Ohmygoodnessyouguys! All the crazy here is sending me just a leeetle dotty! I keep signing myself up for all these sewing challenges ~ and then I don’t know why I am doing this to myself! (> o <)’
First it was the insane Sewing All The Things idea, then I saw A Stitching Odyssey’s Vintage Sewing Pattern Pledge and of course I was all “Oooh! That looks like fun!” so I put my name down:
“I, Bonita Vear of Lavender & Twill, pledge to sew at least five vintage or vintage reproduction patterns in 2015 ~ these MUST be patterns that I haven’t used before from my stash!”
Because that fits into my sewing schedule for 2015, right? But then I saw Rochelle’s Spring for Cotton group sew along annndddd ~ BAM! April’s plan for the Simplicity 2275 wrap dress flew out the window {also because I was in the middle of a top secret sewing project that took most of April to get done}. Hello quick project! This fit in with Brittany’s 40s Fashion Calender challenge for February which I was behind with: sew a 1940’s blouse and turban.
So last Monday I went to Spotlight with a handy Christmas gift card {thank you Mom!} and tried to find the perfect cotton fabric to use for Simplicity 1590, a retro re-release of this simple, but cute 1940’s blouse with a peplum.
~ I hadn’t made this one up yet, but I really liked View A and couldn’t wait to try it! ~
I found the perfect 100% cotton quilting fabric with a really nice ‘hand’ to it. It was soft, and it draped nicely, as well as having this fabulous vintage-looking print in the colours I wanted ~ navy and white. Well, okay, I wanted navy, white, and red, and ended up with navy, cream, orange, and pink! But it was the closest to what I had pictured in my head and I knew it would suit this project perfectly.
Disaster struck when I reached the cutting counter ~ I needed 1.7 metres of my magical fabric and there was only a little over 1 metre left on the bolt! Yikes!
The lady at the counter went to see if she could find some more of the fabric, or something similar, while I racked my brains to figure out how to make it work. I knew she wouldn’t find anything as I had already scoured the quilting fabric isle and sure enough, she came back empty handed. I quickly whipped out my pattern pieces {which I had traced out onto Polytrace so that I didn’t have to cut the pattern tissue} and proceeded to lay my pattern out on the cutting counter! It just fit ~ but I’d have to make something up for the peplum, which took about 70 centimetres of the 1.7m needed all by itself.
I decided to wing it because I had fallen for this spotty cotton ~ it was “The One” for this pattern ~ sewers, you know what I’m talking about!
It did work, although you’ll notice box pleats at the back of the peplum, rather than gathers. I had much less fabric in the peplum so there really wasn’t any way I was getting gathers out of it. And obviously, I had to nix the matching turban because that just wasn’t going to happen ~ but in the end, I did it!
I squeaked out a blouse that needed 1.7m of fabric from a piddley 1m and managed to fit in a matching vintage styled hair tie instead of the turban. Which I am calling the “Vintage Bow Hair Tie” pattern. Original. (ง •̀_•́)ง
I think I can hail this 40s Fashion Calender/Spring for Cotton/Vintage Sewing Pattern Pledge project as success ~ one 100% cotton blouse, sewn with 100% cotton thread, and a matching 100% cotton hair tie, also sewn with 100% cotton thread. A little bit of tweaking here and there, and I couldn’t get 100% cotton buttons, but I’m okay with the ones I picked. : P Actually, more than okay, because I’m a little bit dotty over them too…. ❤ ❤ ❤ヽ(*⌒∇⌒*)ﾉ
The result is that I adore this blouse! It will definitely be a staple in my wardrobe. All the stress is so worth it in that pivotal moment you see some gorgeous fabric slowly coming together then ~ POW! (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧ You have a new garment!
~ Project Details ~
- Year: 2013 re-release of a 1940’s pattern
- Pattern: Simplicity 1590
- Fabric: 1 metre of DS Piccadilly Floral Spot 100% cotton quilting fabric in Navy, Cream, Orange and Pink ($11.89)
- Notions: Five buttons with violet print on them ($5.00)
- Time to complete: One week
- Make again? Yes! I’m pretty sure I will. I love the neckline of this pattern, and it’s a really simple blouse to put together. It’s fun.
- Wear again? 100%! I can see this blouse becoming quite a central piece to my 1940’s outfits. It’s easy to wear and I love the print, the colours, and the style. I’m so thrilled with how it turned out.
- Total Cost: $16.89 AUD
Have any of you sewn up Simplicity 1590? Which version would you sew if you did?
xox,
bonita
P.S. ~ I took a leaf out of the lovely Jessica of Chronically Vintage’s book, and inspiration from this post ~ I loved that lying down shot and tried out my own!
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Vintage Bow Hair Tie | Me Made, April 2015
Dotty for Spotty 1940’s Blouse | Me Made, April 2015
Pearl & Silver Chain | Thrifted
Navy 70’s does 40’s Skirt | Thrifted
Crochet Wheat Vintage Gloves | Canberra Vintage Emphorium
Vintage Navy Seeded Handbag | eBay
Santa Cruz Beach Heel | Modcloth, No longer available
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