Vintage Vogue Pattern Winners!

Thank you, ladies, for your entries and comments.  I'm thrilled to have these patterns find their way to new homes.   And I promise never to ask if you ever used them for anything other than reading material.

Our winners:

Heidi  I'll be sending you #2026

KID, MD I'll be mailing both #2984 and #1947 to you

and RiAnge I'll be sending you #1407 and #2785

Please email me   Janem1960 at gmail dot com  with your mailing addresses and I'll send them out on Monday.

It's wonderful to be in Maryland for sunny, spring days.  I have a lot of gardening and weeding to do in the next few weeks.   But today I'm committing to finishing my latest jacket before my head hits the pillow tonight.  Just needed to put that promise out into the universe.

Here's hoping your weekend is a great one also.  Happy Mother's Day to all the mothers out there in the sewing blog world.  My mother taught me to sew when I was in 7th grade and I learned very reluctantly.  She would be so surprised and I hope gratified to see that once again she was right about what was good for me.

Vintage Vogue Dress Pattern Giveaway and New McCalls Dress

vintage Vogue giveaway patterns  Please take a moment to look at these vintage Vogue patterns I'm giving away and add a comment explaining which one you would like.   Even if you don't want to sew the particular dress, there are some great designer details in these patterns.

McCall's 6201

Speaking of dresses, this is my latest version of McCalls 6201.  I lowered the front neckline curve 1 1/2" and like the open neck much more.   What a loud, fun print!  It's leftover cotton lycra which may have come from Walmart, from a project about 6 years ago. It is a very stretchy woven fabric....so stretchy that I didn't even need to put a zipper in this dress.  I didn't have any stretch lining fabric on hand so it's unlined.  Probably will only last a season or two, but it's a versatile, easy summer look.  I'm starting to understand why so many sewers like summer dresses.   It was the perfect project to make in the last days before we cleaned, packed and said good bye to our FL condo for the summer season.    

Now we're spending several days on the road north, stopping to visit friends and family on the way.  Today we're at my cousin's condo on the SC beach, a wonderful day of clear, sunny skies and delightful breezes.   Pretty fantastic to have family in such a beautiful place.  But I'm already itching to get into my northern sewing space and finish my stitch and flip jacket.  It's all done except for the button, buttonhole and hemming.   12 hours on the road tomorrow and back in Maryland!

JAM #4 in Progress...a Stitch and Flip Version of S 3884

A year this month Shannon Gifford, the wonderful sewing teacher I met through Patternreview, passed away far, far too soon in her life.  I'm using her technique of stitch and flip lining to make my 4th Jacket a Month this year.  I am using a new TNT pattern, Simplicity 3884, this time with a lightweight pink, fuschia, tangerine and gold tweed cotton/silk blend from Fabric Mart.

 Shannon wrote about this technique Threads 111 issue: Line and Underline in One Step article  so I'm not sharing any state secrets with my pictures:

One of the interesting things about this method is that you cut an exact copy of the garment body pieces out of fashion fabric and out of the lining....no separate set of lining pieces.   You don't cut a lining for the front pattern piece if you have a facing for the pattern, which I do for this jacket.

I decided to interface all of the jacket pieces with lightweight knit interfacing, also from Fabric Mart.  I used Fusi Knit on the front and neck facing and that may be  a little too much interfacing happening....we'll see how the final jacket presses.

This technique has you sew a stack of pieces, two fashion fabrics, right sides together as well as the two lining pieces.  Press the seam, trim it to 1/8-1/4" then topstitch from the fashion fabric side nd stitch the lining into place at the same time.  By doing that top stitching with a thick but trimmed seam, there's a sort of seam structure built into the garment.  But it's also why you have to use a TNT fitted pattern for this technique since alterations are not easy to accomplish.  It's not just for jackets.  I think it would be wonderful to make a pencil skirt this way.

Inside seam of my center back

Outside topstitched seam

Two piece sleeve before turning

Only one seam of a two seam sleeve can be topstitched so I chose the upper arm raglan seam for that treatment.

This is about as far as I've gotten this week.  Our new air conditioning unit from last August gave out and a new compressor is getting installed tomorrow.   So it's terribly hot in my sewing space after using my Singer press to fuse interfacing and then pressing this jacket as I sew.  Sort of my own luxury sweatshop here in SW Florida.

In the meantime, I hope more of you look longingly at those vintage Vogue patterns I'm giving away next week.  They'll be leaving home one way or another;-)

Vintage Vogue Pattern Giveaway

Gentle readers, you make me smile.  Loved your comments and thoughts about your pattern collections and mine.  Mary, you asked a good question that I can't answer!  How many patterns do I have?  I don't know.  I must be afraid to count them.  But I think that is a good project ahead of me.  When faced with the large number I'll be less likely to add a new pattern just because there's a great PR review of that garment.  Susan, I definitely like your idea of just giving myself a storage limit and living within that constraint.  I'm with you, Audrey, on keeping some patterns just because they have some great detail that I'd like to add or learn how to sew.  But Texan I also relate to too much stuff in general.  And I'm not even going to discuss fabric yet...

So thank you again for your remarks.  What I've enjoyed about reading blogs and now starting to blog is sharing a love of sewing with others but also seeing how diverse we are in what thrills each one of us.  Our wardrobe needs are different, our styles are unique and special, even our access to patterns is certainly varied.  Mary Nanna and Janine, you made me wonder if I would have this problem if those darn JoAnn's sales weren't so available to me?!

Now it's time for me to take some action.  Since I had one of those milestone birthdays last month, and since there are now 61 followers just as I am entering my 61st year, and since I have vintage patterns from some vintage decades, hey, let's have a giveaway, one for each decade of my life.

Please leave me a comment with the pattern # that you would like to add to your collection.  Giveaway drawing closes by Thursday, May 6, 2011. You can enter for more than one pattern but I'll eliminate your name for the subsequent drawing if you win one to give others a chance.  Postage is on me.  

I haven't inspected these for complete pattern pieces but will give my envelope impressions for each one.

Vogue 2026 Size 14 Bust 36 Hip 38  Finished dress width 54 1/2"  Looks like it has been used at least once.

Vogue 1947  Size 14  Bust 36  Hip 38  Finished width at dress hem  46 1/2"  Looks like it has been sewn at least once.

  Vogue 1401  Size 10  Width at dress hem  50".  1976  Looks like it has been sewn at least one time.

Vogue  2785  Size 18  Bust 40  hip 42  Factory folds.  Dress width at hem is 56".

Vogue  2984  Size 12  Bust 34  Hip 36  Suitable for knits.  Has been sewn at least once.  Width at dress hem is 44".

Vogue  2105  Size 10  Bust 32 1/2"  Hip  34 1/2"  Factory folds.  Skirt hem width is 41 1/2".

How Many Patterns Would a Seamstress Sew If Seamstress Were Actually Sewing?

I'm Jane and I'm a Pattern Addict

Time for another confession.  I have too many patterns.   The first step to fixing the problem is admitting that you have one, right?   Isn't Dr. Drew supposed to drive up now and offer to get me to a rehab facility?  Would that be a trip to Etsy or Ebay or Patternreview or Pattern Rescue so I can give up my drug?   Or should I be looking for a Hoarders interventionist to guide me through the process of deciding which ones I'm willing to donate or sell?  I'm just willing to admit that it's gotten out of hand and it's annoying me, not inspiring me.

What brought about this revelation?  Three things have affected me this week:
1.  I've been doing a lot of cleaning and sewing room reorganizing.  But no actual sewing.  That makes me a little cranky and feeling unfilled.

2.  That reorganization forces me to really look at how much time I spend curating my stuff.  Let's face it, that's what I'm doing.  Categorizing, maintaining, dusting, filing.  In the process I was deciding about the next JAM projects.  But when I look at many of those patterns, they simply do not reflect me and what I actually wear.  Huh, those oversized, artsy jackets with dropped shoulders and no darts.  Nice illustrations and great on someone else but just not my style.  Or too, too many similar princess seamed jacket wardrobe patterns that look alike when they're next to each other.

3.  I've also been pet sitting for neighbors over the last nine days and turned on Oprah when I visited their home yesterday afternoon.   I watched the first half of the show with Tom Shadyac, the Hollywood producer who has dramatically downsized his life in his search for greater meaning and purpose.  Powerful show and I'm eager to see his documentary, I Am.   It reminded me of the wonderful book, What Happy People Know by Don Baker.  The point was that after a certain amount of financial security, additional things don't bring extra gratification.  That's how I'm feeling about my pattern collection right now.  It's weighing me down, not inspiring and challenging me.

So, how do you feel about your pattern collection?