The Return of Personal Sewing: Vogue 8593

In my efforts to complete client projects for the holidays, I broke my rule of sewing for myself on the weekends for the last six weeks or so of the year.  Now that I'm getting back on track, I decided it was time to re-institute that rule.  I love this rule!

I've had Vogue 8593 in my queue for a while now.  I bought the fabric and zipper at The Economy Shop for $1.75, and the thread, hook and eye were from my stash, leftover from other projects.  I think the top took me 4-5 hours to sew, but if I did it again (using my altered pattern) I bet I could do it in about 2.5 hours.

Vogue 8593

And I'll likely do it again.  I had to choose between longer length or sleeves due to the amount of fabric I had on hand.  I choose long sleeves because it's getting cold here in the Chicago area and as much as I love dresses, I won't really be wearing them on a regular basis until April.  The competition at Pattern Review this month is One Pattern, Many Looks and I'm thinking about doing a couple more versions of this top and putting myself in the mix.  Gotta up the ante when you can!

In reading reviews for this pattern, I found that the only problem was with the facings - with all those pleats at the center front, the facings wouldn't lay flat.  Ann at GorgeousFabrics.com solved this problem with binding at the neck, and all I had to do was to copy her excellent instructions.  I cut a size 12 (one size down from what my measurements dictated) and thought I might have to take it in based on the garment measurements, but the opposite was true - I had to let the side seams out all the way to a 1/4" seam allowance because this knit has almost NO stretch.  I added an inch to the arm length (and I'll add another inch the next time I make this) and slanted the shoulder slope from a size 12 to a size 10 (I don't know why this adjustment works or what it's called, but if I don't do it, I end up with extra fabric at the bust) and shaved a bit off the sleeve cap.

I decided to try an exposed zipper on this one, using the tutorial that Threads ran in Issue No, 162.  I didn't like this look at first, but after seeing some cool versions of it online, I decided to give it a go.  Not that big of a risk when you remember that the materials for this top came to less than $2!  I think I like it.

I serged the sleeve and top hems and then left them as is partly because I needed the length, and partly because I thought it looked right with the exposed zipper.

Please ignore the threads I forgot to clean up - oops!

I've got a question for my fellow bloggers: What do you do when you fill up your blogger photo account?  I just hit my limit and I couldn't upload photos for this post.  I tried copying from my flickr stream and that didn't work, so I ended up pinning these photos to a pinterest board and then copying them from there - too many damn steps.  I'd appreciate any solutions you have!



Found Treasure - The Exquisite Revisit Resale Shop

A few weeks ago I discovered a new resale shop.  I'm embarrassed to say that it's walking distance from my house AND has been there for a few years now, but I only just found out about it.  So it's only "new" to me.  I now have one more reason to be grateful for our Berwyn Facebook page since that's how I discovered this wonderful shop.

Exquisite Revisit is one of those dear places that is just full to the roof beams with various treasures.  You can find rocking horses and feather boas and salt & pepper shakers and hats and old games.  I found some vintage fabric:

Each piece is 3-4 yards long and 36" wide.  The fabric is a lovely apparel cotton - soft with nice weight and some drape.  I paid $15 for all three.  I particularly love the colors in the last one, and I think it might work with the pencil skirt I finished this past weekend (no pictures yet - I want to wait until I finish the top that goes with it). 

I'm thinking of using one or two of these pieces to make a peplum blouse.  I found this pattern in my mother-in-law's basement, and if I imagine the top without those horrendous sleeves and a different neckline, I think it would work:

I guess the sleeves aren't that bad, but they are all wrong for my body.  I'd look like a linebacker if I wore something that emphasized my shoulders in that way!  And there's something about the drawings that just looks so harsh.  I keep thinking that if the blonde turns her head, she'll chill me with a look of icy disdain ("So you think my sleeves are horrendous?  It's your shoulders that are the problem, missy"). I'll just have to turn the pattern envelope over when I'm working on the blouse.

I also found drawer after drawer of buttons in the shop.  How I love unearthing buttons!

I'll have more treasure to show next week because I'm planning a trip to my favorite thrift store (The Economy Shop in Oak Park) on Thursday.  They only open for sales 3-4 times a month and I haven't been since June.  I've found all sorts of beautiful things there in the past, from fabric to buttons to fur collars and even a chair cover that I made into a wallet.  

In other news, I finished two skirts for clients and my class at The Little Bits Workshop is now underway.  And I just found out that one of my handbag designs is going to be published in Stitch magazine, so I'm having one of those weeks where I actually feel like I know what I'm doing!  I've got a sewing project on the table this week that is likely to knock that straight out of me.  I hope to give you an update on that one a little later this week.  Keep some fingers crossed for me!

Basement Treasure

Oh, my sewing friends, just wait until you see what my mother-in-law found in her basement recently.  My level of excitement will surely give it away.

A bonanza of notions, buttons, fabric, and patterns!

Deb's (my MIL) mother was a talented home seamstress.  She made clothes for herself, her three daughters, and her three grandsons.  I've seen photographs of her lovely work: a wedding gown, a light blue long coat, Madmen dresses.  She also did general DIY like headboards and furniture upcycling when this was just called "making-do"  - necessary activities in the home of a state policeman and part-time switchboard operator.

Deb has been clearing out her basement in preparation for some remodeling, and she came across a cupboard full of sewing related items.  Some are from her own work sewing clothes for her three boys, but a lot is leftover from her mother's stash.  Part of what's fun about receiving all these items is imagining what Deb's mother was going to make with them.  For instance, we found five packets of light blue piping. Five??  Did she just like the color or was there a pattern that called for that many?  Maybe a dress with coat to match?  Or matching dresses for her three daughters?

And take a look at that cheery cherry trim (top right)!  I can't wait to use it on something for girls, and can't you just see the black one trimming a black sundress for me?  And, thaks to Grandma Bobber (she didn't like her own name - Gladys - so everyone called her by her nickname), I will likely never need to buy embroidery thread ever again.

I'll save the fabric and patterns for another day, but I must show you the buttons:

Buttons are one of my favorite thrift store finds.  It's like discovering a box of jewels or a bag of gold coins.  I don't know why this is - maybe it's because a tin of buttons represents so many potential projects, a richness of opportunity. 

I also love the connection to the past that these items give me.  If I make a dress for my girls and use buttons from their great-grandma's stash, they get to touch the memory of her in a small way.  When I sew a blouse using one of her patterns, I get to finish a project that she perhaps planned but never had time to complete.

The sewing machine I sew on once belonged to Bobber, and receiving this machine is what started my whole sewing journey.  And so it's fitting that two years later I finally found this:

Sometimes it's better to start a journey without the instruction manual.  But I'm glad to have it now!

Have any of you found a treasure in an attic or basement?  What was it?