Pinspiration Monday - Fabric and Pattern Pairings

I thought it would be fun to go through my pattern stash and my fabric stash and make some potential pairings! I love dreaming about what I could make next, and I really need to make a habit of using up more in my fabric stash. I even made a new board to be able to pin my pairings! Here are some of my favorites (apparently I gravitate towards blue!):

Vintage Vogue 8811

McCall's 6953

Vintage Vogue 2267

Retro Butterick 4792

I especially need to use up these fabrics I bought in France! You know when you feel like you have to find just the right way to use up a fabric, so you end up not using it at all? Yeah, that's what keeps happening with these fabrics, but I know I need to just push through and go for it! Hopefully these ideas will help me get there.

Retro Butterick 5880

Retro Butterick 5209

Vintage Simplicity 2154 (blouse)

And finally, here's one pairing I've already started on (mentioned in my last Instagram post)! Hoping to finish it this week.

Vintage Vogue 8728

Instagram Friday

Crazy obsessed with stripes lately, I want stripes on everything! Dreaming up a new summer dress with #vogue8728 #nautical #stripes #vintagepatterns

A photo posted by Stephanie Lochet (@slochet) on Jun 12, 2015 at 9:00pm PDT

DIY Chair Covers & Decor

A few years ago, we replaced our carpet with laminate flooring. My husband spent his whole week of vacation installing it with minimal help from me, and he did a great job! I took the opportunity to kind of redesign our entryway and reading area, and I had grand plans to get some gorgeous oval backed Louis XVI style chairs, and all kinds of other things...but I ran out of money, and had to make do with what I had, which were these...

Plus a cat!

...some old rickety chairs that came with a cheap table set from Walmart during our college days. I figured I could at least pad them a little and do what I do with all kinds of other things, cover them with pretty fabric! I'd never made chair covers before, but I figured it couldn't be too hard.

So I got my padding, fabric, and got to work! (Sorry for the fuzzy pics, these were all taken with an old phone a few years ago with bad lighting.)

I used good old duct tape to attach the foam, fancy!

And then just started kind of cutting pieces and forming them around the chair.

I knew I wanted to use box pleats on the bottom, and originally I planned them to be long enough to cover the ugly metal legs. But when I made it up it just didn't do it for me, it reminded me of a grandmother's dress or something.

So I chopped off some of the length, and thought they looked muuuuuch better!

The back I decided to close with some self covered buttons!

 I was pretty happy with the end result! They weren't Louis XVI chairs, but they were much prettier than what they were before.

I also had a big armchair, a favorite of the kitty (with the scratches to prove it!) and I covered with just plain muslin...

I just fitted and pinned as I went, added pleats to match the other chairs...

...and my favorite part, a big blue bow in back, which made it easy to fit snug!

One other little detail I did on the cheap was to stencil the back of the bookcase, didn't cost much!

Overall, I love my little reading area! Considering I didn't have a lot to spend at the time, I'd call it a success.

Pinspiration Monday - Retro Swimwear

I love that retro swimsuits have become popular, especially because it means more choice for (adorable) one pieces! For a long time, it felt like anyone who wanted a one piece was an oddball!

Crocheted swimsuit, anyone?

Even with this resurgence, though, I still have a difficult time with swimsuits. After learning to sew and fit myself, I realized one of my problems is I have quite a long torso. This, coupled with a large bust in need of much support, makes finding a great one piece extremely difficult because even if padding and support is there, it ends up too low on me to do any good.

Another problem is many of the retro styles I love have halter necks, which, with the weight of the girls, tends to put a lot of stress on my neck, and still doesn't provide great support. It's a shame, though, because they're so adorable!

This has me considering making my own, which for some reason sounds terrifying!

I've seen so many fabulous versions of this Bombshell Swimsuit Pattern from Closet Case Files, but I still question if I could create enough support. (And oddly enough I'm really drawn to view B, but I know that's the least supportive!) At the very least I could properly fit my long torso, and easily switch the halter straps to shoulder straps (criss crossed, maybe?) so it's worth a try, right? We'll see if I find the courage!

Instagram Friday

Second housedress/wrap dress nearly done, I'll be listing it on #Etsy soon! #vintagesewing

A photo posted by Stephanie Lochet (@slochet) on Jun 3, 2015 at 7:14pm PDT

Butterick 5708 - Salmon Dot Birthday Dress

 

A couple weeks ago, I was itching to make a new dress and figured my birthday was as good a reason as any. :-) I saw this lovely shade of pinkish orange polka dot at the fabric store and it was crying out to be made into a dress. So I looked through my stash, and thought it would be fun to try Butterick 5708, a dress with ties at the shoulders that can be tied many ways.

Butterick 5708  

I knew I wasn't going to be using any of the off the shoulder or one shoulder versions, and I'd read the ties were pretty wide apart when tied on the top. My plan was to use the version in black, tied in front almost forming a kind of cap sleeve. I knew I needed to make a muslin first as I'd read about lots of fitting issues. I could see right away it was definitely necessary!

The front gaped pretty badly, so I pinched out the extra fabric and adjusted the pattern. I went ahead and sewed up the dress in my fabric, and tried to tie the ties...but with double the fabric, I wasn't having much luck. I knew the ties were going to annoy me after a while too, lol, so I finally decided I was just going to overlap them where I wanted them to stay, and top stitched them down. And that's what I did, with some pleats to form around the curves.

I was fairly happy with the results! It was certainly less bothersome to me than the ties. It's not the most perfect sleeve, but it works for me. :-)

The rest of the dress was pretty straight forward, the bodice pieces went together easily!

 

It did end up being a tad long in the bodice, amazingly (I usually have to lengthen bodice pieces) but not too bad.



I included a pocket, of course!

It's not my favorite dress comfort wise (the overlapped sleeves can get a little bunched), but I do love the color and overall shape, and I consider it mostly a success! It's also my second Vintage Pledge make for the year, yay!

Pinspiration Monday - Vintage Full Slips

Slips are something that seem to have fallen out of fashion almost completely! When I was a kid, we wore half slips fairly often. But I've been looking at full slips lately, which is something I never really had the chance to wear. What's the point of a full slip?  I admit, I love layers and I just feel comfortable in more than one layer! I usually line at least the bodice of my dresses, but it would be nice to have the option to make a quick and easy unlined dress when the mood strikes. So I've been checking out various patterns for full slips, some of them are just gorgeous!

Love that striped version!!