Beirut, The Flying Club Cup, which I have listened to no less than four-hundred and eighty-five times. And yes I can play some of those songs on my accordion quite well.
I must admit, I finished this skirt awhile ago, but I just now got around to taking pictures of it. The fabric is from The Sew Weekly,"Mad About Plaid" fabric bundle. ...and I have a confession to make, I didn't use the buttons. After a lot of planning, I went with a larger variety. But I'm sure those little fellows will be perfect, and exactly what I need for something else. I love how this skirt turned out and I can't wait to make the matching hat and bag to go with it! (This was also my first full project with Evette, and she did a swell job. But she wasn't so smooth with the thin slippery lining. I've still got some bugs to work out of her, and she's still got to go into the shop. But we're off to a promising start.) Cheers! T p.s. The pocket idea came from pintrest.
And I didn't just make that up, that's actually what it says in the manual. And I'm sure it's true. How could such a lovely machine NOT be the greatest sewing machine ever built? It was made in 1961 and was one of the last models of Singer sewing machines to be made entirely of metal. It even came with an a "Multi-Slotted Binder,""The Ruffler," and a good variety of feet. Also, the manual has tons of helpful notes, whoever originally owned this machine, really loved it.
Yesterday, my sister gave me her old Slant-O-Matic. A friend gave it to her, and she's never used it. Recently she got a cute old 60's Singer in a table from Mike's for $45, so she's passing this one on to me. I LOVE it! But I'm afraid it's going to need a little work. It runs well and sews nice, but not as smoothly as I had hoped. I think it needs some oil and the timing adjusted. I fussed around with the tension and pressure and it helped quite a bit, but I'm probably going to take her into Montavilla for a tune-up anyhow. Today I'm going to sew up my muslin on it. Sewing machines, like cars, don't like to sit around for years and years and not be used. They bind up, so after I oil her up, I'll see if I can work out the kinks and get her to run a little more smoothly. (I named her Evette.) And I just can't part with my grandma's old Kenmore, Margaret. She's just such a great machine! It's perfect for heavy weight fabrics and I like that the plate comes off for sewing collars and cuffs. And I recently learned (while reading my manual) that it has a faux surging stitch, that I'm excited to try. I think I'll keep them both and use them for different things. Margaret and Evette, they sound nice together.
And here is some swell plaid fabric I ordered from Sew Weekly. It's a fantastic sewing blog. I can't wait for it to arrive. I'm planning a darling skirt.
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And just to make sure everyone knows, JoAnn's is having an amazing sale this Labor Day weekend. Their McCall's patterns are $1 and the Vouge are $3.99! I spent about $14 yesterday and saved over $100! Normally I like Simplicity patterns better, but they are on sale all the time, the Vogue patterns are rarely on sale and I love the Vintage Vogue patterns. And $1 for a new McCall's pattern is just a really great deal. I never actually follow a pattern anyhow, I just piece them together like ingredients in a cookbook. Take a sleeve here, and skirt there, a collar from over there... I'm more of a Frankenstein sewer. Here are a few of the patterns I got, and I want this one from Simplicity when it goes on sale.
At last, I've finished the 25¢ dress. I've been meaning to alter this dress for weeks! My sister found it at a garage sale for 25¢ and picked it up for me, but it needed a bit of work. It was super wrinkly, had a hole under the armpit and was a couple sizes too big. So I ironed it out, raised the waist line, turned the hole into a dart and added another dart to the other sleeve. Raising the waist line is my favorite way to take in a dress that's too big. And I look pretty good in high waisted dresses too. It will be perfect for the remains of summer and early fall.
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And as a bonus post, more eggplant from the garden.
Cheers,
T
One week, 80 photos, and 5 washings later... I'm finally able to post about my sea foam dress! I finished it late last weekend, and it came together splendidly! I couldn't find a pattern that was anything like what I was looking for, so I pieced together a few of my random $1 simplicity patterns, and I added pockets as well as a few other details. Actually, I added a lot of details. It took me awhile to adjust the pieces to fit right, but no longer than it does for any other dress. That's always the hardest part, getting the right fit. But considering I cut my pattern pieces out of brown packing paper that I taped together, I think it turned out amazing!
...but then disaster struck. The first day I wore it, even before I had a chance to take any pictures. I spilled gravy all down the front of it. Now normally I'm not a messy eater. Normally, I'm quite neat. But I tend to have bad luck. The only time I spill food on myself is when it's most inconvenient. Such as, about five minutes before I have a client come in, I always spill tea on myself. Anyhow, about 15 minutes after the gravy, I managed to get red ink on it too. I was carrying a bag with a red logo stamped on it, that apparently wasn't quite dry yet. It was so sad. So, I did the obvious, I washed it.
Normally, I never pre-wash my fabric. I live in a tiny little apartment with a coin washing machine in the basement, but I'm too cheap to use it. It costs about $5 a load, and it doesn't have many wash options, or hold many clothes. With how much I spend on clothes, it would cost me more to wash my clothes than it would for me to buy new clothes. Therefore my parents graciously let me do laundry at their house, and I occasionally wash clothes in the sink. I think in the future however, I need to start pre-washing fabrics. The first thing I did was try to get the stains out with stain sticks, but they didn't quite cut it, and left big clean circles on my dress. I had no idea fabric fresh from the store was that dirty. So I washed the whole thing in the sink, but it still didn't get out the stains. Then I washed it again with dish detergent and that did get out the stains. Yay! Next, I started to iron it and it left these huge dark marks on the fabric. Huh? I panicked and washed it again, and the dark marks came out, but I couldn't figure out what it was... it seemed a little sticky. Then it dawned on me... I USED WONDER TAPE! I've never used Wonder Tape before. And if you had asked me a week ago, before I tried washing it, I would have said I loved it. Wonder Tape is a notion that tapes seams down to hold them in place while you're sewing. It really worked great, it was easy to sew over, it didn't gum up the needle, and with the thin, slightly slippery fabric, it really kept everything together and on track. It's also water soluble so it will wash out when you're done. I should mention... I used a LOT of Wonder Tape... I mean YARDS of it. And since I was being careful not to shrink anything, the water I was using wasn't very warm and I wasn't soaking it long enough to wash all the Wonder Tape out. So I took it over to my parents house and washed it for real, in a washing machine, and now it's back to normal... I'm just waiting for what I'm going to spill on it next.
p.s. I will use Wonder Tape again, but maybe just a little less of it.
T
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And as a bonus post, here's the silhouette I made of myself... only I made my hair style look more a little more Victorian.
Yesterday, my sisters and I got together for a sewing day, and I finally had a chance to finish a sewing project. I used a little of my new fabric stash and made this white lacy skirt. I love how it turned out. And I can't wait to start my sea-foam dress next. Here's a close up of the texture and lace.
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And here are a few pictures of the garden.
Most everything is up now, and there are even a few little baby zucchinis coming up. I'm not sure how the corn will do, but the turnips are doing fantastic!
Today, I had a chance to stop by Fabric Depot's outdoor sale. They had so much great fabric! Most of it was around $5/yd. I got some vintage style pig fabric to make into pig potholders, and a few other vintage 30's prints as well. I got a white cotton that has a vintage, lacy, off-white pattern on it, along with some wide eyelet lace to make into a new summer skirt. I also got some 50's occupations themed fabric. I think I'm going to make that into bags. But best of all I got the loveliest, sea-green, light-weight, satiny-matte, fabric... I got five yards of it, for only $2 a yard! It's what I've been looking for, for a very long time. I'm going to make a dress with it that looks a little bit like this one below.
And I've gotten tired of always losing, and forgetting who has, my 9x13 pan. My last one was actually stolen! Yes!!! You know who you are, you 9x13 pan thief you! But you bought me a new one! So all is forgiven... Although, I engraved my name on this one to avoid all future confrontation. Thanks for the new pan!
I was also able to finish my new summer dress last night. I made it from an old vintage lace bodice that Trina gave me, some of my grandma's old lace that I tea stained and used for the hem, and some muslin that I had leftover from my lace curtain skirt. I'm very pleased with how it turned out, but I wish I had a little bit more of the muslin so I could have made it longer. However, it's short enough that it looks cute with a pair of pants too, so I guess it's alright. And yes, I did go back and clean up the seams. I always get sloppy when I'm sewing with scraps, and I didn't use a pattern on this one either.
I'm trying to get caught up on my sewing projects. I keep on buying more fabric to start more projects, but I haven't even started the projects I already have fabric for. So no more! It's time to start sewing! This is the skirt I made from some pretty lace curtains. I bought the curtains at "The Bins" the same time I bought the bedspread that I turned into a robe, and the ties for the tie skirt. I love how this one turned out, but I'm realizing that it runs really easily, so I'm not sure how long it will last. T
Sorry, sometimes I just get too busy doing things to catalog them in my blog. Poor thing! It's been so lonely lately! So I'm going to attempt to get mostly caught up tonight... let's see if I can do it.
We have... in no particular order...
EGGPLANTS!!! At last I have eggplants! And they are amazingly delicious! I've been roasting them in honey butter. They might be one of my new favorite foods.
I wish the tomatoes were doing as well as the eggplants. I have yet to get a single red tomato this year. Only the yellow ones are ripening.
But the green peppers are doing pretty good.
And the sunflowers.
And the fairytale eggplant of course.
And I've got zucchini coming out of my ears! These are the monsters that grew while I was away house sitting. I've eaten zucchini nearly everyday. And if you consider soup a beverage, I have made zucchini into a breakfast, lunch, dinner, dessert and a drink!
I also had a bumper crop of beets. So I tried making some pickled beets this year. I can't wait to try them!
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And this is the bathrobe I made from the chenille bedspread I pulled out of "The Bins." I LOVE how it turned out! And I promise to post more of my newly finished sewing projects soon... well eventually. And here is a sneak peak at my newly finished blue dress. I started this when I was 13 and finally finished it! It was the ultimate in procrastination. But now I actually have the skills to fix it and finish it. (I had made it too big.) Although, I have to admit, I was pretty impressed with the straight seems and details on it. I was a pretty good little seamstress at 13.
Even though I know it's a bit early to be thinking about Halloween. I want this to be my next sewing project. It would make an adorable little party dress. I would have bought it, but it was already sold by the time I discovered it. I found it here on Wearing History's Etsy shop.
And this is the dress I did buy! Such a sweet little tea party dress! I got it from Elegant Musings shop.
Oh, and I loved the clothes in this old Kodak 1922 Kodachrome Film Test too.
Let's see what's left in my "to post on the blog" folder...
ooooh here! These are some drip catchers I crocheted for my tea pot.
And this is an old parking lot photo I saw on Vintage Portland. I wonder if they ever lost a car?
hmmm... oh yes! And I recently rediscovered "Hark! A Vagrant" comics. I had forgotten how much I love her work! It always makes me laugh, plus it appeals to my inner history buff.
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And here is a new cookie cookbook I pulled out of "The Bins." (Don't light the oven by yourself.) (Official taste testers below.)
I also bought these How and Why, Wonder Books "The Science Library" at "The Bins." Because I'm a sucker for books, and I always loved these books when I was a little girl and this is the whole collection! I love the pictures in them and the early optimism of the 1960's, when we believed we'd be living on the moon in less than 50 years!
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And for a nerdy story and photo to leave off with. I recently found Bad Astronomy online and I can't believe I haven't been following it before. It's fantastic! This is one of my favorite pictures from it. "The laser shoots up into the sky and excites atoms in the upper atmosphere, causing them to glow. That makes an artificial and very bright star in the sky! The telescope can then use that star to track the distortions in the atmosphere and compensate for them, allowing the images it makes to be incredibly clear and sharp." Read more about it here. Alrighty, I've got to get to bed now. Good night! T
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