Days of Wine and Pinafores

Finally I get to do some location shooting, other than at my parents’ house.  I was lucky enough to have 5 days holiday in South Australia visiting Adelaide and the Barossa for the first time. These particular photos were shot in the Barossa wine region.  Such a lovely time of the year to be down there as the autumn leaves were still clinging to the grape vines.  I knew the weather was going to be pretty chilly so had to get stuck into some sewing before I left.  I had been looking at this vintage pattern for a pinafore and found some soft furnishing fabric at Lincraft which seemed to be perfect. It is a nice brown weave with a polished underside, which looks like a reasonably heavy woollen fabric.  The fabric sewed up a treat. There might be an issue with fraying down the track. 

I was almost blending in with the landscape.

The V at the front wasn’t perfect so I put one of my vintage buttons at the base, which works pretty well.  I had thought I might need to line the fabric but it seems to sit out far enough not catch on my tights. Though I wasn’t exactly walking any distance in the pinafore, just to the car, cellar door and back for the wine tour.

We saw a lot of sheep in the surrounding country side.  We took a detour through McLaren Vale on the way the Barossa.  Such a lovely part of the world.  I got my cousin to stop the car at one point as there were all these lambs bouncing around one paddock. We got out and took a heap of photos like some crazy tourists.  When you drive around similar regions of Queensland you almost never see sheep as all our sheep stations are more out in the central part of the state.

The wine tour took us to Penfolds and our little group decided to splurge on a tasting of Grange.  It was $50 (for a tasting!) but we split the tastings between 2 people.  So $25 to experience one of the most expensive wines in the world.  Was very tasty but there were so may wonderful red wines to sample in McLaren Vale and Barossa, well more in my price range.

Washi Dress

I am currently on holidays and what a perfect time to make a nice comfy little frock.  I wore it today for a trip to the movies and lunch. Highly recommend it for sitting and eating. I realised my wardrobe is lacking some smock style tops and dresses.  With the weather cooling slightly here in Brisbania it is the time of the year where dresses with leggings or tights are your best bet. Maybe throw in a cardie if the weather plummets to 20 degrees for the first half of the morning.  

I found the Washi super easy to make. I decided to go without the front feature and just do the rounded neck.  The only silly mistake I made with this was when I cut it out. I didn't actually notice the instructions for cutting it out and just went along as I do with any pattern.  It wasn't until I went to cut out the back bodice piece that I noticed the instructions to attach the pattern piece to the back skirt section. Baa-baowwm.  Well the skirt piece was already cut out so I simply added a bit of length to the back bodice section so I could attach the piece of material to the skirt. Seemed to work out.  I guess that's just the way things go sometimes when you have been sewing a long long time you don't always read the instructions first.  I also managed to lose the back facing piece. Lucky I hadn't taken my recycling down to the bins because I found it in the bottom of my kitchen bin.  

The only issue with the finished product is probably that the neck line doesn't sit completely flat. It's not too bad, I can just feel it pushing forward when I'm sitting down making it a bit gapey in parts. But probably not that noticeable. 

I realised after I uploaded the photo, the unfortunate position of the cat planter behind my legs.
The version to the left is my real kitty and her cat grass.

This was my first foray into shirring. I did try it years ago and was very unsuccessful in that attempt. My Janome manual doesn't even give you shirring instructions. I was going to go on line and check out a tutorial but just went ahead with a practice piece of material going from the pattern instructions.  My shirring lines are not very straight in parts. Fortunately that won't be noticeable given that the material has a pattern. Well that's what I'm telling myself anyways.   

I shall definitely be giving this pattern a go again.

Another New Look 6068

Quite a different version of this pattern than my original in floral.  I honestly think this material was bought back in 1995 when I lived in Sydney.  I used it for a very 90's strappy frock which I wore a few times but alas it shrunk in the wash. I found the remainder of the material in a cupboard at my folks' house. It's always a joy to find a good amount of fabric hidden away. 

This is a fairly easy pattern to make. The bonus being no zips and only one button at the front.  The material might not be ideal however. For some reason my collar seems to keep creasing up for as if there is some resistance to the main fabric. It's all constructed perfectly but for some reason after ironing the collar several times, it just looks a bit poo.  I just went with a basic capped sleeve and the bias tape on the inside did look a bit bumpy when I finished hand sewing it, but seems to have pressed up okay.  Pretty happy with the end result even though the collar is a bit annoying.  I had hoped this would be a throw in a suitcase type of frock but with the collar perhaps not.  Also maybe could have lost a few inches of the hem since I'll be wearing it with tights mostly.

During the making of this frock there was a bit of drama in the FrocknStuff household.  My beautiful PJ was taken ill one miserable week.  She had couple of trips to the vet, blood tests and finally an ultrasound, but they found nothing obviously wrong with her. She developed a very and unfortunately spent 4 days in the Cat Clinic which was traumatic for both of us as she has only ever stayed with family if she isn’t with me.  But she bounced back from her ordeal, unlike my wallet, and returned home with her lovely shaved belly.  When she sat upright the loose flesh on her belly hung over her back feet making her look like an emperor penguin. I half expected to find an egg resting on her back paws.  So clingy after her time away she was practically lying on top of the sewing machine as I was trying to sew.  
 

The shaved belly actually worked a treat during furball season. She must do a lot of tummy washing because we had nary 1 furball  since February.

Vintage Butterick

A few years back I had a friend's wedding to attend in the hinterland region north of Brisbane. I decided to make up my frock from one of the patterns in a bulk purchase I got on ebay.  This lovely Butterick pattern, like all the others in the collection, was a size 16.  I haven't done too badly with these patterns adjusting them down to a wearable size 12.  They are always a little roomy but I think they are fitted enough.  Plus a size 16 back in the day was probably more equivalent to a 14. 

I found this beautiful cotton sateen in a Lincraft sale. It seemed to be a  more unique floral pattern than the ones that were around at the time.  I really love the colour and the beautiful pattern.  The sleeves are a little bit boxy but I'm not too worried about the look. All in all a perfect style frock for a garden wedding in October, even if it turn out to be a bit of warm old day.  

 

 

 

Unintentionally it looks like I've done some reasonable pattern matching. This is term I've recently picked up from watching the back catalogue of the Great British Sewing Bee.  As per usual I simply inserted a regular zip.  Obviously a nice frock like this would benefit from an invisible zip but I think it looks fine. 

I've also been working a lot of with different style collars in recent years. This one is certainly very dramatic size wise. It almost doesn't look like it's part of the garment but an add on, like a mini shrug. 

I also made up some drop style, vintage inspired pearl and gold earrings which I think worked a treat.  I have discovered in the last few years that I quite like wearing long style earrings when my bob is its shortest and they hang down below the hair line. I think I got inspired by the look after watching Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries.  I also finally got my friend Michael to give me the perfect bob after that show first came out and I said I wanted a Phryne Fisher.

McCalls 6560

Sooo, a maxi dress to add to my collection.  I do love a maxi but I think because it became so popular in recent years I was put off by seeing a lot of them about town.  I liked this particular pattern because of the varying length options. I was originally going to make up the shorter version for a nice summer top. 

I previously bought this green drill cotton, which I used  to make a Simplicity frock that turned out to be a major fail.  I really really liked the colour and the fine white polka dots in this material so I bought another few metres for this dress.  A pretty easy frock to make. I don't recall having any real issues constructing it. Having said that the fit is a little poohouse.  Maybe it's that the fabric is a little stiff. The back area grabs around the bottom, while the front is nice an loose with the empire line and some gathers.  There are also some issues with the straps on the front bodice. I think with crossover straps it's hard to position them so they sit nice and flat across the shoulders.  You can see it raises up a bit on the inside.

My other major issue was that the fabric is super hard to iron.  I did leave the dress on my spare bed for about a week and a 7kg grey feline might have slept on it, and some lovely creases formed down the front. I have now tried to iron this dress about 3 times and it still comes up looking like I've slept in it. Terribly frustrating. I think I will just have to admit defeat and say that this fabric is cursed. 

 

I was so happy with the lovely buttons I found for the back. Just a shame the overall dress doesn't work. I will possibly wear it. Maybe when I'm just heading to someone's house for a visit.

Retro Haul

A friend at work recently lost her elderly mother.  She kindly thought of me when sorting through her mother's large collection of things which included mountains of old sewing patterns, fabrics and general sewing bits and bobs.  It is amazing how much stuff people accrue in one lifetime.  They could have opened a secondhand shop with all of the amazing vintage furniture, homewares etc. in this one home. 

I spent a few hours going through boxes and bags with materials and patterns. Such an interesting selection of patterns from the 40's through the 80's.  Plus bags and bags of material.  Mostly a lot of off-cuts amongst the material but I managed to find a few good pieces. There were also some smaller pieces of material perfect for cushion covers. So all in all my haul was pretty fantastic. 

I got this small selection of 60's and 70's patterns. The sizes vary a bit but overall sizes I can work with.  Probably a few double ups on styles I already own, but I took them anyways.

Now for the true vintage patterns.  These ones from the 40's and 50's look like an interesting challenge if I ever do give them a try.  I haven't looked inside the packets but some had handwritten notes on them about the amount of material and the sizing.  Unfortunately the condition of the most of the patterns was a little ratty.  But it looks like there is some organization and hopefully all the pieces will be there. There is a bridal style gown in there which looks like it could be the 30's.

And a bit more 50's with the 60's thrown in. May try making the pajamas as they look pretty cute.  Not sure many people would wear the retro maternity clothes, but I think I know of one person who might.



 

I also found a number of Home Journals and other magazines with patterns at the bottom of a box.  Unfortunately most of them weren't in very good condition and were falling apart. 

 

There were also jars full of buttons which I started sorting through on Saturday afternoon when I got home separating the colours.  Already I've found some beautiful vintage style buttons with beautiful designs. There were even some glass buttons which I have never come across before.  I still have more to sort but I'm already super pleased with the ones I've discovered.  

 



Finally there was a bag of trims. I guess you'd use these for formal frocks. I thought at first it might have been to do with underwear, perhaps? There was also a bag full of just white broderie anglaise trims. Must have been about 20 metres of the stuff. Most of that was disclosed but I managed to find one roll which was pretty clean.

 





I also had great fun finding wrapping paper from Gardams Fabrics from the 1980's and also an old department store, McDonnell & East which closed its doors probably 20 years ago. 

I've left going through the material for another day. I don't think my allergies could cope with more dust mites this weekend. 

Retro Vogue

It turns out that my mum had the exact same pattern in the 1970's. I can usually recall most of my mum's clothes, and shoes from that time but didn't remember this particular one. I attempted this pattern a couple of years ago. Perfect loose fitting summer frock.  Looks pretty easy to make and it was.  The only problem was that the straps were too short making things way too snug around the under arms.  Boo I cried.  

So take 2. I put this in my resolutions for things to do in 2015 because I really wanted to make this style of dress and with our hideous hot weather I was seriously lacking a super flowy frock to wear on a scorching hot Brisbane day.  Allegedly it is currently Autumn here in the southern hemisphere.  I am however completely optimistic that I'll get a bit of wear out of this number before the weather actually cools down, maybe in May, fingers crossed.   

On re-opening my pattern packet I discovered the instruction sheet missing.  Now I cannot remember if it came with the instructions sheet when I bought it. Anyoldhow, it was very straightforward to make up. Just a tad fiddly when you add the facing to your back and front sections separately, leaving about 1cm open so that you can attach the back to front, leaving the inner section of the facing to hand stitch together as neatly as you can.  The fabric is a cotton mix. It's a little slippery to work with, but appears to sit well. 

I really only came undone doing the simplest thing, the frill at the bottom.  I decided to tackle it in sections, front first and then back as it was quite a lot of frill to attach.  So I gathered the frill, and stupidly only did one layer of gather stitching, this became a problem when trying to attach the frill because the top bit kept rolling over on itself due to the slightly slippery nature of the fabric. That wasn't my real problem after I attached the front piece I noticed that some of the lower bit had moved during the machine sewing and then I had a seam on the outside where it got caught up.  I couldn't believe the most simple part of the dress was becoming more than a bit time consuming.  In future I will try to not cut corners and do 2 gather stitches and if I am attaching frill to a slippery type of fabric also put pins about an inch or more down to reinforce the fabric so it doesn't slip.

I cut out pockets which I was considering putting on, however as there was  no instruction sheet on how to the pockets I couldn't be bothered. I have the pieces cut out and maybe I will attach them at some point. I know a lot of bloggers love their pockets but I do find it hard to get those neat corners on square pockets, especially if the fabric is a little hard to work with.  I also don't really see the point in pockets in full skirts or dresses. It's not like I'm going to be putting anything them. I know it's nice to put your hand in your pocket occasionally but I wouldn't have use for them on a daily basis.

  

The kitty necklace is one of my own creations. Here is a close up of a few of them. All I need to do is finish off the others with another coat of lacquer. I've also got a different cat design to work with and will be making up more necklaces in the  near future.  It's yet another project I've been slack and not finishing for the last 18 months.  Perhaps Easter is the time to finish projects.