A give away offer

Over at Tomato Soup Cake, Diane is having a lovely give away. Vintage sewing goodies, how delightful! Go check it out and put your name in for the draw.

See the lovely pattern she is putting in there? What a fun pattern. Enjoy!

WIFD Day 7

I know it's past day 7, but we did manage to take some pictures. We had lots of garden work to get done, so I am hear wearing one of my tiered skirts, made from embroidered, cotton/linen fabric. I have a tank with a sweater over top, and I have my well worn out apron, from the Daisy Kingdom pattern. Sorry for the picture, I know it's not very good. Olivia is wearing one of the circle skirts that Merissa made for her, last year.

We did manage to plant our fruit trees and fruit bushes, which was very nice.

I have included a picture of our Sunday outfit, too, just so you can see Olivia's new wrap dress that somewhat matches mummy's. Her dress is made from the same fabrics as mine.

More about Olivia's dress to come in the furture.

WIFD Day 6 It's A Wrap Take 2

Picnic, anyone? Another sunny day expected for today. To coordinate in my wardrobe, I made another wrap dress using the same pattern as, yesterday, only this time I made it from a cotton gingham, the same gingham I used to trim the other dress. With this dress, I trimmed it using the cotton sateen from the previous dress. Blue, red and white are colours I have been adding to my wardrobe for the past year, along with my staple browns, greens and other earth tones. With my red hair turning more gray all the time, I find I am able to wear colours I never thought I could. It's been fun playing with my colours.

I have really been enjoying seeing the WIFD posts this time around. Lots of lovely outfits and all the hair pictures have been very inspiring. It's hard to believe the week is nearly finished.

After the week is up, I will post some pictures of the dresses on the dress form, for those wanting a closer look at details.

WIFD Day 5 It's a Wrap

Sunshine!!! We finally have some lovely sunshine, and I am grateful! For today, I am wearing one of my new wrap dresses. Like many women out there who enjoy sewing, I have a fascination for wrap clothing, but in particular, wrap dresses. I have quite the collection of vintage patterns, for wrap dresses, that continues to grow. I seem to find a new treasure, all the time. One of those special wrap dresses that I didn't even know existed. It was about a year ago, perhaps a little more than a year ago, I came across a new treasure. It is from 1954, Simplicity 4682, and it's not a tiny size, so I didn't have to scale the pattern up, YIPPEE!!!

I did have to make a few adjustments, but not too bad. I did have to modify the bustpoint, to drop it, but only a little bit. With that, I made the front bodice into a princess seam, rather than the two darts they have. The princess seam gives me a much better fit. With the shoulder straps, I reversed the way they have them. I put the bodice top portion, over the back, rather than the other way around. I like the look much better. For the bodice skirt back, I used buttonhole elastic to keep a smooth closure for underneath the front of the dress. For the ties, I made narrower ties, as I don't like the really big puffy ties. I was able to squeeze the pattern onto the fabric, so I left off the front and back seam, which always makes me happy.

The fabric that I used for this dress is a brand new, lovely, lovely cotton sateen sheet. It truly feels like butter, it's so soft. I was looking for a fitted sheet for our bed, when I saw this lovely sale of sheets that was going on at Home Outfitters. I think they were clearing out this brand, so they had all these sheets on for 60% off. So with one, twin sized sheet, costing just over $5.00 in Canadian funds, I put together this wrap dress. I had the cotton gingham in my collection, but I figured with the amount of gingham I used, it cost me about $4.00 or just under. So the dress, altogether, was under $10.00. :) I went back to the store and purchased several more sheets. One twin sheet gives me about 2.6 meters, once the fabric has been washed and it's 1.75 meters wide, EXCELLENT for the projects that need more width. I have never seen this lovely of cotton sateen before, so this was a treat for me.

I will attempt to take more pictures of the dress, on the dress form, later tonight. That way, you can see more of the details. For now, I am just enjoying wearing this fun dress. I have plans to make a linen slip that will go with this dress, and a few other 50's styles that I am planning.

Now, off to enjoy that sunshine.......

WIFD Day 4

Unfortunately, today was another cold day. With that in mind, I dressed for warmth, again! I put on my microfiber tights, faux suede skirt that I made years ago, along with a cotton tank and cotton sweater by Christopher Banks. It's really hard to see in these pictures, but those black things that look like x's, are golf clubs along with tees and golf balls. For my hair, I parted it down the back and then twisted the pieces, separately, then I combine them together for another bit of twisting. Then I used one of those 'bird beak' clips to hold it all in place. I like this design as it's a bit different and it only takes a minute or so to put it up.

We were suppose to go outside to play hockey, but it was canceled, due to weather, much to my delight. We had snow and rain, on and off all day. I disliked the idea of standing outside in the cold, knowing I could be home, in a warm house, sewing on my projects. I was able to finish off one of my dresses, so hopefully, if the weather is good, tomorrow, I will share my fun, new project.

WIFD Day 3

Today has been another cool day, but not snowy or rainy. When I checked the weather report, they said we should have temperatures up to 15 degrees C, so I thought I would trust them. I chose to wear a dress I finished making, yesterday. This one is made from a pattern by Coni Crawford, it's the Princess Sheath Dress and the fit is very good. I still needed to drop the bustpoint, by a wee bit, but overall, it went together nicely and fits very well. I changed this to be a sleeveless dress and I used bias to bound the neckline and armholes, rather than facings. I don't wear sleeveless on it's own, and I have quite the selection of sweaters I like to use as my second layer for modesty sake. The cotton sweater is by Lands' End and is a deep purple, which coordinates lovely with the variety of pink shades in the dress. The dress fabric is a cotton poly blend, with mostly cotton.

This was my 'testing' dress, as I wanted to see how close Coni's patterns actually are, to body shape. I have yet to have a pattern I have not had to alter because of my full, lower bustline. This one was close, I nearly got away without an adjustment, but in the end, I had to tweak the pattern to drop the bustpoint a wee bit. The length is shorter than I am accustomed to wearing, but it's not bad. It will do for a summer, runaround dress, with a nice pair of sandals.

As I finished typing this, I am looking out my window and it's now raining. I might have to change into something warmer for tonight. I have a meeting to attend and I don't want to freeze.

WIFD Day 2

Today, we awoke to snow on the ground and temperatures that had fallen, quite a bit, from yesterday's warmth. I found myself needing to slip into warmth. Along with warmth given by clothes, I wanted my 'friends' near to me, to warm up my heart and thoughts. I put on the trusty old microfiber tights with a 10 oz denim skirt that I made, years ago, and a peasant blouse that I purchased last fall. I put on my lovely, crocheted shawl, made by a dear friend, my beautiful apron, also made by a dear friend and in my hair, I put in a lovely hair ornament,also, from a dear friend. All these things kept my friends in my thoughts throughout my sewing afternoon.

My husband took the children to a museum, and I was able to stay home and sew. In a quiet house, sewing, uninterrupted, is a rarity in this home. I enjoyed my time sewing, which also gave me time to pray for family and friends. If all goes well, perhaps I can share my sewing projects, later in the week.

I hope everyone out there is staying warm.

WIFD Day 1

At the S&S site, we are having another WIFD (Week In Feminine Dress), suggested by one of our long time members. I was hoping we would be having some lovely spring weather to encourage the participation, but that was only the first day, so far. Winter greeted us this morning. Nothing like a little snow on a May morning to force me into warmer clothes, again.

On Sunday, I wore my brown, embroidered, cotton tiered skirt and peasant blouse. Both were made last year. Olivia is wearing her birthday dress, from last year, that I made from a vintage pattern. The dress is made from a lovely cotton, left over from a dress I made her big sister, and several little girls, years ago. A few more years and that fabric would be considered 'vintage'. :)