Wednesday, November 26, 2014

All of your pattern shopping Black Friday Sales in one place!

Hello readers!
I'm in a pie-baking frenzy today in anticipation of Thanksgiving tomorrow. This will be my first big holiday without my Mama this year and I'm trying to stay busy and not dwell on it. Shopping is turning out to be a great distraction. I'm already in Christmas shopping mode and I know that as the holiday ends tomorrow and many of you unwind and relax from a big meal and lots of company, your minds will turn to shopping too.

The Etsy pattern sellers always put on a really great show this time of year and many offer some amazing Black Friday deals. If you have some pattern buying in mind, here are all of the pattern sellers Black Friday/ Cyber Monday sales all in one place - starting with mine which begins today!

Use Coupon Code SEWFATTYSEW at Mrs. Depew Vintage for 20% 0ff!
Other shops having sales (most will end after Cyber Monday):

Decades of Charm: 25% off.

Retro Monkeys: 25% off.

Monkey and Friends: 20% off.

FancyWork: 20% off with Coupon Code: Fri28

Pattern Shop: who knows?

Vintage Needle Finds: Discount with coupon code: VN2014

Stitching by Numbers: 20% off with coupon code: BF20

AdeleBeeAnn Patterns: 20% off with coupon code: HolidayBlitz

RedCurlz: 25% off with coupon code: blackfriday14

Violet Crown Emporium: 20% off with coupon code: BFBLITZ

So Vintage Patterns: 15% off with coupon code: SAVE15

We Are Vintage Sewing: 20% off with coupon code: BLITZ20

Sew As It Was Patterns: 20% off with coupon code: BFBLITZ

MaisonMignot: 20% off

Sandritocat: 20% off

Roses Pattern Treasury: 15% off

Pattern Memories: 25% off with coupon code: PMSALE
 
Grey Dog Vintage: 20% off

Sydcam123: 20% off with coupon code: BF2014

PattysPastTimes: 20% off with coupon code: HOLIDAYBLITZ 

Neverwares: 15% off with coupon code: MYSTYLE 

Purple Plaid Penguin: 20% off with coupon code: BF20Sale  

She'll Make You Flip: 25% off with coupon code: BLITZ25

PengyPatterns: 20% off with coupon code: PP20OFF  

VintagePatternsCo1: 25% off with coupon code: VPCBlackFriday

EJ Vintage Avenue: 20% off with coupon code: EJvintage

ClairebearToo: 20% off

Pretty Pattern Shop: 20% off with coupon code: BFBLITZ

Come See Come Sew: 25% off with coupon code: HOLIDAY14 ($20 minimum purchase.)

Midvale Cottage: 20% off

Nostalgia Vintage 2: 20% off

Beary Amazing Emporium: 25% off 

Fab Patterns 1015: 20% off

Anne 8865: 25% off 

PatternAndStitch: 20% off with coupon code: BLITZEN


 
Happy Sewing - Happy Shopping!







Friday, November 7, 2014

Make your own... Lingerie and Loungewear from 1949.



Hello lovely readers! Today I was browsing my collection of vintage editions of Le Petit Echo de la Mode and I stumbled upon this lovely fashion spread from 1949 featuring trousseau lingerie and lounge wear.


These designs were once available as mail order sewing patterns (oh, to have such a magazine delivered to your mailbox!). I realized though, as I drooled over these patterns, that I have quite a few similar designs in my shop.


So, I thought I'd share today, how to get the 1949 looks pictured in the magazine using patterns from Mrs. Depew Vintage!


1. Bra in Satin - Easily copied using Depew #2015.
2. Panties with gathered waist - Use Depew #7311A and add allowance to the waist for gathers.
3. Corselet - Use Depew #2003 and add a top-stitch motif to the center front.
4. Basic straight slip - Use Depew #604.
5. Rayon bra with lace trim - Use Depew #352.
6. Corselet with wide lace ruffle - Use Depew #2002 and finish the lower edge with 6" or wider lace trim.
7. Tap pants with gathered side panels - use Depew # 612 and add side panels as cut-outs to the side legs.
8. Slip with ruffle - Use Depew #7314, cut it shorter at the hem and change the neckline as needed.


9. Slip with ruffle and tap pants with ruffled leg. Slip - Use Depew #7314. Tap pants - Use Depew #7314B.
10. Dressing gown - Use Depew #5003.
11. Pajama set - Use Depew #354 or Depew #601.
12. Pink dressing gown - Use Depew #5004 and replace cuffs with lace.  Blue nightgown with lace trim - Use Depew #171.

In other sewing news, I was really excited to learn yesterday that Collete Patterns will be releasing a digital sewing magazine starting in December! Seamwork will feature articles, sewing tutorials, and downloadable easy-to-sew sewing patterns. I really enjoy reading the Coletterie blog and I know that the magazine is going to be even better!

Image courtesy of Seamwork and Collete Patterns.

To get updates on Seamwork's progress, writers, and patterns, and to be entered to win a full year's worth of patterns in the process, sign up here!

Happy sewing, my darlings...







Sunday, November 2, 2014

Simplicity S-Series - I have dated them at last!


Hello my dear readers! It is a bright, sunny Saturday here in California and I am a happy girl today. Many of you are quite familiar with my obsession with the Simplicity S-Series Patterns. I have been collecting and researching them for a few years now and while I was relatively confident that they were from the late(ish) 1930's, I had no proof. None of them have ever had any copyright dating on them.  I have scoured the internet and antique shops for old Simplicity pattern flyers - buying every one I could find, and finding no trace inside them of S-Series patterns! (You can see a fraction of my collection of Simplicity pattern flyers here.)
I was at a dead end.
Until recently, that is...


I found this Simplicity counter catalog from March, 1938 on Ebay last week, and while I was browsing the auction pictures, I saw it - a small glimpse of what I knew to be Simplicity S-602! I didn't care that the booklet was in sad condition, and that it had been used as both a recipe book and diary (strange, and fascinating) for 40 some years... I had to have it! Boy, was it worth it! I found EVERY SINGLE S-Series pattern they ever released, both in the index, and in illustrations.


Without further ado, for your viewing pleasure...

Simplicity S601 and S602, both in my collection.
Simplicity S607 and S603, both of which I NEED!
I was delighted to find illustrations of Simplicity S603 and S608, both of which I knew existed, but had never seen before!

Simplicity S604 (in my collection) and S602, which I need!
Simplicity S612 and S605, both in my collection. Reproductions of S612 and S605 are now available! Just click on the links.
Simplicity S606 and S609, both in my collection.
Simplicity S611 and S610, both in my collection.
Simplicity S614 in my collection.
As you can see, the lady who owned the catalog pasted recipes from newspaper all over the 300+ page book!

Simplicity S615, in my collection.
Simplicity S616, in my collection.
Simplicity S618, and S617, both in my collection. A reproductions of S617 is now available! Just click on the link.
Simplicity S619, in my collection.
Simplicity S620, in my collection.
Simplicity S621, and S613, both in my collection.
Simplicity S622, in my collection. (Also, check out the hooker eye shadow on the lower right corner. Lovin' it, girl!)
Simplicity S623 and S624, both in my collection.
I now have gratuitous amounts of boxer patterns for no reason.
So what's next? I need to find only three: S603, S607 and S608, and then I will have them all... Then I will sew them all. I'll be swimming in silk nightgowns and my poor husband will have more vintage boxers (which he wouldn't wear) than he'll know what to do with.

How about you? Do you have something vintage and charming that you obsessively collect?


Wednesday, October 29, 2014

In Search of My Mother's Garden, I Found My Own.


Hello lovely readers! Boy have I been busy! Between an advanced pattern drafting class at my local college (such fun but loads of homework), doctor's visits, Mrs. Depew Vintage and about three on-going family disasters, I have been stretched to my breaking point lately. My husband finally sat me down this weekend and said, "Look, it's only been 7 months since you watched your Mom die. No one expects you to be ok, there is no reason for you to take so much on when you're not yourself, and shouldn't be. If you don't let a few things slide and give yourself a break, I'm going to sit on you."

This guy, I love him. And he is right. Being this busy was partly a choice to prove to myself that I can get back to normal, that I want to be normal again, and it was a total failure. I'm not normal, I'm broken, and that's ok. Oh, that feels good to say!
So yesterday, I took a deep breath and let things slide. I still processed business orders but after that, I spent the entire afternoon in my garden (a self-soothing mechanism that I learned from my mother) and at the end of a day full of sunshine, bugs, dirt, flowers, and one shoe caked in dog doo, I felt just just a tiny bit more like a person.

So I know I've been threatening to talk about my garden for a while now... so here it is:


Here we have climbing mandevilla, sweet pea - both a favorite of hummingbirds, alyssum, and pansies.

I started with what I like to think of as "Beauty Base Zero" and went from there. The yard had nothing but wood chips and cigarette butts in it when we moved in last year. The next door neighbors just moved in and their yard is a mirror image of mine last year before I started.

Before.
After.
(Please pardon the photos - I took them through a screened window.)

Things are actually a bit more bare than they usually are right now. It's October in Monterey bay and I have no idea how the seasons work here... so I'm winging it. So far, the alyssum (all the fluffy white stuff) is unstoppable no matter the weather. In fact, I don't know that one could try to successfully kill it! I have read that it's a great plant to have around because it attracts beneficial bugs to your garden.


And above, we have 'the crazy.' I started these tomatoes from seeds and, newbie that I am to gardening (without my Mom helping me, that is,) I staked them, barely, but really should have put cages on them. Now, I have a tomato thicket. A thicket, I say. But they are thriving and I have more tomatoes than I know what to do with, which means I have become that weird neighbor who shows up at doors with baskets full of tomatoes saying. "Please, for the love of God, eat these."


I have also really been enjoying exploring the tropicals that can grow out here.  These hibiscus are growing and re-blooming like champs, and also bring in a lot of hummingbirds all day long!


Yesterday's project was paving our gate closure with stones and moss. Skunks have been digging holes at the gate to get in and play and I wanted an attractive way to keep them out. There's a story there...
It's five a.m. and my husband is up and getting ready for an early shift at work. I wake up to the sound of frantic barking, and then Butters the puppy gallops madly up the stairs and launches himself into the bed with the kitty and I.  And he smells like burnt plastic. After much screaming, and not a little swearing, I get up, get the dog outside, and try to figure out what the hell is going on. There had been a skunk in the backyard when the hubby let Butters outside, but it had quickly escaped through the hole at the gate, after very thoroughly blasting Butters in the face. My husband, only hearing barking and letting the dog inside, wondered if our toaster had chosen that moment to die, because unbeknownst to either of us, fresh skunk spray smells like burnt wiring. It is now 5:45 and my husband has to be at work (the military really does frown on tardiness, but I'm pretty sure this would fall under the classification of emergency) so he apologetically leaves me to deal with the dog.

Fast forward to 6:15 a.m. at my local grocery store where at checkout, I unload the following: 4 bottles of hydrogen peroxide, 2 boxes of baking soda (best anti-skunk remedy ever, thanks to my sister Jessi!) a pair of rubber gloves, half a dozen donuts, and a small bottle of whiskey. Not wrinkling her nose too obviously at the skunk smell radiating from my person, she asks, "Rough morning, hon'?"

I'm skunk-proofing the hell out of my yard - those suckers are ALL OVER base housing here.


Clematis, pansy, one rogue ranunculus ready to bloom, and my clematis who seams to be done blooming for the now.




I read a quote the other day that said, "In search of my mother's garden, I found my own."

My Mama under her green bean trellis.

That echoes in my mind as I plant things. It's not full of green beans and irises of every color like Mama's was, and it's not perfect by any stretch, but it's mine, and I love it.

It would be a lot more pristine if I didn't have a 75 lb. German Shepherd puppy treating the yard like a bouncy house.

More tomatoes trying to climb the bird feeder, some lavender, and some baby pole beans that will hopefully take off and fill the whole fence line with vines.
I also have morning glories and varied varieties of sweet pea popping up, ready to climb the fence like their parent plants did months ago. I have no idea if the slightly cooler nights (it's dropping to about 55 at night) will stunt them or not.


These flower beds are also rife with tulip and ranunculus bulbs and will be teeming with blooms in a few months.



One inhabitant of the tomato thicket is a very large, Cherokee purple tomato plant. The tomatoes start out as tiny black marbles, and then the lighten up to mostly green, and they are ripe, tart, and juicy when a deep red on the bottom. I made lasagna with them the other day and it was heavenly.


I'm also starting a lot of seeds indoors, including midnight black morning glories, snap dragons, safflower, impatiens, purple dragon carrots, Walla Walla onions, and more sage, basil, chive and cilantro to add to my teaming herb garden.

My Midnight Morning Glories quite literally came up this large overnight!


And that's it! If any of you garden, and especially if you have experience gardening in the bay area, I would really love to hear your tips and suggestions!

Tuesday, October 14, 2014

How to Draft a Trousers Pattern - A Tutorial



Hello my dear readers,
This month I have really had trousers on my mind. A trip to Banana Republic where everything was lovely, expensive, and way too short for my long legs had me thinking, "I can make this! Why would I pay $100 for something that just won't quite fit right?"

I always do this. I call it the seamless loop. I want a garment, but it's expensive and I could make it if only I could make the time, which gets me thinking about how much my time is worth, how busy I am, and that I technically make enough money to treat myself to a lovely thing like that once in a blue moon. But I just can't justify buying it, knowing that I could make a better-fitting one... and it all goes through my mind for long enough that I get sick of it all and before I know it, I'm cranky, frustrated, and without either a purchased or handmade version of what I wanted in the first place. Have you ever done this? It sucks!
So I decided to break the cycle. I am drafting a few patterns to test out the fit, length, waist rise etc. until I have the perfect pair. 


I also decided that I would create a tutorial here in case any of you might like to try trouser drafting for yourselves!
Here's what you'll need:

Paper, long enough for your high waist to floor measurement plus a few inches more, and wide enough for 1/2 your hip measurement plus a few more inches. (a nice, 36" wide roll does nicely!)
Pencil,
Eraser,
Rulers, including yardstick or a tailors' square if you can get one.
A French curve, hip curve or other curve drafting tool.

And of course, you'll need your measurements! This tutorial is adapted from a 1940's/ 1950's trouser so you'll want to pay attention to your vintage sizing.


And now for how it's done!


I. - See illustration above.

A to B - Equals side length measurement.
A to C - Equals 6 3/4” for size 12
              6 7/8” for size 14
              7” for size 16 and up...

C to D - Equals 1/4 of hip measurement plus 3/4” for ease. Square this line across at C.
C to E - Same length as C to D. Extend line D-C to E; then pivoting at D, draw an arc line above E.
A to F - Equals crotch depth measurement plus 1” for ease. Mark point F on line A-B.
G to H - Equals hip line D-E. Draw this line through F, parallel to hip line D-E.
G to I - Square this line up at G through D, making this line 1/2” less than A to F.
H to J - Equals 1/2 of line F to H. Extend line G-H to J.
H to K - Equals 1/2 of line H to J.
K to L - Equals line G-I (center front) plus 2” for center back line. Draw this line from K to L, touching the outer most curve of arc line.
G to M - Equals length from K to J.
G to N - Equals 1 1/2”. Draw a diagonal line; then draw a curved line from D to M through N.
K to O - Equals 1 1/4”. Draw a curved line through O.
G to P - Equals length of F to B. Square a line down at G.
K to Q - Equals length of F to B. Square a line down at K.
P to Q - Connect for lower edge.
P to R - Equals 1/2 of line P to D.
R to S - Square a line across at R for knee line; then draw slightly curved lines from M to R and J to S for inner leg seam.
B to T - Equals 1”.
T to C - Connect.


II. - See illustration above.
Draw waistline slightly curved, from I to A to L. Reduce waistline to fit 1/2 of waist measure. First make part of reduction at sides and center front. Then make a dart in back and a pleat in front at follows:
C to U - Equals 1/2 of C to E.
L to V - Equals 1/2 of back waistline; then draw a V-shaped dart, 6” long.
D to W - Equals 1/2 of D to C.


III. - See illustration above.
For crease lines on front and back, divide the knee and lower lines in half; then draw crease lines from bottom to hip line. For waistband, make a double band 1 1/2” wide, finished and the length of the waist measure plus 3/4” extension for left side opening. To complete pattern, add seam allowances to all pattern pieces and hem allowance to trouser bottoms. Make corresponding notches.


And there you have it! The straight waistband should only be used if you draft your pattern at waist level. If you lower it closer to your hip line, you'll need to draft a curved waistband.

Aaaaand on a completely separate note, I have decided to have a sale this week at Mrs. Depew Vintage! If there is a pattern you've been eying, now is the time to try it. Use coupon code "FLUFFEHKITTEH " in the box at checkout for a 15% discount - good until the 21st of October.

Happy sewing!