Of Vintage Goodies

Yes! I am finally getting around to posting about this! A few days after Thanksgiving, while hunting around on Etsy, I found the most adorable vintage dress pattern fo sale. And who were we to resist such a temptation? ;) Sure enough, a week later, a peculiar package found its way to our front door....

Such is our newest treasure :

Sorry about the bad shot, can you guess who took it? (me)

In June, there is going to be a WWII themed ball (seems kind of funny to have that for a theme while doing english country dancing) , so we're thinking on going to it in this style dress. Emily is working on her dress already ('tis delightfully easy to sew!), Megan has her fabric and is preparing to start, and me? Well, I'm still dreaming about it. ;) Someday I'll get some fabric for it...

~Caitlyn

The Latest Project

I thought I'd made up my mind to make Lucy's blue narnian dress from 'The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe'. But, amateur sewer that I am, I decided that Lu's dress might be a bit difficult for me. So armed with my sketchbook and patterns I nabbed Em and made her help me design my own dress.

We came up with several different ideas, but none of them looked quite right. I went to http://costumes.narniaweb.com/ and looked at all sorts of narnian costumes. This website is great, by the way. It has info on the costumes from both 'The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe' and 'Prince Caspian'. I found this pic of Susan from 'Prince Caspian' and I really liked the style of her dress, though it's kinda hard to tell what is the dress and what is armor. :P

After studying the picture a bit I came up with a design that I liked. I decided to use my favorite pattern, Butterick 4827, see the pic below. So, I'm going to modify the neckline as a shallow v-neck then add the triangular notch in the front like Susan's green archery dress. The sleeves will be about elbow length, maybe a bit longer, and slightly flared at the bottom. Over those sleeves will be a wider sleeve, slightly shorter than the under sleeves, made a gauzy material, maybe sheer or something similar. I'd also like to do the slits in the skirt (like Susan's red dress above) with a skirt underneath.

Anyway, that's just an idea. I may or may not do the notch in the front. We'll see. First I have to save up enough money to even buy the fabric, so I probably shouldn't be counting my chicks before they hatch. :P

This was a pattern I bought yesterday. Jo-Ann's is having a sale, 99 cents for a Butterick pattern. So of course I had to buy a one. :D This pattern has directions for a belt, two different styles of pouches, two corsets and two different wrist bracers.

I saw the wrist bracers. That was it. I had to buy that pattern! So I did! The only problem was that I forgot to look at the size and I bought a size XL through Xxxl. Whoops! Lucky for me, I think you can at least exchange it for a different size.

I'd like to make the belt, the pouch at the top and one of the wrist bracers (by the way, sorry about the bad pics). The longer wrist bracer is the men's bracer with the studs and buckles, and the lower bracer is the ladie's bracer which laces up on the bottom and has a charm thingy on the other side. I haven't decided which one I like better. :P

Well, that's all for now! I'll try to keep ya'll updated on the dress, though it'll be a while before I can afford it. :D

~Megan

And Finally... Pictures!!

At long last I have pictures! Actually, it's only one, but never the less, a picture. :D Em and I spent quite some time outside taking pictures and this the only one that was... um, tolerably okay. But don't I just look ridiculous!? :P I don't remember what I was looking at, but it must have been funny. :P LOL.
The sash was made with some leftover brown linen fabric I found in Mom's sewing basket. The brown and the green gave a woodsy air to the whole dress (at least I think it does). :P

Here's Em's dress. We made it in a record three days! Isn't it lovely? She found a pretty, blue silk skirt at Goodwill and used that for the underlay. Saved us lots of time, it did. :P

See the dainty white lace she sewed at the waist. It looks simply smashing with the white cotton fabric she used for the overlay.

That's all for now!

~Megan

It's finished!! And I have pictures!!

I finished my costume!! Whahoo! Apart from the little problem that we ran into with the fabric being tucked up, it was a breeze to sew and I am so excited to start on another. :D


Here's a full view of my dress. See my sleeves? ;D At first, I wasn't planning on doing the sheer around the neckline, but I wasn't comfortable about how low the neckline was, so, with fear and trembling I tried adding some sheer. Amazingly, it worked! When I originally cut out the pattern, I raised the back of the neckline 3 inches and the front 2 inches, thinking that it would be high enough..... next time maybe I will try 5 inches in the back and 4 inches in the front.


A closer view of my sleeves.... I made a copy of the sleeve pattern so that I can do it again should I ever want to. I have a friend who wants to try doing these sleeves as well so I am making a copy for her.



And the dress is really comfortable. Perfect for a ball or a simple tea party....


Emily and Megan will be posting pictures of their regency dresses really soon too.

And tonight we are going to watch S&S again. ;D

~Caitlyn

If it's not one thing, then it's another

I can't decide whether I should say "Ha, ha! Victory!" or if I should groan in despair right now.

And why this indecision you ask?

Number one, mom and I fixed the problem. After all that ripping and getting absolutely no where, we decided to cheat and turn that little annoying bubble (the bubble was what made the fabric look lop-sided) into a nice, little, inconspicous pleat. (hey I'm a poet and I didn't even know it!) ;D

So now we have to reverse the damage and, sew a new placket on, sew the bodice to the skirt, then finish it by hemming it and doing the buttons.

My newest problem? Emily broke our one and only needle and we don't know when we will be able to get a new one. :(

Maybe I could hand sew it..... Or maybe I should just be patient. ;)

Well, there's your update for ya'. And I think I shall end here so that I can pop into the kitchen and get a couple of cookies that are cooling on the cooling rack.....

Toodle pip and cheerio my readers!

~Caitlyn

Aaaah! Cap'n, we have a problem!

I knew my costume for the masquerade ball was coming along too easily! I am sooooo close to being finished; I that is left to do is to finish the buttons and then hem it. My problem? I really have no idea.

When you hold the dress up, the back gathers don't fall right. Instead they look all crooked and funny. It looks like somewhere a little piece of fabric got caught up where it shouldn't have. So mom and I are working on ripping the bodice off the skirt and then ripping the skirt and skirt lining. At first we were hoping that all it was, was that it got caught when I sewed my placket on, so I ripped half of that off, but of course that would have too easy of a fix. ;D

If mom and I don't make any headway by today or tomorrow then we are going to take it with us to some friends who are really good seamstresses. Hopefully they will be able to help.

But, other than that, the dress itself has been very easy. And I learned how to do button holes yesterday; they're actually really easy to do and now I don't cringe whenever I see a pattern that calls for buttons. :)

Well, I guess I should get back to my seamripping, there's only 11 more days until the ball!

~Caitlyn

Mission Accomplished

IT'S DONE!!!

What's done?

My regency dress! Whoohoo! I finished it last Monday but I keep forgetting to post about it. I would put some pictures of it on, but I haven't had the chance to have any pictures of it taken, so you'll have to forgive my forgettfulness and wait longer. :P

I have become much wiser in the way of making regency dresses since I first started this dress. For example; I learned that buttons would be a better choice than a drawstring and eye-hooks. Also, that skirt linings are very difficult to deal with. No more skirt linings for me, thank you very much!

Even though I haven't even had a chance to actually wear my dress, I'm already dreaming up other regency dresses for future projects. :P What can I say? I'm hooked on regency styles now. Maybe I shouldn't have watched all those Jane Austen movies. :P

~Megan

A glimpse of my fabric....

It's always when you want it most.

Yes, it's always when I really want to put pictures on my blog that the computer messes up and won't let me do it. Why it does that I will never know; to irritate me perhaps? Or maybe to teach me patience.... ;D

I have sooooo many pictures that I am dying to share with all my readers; I have clicked every button, pushed every knob and whatever else there was to try, and-- still--no--pictures. :(

So you will have to bear with me until I can get dad to help me later.


Changing the subject now.... ;)

Emily and I finished 'Sense and Sensibility', well, actually we've finished it and have watched it for a second time now. :) We tried both the HollyWood version with Emma Thompson, and the other newer version, we didn't like that one so I can't remember who it had in it or who it was by (oops). I think I can say that it is now my #1 top favorite movie. The actors did a great job, the costumes were great, and I cried watching it. ;) And just to make it a full "Jane Austen week" we also rented 'Emma' and 'Pride and Prejudice'. We watched Emma last night and while it was decent enough, I didn't like it as much as 'Sense and Sensibility'. I think tonight we might watch 'Pride and Prejudice'.


And I am getting closer to finishing my costume!! All that is left now is to sew the skirt to the bodice and then add the buttons. I was going to put a picture on here, showing my fabric colors, but alas and alack, the computer would not let me (grrrr). I've already planned my next regency dress too. :D My next one is going to be a short-sleeved brown dress with cream lace. It's to be a summer dress, nice enough to wear into town (yes, I will wear it in public!), but sturdy enough to withstand the rigours of country life, and light enough to where I won't be broiled alive. After that maybe a light blue one..... Yeah, I should probably finish my first one first. ;D

Until next time my readers!

~Caitlyn

Almost Done

Hi everyone! Caity here to let y'all know that I am almost done with my regency costume!! Hurray! :D

I don't have any really good pics of my costume yet, so you'll have to be patient with me for a little while longer.

In all, I have finished the bodice, the skirt and the sleeves; I can't sew them together yet as I need a few more things from Jo-Anne's.... But hopefully I can get those tomorrow. I was really suprised at how easy the whole thing was to do. I'm doing view A, and we had been warned that it was a little trickier than View B, but for once in my life, I actually understood the directions! It seemed almost a little too easy, and I wondered if I had done something wrong (which I didn't). ;D

About the sleeves.... I decided to go free style and do them without a pattern, going by some not-too-great pictures online. While the sleeves were simple to create, they were very time consuming, it took me two and a half days to finish them. But it was worth it!!!! Both sleeves turned out better than I expected and are beautiful. I admit it, I'm proud of them. ;) I really did try to get some pictures of the sleeves, but since they are not sewn on to the bodice yet, they don't hold their shape very well.


As a slight change of subject.... Emily and I got to watch half of 'Sense and Sensibility' last night (we get to finish it later tonight). And I think we are both now officially addicted to regency era dresses. ;) We got lots of dress ideas for future costumes (only with higher necklines!!) and with luck, I am going to try making a regency jacket soon. It looks easier than my sleeves!

Well, I'm off to have snack, bed down the animals outside and get ready to finish our movie, I'm so excited to see how it ends!

TTFN, Ta, Ta, For, Now my readers! :D

~Caitlyn

Regency Dress Update

So far so good. I think. :D I've finished the bodice and I'm presently labouring at the skirt. I've got the skirt and lining sewn together, but I'm experiencing some 'technical difficulty' with the gathers. Can anyone tell me if the back of the skirt where it's gathered is supposed to puff or not? :D I've had to rip the gathering seams out twice (or more crucially, have Emily rip the seams out). Grrr!

If I don't have to do anymore seam-ripping, my next step is the skirt placket. Mom says it's fairly easy to do, so I'm trusting her judgment. :D

Here's some more pics of my sewing venture. :P

An amorphus lump of fabric. Hard to believe it'll ever become a dress (that is, if it ever becomes a dress) :P

Threading the drawstring through the neckline casing. lookin' good... I hope. ;P

TA DA!! The finished product! I was so proud of myself! But, then again, Em also helped sew a large portion of it. So I guess I have to share some of the glory. :P

The back of the bodice. Ooops! That pic was taken before I had the drawstring threaded. Oh well! :PThat's all for now! :P

~Megan

I really am still alive....

I'm sure all my readers are probably gasping in horror and mortification that I didn't post about anything yesterday.... Or today for that matter. ;D

I really am still alive over here; I have just gotten very busy of the late.

I'm slowly but steadily working on my costume for the upcoming masquerade ball in May. At first I was planning on making a renaissance era costume, the kind with the loooooong sleeves, but, my grand total for all that fabric would have been around 40 or 50 dollars!! Ouch.

Plan B.

I am now making a regency style costume. If you scroll down to Megan's post about her dress, you'll be able to see the two different styles. Meg is doing view B (the green long-sleeved one), and I am working on view A. My color for the overlay (the white fabric in the pic) is an extremely pale green, that almost looks gold in some lights, made of a medium weight cotton. The underlay color is a light, cream, made of flannel backed satin. I know, I know, I am totally going to die with part of my costume having flannel on it, but, it was soooo pretty, and it went so nicely with my green fabric. ;D I told my sisters that at least I will die happy!

One thing that I am doing differently is the sleeves.... I've been skulking around countless blogs and websites, gleaning ideas for my costume. I found one fantastic idea for the sleeves; but I have nothing to go by except the pictures. Regardless of that, I bit the bullet and so far so good! When I finish the sleeves I'll post some pictures and show y'all.

In fact, I really should be sewing right now instead of typing away on here.... I am a procrastinator by nature and have a tendancy to leave things 'till the last minute (oops).... Okay, here I go. :)

Maybe I'll catch a chance to do some more posting tomorrow....

I really am going this time!!

~Caitlyn ;)

My first regency dress!

Yesterday I began my first regency dress. Whoohoo! I'm really excited about it. :D Several people I know have told me regency dresses are really quite easy to make, but I still had my doubts. I mean, the biggest thing I'd ever sewn was an a-frame skirt. So of course I was a little intimidated by all the bewildering pattern pieces and complex instructions.

Now I've changed my mind. I started actually sewing the dress today and, boy, it's like a walk in the park (okay, so that might be a little bit of an exaggeration) :P Here are some pics of the dress-making process.

This is the pattern I chose. The left is dress A and the right is dress B. I decided to do dress B, but with the short sleeves. (By the way, sorry about the bad pictures) :P

-Sighs- All those pesky little circles have to be penciled in on the fabric. Very tedious work, but those little circles sure are helpful!

Ah yes, gathering the bodice. I'm no expert at gathering seams, as I always break the strings, so I get my little sister, Emily, to do it. :P

Sewing steadily away. -sings- "Cinderelly, Cinderelly! We can help our Cinderelly! We'll make her dress so pretty! There's nothing to it really!"

And then when your sewing machine breaks down from too much use, ya' have to call a mechanic. I've found this guy to be the most reliable.

"Hmmm. Your problem seems to be starting with the spool of thread. Let me just take that off and have a look at it." Or maybe there was a more sinister plot behind all his helpfulness. :P

Thats all for now! I'll try to keep you updated!

~Megan

The end results

Here is where I give a great big sigh, in gratefulness that we managed to get everything finished in time for Easter. :)



Okay, remember the picture that looked like a hurricane hit our table? (the one below) Well, I will now reveal just what we were doing.



With all that fabric, lace, thread, scissors and paper, we made table decorations for Easter. Observe:

I made one dozen 12"x12" handmade, cloth napkins with the colorful fabrics (the pic doesn't show them all). While they were simple to make, they were very tedious and it took me two days to finish them all.

Together, Emily and I made a white, linen, 12'x6', tablecloth. She cut the linen to size and hemmed two sides, while I hemmed the other sides, then added the lace. It took me forever to finish that tablecloth, but to help pass the time, I put my headphones in and listened to music while I sewed. I've learned that I enjoy sewing, if I have music going...


Then there is our traditional Daffodil gathering. :D Every year at Easter time, Meg, Emily and I go up into the 98 acres and pick a huge basket full of flowers. We got more flowers this year than ever before, and we were able to make a large bouquet for our table centerpiece. (the white things in the vase are hard-boiled eggs for extra interest)

Meg and I had fun playing around with the napkins, trying to decide which shape we should do...

Perhaps a rose?

Or maybe a Bishop's Mitre?

In the end we decide on the "ice cream cone" shape. Then we had to attach the namecards to them. Emily labored endlessly to get these finished; and they turned out beautifully. :D

The end result for all our work was a beautifully set table. (sorry about the dark picture) Oh, and Megan also made some cute little nests out of spanish moss, which we put chocolate eggs and a scripture verse into.

The meal was fantastic as always, and when the day was over, and the little ones were in bed, we ended our Easter Sunday watching 'Faith Like Potatoes' which is a powerful christian movie. I would recommend keeping a lot of kleenexes handy if you watch it though. ;D I somehow managed to not cry during it, although I felt like bawling. I can't say the same for a couple of other people watching it though....

It was a good day. :)

~Caitlyn