A bag with a heart

So, today's post is about the bag I just finished yesterday.  The body of the bag has been finished for a bit, but I just had to attach the strap to make sure it was ready to go out into the world.

It's a bag with a heart!  One of my friends commissioned this bag from me, for her when she's out at burns and needs to carry her things with her and wants to do it oh-so-fashionably.  I think that she might end up using it in regular life, too, as I just see it as such a nice and functional bag.

You might notice that the heart seam at the top of the bag looks a little different left-to-right.  That's because the right hand side is hiding a secret zipper.

This is a pocket to hold sunglasses and other semi-large things that need to be easy-to-reach but kept inside a pocket.  This is the first curved zipper I've ever inserted. I was incredibly nervous and even thought about not putting this zipper in as it was.  But this was where it was requested and the only place I could really innocuously put a zipper on the front flap.  Through a little extra effort and a lot of planning, it turned out perfectly.  I love learning new techniques whenever I do a new project and I feel so much more confident having accomplished a curved zipper.

I added a series of zippers on the inside of the flap, including a water-resistant zipper (the heavy black one at the bottom).  The coils of the water-resistant zipper are backwards, almost like an invisible zipper, but with a large tab like there are on regular coil zips.  I also made a covered mirror which matches the bag and has its own special zippered pocket to live in.  These pockets are for all those little essentials - lip gloss, eye drops, car keys, cell phone, and what-have-you.

On the front of the bag - a pocket for cigarettes.  (I personally don't smoke, but my friend does, and I managed to scavenge an empty pack of Newport Reds from some smoker friend of mine.  This will now forever be my test-pack to make sure cigarette pockets are just the right size because I just think Newport Reds are some of the silliest cigarettes.)  It actually fits a lighter with the cigarettes, which is a totally awesome accidental bonus.

What's that zipper in the center back of the bag for?  That's kind of odd, right?

Nothing less than a pull-out and zip-off towel, complete with a little rose embroidered on the towel.  It fits into the large back pocket (which actually has one final zippered pocket inside, pencil-sized - for makeup, perhaps?) and can be zipped off to be washed or used elsewhere if need be.  This was at the suggestion of my boyfriend, who regrets that he can't just wash his bag's towel and must wash the whole thing.

I'm so excited to give this bag away to its owner.  I'm pretty positive she's going to love it.  She chose the lining/contrast fabric, which is actually a laminated cotton so it's waterproof and somewhat more stain-resistant as well.  It was really exciting to do a commission for someone rather than just doing sewing for myself or my boyfriend.  I'm looking to start my own Etsy shop, and this was one of the first steps out into that world.

Simplicity 5030, or The Dino Blouse

I have finished it, photographed it and - despite having computer troubles for a couple of weeks that I won't bother to get into - gotten the photos to finally present to you: The Dinosaur Blouse. Appropriate for many occasions, especially job interviews and other places one needs to be fancy. Fancy with dinosaurs.

From The Year 2050

This blouse started as fabric my mother bought me when I was away at college. It wasn't much - a little over a yard - and so I constantly wrestled with what I would make out of it. A pencil skirt, maybe? Maybe... something else? Then, it hit me: a blouse! It would be just enough to make a blouse and it would be fun.

So I used the pattern I've used before, with the Peter Pan collar, because it had a nice fit (and it may have been the only vintage shirt pattern I really had at the time), and whipped it together relatively quickly. (I only noticed the pattern was upside down after cutting the first piece.. but you can't really tell because half of the patterning is sideways anyhow. Oh, well!) Unfortunately, I didn't have any buttons. And I needed buttons.. dinosaur buttons.

From The Year 2050

I was sure they had them, that they existed, but it probably took me a month or so of intermittent trips until I finally found some La Mode stegosaurus buttons. Not quite what I'd remembered, but the only dinosaur buttons I'd found or probably would find.

I anxiously stitched them on and made the buttonholes (which I think I've gotten much better at - maybe I can make a button-all-the-way-down dress now!) and put it on. At first I was going to match the dinosaurs so that the pattern would run evenly, but the fronts aren't quite straight, so they are what they are.

Check out those stego-buttons! From The Year 2050

I love it and I'm so glad I found something wearable to make out of this. The sleeves need to be shortened, but I guess this is a trend I'll have to deal with when making vintage patterns. The shirt makes me feel hip and nerdy and vintage and it's perfect. Ah, it feels good to have a dino blouse!

Simplicity 3085

I decided to make a dress from one of the two patterns I won back in June, Simplicity 3085. I found an old plaid that I'd bought a while ago and thought that it would go really well with the general design of this dress.

From The Year 2050

It ended up being a bit big on me, as the pattern was for a bust 35, but it's kind of like having a comfortable house dress instead of a totally fashionable day dress. It still has a really interesting look and is nice to wear around.

From The Year 2050

The only real problem I had in this dress - besides almost not having enough fabric and having to cut the collar in two pieces instead of on a fold - was the bottom part of the button detail. It's supposed to mirror the top where it just juts out slightly for the buttons, but the details were awkward and now it just kind of bunches up there. I couldn't get it to point like the top does, no matter how I tried. If I remake this, I'll try to figure out my own way of doing it instead of reading the directions exactly, as they were really quite confusing anyhow.

I also ran out of enough fabric to make the pockets, so I made it out of some leftover orange polka dot you might recognize. I like them, though. They make me feel kind of like I have the pockets of an old timey hobo. (I also originally put those in the waist seam backwards so that my hands would have to go backwards to sit in them. That was an easy fix.)

From The Year 2050

Through this project I've also become a more confident buttonhole-er and that's a very exciting possibility! I really like the fabric of this dress and I'll probably wear it out anyhow, just putting a belt around the waist to tighten it up. It was generally an enjoyable and simple dress to sew, except for that one teeny detail. There's pleating above and below the waist and I think it's generally a very pretty pattern.

Simplicity 5006, or the rite of passage of every vintage sewer

I've done it. Using the modern Simplicity 5006, I've made a crinoline. And it was all the horrors of netting snagging on itself and figuring out how to gather the giant skirt (machine gathering worked far better than hand-gathering). But, now it's done! I'm so excited to finally have one!

The finished product.. almost

Instead of shelling out anywhere from $25 to $50 (I know, not that much of an expense..) I bought 5 yards of bright orange netting from Jo-Ann's, on sale for only $1 a yard, and some left over muslin for the yoke, and made myself a crinoline.

It's taken a frustrating day and half - the netting constantly catching on itself, gathering and regathering, and having to do that for two layers. I looked at the instructions and understood them, but I followed what I saw as the best course of putting it together anyway. The wrong sides are facing one another so that the netting doesn't snatch at my dresses or any slips I'd want to wear (and hopefully won't bother my skin as much, either.)

Well, here's what happens when you take a normal dress [Vogue 2902, Christmas editon] (left) and put a crinoline under it (right):

It's like retro magic!

I still have to bias tape the edges and cut it a little shorter so it doesn't poke out from under my dresses quite so much, but I'm so excited!!

Simplicity 1325

The other day I finally finished my most recent project: Simplicity 1325.

I was really excited to get this pattern when I did - it was on sale on eBay for only $1! I made the view with long pants and I was hoping for long sleeves, but I laid the pieces out wrong and ended up with only enough fabric for short ones. I'm alright with that, though, and I think they still look great. It's probably more comfortable this way, anyhow, with the lightness of the broadcloth I made them in.

From The Year 2050

The pants come up to the waist and have a button closure on the left - a very vintage detail. The waistband is slim itself and the closure end has a point to it, which I find to be a really nice touch.

From The Year 2050

Though the short sleeved top didn't have the bias tape detail on the collar or sleeves, I really like the look of it so I added it anyway. The collar is a bit of a mess - I haven't made one like this before, where you cover the edge where the collar joins the body with the top part of the collar. It didn't turn out too well

From The Year 2050

As you can see in this photo, the pockets and bias detail are actually straight when one's hands aren't in them. The pants came out at a really complementary length and the pleating is really nice. I used white thread throughout the project (though I strangely don't have much and kept almost running out) so there's that slight repeat to the contrast of the white of the bias tape against the green. I also altered the position of the buttons because the collar didn't come out quite right and I wanted to make sure I could unbutton the top button or two (well, where they would've been) to breathe and it wouldn't look lewd.

Once I figure out how better to sew these kind of collars, I'd be happy to make this again. I just love the retro styling and the bias detail. It's so kitschy and you just can't find it nowadays! I'd give it a 8.5/10.

Today's pattern experience

Today, I got four patterns. The two I won in the contest over at Adventures in Baby Sewing (Simplicity 4777 and Simplicity 3085) and two I got at a local antique store warehouse. The ones I won are complete (except for one back facing - but that's okay).


[They look great and I'm excited to make them. I really like the button/seam detail on Simplicity 3085.]

The other two... that's where the adventure comes in.

I meant to buy McCall's 5045 and Advance 9575.

What I got was almost all of McCall's 5045 (all of the dress and jumper but just bits and pieces of the blouse - like, not the front or back of it...), none of Advance 9575, the envelope for McCall's 8153, about half of the pieces for Mail Order 9361 (all of views A and B, I think), the mitt facing for McCall's 2133, parts of McCall's 7970 (it's got a front, back, jacket, and skirt from what I can tell, I don't know what this one looks like), the pocket for McCall's 2248, the front of Simplicity 8506, the blouse front and back and armhole facing for Simplicity 5140, and the stockings for McCall's 7945 (my personal favorite random piece).

I'm not quite sure what to do with all of this, except throw it together in a bag and call it miscellaneous. I think I've learned my lesson about not checking pieces, but I am having a moral quandary about going back and sorting through all the patterns they have because I think they're probably all this bad.

Simplicty 5030

Last night, I finished yet another project (I'm just whippin' 'em out, I know) - Simplicity 5030.

I made view 3, with the Peter Pan collar and short sleeves. I just ordered the pattern online last week and was anxious to make my very first blouse, so I bought the fabric in the meantime. It came together so quickly, probably partially because it's very similar to the shirtdress I just finished.

I shortened the sleeves the way I was instructed to (as I have just finished doing on my yellow shirt dress) and they look really nice. I'm calling it my "grandma shirt" because of the floral print and the older cut. I think I'll probably remake this pattern several times in more neutral or hip patterns to avoid the "grandma" thing.

I'm looking at my next adventure in sewing - it may be a matching shirt/skirt or perhaps some pajamas or even another shirtdress. Only time will tell!

Simplicity 3486

This is the dress I finished last night:

I used Simplicity 3486, a vintage pattern from the late 50's/early 60's. It came together easily, even with the box pleats and pocket (I'd never made a pocket before.) I messed up on some of the pleats in front, and there's one missing on the right side, where I'm going to add a larger pocket to correspond to the breast pocket. I haven't decided yet how or if I'm going to hem or roll the sleeves, as they're meant to be much shorter.
The waist is tight, the button placement is good and I'm really pleased with the overall result. The broadcloth I used is a little thin, but I really enjoy the color. It only took me two days from start to finish and I'm really excited to wear it around. I found some great vintage-looking buttons which really completed the look for me.