What I Made // Smooth Sailing Jeans

Hello dears! Today I am excited to share with you my first ever me-made jeans! When Lauren of Wearing History was having her kickstarter for her ready-made clothing line, I knew that I wanted to participate and support her in some way. I had also been eyeing her Smooth Sailing 1930's Sports Togs pattern since I have been on the look out for a simple pattern for vintage jeans. When I found a digital e-Pattern of choice from her shop was a prize for supporting her on Kickstarter, everything was perfect: I could both help fund Lauren, and get the pattern I had been coveting, all in one fell swoop! It was a total win-win!

What I Made // Palazzo Pants

Hello Dearies! I hope you all are having a splendid week thus far! Over here in Ohio there has been nothing but gray skies and rain, with some peeks of blue skies and sun every so often. I want to thank you all for your encouraging comments on last week's post! You all are such a blessing to me. Today, my dears, you have the pleasure of seeing not one, but two completed projects! My first "failed" attempt at Palazzo pants, and my second, very successful, pair of Palazzo pants. Are you ready?

What I Made // Buffalo Plaid Dress

Hello dearies! I am so glad the past two days' worth of rain has finally passed and that sunshine is on its way! When I first was contemplating the fact that we had to do a photoshoot for this dress in the rain, I wasn't so pleased. Until Charlotte captured the absolutely gorgeous gray beauty that exists in a rainy day (it helped to have a fun red filter of course. :D). But you didn't come here for commentary on the weather did you? Well if you did, then toddle along, because the weather report is over, and the sewing report is about to begin...

Remembering WWII // The Outfits

Hello Dearies! I can hardly believe it's Wednesday! It seems as if it should be Tuesday, but I suppose that is because half of my Monday was stolen by some much needed sleep after the long car ride home from Remembering WWII. Oh, what a splendid, fabulous, never-going-to-forget time we had down in Tennessee...
If I remember correctly, one of the things y'all wanted to see the most from our trip was our outfits that we wore for the reenactment! Well then, without further ado...

What I Made // eShakti to Me-Shakti

Hey all! Today I have a quick re-make that I put together a week or so ago that I am rather proud of, and wanted to share! If you remember from this post, we girls purchased 3 khaki dresses from eShakti about a year ago. Well, I have a story to tell about my dress that I didn't reveal in that post...

How I // Learned to Sew

I have been making things; doo-hickeys, what-nots, and thing-a-ma-bobs, for as long as I can remember. When I was younger they were made from paper cups and pipe cleaners, wooden beads and scraps of fabric.Yes, these were the unsophisticated materials of the creations of my 5 year old self. One day, though, I wanted to make a doll. On the sewing machine. That didn't happen (my Mom ended up sewing it for me). Then I wanted to make clothes for my china dolls and my barbie dolls, and so did my sisters. So we got a book from the library and Mom helped us make some doll clothes. Those were glorious times, but I wanted to know more than Mom could teach me. So one day, after a bit of deliberation and discussion with Dad, Mom took me to my first ever sewing camp.

My world would never be the same.

Zipper-Free Half Circle Skirt // The Construction

Hello dearies! Well here it finally is! The construction tutorial for the zipper-free half circle skirt. Are you all ready to see the assembly side of things? Trust me, it's stinking easy. Plus, I added some brief instructions for suspenders at the end, since I made some for my skirt, and I knew you all would probably like to know how I made them.

Zipper-Free Half Circle Skirt Tutorial

Hello dearies! I hope you all had a stupendous weekend! We certainly did; and today we're going to be celebrating Charlotte's Birthday! I'm actually more excited for her birthday than I am for mine! :)
Well, today's the day that you all get to see the tutorial for how I made this skirt!
I have to say I'm rather nervous about putting this post up, because: 1) I've never put up a pattern drafting tutorial before. EEEKK! 2) I've only made this skirt once, so I haven't been able to test out my troubleshooting that I figured out as I made my skirt. You've been forewarned! If you have any troubles, or something doesn't make sense, do let me know and I'll see if I can help fix the problem. Well, now on to the tutorial!

What I Made // Elastic-Back Half-Circle Skirt

Goodness! Two "What I Made's" in a row! We did intend to put up the last part of the Q&A 2014 series up yesterday, but we had some technical difficulties, so you all will have to wait... hopefully it will be worth it! Anyways, I am super-duper excited to share with you all today's make because guess what? On Monday (Lord willing) I'll be sharing the tutorial on how I adjusted the pattern to make it! Whoop whoop!

What I Made // Graduation Dress

Hello dearies! I am so pleased to finally be sharing with you all the dress I wore on my Graduation Day, and the short story behind it. It seems like Graduation was ages ago, and yet only five weeks have past. Thankfully, though, this dress will hopefully serve me well over the next several years, reminding me of that lovely day. Shall we move on to the details?

What I Made // Spring in Ohio

Hello Dearies! I have been busy as a bee lately fixing up my Spring/Summer wardrobe, making everything from T-shirts to skirts, and even fixing up last year's swimsuit. Well, today you get to see the items I made in May! Enjoy the video, and see below for the details on each piece.

What I Made // That Everlovin' Ric-Rac

Hi all! Brigid and I had so much fun creating this little film for you all (and I had too much fun editing it ;). The dress that I featured is a new favorite that I constructed from Mrs. Chancey's impeccable 1958 Party Dress Pattern. Oh my, oh my I seriously can't get enough of this pattern! Believe me, I've already made 3 dresses (including this one) and have one ready to be serged & constructed. I think if I were motivated enough I could whip one up in a day :) There are no set-in sleeves, complex details, it takes little fabric; and there is SO much room for customization! I think it's safe to say that this pattern is a sure-fire staple for me :)

1940's Peep-Toes // Gluing the Soles

Oh goody! Today we get to see how to glue the soles of the 1940's peep-toes! If you have missed the two previous posts featuring the finished shoes, and the first step in construction, you can view them here and here. Ready? Let's go!

Wizard of Ahhs!

"Toto, I don't believe we're in Kansas anymore."

I don't know if you have noticed, but it seems to me that I have hardly kept up with all of your uplifting comments you put on my posts (which I will take a second and thank you all for blessing me with your sweet words!).  Nor have I touched my Pinterest boards; and I have been having the hardest time finding an opportunity to read or even to comment on other blogs! I know the reason why though–Spring is in full swing here, and there is much to be done around the house when I am not busy working at the Greenhouse. Truly, I think this has been the busiest Spring in my life! Even though it was daunting to look at from the beginning point of view (I'll admit, I did break down a few times), now that I am in the midst of hustle and bustle, I have found it to be quite fun and fulfilling! Soli Deo Gloria (To God be the glory)!

1940's Peep Toes // The Soles

Good morning! After the overwhelming response to my 1940's Peep-Toes, and my question if you would like to know how I made them, I finally am getting around to posting about the process. Now, you will have to bear with me here, because a lot of this process took place over a month ago, and I am having to rack my brain for the details and thought processes that took place then. Shall we dive in? Let's begin with the soles.

HSF: #7 // Tops & Toes // 1940's Peep-Toes

I may be a day late, challenge due date-wise, but I am SO excited to share with you all my entry for the Historical Sew Fortnightly Tops & Toes challenge! In The Dreamstress' inspiration post for the challenge, one of the last pictures was of a pair of 1930's wedges. When I saw that I thought, "oh, that would be neat if someone made some shoes like that!" And a few weeks later I thought, "What if I made some 1940's shoes for myself for the challenge?" So that's exactly what I did!

What I Made // The Basket of Flowers Dress

Hello dears!
You'll remember that I alluded to a new project I was working on in this post. This dress is that project. A few weeks ago I realized I wanted a new dress for Easter, but since I had a big commission sewing job coming up, which would take up my machine for practically the whole month of April, I had only two weeks to make the dress from muslin mock-up to the last stitches on the "costume"* slip. Well, I did it! And I even used a vogue pattern too!

HSF: Bodice // 1940's Atomic Blouse

Due to unforeseen events we are going to postpone our regular scheduled Classy on Sunday until next week. In the meanwhile please enjoy the following post.*
Yay! Another Historical Sew Fortnightly project complete! For this fortnight our challenge was to make a bodice. We could abide by the strictest historical sense (as you can see in The Dreamstress' blog post here) or we could interpret it in a more general sense. I chose to go way out, almost on the edge of qualifying, I think, and made a blouse.

[CLOSED] 1958 Party Dress Pattern Giveaway from S&S Patterns!

This month we are so thrilled to welcome Jennie Chancey and her delightful company, Sense & Sensibility Patterns as an advertiser! We are great fans of the patterns, nostalgic sewing books & inspiration which S&S produces, and we are SO excited to be hosting a giveaway for you to win one of Mrs. Chancey's delightful creations: The 1958 Party Dress ePattern!

HSF: Under it All // 1930's Long Underwear

Yay! Another finished clothing item to share with you all! I have been needing some "long underwear" that suits my taste and clothing needs for a while, and now they're finished (or at least a few of them are).