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Issue 58/March 2015 of Making magazine was released in the UK yesterday and in it is this simple front buttoning bow tied blouse pattern and tutorial by yours truly đ Now the issue is on the shelves I can share this version with you- available on my Free Patterns Page
All tied up
27 Feb 2015 20 Comments
in 1930's, 1940's, Blouses, DIY & How To's, Free pattern, Making Magazine, sewing, VeraVenus Patterns Tags: bow blouse pattern, dressmaking, free pattern, Making magazine, vintage inspired
A little more on the kimono front
04 Feb 2015 22 Comments
in 1930's, Blouses, DIY & How To's, Free pattern, Kimono, sewing, upcycling, VeraVenus Patterns Tags: blouse, free pattern, making shoulder pads, VeraVenus pattern, vintage dressmaking, vintage inspired
Magyar blouse with shoulder pads
No shoulder pads and with tie belt from the dress.
Left over from my recent adventures in vintage Japanese kimono deconstruction I had enough of one to also make this simple magyar/kimono blouse.
The definition of magyar blouse says that ‘…the sleeves are cut in one with the body.’ I’d also call that a kimono style top. I’m not sure of or even if there’s much difference between a magyar and basic kimono cut …if anyone does know a distinction please enlighten me.
In any event the magyar style of dress bodice & blouse seems to have been around for a long time in western fashion history from before WWI through the 30’s, into the 50’s and pops up beyond though in more recent decades maybe that’s when it began to be called a ‘kimono’ cut. Really I’m just making a supposition on that, don’t quote me. More
Kimono My House
02 Feb 2015 26 Comments
in 1940's, Applique, Dresses, Inspiration, It's in the Details, Kimono, sewing, upcycling, Vintage Patterns Tags: 1940's, kimono, sewing, upcycling, vintage dressmaking, vintage patterns
Oh, kimo-No!
Ok, so what I didn’t know when I started writing was that my post title is also the title of a Sparks album from May, 1974 ( I guess I was listening to other music at the time) I like the album cover anyway so there it is. Next I learned that the title is a take on the 1951 Rosemary Clooney song ‘Come on-a My House’. Next stop was at the rather wonderful Japanese YouTube version which I share with you:
Isn’t the stuff you find on the internet amazing…
But I’m wandering.
Anyway to get to the point this is a post about my most recent up-cycling/ re-purposing/ extreme ‘make-do-and-mend’ venture involving, you guessed it- Kimono. More
Sew It and Sea
04 Aug 2014 42 Comments
in 1940's, 1950's, All Vintage Dressmaking, Dresses, Original vintage inspiration, sewing, Swimsuits, VeraVenus Patterns Tags: 1940's, 1950's, dressmaking, retro style swimsuit, vintage dressmaking
Remember my Lamour swimsuit from a few summers back? I finally got back to that pattern and over the last 4 months in between costume work and wedding dresses I’ve developed a whole little range of retro styled swimwear and thought I’d give a preview of some of the pattern styles.
HiHo Sewing in the US of A I go.
14 Apr 2014 18 Comments
in 1930's, 1940's, Dresses, Lingerie, sewing, Vintage Patterns Tags: dressmaking, Hollywood sewing patterns, vintage dressmaking, vintage inspired, vintage patterns
Well hello from southern New Mexico where ostensibly I’m on holiday visiting my mum. But not to sew for two whole weeks??
I m p o s s i b l e.
Weeks before my arrival I’d been lurking on USA ebay and won some lovely vintage patterns and had them sent to my US address. It was nice to be able to buy a few Hollywood patterns particularly which I don’t come across on UK ebay that often. Believe me when I say I wasn’t planning at all to sew on my visit, honest I wasn’t!
I lasted a mere 6 days. The vintage patterns were whispering to me. I shouldn’t have been left alone in the house! More
Handbags and Gladrags
08 Nov 2013 20 Comments
in 1930's, 1950's, Accessories, DIY & How To's, Dresses, Free pattern, Inspiration, Making Magazine, sewing Tags: accessories, bags, dressmaking, free pattern, Original vintage inspiration, vintage dressmaking
Where did that summer go? Cold, wet and nasty here in the UK now… where I am at any rate. But tomorrow morning at some hideously early hour I start the 18 hour long trip that lands me in still warm and sunny southern New Mexico to visit my mum for two weeks. A very welcome break from work and crummy weather đ So this post is a quicky Hi y’all with a free 50’s style dress pattern AND a cute bag to make. I did these two projects for the Christmas issue of Making Magazine that hit the newsstands yesterday. The patterns can be downloaded from my free stuff page. The dress pdf is 33  pages! I’ve put the full size A0 & A1 pattern pdfs up too for those of you with access to large format printers.  I expect to be making quite a number of the bags myself soon in tweed, fake leopard fur, sequin- fab to give as  Christmas presents I thought.
The One That Got Away and Circular Knicker Redux
22 May 2013 18 Comments
in 1920s, 1930's, Costume, DIY & How To's, Free pattern, Knickers, Lingerie, random, sewing, Tutorial, VeraVenus Patterns, vintage magazines Tags: fancy dress costume, how to draft french knickers, how to sew vintage style french knickers, Lingerie, Wedding dresses, Weldon's
Been cruising eBay a bit recently. Yeah, it’s under control, just. Got some chic vintage French fashion magazines, a wonderful German pattern magazine that is killing my eyesight with deciphering it’s spider-webs of pattern sheets, and a couple of Weldon’s Lady’s Mags from the 20’s and 30’s complete with tissue lingerie and dress patterns. This 1920’s Weldon’s Fancy Dress issue is the One That Got Away:
I really do wish I’d bid that little bit more on it. It reminds me of this wonderful early 1920’s photo of my Italian grandmother in a fancy dress costume. She was a dressmaker too.
Also during WWII she was the only woman out of 4000 employees in the U.S. tank parts factory where she worked who became a Journeyman Machinist. More
The Little Bias Dress pattern has landed
02 Mar 2013 67 Comments
in 1930's, DIY & How To's, Dresses, Free pattern, Nightgowns, sewing, VeraVenus Patterns Tags: 1930's, free pattern
Little Bias Dress pattern- download from VV Free Patterns page
aka the LBD.
“Just-below-the-knee 30âs inspired bias dress. It fits snug over the hips and the lower skirt then flares out into a 1â2 circle. The V-neck bodice is cut on the straight grain and finished with a facing. There is shirring under the bust and across the back waist which also has a 2 piece belt. The entire skirt and the fluted 3â4 circle sleeves are cut on the true bias. All seams are best simply pinked and pressed open though french seaming the long side seams of the nightgown worked well. Sleeve and skirt hems are finished with either a hand or machine rolled hem. Armholes are bound with bias strips. This 10 piece pattern (all seam allowances included on the pattern) is sized to fit a UK size 10/12, 162-167cm/ 5â4â-5â6âheight person. “
So, after making my LBD dress first posted about here last month I thought it could be adapted to also make a sweet 30’s style nightgown…and in some soft  embroidered cotton lawn it did. The instruction pdf I just posted suggests tells how the adapt the dress pattern to make this style too along with pattern/body measurements, fabric suggestions, notions and a cutting layout even đ I think by following the Threads grading guide it would not be difficult to grade this pattern up a couple of sizes.
However I should warn you the tiled pattern is a whopping 28 pages to print and tape together!  If you know of a CAD print service (cadtoprint.co.uk for instance) to whom you could email the full A0 pdf (edited to add: 33.1 x 46.8 inches) and have them post you back a full size printed sheet drop me a note via my VV contact form and tell me you would very much like a full sized pdf. For the brave and patient among you the  sewing instruction pdf and tiled pattern pdfs are now all up on the VVFree page …in both A4 and US letter tiled formats đ
If someone could give me suggestions of similar digital printing services in the US, Canada Europe etc I’d be grateful as I’d like to list them on the blog because it’s a question I get asked from time to time and I only know the UK possibilities.
My next post will be for a draw to win one printed  pattern of that other dress now known as the Bloggin’ Blues dress even though my blog blues are long gone. As soon as March begins the year ahead feels full of promise even though the weather here is still perfectly miserable.
I love me a violet posy.
Beret Success- hat pattern review
31 Jan 2013 15 Comments
in 1940's, Accessories, Hats, Inspiration, sewing, shoes Tags: 40's beret pattern, french beret, sewing a beret
I actually haven’t sewn anything since before Christmas which for me is almost like not breathing but a break every now and then is good even I admit. Instead over the hols I baked like crazy (umpteen batches of biscotti and a Baked Alaska) and just this past Monday returned to the UK Â from a couple of weeks in southern New Mexico- though I did finish a blouse while I was there but that doesn’t really count and it still needs buttonholes. So yesterday, after tidying up my workroom which suffered from family invasion while I was away, I wanted to make something simple that wouldn’t tax my jet-lagged brain and would get me back in the sewing groove.
This little 1948 French beret pattern from Mrs. Depew was just the ticket.
The pdf contains the instructions for drawing out the pattern for the simple, nicely proportioned small beret and the cute bird ornament. Sewing instructions are very minimal but really it isn’t hard to construct.
The two things I changed were making the head opening a few centimetres larger (maybe french women had little heads in ’48 or maybe I just have a big one) and I shortened the length of the birds body by 1-1/2 cm so to my eye at least it had more of the same proportion as the illustration. I also lined my beret. The birds wings are two layers of suede fused together so not to be floppy and I wish I’d done that for the tail too. If you make this hat yourself doubling up the bird fabric is something to bear in mind depending on what you use. The edge stitching is also something I decided to add just to make it a little more tailored in feel to go with my newest Miss L Fire shoes ( đ on sale)
Now my suede-trimmed  tweed suit (a version of a vintage late 40’s suit which I had to copy for a film in November and that just happened to fit me too- occasional perks of my job)  that I made just before all the baking started is accessorised and ready to go … just as soon as my Christmas waist goes away and I can button the skirt again that is.
Will I make this beret again?
Most certainly. This first one took about four hours to make with my messing about some but will take half that in the future. I have some red velvet lined up for a loopy bow one and some turquoise suede to make a second bird beret in. A black felt one with a sequinned or beaded bird could be fab too I think. All in all a successful make.
Now I’m going to whizz up a little black satin dress based on my 30’s PJ top free pattern to wear tomorrow night to a White Mink evening…. because of course I haven’t got a single frock to wear!
Singing the Blahblah Bloggin’ Blues
12 Nov 2012 25 Comments
in 1940's, Inspiration, It's in the Details, random, sewing Tags: 1940's, applique, dressmaking, shirring, vintage inspired
Had a bad case of the blogging blues these last couple of months and had to just walk away and think for a while. Blogging was supposed to be an enjoyable thing but became a stress and an obsession instead. I have enough of those already. It got so I couldn’t make anything without thinking about whether or not I ought to be photographing my progress, jotting down the steps and writing a tutorial. And how often did I check my stats?? Sheesh, talk about a creativity killer. Can’t say I’ve come to an understanding with myself about what I’m doing here on WP or why or for whom… but hey I didn’t hit ‘delete this site’ so even if not exactly back in the saddle at least I’m walking alongside the horse. And I have been sewin’ up a storm while singin’ those blues and at the end of the day making clothes is my passion and I just have to keep sight of that.
So.
A while ago while idly perusing vintage dress sites looking at pix of dresses hoping for some inspiration I came across this red beauty on FabGabs.com (site now under reconstruction) and it was love at first sight!
photos by FabGabs.com
So I made a version for myself.
 It’s made from a heavy silk crepe I’ve been hoarding for years just waiting for the perfect moment to use it and has a velvet yoke, sleeves and pockets. The embroidery is cut out from an upholstery sample, first BondaWeb-ed to stabilise it and help stick it in place on the velvet and then blanket stitched with silk buttonhole thread all around the edges. The pattern itself is a cobbled together job- draped bias sleeves from a 1940’s style evening dress I made a private client a couple of years ago, skirt, also bias is a lengthened version from the 30’s pj top I put a pattern up for (DIY page) and the bodice was adapted from a fitted shirt block. The 4 rows of shirring at the top and bottom of the bodice to control the fullness is a technique I really like and don’t use enough. In a panic I discovered I was down to my last fabric buckle covering kit and they are so hard to find these days… Vogue Fabric site has them in USA and Amazon.com. But they won’t ship them to the UK for some reason so had to warn my Mum in New Mexico a packet of a dozen is headed her way which I’ll collect in January. Phew, panic over đ
I’ve used the cut-out embroidery technique before on this georgette and velvet kimono I did for Making Magazine (a UK craft mag I do sewing projects for quite a lot)
That’s a pic of one of the  18″ square upholstery fabric swatches a friend who works in a posh interior design shop gave me and the image below shows how I machine stitched it on. Going around all the edges with blanket stitch is somewhere on my to-do list….. someday. Anyway I think it’s a good cheat for adding embroidery onto clothes for those of us who don’t embroider.
Advice for the sew-fearful
01 Oct 2012 8 Comments
I do agree with the first paragraph but hmmm, if I tackle the household chores (all urgent)Â first I’ll simply have no time left for sewing today…I vote for sewing first- boring stuff later.
And face and hair get done after I have my new dress finished hopefully just in time for Husband’s arrival home and he’ll be so thrilled at how gorgeous I look that he’ll whisk me out to dinner never even noticing the house is a mess and the dogs are still smelly.
RESULT!! Â and as one of my muses said ” ….after all, tomorrow is another day.”
Keeping calm and carrying on…. fur stole pattern posted
17 Sep 2012 27 Comments
in 1950's, 1960's, Accessories, Free pattern, sewing, Skirts, Tutorial Tags: fake fur, fur stole pattern, vintage style skirts
(Fake fur of course)
The Mad Men style furore seems to have died … or maybe it’s just off the radar until the next season starts? If a bit of 50’s/60’s glam is on your things-to-make-list the pattern for this stole is now up on my Free Stuff page… finally got around to digitizing it.  Until my broken foot is healed computer work is about all I can do for a while. Which means I’ll get to those 3 skirt drafting tutorials sooner rather than later too.
Which tutorial shall I do first: 30’s, 40’s or 50’s??
30’s
40’s
50’s
last of the summer sweet peas
And aren’t these sweet peas the most amazing colours! That’s half of my autumn/winter palette right there.
French Knicker Sew-Along: Day 2
09 Sep 2012 25 Comments
in 1940's, It's in the Details, Lingerie, Sew-along, sewing Tags: 1940's, how to sew vintage style french knickers, Making vintage style lingerie, sewing lingerie
So diving straight back in where yesterday left off todays post covers attaching the waistband, hemming your knickers with and without lace and (with reservations, you’ll see why) how to do a hand made button-hole as well showing a thread-loop. (By the way any picture will open full size in a separate window when clicked) More
French Knicker Sew-Along Day 1: ready, steady…
08 Sep 2012 13 Comments
in 1940's, It's in the Details, Sew-along, sewing Tags: 1940's, how to sew vintage style french knickers, Lingerie, Making vintage style lingerie
…sew!
Day 1- today covers cutting out, hand sewing on lace motifs, sewing french seams and how to attach a continuos side seam placket with either a hand or machine finish.
Day 2- tomorrows post covers adding a waistband with either a fabric or elastic (ha, didn’t expect that did you!), machine appliquĂŠd lace hems and motifs, machine pin-hemming, hand-made button-holes and other closing options. More
