’ve got some really beautiful things in the shop for really reasonable prices.  Just wanted to note: I’ll reimburse shipping overcharges that exceed $1.00 USD.  That might be especially helpful if you are combining goods.

Also, if you order over $20, I’ll include a free vintage hankie in your shipment! (Unless you only order crochet patterns since I can’t email you the hankies, hee hee.)  I’ve got a bunch of white hankies with simple designs that I just hand washed so they are ready for new homes.

Happy looking!

» fable* on etsy