little red fox

little red sailor

 

The Project: 

Well this one started out as a casual, everyday jacket, and I guess it still is, but with a 30s-sailor-blouse-vibe. Just the usual :)

The Process:

This is another made from a thrifted garment. In a thrift store, my eyes are always peeled for anything red. It's hard to pick my favorite color, but it is certainly one of my favorite colors and it is also certainly part of this seasonal color scheme :)

So I spied this dress (that of course I forgot to photograph beforehand but looked a little something like this):

 

It's hard to draw, but the bottom 12" is a matching red chiffon, which I hoped I could use to my advantage.

I thought a good starting point would be this pattern:

 

The one on the far right,"E" specifically. The dress was a lighter rayon, so I was just hoping the drapey effect would work with this pattern since I didn't want to deal with making a lining. 

I cut out the front and back pieces first and then used the chiffon part to make the ends of the sleeves.

Aaaaand the remainder of the chiffon seemed perfectly sized to make a little impromptu sailor collar! 

Aaaaand then--the remaining fabric became the little ties/plackets/sashes in the front for the buttons! Vintage buttons, found here in NYC...

Well-used and well-loved that shapeless, thrifted, red dress :) 

 

 

a polka dot story, pt. 2

A few months back during one of my thrifting trips, I purchased 3 different pieces of clothing that were all black with ivory polka dots. One was the pair of pants made into the shorts I showed you yesterday, and in addition to the pants I also picked up 2 dresses in similar fabrics. Of course I neglected to get pictures of the dresses before I cut them up, but basically they were rayon dresses from the 80s and looked something like this: 

 

 

 

The Project(s):

A long skirt with a contrasting waistband; a bathing suit strap; a hat; a top; aaaand a 'necklace'... 

The Process: 

1) The Skirt

I detached the top from the bottom of the second dress and knew immediately I wanted to keep it a long skirt. I used this pattern (another one from the 80s!) for the hip area, the pleats, waistband and closure (the one on the far right, specifically):

 

The pattern pictures are almost the best part. You gotta give me credit for the vision :) I've used it before (which I'll show you at a later date) and I was really happy with the fit. I didn't have enough of the original fabric from the dress, but as it often happens--necessity being the mother of invention, etc--having to find another fabric ended up kind of making it for me. I cut up a section of the first dress (which had been sewn in panels), used some interfacing, a button I had on hand and a waistband was made for a very basic maxi-skirt!

 

Which brings me to the next project out of that first dress...

2) The Bathing Suit Strap

But to show this one, I have to start with this first...

The Inspiration:

Have you seen the swimsuits at Anthropologie?? They're a little bit heartbreaking. Especially this one which I'd wear as a top basically every day. And I can only imagine what they look like in person. I had to get a new bathing suit for our upcoming vacation (and wanted a one-piece for the first time in my life!) but also knew I couldn't afford $200. Once again, I had to get creative. Luckily, I found this one at Target.com. It was similar enough...and for the price, it kinda had to be right.

When it arrived, there were two problems. One--it was black and white. I don't like black and white. I like black and ivory. It might seem small but to me--literally night and day. 

The other problem was the strap which you can kinda see on the third little tiny picture. The line was flattering, but it being so thin was too different from what I originally wanted. 

So. I took the suit and soaked it in a tea bath (which I learned from my days of working in the costume shop in college). A tea bath is basically what it sounds like--a giant pot of tea in which the garment soaks and becomes "antiqued" in color. I think I used 8 or 9 tea bags in a stock pot half-full of boiling water for this one. 

And the belt from that second thrifted 80s dress? ...is now the proper strap for the suit :)

I think they look pretty similar now, don't you? 

3) The Top

When I originally detached the top from the bottom of the second dress, I wanted to keep the top. And I was really happy with the fit BUT even though I am quite short-waisted, the top was still super short. I toyed with the idea of adding a band of some sort to the bottom to lengthen it an inch or two, but I realized that if I created darts and kind of curved the bottom in a bit, that would help. So that's what I did and it worked. Two darts at the bottom of the bust, and slight taking in at the side seams. Still short--but I like it! 

And I love that it goes with everything! (In my particular summer wardrobe, anyway :)

And my brilliant strategy--where I show you all my wardrobe items separately (as I've been doing) and then BAM! show you the 8 million various ways they all go together...is coming very soon. Very few things excite me more than a well-edited, thoughtful, efficiently designed seasonal wardrobe, (including shoes and accessories). It is my goal every year, twice a year. Don't always get there, but I think I did this year. (!!!!!) It literally makes my heart beat fast. 

A Polka Dot Story, pt 3 coming next...

 

 

 

a polka dot story pt. 1 (and looking cute for the rapture)

 

Well, I was all dolled up for the rapture and lo and behold...here we all are! Guess I'll just have to save these outfits for vacation instead of the second coming.

My running show-and-tell continues! I realized today that I'm going to have to double-up on posts on some days to try and get it all in before we leave Thursday morning. I intend to take some outfit pictures while we're there, since there might actually be sunshine (gasp). I'll try not to overwhelm with posts but right now I'm determined to get this shown. I'm a very stubborn person. 

The Project: 

Polka-dot Tap Shorts; high-waisted, vintage in feel, but something I could wear every day. 

The Inspiration: 

Again--a combination of a few different things....

These, for the contrasting patterns and waistband...

...and these for the color scheme and overall sensibility. 

(Both from Anthropologie.)

...and at some point in the process I must have seen these, too (on Modcloth). And I was feeling Scallop Confident having just finished some successfully. 

The Process:

Like a lot of the things I made, these were from some thrifted rayon polka dot pants, which I disassembled, and then re-sized basing the cut somewhat on this 1980s pants pattern (from stricklypaper on Etsy)...

Though I left out the front fly and instead made a side zip. That caused some complications, but I figured it out. 

The waistband fabrics are a combination of one that I got on sale and another one I bought at an antique store in Virginia, plus some vintage buttons I found here in NYC. 

 

And voila! Everyday scalloped Tap Pants!

 

More to come! Oh, so much more...

And for your viewing pleasure...here is a remarkable little film made up of censored and cut film pieces from the 1920s/early 30s and is so strange and beautiful and wonderful...

 

 

 

 

 

 

the divine ella raines as wardrobe muse

 

The Project:

A two-piece dress?

A cropped sleeveless suit?

How about just an outfit. 

The Inspiration:

It was two-fold.

Flipping through Lucky (the only fashion magazine I can stand), I saw this page and was kind of hypnotized...

Especially the beige two-piece on top and the grey one in the middle. I think what got me here was the combination of modern silhouette but still a vintage look. And also the vintage suiting aspect for women is one of my favorite things on earth. Yay for women stealing looks from men. Also I was clearly a dapper dandy in one of my former lives. 

And! The same day that I saw this in the magazine, I happened to see a noir film called "The Strange Affair of Uncle Harry." One of the female leads was someone I had never heard of but was utterly taken with. Her name is Ella Raines and she was pretty accomplished in her day--albeit a bit short-lived as it would seem, before she was relegated to some B-films and then stopped acting altogether. But just look at her...

That's her on the left. She looks a bit like a cross between Julianna Marguiles and maybe Sherilynn Fenn? Anyway--I think she's just gorgeous. 

And that was The Outfit. I just froze and then died when she walked in with that on. Just shriveled up and died. I mean--that little tie? Come on. I had to have it. Or at least a version of it...but maybe a bit more modern...

How it was made:

The neat thing about this for me was that my ideas worked! By that I mean that I always have Big Plans. Large and ambitious. Being a Big Dreamer is definitely an asset as long as you're prepared to deal with lots of disappointments and readjustments to said dreams. And the dreams being somewhere between 0-60% successful. Suresure, I always learn a lot but this time...it all somehow worked. It was pretty thrilling. I hope this means my skill level has improved. It feels like it! 

For the top I used the shift pattern form the same BBW book BUT I changed the arm holes and neckline quite dramatically, which meant the facing had to be created off my new "pattern" and lo and behold I did it. I cursed a little and may have thrown just one little thing across the room but still. It worked! Even the little details up close look ok...

One of my favorite details is that it's higher in the back than the front...

For you accomplished sewers out there it's certainly an easy enough thing to do but this was the first time I attempted to structure a garment and it came out like I wanted. 

For the skirt I started with the dirndl bottom from the same book but ended up changing quite a lot, including the overall volume. Still it was a good enough place to start because I knew I wanted gathers at the waist and I'm still confused about the ratio of fabric to gathers to actual end measurement, etc. And there are some issues with the placement of the seams but only me and some other nerds will notice hopefully. 

The polka dot lining at the waistband was almost an afterthought. I had already made the top and the skirt was just the plain fabric but it felt like something was missing until I put that in. 

The main orangey/browny/beigy fabric was something I already had (I must have bought 17 yards of it or something?) from a couple of years ago. Longer-term readers might remember it from here. But the polka dot was a thrifted dress--one of two--that I have cut up and used for a whole slew of projects that I will be showing here shortly. They were well-loved and well-used in their second act, I can say that :)

We have a family vacation to Charleston, South Carolina coming up next weekend and there will be lots of polka dots on that trip! I have some more things to make and/or finish but my deadline is next Wednesday, and I have lots to do including making three hats one of which is shaping straw on a mold like a real milliner! Though tonight I did spend the entire evening altering some thrifted finds that I am so excited to show you! So that meant a lot was crossed off my list...but I had the best thrifting day today!

For example this purse...

Wonder if Ms. Ella Raines would approve?

Ooh, let's look at her again for just one more second...

I wish we wore beautiful lounge wear like that anymore...it's just so decent...

Just look at that teeny tiny waist...

It's an unfortunate hat but she's still so pretty. 

It's a pretty good movie, too. Geraldine Fitzgerald is particularly wonderful, as is George Sands. But it's a bit odd, I suppose and the ending...well, the ending will have to remain a secret as I was instructed...

I mean--for goodness' sake I want my friends to enjoy the picture! 

Isn't that so sweet? And it just would never work nowadays...sigh.

More to come! And thanks for all your sweet comments from the last post. I'm really so grateful it's hard to express. 

 

a long red dress

So here we are! The first of my (mostly) homemade/scavenged spring and summer wardrobe. My long, red, scalloped-hem, maxi-dress.

The inspiration:

I remember I found this late one night after having clicked through a million links so unfortunately I don't remember where it's from. (Any eagle-eyes out there that recognize it--please let me know so I can credit it!)

Why I made it:

I love the long skirt and dress thing and it seemed like a good everyday dress that was both casual and basic. 

One of the toughest things I've found when making clothes is finding fabrics. Not only are fabric stores completely overwhelming, but the fabric is always way more expensive than you think, and finding the perfect fabric for your project is nigh impossible. Especially when you get your heart set on something. So--the ideas end up germinating for awhile. And in this case--I randomly found this particular fabric at Joann of all places!

Pros: waaay less expensive.

Con: wrinkles super easy. But I can make that work for saving the $$! Ideally I'd love a red silk/lace thing but we'll have wait on that. 

I love red. Probably my favorite color. And thematically, this "season" (ha!) I went with a specific color palette: red, mint green, mustard yellow, ivory and black. 

Such gray light from all this rain!

How I made it: 

I used the shift pattern from the Built By Wendy: Dresses book as the basis. I lengthened it to be ankle-lenght on me, and ended up taking in the waist quite a bit so it could be belted without being too "blousy." For the scalloped bottom (new obsession) I used this tutorial and it was basically a cinch! Much easier than I had feared and for me, this makes the dress.

...simple zipper up the back...

I actually finished this a few weeks ago and it was a bit chillier then, so I wore it with a black cotton kimono belt and a thrifted linen blazer. 

  

...and my red shoes :)

More to come! 

 

 

not clothes yet! spelt!

Real quick--I couldn't start showing my homemade spring wardrobe just yet because I still had some hand-sewing to do (and its so dark from being amidst the 12-day rain spell/curse). I know I promised to show something I made and I am!

Only its not clothes--its spelt tortillas. 

Amidst my "gloom" the past few weeks, I was at least semi-conscious enough to continue a (partial) quest to figure out the gluten thing. I am NOT allergic to gluten as far as I know, but it seems like the wheat/gluten thing is something that can be generally avoided here and there as a general rule (if you're interested in an example you can go here though there are many others, I'm sure.)

I was slightly concerned about making tortillas for the first time because...well, it was my first time. And clearly, my tortilla-shaping technique has looooong ways to go but I have to say the taste was delightful. They were...nuttier than the average flour version and also heartier. Which I liked. 

They were kinda easy and kinda not. I'm always a wee intimidated by a rolling pin and certainly these are rolled unless you have a tortilla press (which I might just ask for this coming Christmas...). I used this recipe and doubled it so we had a whole other batch in the freezer and as of this afternoon they are all gone--less than a week later! So they were a hit in our house. And I will certainly be making more. 

Ok! Clothes tomorrow! 

where and what i've been

 

(Don't you just love that 1930s Studebaker? It was here when the owner bought the house and he just never had the heart to move it. I'm so glad he didn't :)

 

Well, it's been awhile. As one sweet reader pointed out--its been a month since I last posted! I hadn't been keeping track but it certainly feels overdue. Its been a bit dreary in these parts, though Spring is doing its best to chip away at the gloom, both internal and external. Also...perhaps I'm finding myself in a "transition" of sorts? Perhaps that has slowed me down somewhat...it's been a little tough-going around here but after awhile one finds it necessary to pull oneself up by the boot straps. So that's what I've been doing. Boot-strap-pulling. Which has included but is not limited to: exercising like a crazy person, learning meditation, couponing like I'm getting paid to (because I kinda am), planting a garden, and sewing a spring and summer wardrobe.

So that's what I've been up to :) All of which I will be sharing in coming posts, but let's start with the life-affirming event of new growth, shall we?

It's a bit easier to deal with boot straps when you have such lovely surroundings. I will forever be grateful to this little parcel of land for giving me that. To walk out our back door and see this daily has been so helpful. And its just getting prettier with every day that passes. I told my mom if you wanted to shoot a film that was set in Eden you could definitely shoot parts of it here. 

And here is my new focus of this spring/summer and all spring/summers to come, if I can help it. Our beautiful, sweet, daring to bloom and grow, completely inspiring garden. Every day I walk out to witness and root for the sweet little buds who, against what seems to me to be crazily insurmountable odds, are growing. Every day. Literally pushing up through dirt like tiny heroes. I can't believe it really works like that! And it does! Daily! I could cry its so wonderful.

So I walk the 75 yards from the house to the garden every day. But never alone...

Every day my two co-managers join me in overseeing seasonal green growth. It's a tough job, but they are devoted to their company. 

Earl takes his rightful place underneath a raspberry bush...

And Cricket, who it seems has a flair for the picturesque, also has his go-to spot...

Though I worry about their stress levels with this tough work schedule, I don't think I have to mention what their moral support has meant to me. On planting days, they will stay out there with us all day. It's almost like they care :)

I took a few pictures of the beds after we planted, but going through them I realized they just look like beds of dirt. Of course I see them as magical wonderlands covered in glittery fairy dust and miniature unicorn hoof prints. But of course that is just me so as things start to bloom I'll find some pretty pictures to show of actual real live food things.

Until then--roll call!!: an entire bed of strawberries, every herb in the world, about 5 different kinds of lettuces (including a spicy mustard green which is out of this world when picked young and eaten raw in salads), snow peas, butter beans (and ode to my grandmother!), pole beans, 3 or 4 different types of tomatoes, french radishes, celery, carrots, cucumbers, swiss chard, kale, red beets and candy cane striped beets, green and white onions, rhubarb, asparagus, zucchini and yellow squash. Not to even mention the two or three apple trees, two plum trees, an apricot tree, and over 120 blueberry, raspberry, red currant and gooseberry bushes scattered about the property. You just can't be sad thinking about all those beautiful vegetables and things growing big and strong. Thank you, boot straps :)

I'm going to keep showing garden progress and what all we make with the bounty throughout the summer. I've started collecting some fabulous spring recipes though a lot of this will probably be best with little to no preparation. (I mean--the asparagus we've been eating is candy-like in its sweetness and moisture. I had no idea asparagus was that delicious.) And starting tomorrow--I intend to start showing the clothes I've been busily sewing away the last few months. I feel like my sewing skills have taken a nice little jump ahead which is extremely satisfying to see. I also feel like I've made some crazy cute things (at least to me!) so I am very much looking forward to sharing. It's a crazy mix of vintage patterns re-worked, altered thrifted things, and completely invented things, and mixes of all the above. I've been MIA but I've been busy nonetheless...

Be back tomorrow. And anyone else out there needing some boot-strap-pulling support--I'm rooting for you! Me and all my tiny little would-be vegetable friends and two somewhat-lazy-but-still-invested-emotionally tuxedo kitties :)