1950's 'crinoline' petticoat

Will be attempting to sew the petticoat which will make the 1950's dress stick out soon.

Find instructions here.

Looking at finished product made me think of a skirt I already have...

It has a attached petticoat and has a similar sort of design with the material then netting at very bottom.

Although the net is 'softer' than the netting I bought.

1920's Dress...ideas

So I want a 1920's style dress for winter. As you can see above I have a drop waist dress but its a summer one. Now |I have several options.
1. Use a vintage pattern
2. Find a free online pattern
3. Make my own using this blogger's dress as example
4. Use summer dress as basis to make pattern but use more 'wintery' fabrics and make straps ticker, then wear shirts underneath.
5. Get a cheap tunic dress or long jumper and add  pleated skirt on the bottom

And apparently its called deco grunge.
Spotted this drop waist dress...out of my budget though.

And this is the dress I'd love to have or as close as possible to it.
http://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O75004/day-dress-brique/

Focaccia - (GBBO)

Over the past few weeks I have been watching the great British bake off. And one of the recipes that took my fancy was the focaccia. So I decided to try the recipe here. The video was a nice addition made the instructions more clear.

Got ingredients together (scuse the floury hand print on the olive oil bottle)

Despide oiling the surface as instructed still found a lot stuck to the worksurface

Put in oiled bowl to proove

Prroving for 2nd time

Olives, basil, thyme and some drizzled oil

Ta-Da! Looks good...

Tastes good too...eaten 2 slices already

1920's hat - the verdict.

I tried my hand at making the 1920's cloche hat from the pattern here.
I cut out pattern exactly.

Then followed the instructions on the video.

First time I'd used iron on interfacing.

Detail round brim

When it came to the top bit of the hat. I had to undo and restitch because I sewed the wrong side of the triangles together.

I found that the hat was too small. It wasn't going to go round my head. So had to unpick it and insert a panel to extend the circumference.

Panel

Inside is a bit messy

So here is the final hat.

I think I will make the brim taller next time so I can flick up the brim as the downward one didn't suit me.

1950's dress update 3

SO I've managed to attach the skirt and hem the dress (well part of it*)...although not without some difficulty. I found hemming the circle skirt part very tricky as the material kept rucking up under the sewing machine foot. Not sure if it was because my tension was wrong? (I also burnt myself twice iron pressing the hems. Ouch.)

*Then when I tried to hem the under dress part my silly machine decided that it wasn't going to sew properly and the top thread kept coming out of the needle and trying to eat my fabric. I gave up and decided I would hand sew that bit instead.

You can see problems I had with the hem

 I've got the bias binding to do next. Will do neck area by hand but rest by machine. Hopefully by then it will decide to like me or I'll have to use the big machine (one of those that is part of a table) to do it. I find the bigger machines a little scary.

1920's Hat!

I think those 20's style cloche hats are good for winter...keep your ears warm. ;)
Was looking to buy one...but spotted this tutorial on how to make one.

And thought..why not have a go. I have interfacing left over from another project...and some lovely fabric which isn't enough to make anything big but would be enough for hat.

If it works I'll buy some nice fabrics and do a proper one to match my coat.

1950's Dress - Update 2

So with help from mum I have:

Cut out the fabric

Tacked and sewn the darts

Sewn the skirt

Attached the shoulders of main dress

Had a little trouble with getting the tension on the skirt right.

So here is the dress as it stands.

(I decided I'd prefer the round rather than 'V' shaped wrap round.

If I do the dress again, I'll try the 'V' shape)

Will just need to do bias binding, attach skirt add snaps and hem. Then I'll be finished.
But that's for another weekend.

Downton Abbey

I love the costumes on Downton Abbey.
Always so elegant.
Behind the scenes
Lady Edith's dress and Lady Mary's Red coat and hat combo particularly.
Wish it would come back into fashion.

This is the nearest I get to the Downton Abbey Era dresses...

Was the past always summer?

Was the past always sunny?
I know odd question...but looking through 'vintage' patterns online. (20's, 30's, 40's 50's, 60s.) The majority seem to be short sleeved or at least very summery looking.
Is it just that the ones chosen were all summer ones or was it much warmer in the past? ;)

Sleeves
Hard or easy to sew and does length affect the difficulty level?

Patterns
Has anyone ever bought a pattern that fitted straight away and didn't need adjustments?

Patchwork

Thought I'd show you some of my successful sewing projects. Those being patchwork. First was a quilt (see above pic).

I did start to do two more quilts but they ended up being incorporated into a carry bag for my concertina.

Here is the finished bag made with my sisters help.

Now I have a proper case might use it as a bag to put my clogs in. ;)

Making a start...trouble with fitting

Well I made a start now I have the material. Went for red gingham and navy blue. Cut out the pattern.

Problem is I'm sure I've done something wrong already. It's just not fitting right. I went to do the adjustments suggested here but if I did that it would cut across chest rather than going under it or am I getting confused here?

 Its really hard to judge when I'm doing it all by myself it feels like the fits wrong but does it look like the fit wrong?
This is why I hate patterns. Argggg! They make me want to scream!

Help!?!

Some shameless blog promotion

Just to let my readers know. I have another blog
http://thelearningtoclogblog.blogspot.com/
Where I post about my learning to dance using only Brenda Walkers Clog Dance Book/DVD and (more recently) getting a few one off lessons from local dancer.
I regularly post up videos of progress and comments are always welcome.

1950's dress....looking for inspiration

Been looking at the V&A website for inspiration and what kind of pattern/color combinations look good.
Dress fabric - Rose pompom - Victoria & Albert Museum - Search the Collections

I like this blue material too
Dress - Victoria & Albert Museum - Search the Collections

This material is gorgeous
Evening ensemble (dress & coat) - 'Perou' (Peru); La Ligne H - Victoria & Albert Museum - Search the Collections 

And this is intresting image as you can see the petticoats that make it stick out.
Evening dress and petticoat - Tuileries - Victoria & Albert Museum - Search the Collections

Fast Vs Slow?

This comes under the 'general' bit in my description. I have a trouble with playing at speed. I'm fine when I play slow to mid pace I can get right notes in right order. But as soon as I speed up to 'normal' (fast to me) pace I mess up. To demonstrate this here are two videos.*

Slow

Fast

Playing slow is ok at home practicing but when playing in a session one needs to keep up. So which is best fast or slow?

*The tune played in both cases is 'Oh Joe! The boat is going over'