Vogue V8776 Cape

I made this cape using a grey wool that I bought at Jo-Ann's a couple years ago and Vogue pattern V8776, view A.

This pattern is designated very easy so I was expecting to be able to whip it up in just a few hours. It took a lot more than a few hours for me to complete this one. It's not very hard but is definitely not for beginners.

But, I do like the cape. It's pretty easy to wear (although arm movement is a little limited). You can wear the collar up or down and it has pockets.

The biggest mistake I made was making the notches on both sides. Those notches are for the in-seam buttonholes. They only need to go on one side. Below is the collar and the in seam buttonhole between the collar and the body.

Friday Faves - Feb 24

Font: 

Sullivan from Lost Type Co-Op

Knitting:

The Grace sock pattern by Sivia Harding from Knitty.com is so beautiful.

Reading:

Wayfare – a new online travel magazine

I love its retro design.

DIY fashion accessories (from my pinterest board):

Bow Clutch Sewing Tutorial by Elm Street Life (so cute!!)

DIY Pom Pom Necklace from Honestly WTF

DIY envelope clutch by SwellMayde

Geometric Necklace from Sincerely, Kinsey
DIY Apothecary Bottle Necklace from Free People blog

Thursday Thriftday – Feb 23

Floral Vintage Apron

This apron is my entry for Tie One On's Floral Fun theme aprons. I used the Comfortable Apron pattern from the book Vintage Notions (see my review of the book here and photo of pattern below). I love wearing aprons and made a couple of aprons using patterns by Mary Brooks Picken before.

The apron took about two and a half hours to make from start to finish. The instructions are the originals published in 1926 and there are not many illustrations. The instructions are written in paragraph form rather than step by step so you have to read rather carefully. I highly recommend looking at the notes in the back of the book as well.

The fabric is from a roll of vintage cotton that I inherited from my grandmother (used as a lining in this project). The lace trim is from a bulk bundle that I purchased at Michael Levine downtown.
One thing I really enjoy about the vintage patterns is the instructions on making the pattern. You simply tear a length of fabric, draw lines between certain points and cut. It's so simple. I love it. Above is the fabric cut away to form the bib and skirt of the apron.

The hardest part for me to figure out was how to attach the side belt to the bib. Here are some notes on how I did it.

Hem the sides of the bib and the skirt. Baste top edge of skirt (from "e to d") and lightly gather. Pin folded strap over gathered top edge of skirt as above. Fold edge of bib on top of strap, making a pleat and covering the end of the strap. See above for right side photo. Below is the wrong side.

Next, I top stitched the strap in place. The instructions say to use a blanket stitch to finish but in the interest of time, I skipped it.

The straps were not long enough to tie so I adhered to the instructions and made a buttonhole as a closure. In fact, I made three buttonholes so that I could tighten or loosen the apron as needed (see above). 

 

It's a pretty apron in the end but the hip gathers are not all that flattering. It was fun to make and it would be fun to try the blanket stitch finish sometime.

Book Review - Vintage Notions

The book Vintage Notions by Amy Barickman is a collection of the work of Mary Brooks Picken and The Woman's Institute of Domestic Arts and Sciences including original patterns, essays, advice and illustrations. I once found a book by Mary Brooks Picken at my local library and fell in love with her work.

Vintage Notions is organized into monthly chapters featuring seasonal recipes, advice and sewing patterns. There is only one sewing project per chapter (12 in total) but the book includes fun and interesting original content from the 1920s and 30s.

I recommend this book to anyone interested in vintage sewing or women's history. It's really a lot fun to read and interesting to discover how similar and different lives were almost a hundred years ago.

Thursday Thriftday - Feb 16

I bought a bunch of these little ceramic pots a few years ago. According to the bottom of the pot, they were made in Germany.

Cupcake Embroidered Reversible Shoulderbag

 Over the weekend, I threw together a little embroidered reversible shoulder bag. I used my pattern for a Reversible Shoulder Bag. You can find the pattern links in the sidebar as well.

Step one – gather some embroidery thread and a hoop.

 Step two - apply your pattern to the fabric. This cupcake pattern is from the book Sublime Stitching by Jenny Hart (see my review here). The paper on the left is the iron on pattern from the book. The right side shows the pattern after it is ironed on the fabric.

Next, hoop your fabric and start stitching. For the hearts, I drew a rough sketch on the fabric using chalk.

An "xoxo" addition perfectly finishes the cupcake design.


Three free-form hearts made using satin stitch, backstitch, running stitch and french knots.

 The finished bag: side one – hearts embroidered on brown wool, side two – cupcake embroidered on striped cotton.

Happy Valentine's Day!