Frankly my Dear...

Since I've been feeling better I've been playing catch up on so many things. Fall cleaning for one. Does anybody do a fall and spring cleaning anymore? Room by room I've been purging away, leaving my most dreaded craft room till last. It's actually my favourite room but it really needs a few days( ok truthfully make that a week) of my full out attention.

We've also welcomed a Brazilian student who will be staying with us till January. We've had some major laugh out loud moments as we try and understand each other. She's is improving in English but we are failing miserably at Portuguese. Ha

Most of my projects have been left on the back burner ( as usual it seems) but this past weekend being Canadian thanksgiving and autumn being in full swing I thought I'd channel my inner Scarlett O'hara. Finding some awesome fall looking drapes at the thrift store they seemed perfect for another easy circle skirt.

I've lost my picture taker to work right now so although I wore this just the other day it went on my dress form for pictures. A tri-pod and remote would be nice right about now!! and some not so rainy cloudy weather. 

Hello little leaf pin.

Do you think it's alright to wear  this outfit two weekends in a row? :)

Sweater- handmade by me

Blouse-handmade by me from a thrifted set of sheers that I've worn many times.

Skirt-handmade from thrifted drapes which I paid $3 for. 

What's my Style?

Over the summer I began thinking more about what type of clothing I really want to add to my wardrobe, what actually is my favourite era then I realized I don't have one. I end up going by what show or movie I'm watching at the time and it becomes my new favourite. Which is making for a fun wardrobe!!
So this past spring/ summer I watched
Land Girls / Agent Carter  for my 40's look.

Granite Flats  geared me to a 60's casual summer style.

Then I headed over to Miss Fisher and made myself a 20's inspired outfit.

( All the fabric for this was once again thrifted so it was an under $10 outfit. The hat was made from a pattern I got from Etsy)

Now I'm onto Doctor Who which has styles all over the place and worlds, hehe and I must say I am more partial when he travels to the past then the future. For the past couple of years my mind has been in and out of Steampunk. Mostly because it's a modern twist on the Victorian era (adore) which to me kind of suits the weird world of Doctor Who. 

When I was looking for a jacket pattern this one kept popping up in the Steampunk category on Pinterest. I just thought it would look great as a 50's style too so I'm seeing this pattern resurrect itself as Steampunk.  

I'm seeing a lot of plaids and ruffled skirts in my future but not the full blown corsets that is often associated with Steampunk. If I can get what I want in my head transfered to the sewing table I'm liking the results. Although my head and my hands sometimes disagree so we shall see!  I already have a chair though.  :)

The Cigarette Pant

Long before leggings or jeggings or super slim fitting jeans or pants, came the cigarette pant. Heck if you goggle it now you can find they've made a comeback of epic proportions but I'd have to say in my opinion it was the most beautiful Audrey Hepburn who made the women of the 60's covet these pants.

Pinterest

Here's the pattern that I used to get my own version of these pants.

I wanted a pair of pants that I could wear year round more or less so I wanted a comfy stretch denim. I had no idea that denim( I haven't bought denim in years and years) had gotten so pricey at $20 a meter and then I had to do a quick pro/con list. 

Pro- I'll get the pant that I want and it would be the vintage high waisted loveliness I'm becoming accustomed to.

Con- I can probably find something similar in a low rise much cheaper then 40 plus dollars 

The latter was winning out in my mind but I had one more chance at obtaining my goal. The remnant pile!!

Searching through the remnant pile like I was searching for the Holy Grail I found approximately 2 meters of stretch denim at $8 meter. Now we were in business, pants for under $20. 

But wait...when I took my fabric to be measured she asked me if I'd be willing to give my email address to get an additional 50% off. Uhh YES.

My new jeans were going to cost me $8 in fabric plus a zipper and thread. Now this cheap  thrifty little dutch girl was dancing in her wooden shoes.

Fitting and sewing pants is not for the faint hearted I'm learning. It took me a trial run in another stretch fabric and one in cotton to get major fitting issues out of the way. (I'm thinking I might want a cotton capri from this pattern as well) 

With my new jeans I still had to tweak some fitting issues and with the help of YouTube I'm now happy with the fit and have worn them a few times and I find them super comfortable. I've rolled the pant leg up and down, so I'm checking the box that allows me to wear them all year as long as it's not too hot out.

One day people I will own a serger but for now my seams are old school.

 Sew, trim and a zig zag stitch to finish them off.

I can see why women adored these fun, casual pants so much because...

Oh look you can pretend to water the plants when its' pouring outside in them.:)

This entire outfit cost was $15.

Sweater -thrifted

Shirt -thrifted and modified

Pants- made by me

Earrings-thrifted

scarf- I already owned 

Spring for Cotton.

My Spring for Cotton outfit is finally done. When I first thought of what I was going to sew I thought it was going to be a simple pencil skirt and that was that. But then as I laid in bed my mind began to wander and two hours later I had a new plan.
Before Christmas I wanted to make myself a winter coat but as time began to slip away I had to let the idea go..for now. At the time I was also having a hard time finding a vintage pattern to meet my criteria of what I wanted my coat to look like.
This gives you some idea of the look I wanted.

Via Pinterest

Then I found this pattern.

McCall's M6800 and I was back in business

To me View A of the pattern was close enough to give me that vintage feel of the coat I was looking for. 

To complete my outfit I thought why not throw a skirt into the mix too!!

This is my ten gored skirt pattern that I've now made 3 skirts from. It's a super easy pattern and out of all my skirt patterns it is my favourite.

Now for fabric...

The first thing that springs to mind when you say cotton( at least for me it is) is quilting cotton but tucked away for the last 20 years, yes 20 years, is a piece of denim that I held onto. When I bought it, it was the last of the last and I think I only paid $2 a meter.

Then a couple of years ago I had bought a Michael Miller cotton print that had caught my eye. Now  armed with the fabrics and patterns from two different decades my sewing plan was coming together.

Meet my souped up jean jacket and beach tent skirt. hehe

The whole sha-bang cost around $25 to make.

Shoes-Globo shoes bought two years ago

Purse -Thrift Store

Shirt-Old Navy bought two years ago

Necklace -Thrift Store

Petticoats- made my me

Sunglasses-prescription so now I can look ultra cool.

Now remember my clothes need to make other outfits and this is no exception. My daughter had given me this blue knit fabric as a gift and I thought how perfect for Sewaholic's Renfrew . I had it done in about an hour, bonus!!  Who doesn't love fast sewing clothes. Great with jeans but its going to pair nicely with a few other things hanging out in my closest. 

I went grocery shopping last week sporting my new jacket and Renfrew....in the snow.

So from Vintage to 2015. I think it works just fine! :)

  

Pinterest #9

Do you ever go to the thrift store and see little bits of pretty fabric and think what wonderful creations could you make with them? ( ok maybe not) Quilting may the first thing that comes to mind but I myself am not a quilter but I still can't resist those little pieces of loveliness.

Two years ago Daughter Ashley pinned this cute Bow tied Clutch
So two Christmases ago ( in keeping with our handmade presents only rule) Daughter M'lynn decided to make a clutch as her present to Ashley.

Getting ready for the upcoming thrift store event I thought I'd make a few from little bits of fabric I found from there.

Although the black and white one is leftover bits from here. The lining is made from a bag of scraps I took home one day. The flowered one is completely found materials. Both zippers were also from the thrift store.

You'll notice that one is bigger then the other because when M'lynn was making them she wanted it slightly bigger then the pattern but small or big they are handy little bags.

With wedding season coming up these are the perfect thing to take or anytime really when you don't want something big and the nice part is the strap fits nicely on your wrist. :) 

Out of the Ashes comes Something New

Back in my sweater post I mentioned a plan and over the past couple of weeks that plan has been slowly coming together. This new plan is to not randomly sew anymore but create a wardrobe. For me that means that from now on what I make needs to be compatible with at least 3 other things in my closet. 

Now when I'm planning a project there are another four or five projects sitting in the wings that go along with the original project. I'm finding the thought of mixing and matching a fun challenge and hopefully it means never opening my closet and having nothing to wear.

I've been working on separating my dress and the skirt part is complete. That was the easy part of deconstructing the dress. It just needed a zipper and a waistband and I've already got ideas on how to have different looks with this skirt.

I bought that jacket about 7 years ago and have only worn it a handful of times. I'm not sure why I've not worn it more but it always manages to beat the cull when I'm going through things.

My Gertie bow tied blouse has become a staple in my wardrobe. When I made it I knew it would be because I had been looking for something similar to buy ready made for a couple of years before.

And look it was warm enough that I took pictures outside!!! I even got to wear my shoes which held up quite nicely so I'm going to say it's a Pinterest success!

But for the afternoon I traded those shoes in for these.....

and took a nice long walk OUTSIDE!!!!! :)

A little Spring???

I've been asked by our local thrift store if I would like to participate in their upcoming anniversary celebrations. What they'd like me to do is share my recreations of things I make bought from their store like my shoes. So I've been going through some things and thinking what I'd like to bring to the party.

I thought I'd make some dresses. My beautiful vintage sheet and pillow case stash is quite large and I thought perfect for a vintage style kids dress. I kept thinking while I was making them, wouldn't the girls look cute wearing these with matching head scarves and Jackie O sunglasses. (I sew in silence so my mind tends to wander. :) )

It's a simple A-line dress from a pattern I bought thru Etsy from Lily Bird Studio. I adore this simple easy to follow pattern. She's got quite a few things that adore actually because I bought a shorts pattern too. I've said it before and I'll say it again and I'll probably say it again in the future, I like Etsy shopping, especially for patterns. One click and the pattern is zoomed across the internet and right to my email. Check out where this pattern came from and you'll see what I mean.

As you can see we are still knee deep in snow but the sun is shining and the icicles are melting although we are under yet another extreme cold advisory for tomorrow. Blah. Making these added some cheery spring feelings to my heart and the feeling that the snow can't last forever...right? :)

Pinterest #6

Here it is! My dress that I started for Christmas and was going to finish for Valentines.

                                             This is the dress that was my sewing inspiration from Pinterest.

                             
                                                                                             source

Did you catch that "was" in the opening sentence?  I'm not going to finish it because I have a problem. I'm just not a dress girl, I like separates. I thought maybe this would be the dress to change all that and in the beginning it was but the farther I sewed along the more dissatisfied I got. The more times I tried it on I knew it would be a dress I wore only once because I had too and then it would hang in my closet. 

It's fate now..it will be torn apart to make something I'll actually wear.

Even looking at it on the dress form I still think its such a lovely dress with all its polka- dotness

This is the pattern I used.

It's been a bit of a tough week with some feet dragging moments however this latest sort of fail did have me learn a lot of sewing techniques I've never done before. Waist stays, side zipper placement and a horsehair braid sewn into the hem, definitely made this a teaching dress and that's a good thing. The new challenge now is making something wearable with what little fabric I have left. :(

Pinterest # 3

Checking out Pinterest last fall I took note of their faux fur infinity scarves. I found a couple and clicked the like button.

source

source

Then I made my own version out of an old fur coat I found at my local thrift store. I cut a couple of pieces from the bottom of the coat that when sewn together would give me a standard width and length of an infinity scarf. I then sewed it into a tube, turned it inside out and hand stitched the ends together. All that fur you never see any stitches. 

I like to wear it with this great chocolate brown coat I found in the summer. Its the perfect coat to wear when wearing petticoats.

Yes it's a real fur scarf which I know can bother some people but I'm thrilled by how warm it is. I wasn't expecting it to be a big difference in the warmth department vs faux or wool for that matter but there really is. I'm not a fan of being cold and with our Canadian winters and being so close to Lake Huron this means cold, damp, windy, winter weather.
Whether your a fan of fur or not this one fits my "try and stay warm for the winter" bill. :)

Just a footnote to add has anyone read this article on manmade fabrics? It was quite an interesting read.

For the Love of Hats.

I may have mentioned before my love of hats, hehe. Any type of hat will do summer, winter, fall or spring, I'm always on the hunt for a good hat.

Meet Elsewhen Millinery. I found her etsy shop while going through patterns before Christmas and fell madly in like with her hats and patterns. The hats are 1920's inspired and I like the fact that I can buy a pattern or  I could have her make me one. So every once and a while during the holiday's I'd go back and look through her shop and oouu and ahhh. With the January chill settling in I thought it would be the perfect time to purchase one of her patterns and make a hat. I settled on " Penny"  and began sewing. Her patterns are wonderfully easy to follow with clear instructions and pictures to help you along.

                                                             ( I added one of my handmade wooden buttons.)

I did make a goof though. I was lining my hat with polar fleece for winter warmth and cut my hat much larger thinking I should compensate for the bulk. I didn't need to do that and I should have stuck with her cutting suggestions.

I wore it out over the weekend and it I was indeed warm.

The nice thing about this pattern is I can change it up and make it for spring although I do have my eye on a couple more of her designs. In my opinion a girl can never have too many hats :)

Hello New Year

Today's the day everything goes back to normal. People are off to work, most of the decorations have been put away but I am having a hard time taking down the tree as I do every year because I like it so much. Nary a needle has left the tree and this was taken this morning.

So what did I find as my highlights of 2014?

First, my thrift store project.

 It is more than possible to buy only secondhand fabric and clothing and survive.
Sewing my own wardrobe has definitely made me a better sewer. I find I'm reaching more and more for clothing I made to wear rather then store bought. I might have spent $50 on my clothes and fabric for the 2014 year. The best part is I'm getting exactly what I want (which I can never seem to find in a store) and it fits properly too. This project also taught me patience. Believe it or not I found everything on my wish list throughout the year by thrifting and waiting.  For the most part I will continue shopping this way for my clothing. My favourite piece I made....my blue polka dot blouse

My favourite would have been my Christmas dress but when sickness came a week before Christmas it got put away because I still had 3 of the 11 pj pants to sew. You'll see it soon though when it becomes my Valentines dress!

The trailer. 

It was one of my biggest time consumers of the year and totally worth it. This is only time I bought new fabric and even then it was wasn't much because I had a lot on hand. I had managed to find a huge chunk of heavy duty navy blue for the cushions from a thrift store which put a huge dint into having to buy new fabric.

The trailer is sitting in the yard all tucked away for winter and I can't help but wait for warmer weather to sleep in my little tin can. I realized that I don't have a great "Lets take a tour" pictures of it, only pictures here and there so come spring when we begin the work on the trailer (yes there is more fun stuff to happen in the way of a new sewer system) we shall continue that story.

A baby! Little Charlotte came into the world on April 1st.

She's a happy bubbly girl who makes your heart melt when she stretches out her arms to be picked up. She loves hanging out with any one as seen here with her Aunt Ashley.

A wedding

 The planning of the wedding took place at the same time as the work on the trailer so things began to feel a little hairy. We needed the trailer as a guest house for the wedding and the trailer liked to give us unexpected surprises. Thankfully the wedding did not. Oh things happened on the big day that I knew wasn't supposed to happen but M'lynn didn't know and thats all that mattered. 

My favourite furniture project was the chair.

It was in my opinion the first piece of upholstery that I did that I really liked other then this chair from way back when.

What's already found its way into the projects of 2015?

This little beauty. It needs to be rebuilt so I'm thinking the month of January should suffice...I hope. :)