Sew Grateful: Sharing Resources Day

Came across this on Sew Essentially Sew's blog today - what a great idea!  I'm coming in late to this, but I adore our lovely little online sewing community, and I want to give back.  I might play catch-up, or I might just continue on from here and maybe do the Day 1 (Giveaway Day) later on, once I get organized.  Either way, I'll at least start with today's topic. 

Even if it's tomorrow for most of you.

Wednesday the 26th February: Sharing Resources Day. Share a free pattern, share some vintage sewing resources, share a tutorial or share some great sewing resource links!

This past rotation in camp, I was procrastinating on Debbie's Blog (Stitches and Seams) enjoying some very informative entries, and I came across her post about SBCC Patterns.  In particular, their free t-shirt pattern, the Tonic Tee.

It's a basic knit t-shirt pattern that comes in sizes XXS-L and XL-3XL.  While they charge $10 for a paper copy, they're offering the PDF version for free! 

All honesty here, I haven't tried it yet.  But I've got it all printed out, and it's in the list of Things-To-Sew in my upcoming Sewcation, so I'll let you guys know how I feel about it when I get to it.  Debbie did sew this though, so go check out her post about the pattern!  She even includes some helpful advice for attaching the neck binding (which I'll be stalking excessively this weekend).

Guys, SBCC Patterns have a bunch of really cute patterns, and I'm interested in their Mimosa Blouse and possibly the Empire Waist Blouse.  (*psst*  Debbie also made the Mimosa, and it's adorable!)

So that's my "free pattern" share.  Not sure if that's exactly what was meant for this day, but I've been excited to try this out and share with you all, so why not a little early! 

...Hopefully it's a decent pattern and I haven't shared something awful with you all...

NAH.  Debbie seemed to approve, and that means a lot in my books!

Vintage Pattern Thrifty Finds

So much creating lately, but not much sewing.  Well, other than the Tiramisu I finally finished up for a wedding a couple weeks ago, but there's some tweaks needed so it'll be a post for another day!

Yesterday, I did a bit of retail therapy in the form of treasure hunting at the local thrift store.  I went specifically looking for something to act as a yarn bowl (something to keep balls of yarn from rolling all over my unvacuumed floor), but the only thing that I liked was a super thin-glass round vase, and that's just asking for a cut foot.

I did, however, luck out a bit in the 5 (yes FIVE!) drawers of sewing patterns!  They're mostly filled with 80's and 90's patterns, and since our only fabric shop has only sold Kwik Sew and Burda patterns for decades, there's some real...interesting patterns from that era in those drawers.  Spandex men, women, and kids' athletic gear anyone?

There are some gems every now and then though, and more often then not they're of the vintage rather than modern variety.  Like this cute sleeveless blouse.  Butterick 3286 is basic, but with some great neckline variations.  And, surprise surprise, in my size too!  I'm desperate for more bottom layers...

And look at this cute 1973 jumper and blouse pattern!  Simplicity 5913.  Why do I love the 70's Simplicity patterns so much?  They're colourful cover art from that era always catches my attention.  I normally avoid shift-like dresses (my wip Laurel excluded, of course), but then I noticed the dart shaping:

AND it immediately went into my pile.  Not sure if it's me, as I've barely worn a skirt or dress all summer, but I certainly wasn't leaving it behind!  Thank you, whoever you are, for donating all of your pretty vintage patterns in my size.

Then I found this gem.  I've heard of Stretch & Sew from other bloggers, but I'd never come across them before (that I'd realized, anyways).  I did some reading up on Ann Person, and she sounds like a remarkable woman.  Apparently she received a box of knit remnants from someone after teaching a class in the 60s, and when she went to sew it up into kids clothes she realized that knits were a lot different than wovens.  She started to experiment and came up with her stretch & sew methodology, which she then started teaching to others and creating patterns.  Patterns that are based on real body measurements, apparently.  And then an apparently hugely popular pattern company was born! 

I was surprised to see that the pattern was printed double-sided on a heavy sheet for tracing and includes sizes from 28-44.  Remarkable for a 1967 pattern!  She apparently did this to make it easier for people to get the right fit by grading to other pattern sizes.

The pattern itself is Stretch & Sew 300, and I immediately fell in love with the cardigan on the front.  Looking at the line drawing, it appears to have less shaping than I'd like, but that's not a hard alteration, especially in a knit.  On a more annoying side, this pattern cost me $1, compared to 25 cents all the rest cost, just because it's in a larger envelope.  But then I realized I was getting pissy about paying a dollar for a vintage pattern and shut up.  Perspective: I sometimes lose it.

Oddly, my favourite find out of the bunch was this 1972 McCall's 3272 transfer pattern for embroidery.  Look at all those cheery images!  The marching pengins!  The scottie dog!  THE BEE!  I need to start embroidering happy things all over everything.

Hummingbird Sewalong - Sabrewing House

My Hummingbird pattern just arrived, and it look like I'm in Sabrewing House for the sewalong!  I'm ridiculously pleased that not only am I home for the Hummingbird sewalong this coming week, but my pattern actually made it in time for it.

Now I just need to decide which of these knits I'll use first.

Oh who am I kidding, it's definitely going to be this fugly one:

Have You Seen the New Burda Plus Patterns?!

I'm having a tough time containing my joy over Burda's new plus-sized patterns.  Unlike what they've been doing lately, these patterns actually appear to touch the body below the shoulder!  *gasp*  Look!  Fitted jackets!  Flattering dresses and tops!  A corset top! 

I've tried to limit which ones I show here, but I love them all, seriously.  I don't know yet whether these are supposed to be in their magazine or just sold as patterns, but I need to find and buy them all.  Which of course makes me hope like crazy it's in the magazine so I can get them all at a decent price, but I think I'll buy them even if I have to pay full price for the patterns.


I mean, look at this jacket!  I love the leather and wool panels!  The hand stitched details along some of the seamlines are gorgeous too.


And I'm also in love with this jacket!  The leather trousers are probably not quite for me (I have epic thunder thighs), and yet I'm curious about them.  And now I've realized that I NEED a long white lacy skirt for the fall.

This jacket is similar to the ones above, but I love the lace detail around the neck (I think? Or maybe it's gathered light-weight fabric) and the hook and eye closure.  While I hate the fabric they chose for the corset, it's also pretty and has a lovely neckline.

I'm always always on the lookout for a pretty, basic, but flattering blouse.  Oh my love, I think I have found you.  How pretty is this?!  The Dirndl Blouse isn't showcased with the rest of the pattern in the spread, but it's here in the store, worn with the corset above (which shows off it's lovely neckline).

This dress is the last garment I'm showing (and really, I think that only leaves behind one top, which is basically this dress cut shorter), and I love it!  Well, I'm not a fan of how low cut it is (although I'm sure my boyfriend would love it), but is it ever gorgeous!  I love the fabric they chose for it too.  I even suspect that the mid-riff panel would help decrease the preggers look with all those gathers there.  Possibly.  Maybe? 

What do you think of the patterns?  Will you be off to buy them all, or are you going to take a pass this time?

Planning for the Kaleidoscope Vintage Blouse

Now that I have a working sewing space, I'm itching to get back to sewing.  And of course, I want to sew with the pattern (Simplicity 4888) and fabric (kaleidoscope cotton) that Kristin sent me the other day!  So I'm combining them.  However, I felt like the kalidescope fabric is just too crazy on it's own, so I've picked up some black cotton to create some sort of yoke to incorporate into the blouse.  I wasn't sure what kind of design I wanted though, so I traced out the blouse pattern and played a bit:

Although I planned to do it on all of them, I only coloured in the fabric print on #4 because THAT took me about 15 minutes.  But it gives a pretty good idea of what the finished top would look like.

While I do like versions 1-3, I really liked the mock sweetheart yoke version (4-6), and played around with sleeve and collar colours.

Which design do you like best, 1, 2, 3, or 4?  If you like the sweetheart version, which sleeve and collar treatment looks best?  I'm also considering using piping, and the colour of the collar will determine whether I use black piping or the coloured print piping.

SO MANY DECISIONS!  How do you designers make up your mind?!

Look at What Arrived in the Mail! (ahem, last week...)

The lovely Kristin from quiet and small: adventures in ph.d-land purged some of her fabric and pattern collection a while back, and instead of doing the easy thing of donating them, she offered them up - first come first served style - to her readers!  And I jumped all over that.  Because I totally need more fabric and patterns.

I liked the simplicity of the, erm, Simplicity pattern, especially that adorable peter pan collar.  It doesn't include a lot of shaping, but the size matches my upper bust, and I figured I could add some waist darts if needed while I do the oh so needed FBA.  Or I'll just try tucking it in.  I've been liking that look on me lately!

Kristin was trying to entice Tanit-Isis or Oonaballoona to take this one, but I was greedy and scooped it on them.  How can I resist those colours?!  I'm determined to have a more colourful wardrobe this winter, since oh ho hello there 24 hour nighttime.  I'll need some brightness to keep me smiling!  Plus it sort of reminds me of the northern lights that's going to totally make up for the lack of sunlight.  Kristin also threw in the black bias tape, which will be perfect for the blouse I have in mind for this. Not sharing that with you yet though, because I have a bad habit of changing my mind as soon as I say what I'm going to do.  Haha um, not so good for wardrobe planning.

This is what I think is a vintage knit.  It's thin and has a lovely texture, and I'm considering making a long-sleeve t-shirt with some pintucks at the neckline or something. But now that I've said that, it'll probably become something else entirely.  Isn't the colour lovely though?  I'm loving this mustard yellow lately.  So pretty!

Thanks for the fabric and pattern Kristin.  I'm eager to get my scissors and needles into them! 

Watch out for my next post, where I show you how I plan to sew in a tiny room, which also serves as a change room, library, workspace, and oh yeah, my bedroom.  Goodness grief, this is going to be interesting.

Burda Style 6/2011

A few days ago, I mentioned the Burda Style magazine I picked up recently (6/2011), and people seemed interested in a recap of what's inside. Well, I'm sick of doing thesis edits, so here's that recap! WARNING: Picture Heavy!

Being the June edition, there's a strong bias towards beach wear and fun summery clothes. I adore almost all of it. While there's not a lot of structured garments, who wants to wear constricting clothes in the summer! There's some fabulous basic pieces in this.

First off, they did a bit of a tribute to Brigitte Bardot, and from what I read in this article, they hit the nail on the head capturing her style, with lots of feminine and chic - but simple - pieces, and great styling.

LOVE this top! (And the one above it, too!) It'd be difficult to get the wide neckline right so that it's not slipping off the shoulder or showing off bra straps (although I just discovered that strapless bras can actually be comfortable if you get the right kind, so I may need to take advantage of that). This would look fantastic with my denim pencil skirt, I think!

Okay, so I won't be wearing a bikini any time soon, but I've been wanting to make some simple undergarments for relaxing at home, so I'm not stuck in my more structured pieces. I really want to make this bikini top, and I want to try out the bottoms as underwear, as I don't have a pattern that works for wovens.

J'adore this dress, although I'm not sure if it'd be a good look on me with my larger bust and hips. The sweatheart neckline, fitted bodice, and flaired skirt in such a feminine floral fabric is just lovely!

They recommended painting little hearts on a pair of ballet flats (which I think is a cute idea, actually), and I loved the look so much, I was inspired buy these ballet flats (below) yesterday!

I wasn't a fan of the next set of garments, although they were certainly colourful! I liked this one below as a cover-up in the summer, though!

I wonder if a pattern for the parrot is included?

Okay, so the dress above is cute, but I can't get away with wearing something like this. With a larger bust and hips, I'd probably look like I was wearing a potato sack (granted, a colourful and fun potato sack). Probably wouldn't be hard to fix, though, with a self-fabric belt or something.

What I liked about this Burda edition is that they're targeting beginner sewists. They wrote up this step-by-step tutorial to make the pink dress above (it even has pockets!), and I think it's a much better first project than the shorts or A-line skirt most people start with! Really easy with great results. May need to keep this in mind for the next time I convince a friend to start sewing!

Don't these two dresses scream summer? I noticed that Burda remakes the same garments in different fabrics and styles throughout the magazine, but I liked that as you can see the diversity of the pattern. I often get stuck on how the envelope design and get intimidated from trying different fabrics, so I appreciated the multiple versions of the same pattern.

I'm loving all the plaid fabric they used! Seriously, Fabricland needs to get some larger print plaids in stock.
Okay, this is the same blouse shown in the Brigitte Bardot section, but how cute is it made up in a sheer fabric! I wish I'd seen this before I cut into my sheer black polka dot fabric shown here.

Love this wrap top...thing. They had made it up as a beach cover up earlier on in the magazine, but it only caught my eye here in the white. See, that's another reason to appreciate them making it up in different fabrics! Diversity, I love it.

Once again, another good beach cover up when full length. I like the simplicity of it, rather than the drape-y complexity of the bright one shown earlier in the post. I also think this would make a fantastic top if shortened, or a great dress if you omit the slits! Yay longer sleeves!

This is a very basic and loose top, but I really like it. It would be easy to adjust, too. Add a self-fabric belt or a bit of shirring on the sides or back to define the waist a bit, and it'd be perfect!

The dress here is just a longer version of the top above, and I adore the simple lines. Once again, very easy to alter, if needed. I love the idea of making it in an eyelet, although I'm always torn with the fabric. Do you line it? Leave it unlined?

I'm always on the look out for cute blouses. I'm not sure if this one would ever work for me and my curvy body, but I love the simplicity of it, and the gathers at the shoulder front. Here though, it's styled to be another beach cover up.

I wasn't a big fan of most of the trousers in this edition, to be honest. Cute fabric, though. For those of you with little boy sprogs, the shorts the kid is wearing is also in the magazine.

Actually, there were some cute kids outfits in this magazine. My favourite is this adorable purple dress. And also maybe the man carrying her. Where can I get one of those?!

In previous Burda magazines that I've managed to take a look-see through, I've generally been impressed with the plus sized garments. In fact, I'm planning on making this dress from Burda Style 9/2010. So I was excited to see what summery garments they'd come up with in this edition.

Boy was I disappointed. Granted, the coat above is sort of cute, but everything in this section was baggy drapey shapeless knits in black. Wow summery.

I mean, can it get much uglier and less flattering than that dress on the right? And what the heck is going on around the crotch of those pants? Maybe they'd be nice if made up, but I doubt I'd ever give them a shot.

The preview for next month is pretty uninspiring, I'll be honest. I probably won't even try to track it down. There's enough pieces that I love in this edition that I don't really need to, anyways.

However, this plus-sized dress is promising...may be worth checking out on the Burda Style site.

So there's a quick recap of some of my favourite (and less than favourite) garments from the June edition of Burda Style! I don't know about you guys, but I'm excited to try out a few of them! The only downfall of the magazine is this:

EEP!