Dress-up capes for a little girl!

I told myself I was going to stop numbering my projects because I tend to skip around so much, and also because some projects, like Project 6: Summer Dresses, are sort of umbrella projects for trying out lots of different dress patterns. I've made two more dresses for Project 6 but haven't photographed them yet, so today I'm going to talk about CAPES!!

My sister asked if I could make a cape for my 3-year-old niece, who apparently has been tying blankets around her neck and wearing them as cloaks. She's a girl after my own heart. I fondly remember tying colorful scarves to my arms to pretend I was a parrot, having my dad make me a halo with his solder gun, and many many old paint-splattered sheets that I cut holes in to make billowy "skirts" that made me feel like Scarlett O'hara.

So naturally I jumped on the cape bandwagon. I happened to have Simplicity 2571, a toddler costume pattern that included a cape--a hooded version for girls, and a collared version for boys.

I made two capes from this pattern, minus the hood. Cape 1 was a purple Chinese brocade patterned with colorful butterflies.

It's actually a dark purple in real life, not this magenta pinky purple.

The pattern has an extended front edge for a facing. I found the pattern instructions to be pretty confusing for sewing the facing, but I managed to get mostly through it. When I was done, I felt like the facing made the pattern unnecessarily complicated and bulky. It also made it so the cape draped forward over the shoulders to cover the front of the body. I tried the cape on (how could I not) and tried to flip the front of the cape over the shoulders but it kept falling forward and I imagined how I as a 3-year-old child might get frustrated in having my arm movements hindered like that.

I ended up having to reverse-engineer the butterfly cape after I made the second cape with changes based on my experience with this one.

The second cape was of an aqua confetti dot fabric I bought at Joann's. It came in so many fun colors and it was really hard for me to pick one, but my sister said my niece likes aqua.

 I seriously want a confetti dot cape now. I think it's my niece's favorite of the two, and for good reason. The fabric is lightweight, has a wonderful drape, and is sparkly as all get-out.

This time I left the front facing off and folded the front edge of the fabric back to meet the side-back seam. This helped it hang nicely off of her shoulders and left her arms unencumbered by all that fabric. I also didn't bother to turn the edges of the neckline down to hem, because the material was a bit scratchy and I thought she might not like that. And also, I hate turning down the hem at necklines. It's a pain in the ass. So I bound the neckline with the ribbon so it's nice and soft. And honestly, I think that gives the cape a very nice finish. I was afraid the ribbons would be too wide, but now that I see the cape on my niece, I think they're perfect--any thinner might not have supported the weight of the cape as well and might dig into the wearer's neck.

About the fabrics. I'd never sewn with anything slippery or stretchy before, so I was nervous and did some research before even cutting them.

The brocade was pretty easy to sew--the main issue I had with that was fraying along the cut edges. I finished all the cut pieces with a zig-zag stitch to minimize fraying, which was really time consuming and ate a LOT of thread. I used almost my whole spool of thread on the purple cape.

The confetti dot fabric was easy to sew. I didn't find that it gummed up my needle like a lot of people had issues with. My problem was that the sewing machine foot stretched the top piece of fabric out, but not the bottom piece. The solution was one I found online for preventing gummed up needles, but worked perfectly for this too: wax paper. A piece of wax paper laid on top of the fabric made it go through the foot & feed dogs smoothly and evenly, and tore off easily when I was done sewing a seam. I didn't hem it or finish the seams because that fabric doesn't fray. It could not have been easier to sew.

I'm totally addicted to making capes now.

Which is good because my sister bought some FABULOUS fabric for me to make my niece a toddler Renaissance fest outfit--dress and cape. I'm drafting the dress pattern right now by modifying an existing pattern, and I hope to be able to sew a mockup of it tonight. If all goes well, it will be a cinch to make her dress.

Antique lace!

I was at my favorite thrift store a few weeks ago and found a plastic bag full of antique lace for $10. I snatched it up and clutched it to my chest in dramatic fashion until I'd paid for it and was safely back in my car where I couldn't set it down and forget about it. (that happens a lot. I still get a sick feeling in my stomach when I think of the giant antique portrait of a very sweet-looking old couple that I could have had for $5. Except that I set it down at some point while I was shopping with my former sister-in-law and her daughters, and completely forgot about it.)

Here are a few pics.

My friend, Jennifer, said that this is probably a mix of bobbin lace & tatting or needle-weaving.

This one is my favorite. It's so soft and drapey. Jennifer said this one is crochet lace. It's about 2 yds long and all in one piece--there is no beginning or end to this piece.

Jennifer said this was almost certainly tatting.

I haven't measured them properly, but I'd say there's probably two yards of each lace. I haven't cleaned them either. I found a recipe for cleaning yellowed fabrics using Dawn and hydrogen peroxide, which I haven't tried yet because I'm scared I'll ruin the lace. They are in remarkable shape though. There are no tears or frays that I can see in any of the pieces.

I hope I can use them in my Edwardian outfit! That I haven't made yet!

Summer dresses - New Look 6457, Part the Second

Hey look, it's New Look 6457 again! When I found a fabulous vintage sheet in bright, cheerful colors with an awesome little landscape scene on it, I knew it was perfect for this pattern.

The first dress was so (relatively) easy to make and is such a cute, perfect style, I couldn't wait to try it again.

And, well, it was still easy, but somehow the seam over my right boob (your left as you look at the picture) was off-center.

And damn it if I can't get that top band sewn on straight. It's maddening. I had that same problem with the first New Look 6457 I made. Why something like that is so difficult to accomplish, I don't know.

Oh, and the bodice is a little too tight in the bust. Again, I have no idea why, because New Look 6457 the First is not. I haven't gained any weight, and I didn't accidentally cut it smaller because I trace my pattern pieces on freezer paper before I sew anything for the first time, and I just reused those pieces. It does stretch out a bit during the day though.

I sewed the size 10 bodice with the size 16 (biggest size) skirt, because I love a full skirt, and since it's just gathered I didn't have to worry about fitting issues at the waist.

Here it is, in all it's radiant glory.

That strap on my right shoulder isn't really set crooked. Straps on that shoulder always tend to slip though.

Ignore tacky sports bra straps.

Can you see the off-center seam on my bosom?

Aww yisss... What you are looking at here is a perfectly aligned zipper seam.

I almost cut the front panel of the skirt out upside down. Thankfully, I caught it and flipped the pattern piece over before pinning it to the fabric. But, I flaked out by the time I was laying the bodice pieces out and so those are all upside down... But I don't think it's all that noticeable.

As always, by the time I've put in the zipper (which went PERFECTLY this time!!), I'm sick of the dress and impatient to wear it, so I get sloppy on attaching the shoulder straps. I should hand sew to attach them to the inside of the front bodice band, but I don't. This is why I don't show close-up details of my dresses, haha. You'll see my crooked seams and lazy stitching.

It's a great, sturdy little dress. I wore it to the dog park as well as out shopping. I need to make more weekend dresses out of sheets. Then I can use the same dress for both errands and sweatier activities and have more space in my closet.

1980s (?) dress refashion

I am obsessed with dress re-make blogs and when I came across this hideously unflattering belted tent dress from I'm guessing the 1980s in this adorable daisy-print fabric, I had to buy it. It was only $5 (thrift stores in Austin are expensive), and had so much yardage, it was perfect for a re-make. 

Look at this beauty. (no, I meant look at the dress, not me, silly!)

Ugh. Just... Who would DO this to themselves?

Unbelted. Lots of potential.

I love the fabric! And the matching buttons and pleats!

My dog immediately recognized it as a fashion don't and started trying to eat the buttons.

I found a sewing blogger that often remakes clothes, usually by just trying it on, grabbing fabric at the sides and waist, guessing how many inches need to come off, and then cutting and sewing something that ends up looking fabulous in no time. So rather than take notes from other bloggers with more precise tutorials on how to remake a shapeless ugly dress into something cute, I decided to try her method. I can't for the life of me remember her blog name, or the search terms I used when I came across her blog, or else I would link to her here.

I tried on the dress, inside out, used clothes pins to take up the extra fabric on the sides, marked the waist, carefully removed it, cut off the bodice, stitched up the sides, and tried it back on. And for some reason, the waist was now just under my boobs. I have no idea how that happened.

So I cut a midriff band from the sleeves, using the McCall's 5094 pattern, and that solved the issue of the bodice length.

But it was very saggy in the back. I stitched down the pleat on either end of the shoulder yoke (I think that's the term for it?), which made it much more nicely fitted, except then I couldn't extend my arms forward without lots of uncomfortable fabric straining. So I picked the seams out of those pleats down to a couple of inches above my waist and had room to breath and move around again.

Gathered the skirt, stuck a zipper in the side, bound the armholes with grey double-fold bias tape, and voila... It's a damn cute little summer dress and I am really happy with it. I get tons of compliments every time I wear it!

It did take a lot longer than I thought it would, and I almost shelved the project at one point (read: almost threw it across the living room in a fit of rage), but picked it up again after a good night's sleep and had no problems with it after that. :-)

Summer dresses - New Look 6457

In an act of stunning practicality (and after a fit of rage at my Edwardian corset), I decided that the Edwardian corset/costume was more of a fall/winter project and that my time would be better spent in making cute sundresses out of the fabric and patterns that have been side-eyeing me from my stash all summer long.

The first dress I made was from New Look 6457, view A.

I'd never made a dress with a fitted bodice, but it was actually a LOT easier than I thought it would be!

Gathering the skirt to fit the bodice was actually a LOT harder than I thought it would be!

I struggled for two hours to gather that damn thing and pin it to the bodice, and when I finally sewed it all together, I realized that the bodice was too long in the waist and I was going to have to take it apart and do all that gathering all over again. I immediately turned to my beloved genius sewing friend to bitch about it and she gave me this advice:

First I mark the center and quarter marks of each piece (I mark center and the fold and find the center in each of the half pieces) – I do this for both the skirt and bodice pieces.

I do the two rows of basting stitches on the machine (longest stitch) – using the throat plate markings and foot for gauging.  Leave long tails of thread. – the more rows of stitching you do the more ordered your gathers will be, but they will not stay that way once you removed the basting stitches after the bodice is sewn to the skirt.  I find two rows is good, and saves you if one row breaks – which does happen at times. 

 

I pull the threads and gather the skirt – pull it up to be just a touch smaller than the bodice.  Place a straight pin at the end of each side of the skirt and figure-8 the thread around the pins to lock the gathers as you work. 

 

Start pinning the skirt to bodice by first matching side seams then center marks and finally quarter marks – while adjusting the gathers evenly within each quarter section. 

 

This process shouldn’t take long at all.  

And by golly, she was right! It was SO EASY to gather the skirt and attach it to the bodice using her instructions! Absolute genius!

This dress was also a challenge for me because I had to set a zipper, which I've only done once--on my pirate costume overskirt, and it came out off-center but you couldn't tell because of the flounces. I've been avoiding it since then. My beloved genius sewing friend gave me instructions for that, too.

First you baste up the seam where the zipper will be and press the seam open. 

 

Lay the zipper, pull side down, against the basted seam – lining the teeth up with the seam line – using scotch tape to hold the zipper in place.  Place the scotch tape across the zipper when you lay it down, and long enough to hold the zipper and seam allowance to the back of the fabric piece.

 

Once you have the zipper in place securely, flip the section over to face up. Pull a piece of scotch tape the length of the finished zipper opening (or do smaller sections at a time and piece it together).  You need to fold the tape down the center back on itself – ON THE UNSTICKY SIDE.  What you want to do is make a center fold down the tape so you can line the center fold up with the seam line. 

 

Do this down the length of the seam line until you have the end of the tape at the end of the zipper opening.

 

This becomes your stitching guide on the right side of the fabric – the tape is the PERFECT width.  No guessing, no sewing from the back side so bobbin stitches are on the top. 

 

You just stitch around the top scotch tape and pull all of the tape away, rip the basting seam open – plain zipper set.  It is the only way I set a plain zipper.  Always have tape in your sewing kit.

GOD, I LOVE HER!!!

So, here are the results. 

Please ignore my grody dog-walking shoes. I forgot I was wearing them. I'd have cropped them out but thought it would look too strange to have a headless and footless dress model.

Yeah, the dress is supposed to have a hook at the top and I set the zipper too low. So what??? I was sick of the dress by then and ready to move on. #idgaf

I added the ribbon belt because for some reason the bodice stretched out a lot after a few hours the first time I wore it. But ribbon belts are just really cute with that style of dress, and I was lucky to find something that matched perfectly. 

Mayyyybe the skirt is a little uneven at the hem. It might be slightly uneven at the top edge of the bodice too. But, I don't think it's too noticeable. I'm really happy with this dress!

1911 corset

I'm working on a new project! (not like the bots that hit up my blog care, but I do have two whole followers and no one else to talk to about these things)

Facts:

1. It's August, so it's boiling hot.
2. I live in sundresses. I have lots of them. I have sundresses for the dog park, I have sundresses for slumming around the house, I have sundresses for weekends, I have sundresses for work.
3. I am so sick of half of them that I wouldn't even wear them to the DOG PARK, so I'm thinning out my collection. 
4. I have yards and yards of super cute fabric from thrift stores, that I bought to make myself more sundresses to replace the ones that are going to Goodwill.
5. I have a super cute dress pattern that would also make me confront my fear of setting zippers, enabling me to add a key skill to my repertoire. 

So can you guess what I'm making?

An Edwardian corset, of course! (practicality is not one of my strong points)

This is actually a continuation of Project... 2? I think? The one for the corset sew-along that Jo from Bridges on the Body did a while back. I want to up my sewing game and for that I need to start sewing more complicated things. My sewing friend (who I admire and adore) from the Internet gave me this advice:

"You need the Patterns of Fashion books. Google them and then look at images. Museum garments. Pick one and do it from scratch, from drafting the pattern to fitting a muslin to embroidery and you will be an expert. The books are worth the price."

And THEN she sent me a gift card so I could buy one! Those books have been on my wish list for years but I've always been too intimidated to try anything from them. But no one ever accomplished anything by avoiding challenges so I'm going to try my very best to make my friend (and me) proud.

Since I already have everything I need for the corset, I decided to get Patterns of Fashion 2 so I can make an Edwardian outfit to go along with it.

I finished sewing the corset panels together last night. Here they are, beautifully displayed on the top of my dog's crate:

Left and right side laid flat...

This would be the front...

And this would be the back...

For the dress, I think I'm going to make this one. It's kind of boring, but looks pretty straightforward. Maybe I can jazz it up.

It was originally made of linen, and I have about 5 yds of tan linen that I got at Savers. The weave might be too coarse compared to the original, but I wouldn't know. Not like I have anywhere to wear it anyway, unless I throw a Halloween party. And if I do ever find an event where I can wear a 1908 summer day dress, well, real historical costumers love having farbs like me to laugh at, so it would have some entertainment value at least.

EDIT: While choosing labels for this post, it came to my attention that the 1911 corset is a POST-Edwardian corset. But it would still work for this dress, right? Right??

Old letters: Lizzie writes to her mother, 1890

In this edition of special posts, Lizzie writes to her mother. She refers to a preacher coming from New Market, but I don't know where that is, and of a funeral in Stringtown, which was in Hays County between San Marcos and New Braunfels.

In the letter, Lizzie refers to an Eva, and also a Mrs. Mercer. My previous old letter post (letter dated August 1912) was from Mrs. D. Mashias to Mrs. Eva Mercer, and Mrs. D. Mashias refers to Eva as "sister" in that letter. Is Lizzie Mrs. D. Mashias? Did Eva marry Mrs. Mercer's son?

I like Lizzie. I get the impression that she was a bit sassy and opinionated and fun to be around.

I just noticed the imprint of the fist holding lightening bolts at the top left corner of the first page. I wonder what that means?

Since there aren't any paragraph breaks in the letter, I split it up below according to the pages of the letter to make it easier to read.

[FROM: Lizzie TO: Mother / October 26, 1890]

Oct. 26th 1890
Sabbath-eve at home

Dear Mother,

When you get this you will have Eva's letter which she wrote yesterday telling you how anxious we are to hear from you so it would be jolly to repeat. We were out to Sabbath School had an attendance of 66. Mr. George preached his last sermon last S_____ and we are to have another man. There was one from New Market here last Tuesday night. He is trying to form a new circuit and have our class belong to that. His name was Mr. Garry. I don't think he will suit us at all, for he dident act nor talk like

any of the Methodist preachers I ever saw. I move that they stop some where else for it gets to be an old time. He came here about the middle of the afternoon & did not come in the house till about dark. I did not know who he was thought he must be some peddler or a grub [?], but nevertheless he turned out to be a preacher. I did not make any extra fuss just let him take what the rest of us did. He went away the next morning, and I was most awful glad of it for I did not want to stay at home and get dinner, as I was going to Mr. Baker's funeral. Mrs. Mercer, Kate, Dora, Eva, Fay & I went in the buggy. Mr. Baker died Monday night between 9 & 10 o'clock 

was buried at Stringtown. I guess she was left in destitute circumstances. Mr. Barr took sick Saturday about noon with congestion of the kidneys. Got so bad that they sent for Jennie and McCluney, but they said today he was getting better so he was able to walk around. Ella said that Winfields intend to go home in about two weeks if he can not get any work before that time. Mr. Woods is here now came last wk. some time. I should think John would want them to quit coming for they had about all they could accommodate before. Well I begin to feel sleepy but know you won't wonder much when I tell you I was out three nights last week 

Tuesday to Straits to a party Thursday to Mercers for a party and Friday to Singing School, but did not stay late any night. Don't know of any party this week that I will go to so I can stay at home this week and make up for last week. Jake wants us to have one but I told him I could not for you was gone. I am going to make my dress this week or that is the calculation now. Got a good color of it I think. Now mother as this is the third or fourth letter to your one I will stop and give you a chance. Write immediately. Love to all from your forgotten daughter Lizzie.