Retrophile

I dont know why but I seem to get the most sewing done between the hours of midnight and three am. Last night I stayed up and finished my wrap dress while my boy was drowning himself in video games. I am pretty happy with the way it turned out. I didn't really make any alterations other than making it shorted. It is a pretty straight forward pattern. I will post more details later when i'm on my home computer. Happy Sewing! Nikki Published with Blogger-droid v1.4.8

Hey all. Sorry havent posted in a xcouple days. I am in the process of finishing up a summer class. I will be done aftee today. So keep your eyes open! Published with Blogger-droid v1.4.8

Yesterday was the first day that I walked out of my apartment and thought... WOW it feels like fall! It was even a little cooler than it has been.  Then today I come out and there if fog in view.  Mind you that is rare for where I'm located especially during the summer!  I have to say, I am excited.  I am having visions of walks all bundled up in my coat and scarf.  Watching the trees in front of my apartment change color.  Baking pies (heathly versions of course), apple cider, Halloween, thanks giving!  I am excited about it all. Here is some of the evidence I found in my front yard!  Leaves! Day before yesterday there were no leaves and not look.  Today is super windy as well.  Ahh, I know some of you don't want to hear this fantastic news.  But hey, embrace the seasons changing and have fun with it. If you needed proof that fall is my favorite season, just look below!  That is the tattoo on the top of m...

The other day I was driving along the freeway, listening to my music and thinking about what to do for the rest of the day and BAM!  Something came out of no where.  It was a large, metallic object between the size of a baseball and a softball.  Smash! right into my windshield. My poor windsheild was smashed to pieces and I got a nice glass shower. Luckly I wasn't hurt but I can't really say the same for my car.  It was scratched and bruised more than I was.  I got a couple deep scratches in the hood and a nice divot in the frame under the windshield. I was fortunate that there was no real structure damage done and that I wasn't decapitated by what ever it was that hit me.  It was close though, there were some parts of the windshield that were completely gone and I could feel a breeze come through. But my daddy came to the rescue and drove the car back to my place wearing his coveralls and safety glasses.  I have to say, it was quit...

Soo I am done with the top half of Kelly's wedding dress!  So that means I am 50% done with her dress.  I finished the neck line and arm holes to day. The neck line was finished with covered cording.  It was used to hide the seam between the lining and the outer layers. This effect is done by sewing a cord tightly in the fabric of the dress.  Next you lay the cording on the right side of the fabric, matching raw edges and sew tightly against the cording with a zipper foot.  Next you do sew the lining on the right side of the fabric ontop of the cording, matching raw edges and stitching tightly against the cording. Lastly you turn the lining to the back and Wha Laa, you have a nicely trimmed seam! For the arm holes I folded the fabric layer under about half an inch and did the same to the lining but made it slightly shorter than the fabric, just enough that it wouldn't show front outside but still covered the raw edges of the front fabric. ...

Hello All, I just wanted to say a big thank you for all your support.  My blog has reached 1000 hits!

I have been on the hunt for a while for cute oven mitts and pot holders.  When all of a sudden walking through the fabric store it hit me... Duh! I should just make my own.  I'm not really sure why the fact hadn't hit me before, but it did just at the right time.  So browsing through the bolts I found the cutest apples and pears fabric.  Now normally I go for cherries (since that is what my kitchen theme evolved in to) however these just had the perfect colors and were sooo cute. I didn't really have a patter in my stash so I hunted the net.  I must say, there is not  shortage of patterns out there for oven mitts and pot holders!  However I found one that was particular cute at www.craftandfabriclinks.com . Here is the direct link to the pattern, http://www.craftandfabriclinks.com/oven_mitt/oven_mitt_pattern.html however feel free to check out their other free patterns.  There are some really cute ones in there. The reason I chose this o...

Hello All, I would like to start with an apology for shamlessly using my blog to help this cause.  But, I am trying to get the word out however I can.  Check back later for updates on the wedding dress progress. If you didn't know already, I am a High School Special Ed Teacher.  You have probably heard about all budget cuts that have been happening, well they are really starting to hit hard.  In an attempt to get my students what we need I have started getting creative.  I am trying to raise money for supplies for a couple different areas of our class.  One being the need for timers, the second the need for white boards.  So, if you would like to, click the link below, take a look and if the mood strikes you donate a little to help the kiddos!  I promise you they will appreciate whatever you could spare. Watching Time Fly - The timers help keep them on task, focus and give them a sense of control over their day.  All a board - We ne...

I was paroosing the net this morning and stumbled upon this little webpage with some goodies about vintage/ historical hairstyles. A couple points of interests are Victorian Hair and The Bob They just give you a brief history and outlook of the time period when it comes to hair.  I found it quite entertaining.  Take a gander at it. The Main page is http://www.hairarchives.com/private/mainnew.htm Enjoy!

 Screen Shot From The 1950's Wedding Main Page  Lately all my girlfriends have been getting engaged or married.  So, naturally this has kept weddings on my brain (not to mention that I am making a wedding dress).  Not to get ahead of myself, but I started looking up ideas for my own someday-wedding.  I knew it would have a retro/ vintage feel to it.  So I started looking up retro inspired weddings.  I was not disapointed.  There really is a blog out there for everything!  I found this   The 1950's Style Wedding Blog It is an amazing blog that features pretty much anything you can think of when it comes to retro weddings. Though the blog is heavily based in 1950's retro.  It does have ideas with 1940's and 1960's themes.  What I like most though, is the ideas for cute unconventional receptions.  For instance, it has a post about a Sweets Buffet It also has a lot of what you would expect; dress, makeup and hair ...

I am sure you have all seen the show what not to wear. Well here is a little article to put their philosophy in to words. I really like how they just lay it all out for you. It just has the key steps to having a stylish wardrobe and looking amazing at all times. I am going to summarize some of the key points, but if you like here is the full article Wear This, Not That Keep in mind, that this article is a bit dated (2 years ago) but it still has some firm advice. 1. Out with the old . Basically throw out anything that is old, dated (in a bad way) or doesn't fit you properly! This can be a hard step. I know I always get the feeling of "What am I gonna wear then?" When I think of just getting rid of everything that doesn't fit. But on the flip side... it usually just kinda sits there anyway! 2. Identify Your Style Just like that develop a style out of thin air. Poof you have a style. I myself have to raise an eyebrow at this one. A personal style is ...

Hello All, I was browsing youtube.com today looking for a tutorial on hidden zippers and I came across this video from Threadbangers. It starts off talking about fitting baggy shirts and moves on to custom dress forms. Take a look. I highly suggest watching the section about dress forms and then making one for yourself. It makes a world of difference in your garments if you have a clone to fit it on. Happy Sewing!

It is a bit early, but... I have been getting the itch to plan for my Dicken's fair dress. This is partly because I am insane and can't stop myself and partly because I want to be able to hit up summer sales on fabric! Above is this years inspiration pictures. I want to make a similar combo to the one on the left. I love the tiered skirt and the huge fur trimmed jacket. I am not sure of colors or such, but that will come later. Right now I just wanted to get a feel for what it will look like. This will be a 1850's Winter Promenade Gown and Coat. I want to eventually take it up to the snow this winter and take pictures of myself in it. I also want to get some good pics of my other dresses I have made from this era. I currently have two. One is a carriage dress from about 1848, the other is a bustle gown from I believe the 1870's. Below is the pattern I am going to use for my coat. I do want to make few modifications to it though. For one, I am going to make the co...

So, the other day I went pattern shopping! You have to love Hancock's dollar pattern sales. I actually found some non-costume patterns this time. For one I was actually looking for some work clothes patterns and two I pretty much have all of the costume patterns that are worth having right now (from butterick, simplicity and mccall's). Yes I might have an addiction. But my reasoning is, patterns go out of print and you will never know when you will need it. So, its nice to have it on hand already. This week simplicity patterns were on sale. I found a few good ones that I am gonna use for work clothes. Simplicity 3684 I really like the front detailing on this shirt. I don't know about the puffy lower sleeves. We will see how it turns out. Simplicity 2338 Now, you are gonna laugh at why I got this pattern. If you have every seen Julie and Julia, this dress (view B) looks just like the dress that Julia and her sister wear to a party. I absolutely l...

Hello All, So I have started a small side project to keep my hands busy while watching the tube. I am making crocheted, poodle, toilet paper covers. Yes, the kind like granny used to have in her bathroom. What can I say, I have always like these kitschy little things. How can you not love them. I got the idea from a book I have mentioned before Kitschy Crafts. I tried going by the directions but to be truthful, it just looked like gibberish to me. So... I went online and started piecing it together for myself. I started off by looking up tutorials of how to crochet a circle. What I found was a tutorial on how to single crochet a circle... Single Crochet Coaster Tutorial Video Because I was new at this I decided to start with just one color of yarn. I followed the instructions just as she has shown. However, I kept having a problem. My circle wasn't laying flat at all. It was ruffling up. The ruffle was neat looking, and filed that away for future use....

Hello All, I couldn't wait till a decent hour to post my latest almost finished object (FO). Tonight my time has been consumed by my 1947 dress I started last week. I had cut out the pieces and but had been procrastinating on actually starting the sewing. I am glad I did because it only took me one night to sew! I have to say this was one of the easier dresses I have made in a while and it fits PERFECTLY. Below are some pictures of it on my dress form. I still need to hem the bottom, but you can see what it looks like still. The pattern I used was Butterick's Retro 1947 dress pattern B5209 It is a great pattern. It is wonderful for both those of us with more chest than necessary, and those who wish they had a bit more. The whole pattern consists of about 10 or 11 pieces total! The construction is pretty self explanatory. Just pay attention to the order you sew them together. I have a habit of getting ahead of myself and messing up steps. On this dre...

Hello All, Recently I have felt like I was stuck in a rut music-wise as well as being disillusioned with the current trends in music. So, I decided to go on a hunt for "new" music. For months now I have been meaning to do a little research for more 50's rockabilly. I have always been a fan of Buddy Holly (thanks grandpa!), Elvis (my grandma was a panties throwing Elvis fan) and Jerry Lee Lewis just to mention a few. I mean who does like dancing in your room to Splish, Splash! However these are all the typical, clique artist everyone thinks of when they think of music from the 50's. I wanted to find the less known, more obscure artist. With the internet, this task wasn't too difficult. There is TONS of information out there. My favorite method though, is AMAZON. It is an under rated search tool sometimes. The way I go about it is I pick an artist I like. In this case I used Buddy Holly (I had "That'll be the day" stuck in my ...