Update: Giveaway winners!

Just a quick update:

The patterns are being shipped out tomorrow! I forgot today was a holiday.

Three winners have not claimed their patterns.  Please check if you have won and email me asap so I can mail them. You have until Tuesday May 31st at 12:00pm Pacific Time. I would like to get everything mailed tomorrow because the week ahead is a busy one.



Also,

Thanks Mariah :) for becoming the newest follower!  Hope you enjoy the blog!

New Followers

Good Morning everyone!  Pearl's just waking up and I'd thought I'd take the time to thank all my new followers.  It was a real challenge finding everyone in my blogger list, but blogger hasn't changed the order of my followers so it wasn't too difficult picking out the newbies :)

Thanks to all my new followers:

The Empress Nina, Dayna, Ebony, Modern Suzie, Martha P., penelope10, sweet jane, AliceCloset, Carly Manson, Alison H, Stacey (SewButterfly), perlchyk, LaKaribane, Sarah, geminimistress, KDinh, Abby Loden, rowsella, Jeannine, Xye, Kerri, kehall81, robinsnc, Alba Elvira, lesthor, Navaeh, kathleen c., and the last but not least, K.

Still waiting on a couple of giveaway winners to email me.  :)  

These are a Few of my Favorite Things...

Like my "The Sound of Music" reference???  So, I'm in the middle of studying for my Textile Science midterm, and I'm really bored.  Instead of studying, I thought I would show you some my FAVORITE sewing notions!

1)  Mr. Spikey! or the technical term Needle Point Tracing Wheel (Tracing Wheel-needle Point)

I use Mr. Spikey A LOT when drafting patterns.  He helps me transfer markings from muslin to paper, and from one pattern to another.  I used it here to transfer the markings from a my floral dress muslin to the back to the pattern piece.  It does not reck the cotton muslin, but I would not recommend using it on a satin.  

2)  SIMFLEX! I've been wanting one of these things for a year and I couldn't find one anywhere.  Finally found it at a sewing supply shop in the Downtown L.A.  And now, it's on Amazon! Simflex Expanding Sewing Gauge.  It is so cool! It's great for marking buttons and buttonhole placements, and pleats, and its really fun to pull apart and put back together.  

I'm going to use it on my button down chambray shirt! Hooray!

Follower Appreciation Vintage Pattern Giveaway Winners!

Oh my goodness! I never expected to get so many new followers and comments for the patterns!  Thank you, thank you, thank you! I hope all the new followers continue to stick around and hopefully enjoy what they see and read!  Thanks to ALL of my followers and regular commenters.  Every comment and suggestion means so much.

So to the giveaway winner!  I decided to give away patterns to 8 people instead of just 4.  It's my giveaway, I can change the rules :)  And this way, more people get something!  Also, the last two patterns, I randomly drew from the winners and slipped in one of the extra patterns so two of the 8 will get 2 patterns! Because everyone had different "favorites" I read through all the comments and for each pattern, put in the names of the people who wanted that particular pattern in a bowl and then drew.  I promise I closed my eyes!

For the Butterick Blouse the winner is:  The Vintage Mexican Seamstress!

For Simplicity "Funky Dress"the winner is: Sarah!

 For Burda 6900, the winner is: Elyse!

For the Laura Ashley Dress the winner is: Jeannine!

And for the Leotards the winner is: Modern Suzie!

The winner of the Asian-inspired gown is: Carly Manson!

The hammer pants winner is: Penelope10!

The winner of the bolero, pants set is: Kim!

Of all the winners, I drew two for the the additional skirt patterns.

Kim and Elyse get the skirts too!

Congrats to all the winners and thanks to for participating.  Email me with your name and address at and I will get the patterns out to you as soon as I can!


Oh, and for the dressform! Her name is Violet!  Thanks Molly for the great suggestion.  She is definitely purple!


Next up: I have a charmeuse striped 80's blouse I made last Thursday to show you and I'm working on a chambray button up shirt!  It's almost done, but school just got in the way.

Follower Appreciation Vintage Pattern Giveaway! (Update)

Hi Everyone! I've decided to add 2 more patterns to the loot. (The skirt patterns are lame, I know, so I thought I would add these instead).


For rules, see the actual giveaway post.  If you want either of these patterns, let me know on the original posting.  I'll also edit that post to include these two patterns.

1990 Hammer Pants! Size 6, 8.

1971 Bell Bottoms, Skirt, and Bolero.  Pattern a little worn, but I'm pretty sure everything is there! 

Remember:

1) You have to be a follower 

2) Giveaway ends on Tuesday!

Follower Appreciation Vintage Pattern Giveaway!

Hello Everyone!  I've reached 75 Followers so I'm giving away some vintage patterns!

Here's the loot:

1960's ? Butterick Blouse.  Bust 34 Size 14.  I love the bow!

A-Line Skirt!  I have 2, one is Waist Size 30 (above) and one Size 26.  Strangely both are missing the waistband, but it is just a rectangle.  Very easy to draft.

Funky Dress.  Bust Size 34, Size 12.  I almost kept this one for me.

1980's Multi-size Burda Dress.  With the right fabric and  accessories this could be very cute!

Laura Ashley Dress.  Bust 34, Size 12.  Easy to grade I think.

Who doesn't need a leotard.  I threw this one in for fun.  Bust 36, Size 14.

Pretty Asian-inspired dress.  Again, Bust 34, Size 12.  I have a lot this size.  

Edit:
Two more patterns!

Original 1990 Hammer Pants. Size 6, 8.

1971 Bell Bottoms, Skirt, and Bolero. Size 9/10. Bust 30 1/2

The Rules are:

1) You have to be a Follower (you can be a brand new follower, too!)  This is a Follower Appreciation Giveaway, but if you click that little "Follow" button and then leave a comment, you're entered!

2)  I can only ship to to N. America.  I'm a poor college student and international postage rates can be crazy.  If you know otherwise, let me know and I'll ship internationally in the future.

3)  Leave a comment.  I need name ideas for my new dress form, so share a couple names with me.  Oh, and more importantly, which 3 patterns do you like?  I'm giving away 2 per person for a total of 4 winners!  That is, if I get enough comments... I'll try to get you the ones you want :)

That's it!  Comment by Tuesday May 24th at 6:00 PM Pacific Time.

If you have any questions just comment or email me.

Thanks Followers!

The Fabric Stash Grows

My major problem with blogging isn’t having something to write about.  It’s taking pictures of all the things I have to write about, and then uploading them to the computer.  I really hate doing it when I could be reading all the other sewing/craft blogs out there.  Reading and commenting is a lot more fun than actually doing sometimes.  Over the past few months I’ve been “collecting” or hoarding if you will, fabric and notions.  A lot of the stuff I’ve bought or been gifted has been vintage.  

Here are some recent vintage fabric finds:

On the left, 45” floral silky, shiny fabric of some sort.   This piece is my mom’s.    Any suggestions on what she should make? And on the right, 35” floral cotton? I think.  I haven’t done a burn test yet.  I’m thinking another sheath dress. 

Non-vintage swapmeet fabric.

I love this tie-dyed jersey.  It feels beautiful.  And it was $1.50/yard I think.  Probably rayon/cotton/spandex blend.  I want to make a maxi dress with it.

This pattern perhaps?  It's already in my stash:

This cotton gauzy fabric print on the left  is for a man’s Hawaiian-style shirt.  You’ll see the finished product sometime in June.  The fabric on the right is my mom's but I'm starting to covet it.  Another $1.50/yd swapmeet find.  It's a beautiful cotton/spandex sateen, my favorite fabric to work with.  We're thinking a slim dress or an a-line skirt.  

Three more swapmeet fabrics. The first is a real batik.  I think it was a tablecloth at one point.  There are a few tiny holes that I could cut around.  I have no idea what to make with it though.  It's not really my style, but I couldn't pass it up for a whole dollar.  The second is hard to see, but it is a bottom weight stretch gabardine.  It is black and has a bit of luster to to.  I would love to make a pair of BurdaStyle slim pants with it, but I don't know when I'll ever have time.  The last fabric is a really pretty border print plain weave cotton (see my textile class has become real handy).  It's my mom's but since we bought it recently, I thought I would show it off.  

This last piece is a stretch lace.  I'm planning on an oversized drop shoulder blouse to wear over a tank top.  I made a pattern from a Michael Starr shirt that I will use.  I would like to bind the neckline and sleeves with a satin bias binding.  I wish I had a binding foot.

Well, that’s all I have right now.  So much more to show later if I can actually make time to take picture of it .

Dress Form!

Creative post title, right?

Look what my parents bought me for x-mas next year?

A PGM Industry Pro dress form!  We found her at one of my favorite swapmeets/antique fairs for less than 1/2 the price they sell for new.  She's in great condition with the exception of a little dirt.  It looks like maybe some dark purple fabric transferred on to her too.

She's close to my measurements and has collapsible shoulders.  I'm excited that I can work on a project for me and not have to try it on every two seconds.  I can drape on her too!

She doesn't have a name yet.  I can't think of anything I like.  She's just "dress form" for now.

Anyways, I was really wondering if anyone could give suggestions for cleaning her.  We vacuumed the linen and then took a Mr. Clean Eraser to her, but dirt didn't come off.  I'm afraid of wetting the linen and being too abrasive because when we got a little rougher in the cleaning, the fabric seemed to start to stretch out of place.  Any other suggestions?

purple boobage.

see the dirt? ^

Thanks to Nikki, my newest Follower.  I've been going through my vintage pattern stash to see what I want to giveaway!

Pearl rides in the laundry basket when I haul it up and down the stairs. 

Vintage Awesomeness!

Just a few things I thought I would share with you all.  A hodgepodge of vintage goodness.

Really old shoe clips and some buttons.  I love the shoe clips, but haven't worn them yet.  I realized I don't have the right shoes to put them on!  Also bought these buttons to go for a coat if I ever make one.  I have some nice winter white fabric that I think they will go nicely with.

Got these patterns about 3 weeks ago in the Boyfriend's size.  It is so hard finding vintage shirt patterns in his size.  Both are intact and in decent condition.

My parents brought this home for me one day when I was on vacation.  It is an old fashion illustration I think from the 1950's I'm guessing from a department store called Hartfield.  It is really cute.  I think the cherub in the center is a little strange, but I think it was common back then.  My fashion illustration teacher would have a fit over the big heads and tiny feet!

Finally a Nylon shirt in great condition.  Check out the lace!  It's really cute on, but I can't figure out what to wear with it.  Any suggestions?

That's all for now.  Still waiting on the pattern giveaway, but I think I'm going to give in and just host the giveaway even without the 75 followers.  I'm super happy I have 73 people reading my posts! 

My New Favorite Pressing Tool

I love my new sleeve board.  It's the best $4 swapmeet purchase ever!

Perfect timing that I bought it on Saturday right before I worked on my bodice and sleeve sloper for school.  In class we drafted a bodice front and back using the dressform measurements and then after class I drafted the sleeve.  Our assignment was to complete the drafts and sew up muslins of our sloper (or block).  I used the sleeve board to iron those narrow sloper sleeves and to press and shape the armsyce seam.  It was wonderful!

Slip the sleeve on the board.

Position armsyce seam around curved edge and press.

Great for pressing seams open!

I don't know how I ever lived without one.

You can buy one here:

Heavy-duty Ironing Board




By the way, here is the sloper on my mom's dressform.  It was not made for this form so the fit isn't perfect, but I know it will be perfect on the FIDM forms.