Vintage Pledge Playsuit

If you are a fan of the Vintage Pledge, you have probably been enjoying the Vintage Pledge July Estravaganza. The lovely sewists who make the vintage pledge have inspired me to share more of my makes from vintage patterns.

I have had a mail order playsuit pattern in my collection for a while.

Reader Mail Patterns was a company that sold patterns to home sewists through newspaper and magazine ads.  You could send the price of the pattern and a slip of paper with your address on it, and an order form to a New York address, and the company would mail you a lovely envelope with your self address attached and your pattern inside.  The most common brand names Reader Mail used were Anne Adams and Marian Martin.  Someday I will write a longer post about this interesting piece of sewing history.  I have a number of these patterns in my collection.

This particular pattern came to me in well used condition.  The outer envelope is dated 1958, although the pattern itself has an earlier vibe to it.  I think the pattern and envelope may be a second marriage as opposed to an original pair.

I made this little cutie up in a cotton blend from Gertie's summer fabric collection, purchased at Joanns, and added a self belt with a vintage mother-of-pearl buckle.  It fastens with a front zipper.  Here's a photo of the finished playsuit; perfect for the record breaking heat we are having here this summer!

And i followed through on my pledge to set up an instagram account and post it!

Xx Piper

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Another Vintage Blouse Pattern

Poly Is My Friend

Hullo.  I've been on a roll with sewing blouses from 50s patterns, with the goal of adding more everyday pieces to my wardrobe.  Here is my latest victim, er, selection:

I was very encouraged by the fact that it clearly was labeled EASY.  Since the lovely ladies pictured on the pattern did not appear particularly easy, I was hoping easy referred to the pattern.  Fear not, I am not such a sewing babe in the woods that I automatically assumed that just because a pattern says it's easy will it be easy.  (Yes, I am giving you the eye, Very Easy Vogue.)  I sewed up the A view, which here appears in the foreground in that lovely aquamarine.  I bought some gorgeous silk almost that exact color and then chickened out.  A silk blouse?  What was I thinking?  I am Ms. Wash-and-Wear.  Kids and pets and silk do not mix.  So, I decided on a lovely polyester instead.  Yes, Poly is my friend.  She is a real down-to-earth girl who doesn't mind a few coffee splotches or paw marks.

 

Here's a close-up of what I picked.   Black and white are always a good choice for me.  I figured this would go with much that was already in my wardrobe.  Happily, the pattern was easy to sew.   It is very fitted, however.  Like don't even try to take a deep breath.  If I do ever sew that silk version, I will make it with a tiny bit more room.  I also used the scraps to sew up a long rectangle that can act as a belt or a scarf.  And here it is...........

 

One thing that is particularly clever about the pattern is that View E is basically View A flipped back to front.  Because this has a side zip and back darts and I am small in the bust, (I love being a pear, I love being a pear, I love being a pear,) I can also wear it back to front!

 

Off to feed the furry dogs....

Xx  Piper

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Two Basic Blouses from a 1950s Pattern

(Hullo, Elsa!)

There has been a lot of talk lately in the blogging world about sewing wardrobe basics.  I personally thought this sounded like a fabulous idea.  Like so many of you all out there, I am totally drawn to sewing fabulous, one-of-a-kind pieces using unique fabrics.  Visualizing how a certain fabric would look in a certain style and then making it appear is so much fun, right?  The only thing is that you end up with a wardrobe of statement-making pieces that you may not want to wear every day of the week.  Oh yes, that would be me.

For my attempt at adding to wardrobe basics, I decided to pick a vintage pattern.  I chose to start with a few basic work blouses.  Because I lurv styles from the late forties and early fifties, I picked out this little number:

I decided to sew up the bow blouse in some black rayon that I found at Hancocks.  (I know, can you believe it?  100% rayon.)  A vintage type of fabric for a vintage blouse, oh yeah.  It felt silky and wonderful as I sewed it up.  If you decide to give rayon at try, I would recommend overlocking the edges as it has a tendency to fray.  I also french seamed the side seams.  I elected to add the short sleeves from the pattern.  Et voila!

I feel compelled to add that the correct historical term for this style is the pussy bow blouse.  There, I wrote it.  Too bad such a sweet word has been sullied.  How 'bout if I call it my kitty bow blouse?  Did you know designer Elsa Schiaparelli made this design famous in the thirties?  She was also famous for being into Surrealism and was friends with Salvador Dali.  Some of her designs were extremely conceptual and tres artistique.  For example, the shoe hat, which looked like an upside down high heel.  And not to forget her infamous gloves complete with fake gold fingernails attached. Although I'm not sure I could carry either of those accessories off, I am indebted to Elsa for this pretty, feminine blouse style.  Elsa was also known for popularizing hot pink which she called "shocking pink."  It became her signature color.  Ooo, now that's an idea for a future project; a hot pink, sleeveless kitty bow blouse.  I'm feeling it for summer.  Anyway, Elsa was rivals with Coco Chanel.  Now as you probably know, Coco was all about really wearable clothes for the active woman.  So I find it deliciously ironic that I am subverting Elsa's style into a wearable basic in black (Coco's signature color.)  What can I say, ladies?  Both of you had rocking awesome ideas.

Next I decided to sew up the Peter Pan collar blouse in some ivory cotton shirting that has a little spandex.  I picked it because it was heavy enough not to need lining.  Sadly it does require ironing. Like the kitty bow, this version of the pattern sewed up beautifully, and here are the results....

I think I will get a lot of use out of these.  Anyone else sewing up basics?

Xx  Piper

 

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