new obsessions

Been a bit obsessed with vintage patterns lately. I love them for several reasons.

Firstly, I love clothing designs from ... well, the 1920s through up until 1980. Not all mind you, but many. At the moment I'm loving 50s and 40s designs, though I'll always have an obsession with 60s mod fashion. I love that one can have access to fashions from before they were born, and can continue to produce them through patterns. I mean, I can make new clothing that was designed in the 50s! I just love that idea. 

I also love that it is easy to find patterns in my size. When I go pattern shopping at Spotlight, none of the patterns that I like (which are few) seem to come in my size. Vintage patterns seem to frequently come in my size. Were people smaller fifty years ago? Or did they just more realistically cater to smaller body types? I sometimes feel that there is a lack of smaller sized clothes and sometimes patterns to deter women from obsessively obtaining a smaller body, through starvation, exercise and what not. I have read on clothing (and one brand of pattern) producers' websites that they stayed away from sizes that promoted an unrealistic and unhealthy body shape.

I find this odd, given that we have any number of shops catering to those who are significantly overweight, which is surely equally unhealthy. Both physically and mentally... both ends of the disordered eating spectrum have mental and physical problems associated with being over- or underweight. 

Anyway, I've gone rambling off on a tangent as usual.

In the past couple of weeks I've bought these patterns (pictured thoughout post):

- 1965 Simplicity Girls Pattern for a shirt, shorts, skirt.

-1959 McCall's Junior Pattern for a long or short sleeved shirt.

-1963  McCall's Girls Pattern for a dress.

(Although these ones are all for tweens/teens there are several womens' ones I have my eye on.)

I got them on Etsy, which is such a fantastic source of vintage and modern patterns. I can't wait for them to arrive... I can see endless basic button shirts in different colours, prints and fabrics. It will also be a good starting point for variations. 

The same with the dress, tops and skirts.....

I'm very tempted by these ones too...

Some are gorgeous, but I would have no occasion to wear them... sigh.

And I love love love this cute little panda costume. 

I also bought some silk habotai and crepe de chine from goldensilks.com - I discovered  this online store through the seller's etsy page. A wonderful selection of colours and weaves, with very reasonable pricing. I can see silk becoming an obsession too.

I suppose there are worse things that can come from obsessions than vintage clothing made out of lovely silk.

PS

Once again, I've been making things but not photographing them! I made my sister a pair of shorts, which were whisked off to wear before I had a chance to snap a picture. Will do a big post of things soon.

I've made several things since I posted the jacket, which I'll post pictures of soon . Today I rediscovered a blazer I started making over three years ago, that I had forgotten about. I stopped halfway through constructing it because it was waaay too big, but today I got it out and tried it on my brother and it fits really well! Of course, it's shaped to fit a female body, but I think I can 

I'll see. I mean, all the pieces are cut out and some sewn, so I won't lose anything by trying.  The way the stripes in the fabric I used are arranged seem to work better on a guy actually. I'll post pictures when I start working on it again, but the back panels are comprised of horizontal stripes, and the sides and front of vertical ones. Then there is a panel along the very side with horizontal stripes, which line up with a panel under the sleeves which is striped horizontally. It

 is hard to explain, but the arrangement of stripes works well on male shoulders.

Anyway, one of the other things I've made quickly is this basic high waisted skirt for myself.

I'd previously made it, about a year ago, but had done such a rush job I had only worn it once because it wasn't well made at all.  So I took out all the seams completely, and reconstructed it out of the same pieces. It turned out much better this time. I mean, it's not the most finely crafted garment in the world, but it's better and definitely wearable. 

I made it from a teal green coloured synthetic faille, which 

was $9.00/m I think. I only used about a half metre  for this, so for a $4.00 skirt I'm quite pleased.

This picture is terrible, I'll have more next time.

Chanel-inspired jacket

’ve just finished exams so have been getting around to some of the ideas I’ve had over the past few months. This jacket is … ahem, strongly inspired by the classic Chanel tweed jackets that I love so much.
I made this over a few days, using McCall’s pattern 6177 from the 1960s (the packet has gotten damaged over the years and I can’t see exactly… looks like 1961) for a cute little mod jacket. I had to make the pattern smaller to fit me seeing as it was for a size 14, and changed the neckline to the round one I wanted. 
I also used some fabric my mum got a few years ago on sale for $1.50/m, so it only ended up costing me a few bucks including lining.

It’s probably the most complicated thing I’ve ever made, and I’m so pleased with how it turned out! 
It is fully lined in a black fabric that I was told is silk, but I suspect is polyester (either way it is gorgeously smooth and silky), with poly cotton bias binding around the entire thing. The pockets are double welt pockets, and I’m really happy with how well they worked. They sit really nicely and don’t add any bulk.

It has diamond shaped darts to give shape to the back, and darts to shape the shoulders and bust.
I also added some decorative fake cuff slit things and silver buttons

This is the kind of thing I was going for...

I will definitely make more, I’ve made one more jacket since and think I’m hooked. I like the idea of the scalloped edges on this one -

I can never find jackets to fit me properly, so it’s soo nice to have something custom made to fit perfectly!

I just wish it wasn't the beginning of summer, and that I could actually wear it. In hindsight making a jacket at this time of year was a little bit stupid. But jackets are so fun to make! I think next I'm going to make a simple blazer from a patten I have and then see if I can alter the pattern to make something like these jackets I adored last winter -

This blog will chronicle my efforts in sewing and making clothing. I'm not sure there's much else to say... 

Why pandas? I don't even remember how it began anymore, but it's been an ongoing joke for a long time around these parts. 

And, of course, pandas are awesome.