Category Archives: inspiration

Sewing Inspiration: Wit’s End Dress, circa 1920s

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I have a 20s themed party to go to at the end of the month, and again I have nothing to wear. I don’t have any patterns from the 20s, so I decided to draft something that would look appropriate. Here are some patterns that I found inspiring.

Butterick 1856. I really like the skirt on this one, but the bow on the top part seems a bit much.

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Butterick 1191. I like this dress overall. I have no idea how to do the asymmetrical ruffles on the front part of the skirt — maybe make two ruffles and hand-sew them on, curving upward?

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Unnamed pattern, 5833. I really like the clean lines and the pleat detailing on the skirt, but is it too plain?

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Excella 2576. I really like the skirt treatment. It’s plain but maybe with the right fabric it can work.

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Excella 2576, back view. The pieces look simple enough to drape/draft and mimic.

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McCalls 4704. Or I could always cheat and draft something like this “50s does 20s” pattern.

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I’m sort of on the fence about the boxy dropped-waist silhouette. This might be as flattering as draping a rectangular burlap sack for a dress, but I don’t care, this is what the roaring ’20s is about. Period authentic (yet unflattering?) or flattering but not authentic?

New York is Not Just a Town that You Never Knew

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“You may say I lost everything. But I still had my BeDazzler. And I had a lot of patches, shiny ones from M&J Trimmings, so I wreaked havoc on some old denim. And I did what any girl would do. I did it all over again.”

- from Lady Gaga’s “Marry the Night” video

Lady Gaga is a huge source of fashion inspiration for me. Will 2012 be the year of vintage sewing meets rock and roll?

(Btw I love the M&J Trimmings honorable mention. I’ve never been there for their patches, but their buttons are overpriced and amazing.)

Sewing Inspiration: Midge Daniels in Mad Men

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Midge Daniels in Mad Men, wearing the Most Awesome Cigarette Pants Ever.
Photo credit: Tom and Lorenzo

I’m new to this whole watching TV thing so I only started watching Mad Men last week, and it’s amazing. I’m more into the 40s style-wise and thought watching something that took place in the early 60s would feel too modern, but I find the early styles very inspirational. I know about it through the style blogs but haven’t seen the series, and I like it more than I thought I would. This show might push up my favorite fashion era from 1942-1945 to 1942-1950s.

Some of my favorite things I’ve seen from this show are the sheath dresses, pencil skirts, straight skirts, brooches, cardigans, and cigarette pants. Trousers from the 40s get a lot of wear but feel a little bit too formal for weekends, so I definitely want to make a pair of cigarette pants.

I’ve made high-waisted pants before, but I always feel like the fit was a little bit off. My TNT high-waisted 40s-style trousers are great, but definitely not cigarette pants.

I’m going to be trying out Clover by Colette Patterns to see if this will by my TNT pattern. Failing that, maybe a franken-pattern of Wearing History trousers and Simplicity 4886?

She’s in Fetish: My Love/Hate Relationship with Leather

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Pre-sewing me from many years ago, wearing latex, not leather.

I have a love/hate relationship with leather. It’s sensual, classic, doesn’t mar easily, is durable and can go from punk rock to 1970s edgy rock and roll to dominatrix with just a few accessories. It also sticks to the skin, doesn’t breathe in humid or hot weather, is very sensitive to heat (and in cases of faux leather, will actually melt right off), is difficult to press creases out of, is slippery, and might requires a teflon foot so it will behave.

Leather is a huge trend for Fall 2011, but far from following trends, my most inspirational fashion icon for dressing in leather is Dita von Teese:

Dita’s leather dress, #1.

Dita’s leather dress, #2.

Over the weekend, I finally attempted by tried and true pencil skirt pattern (Burda 8155) in faux leather. To my surprise: my machine can sew through leather! I found a material which had just enough drape, wasn’t too stiff, and had the sheen of leather.

Sewing a test piece of faux leather. Standard needle (80/12) and polyester thread.

Some tips for sewing through faux leather:
- Sew very carefully
- Be careful when pressing the seams flat
- Be careful when using your iron (the heat melted one of my seams right off)
- Use press cloths carefully (I was too afraid that I’d melt off my garment, so I didn’t even do this)
- Fitting is more tricky than using a woven (I had to take in the waist by a few inches, for no apparent reason)

The skirt is definitely not perfect, but very wearable for only an hour’s work, from cutting to assembly. About 1/4 of an inch of the bottom slit melted when I tried to press it, and the side seams need to be pressed flat, but I’m happy with it. I still need to take a proper photograph with this skirt at some point.

Now that I know I’m somewhat capable of this, I plan to definitely make more leather pieces (hopefully vintage inspired) for this season.

Synopsis of my evening.

This picture sums up my evening: duckie umbrella (for sloshing through 10 blocks of rain, stepping in puddles inadvertently, and coming home soaked), ironing board, Bean’s two stray cat toys, and Burda 8155, the leather version, waiting in the wings.

The Pittock Mansion

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The Pittock Mansion, front view.

The Pittock Mansion was home to Portland pioneers Henry and Georgiana Pittock from 1914 to 1919. Henry took control of The Oregonian (a newspaper) in 1860, and built an empire in real estate, banking, railroads, and even dabbled in mountain climbing.

The mansion overlooks Portland and has a scenic view. It has 44 rooms, with 23 rooms open to the public. I saw many little rooms that flowed seamlessly into each other: a music room, a kitchen, a panty, a refrigeration room, a dining room, a butler’s kitchen, several bathrooms, an elevator, a dumbwaiter, and my most favorite — a sewing room.

The sewing area, facing the window.

This velvet gown is on an old dressform.

Beautiful vintage Singer sewing machine.

I love the black and gold engraving.

Beautiful attention to detail.

Check out the patent dates.

Maybe someone in this picture sewed?

Vintage tracing wheel.

In the hallway mirror.

They had good taste in boots back then.

Closeup of the rug in the sewing room.

F/W 2011: Storyboard

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FW2011-storyboard

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Summer is still here but my F/W 2011 sewing is just around the corner.

Plans for F/W 2011:
- 3 tops
- 2 bottoms
- 2 dresses
- look: goth meets 1940s vintage
- colors: black, charcoal grey, off-white
- materials: leather, lace, cotton sateen, wool

F/W is still a good three months away so I’m keeping the storyboard flexible for now, but I plan to go fabric shopping for it soon.

Long Live McQueen: Savage Beauty at The Met

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I had a chance to catch the Savage Beauty exhibit at the Met over the weekend. We got there very early which was well worth it. We started the exhibit at around 10 am. By the time we left the exhibit at noon, the lines to the already-packed exhibit were very long.

My favorites for the collection were the Highland Rape series (crazy plaid matching!), the Romantic Gothic series, the BDSM inspired fitted dresses with leather harnesses, and his use of autobiographical and naturalist themes.

At some point I need to make a BDSM inspired dress. I’m definitely going to have to learn how to work with leather (or faux leather) this year.

They didn’t allow us to take pictures inside the exhibit, but these were my favorites.

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Sarabande.

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19-mcqueen-razor-clam-shells

A gown made of razor clam shells.

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Eclect Dissect. (One of my favorites. Then again, make anything fitted and leather and it probably will by my favorite.)

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It’s Only a Game.

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Voss. (The dress is made out of microscope slides painted red with ostrich feathers.)

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Widows of Culloden. (My favorite from the Highland Rape series.)

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Jacket from the Highland Rape series.

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Photo credits: blog.metmuseum.org

Sewing/Style Inspiration: Stevie Nicks

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I’ve been listening to Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours non-stop lately, and though late 1970s is barely considered vintage, I’ve always been inspired to dress like my rock star idols.

Stevie Nicks is the frontwoman of Fleetwood Mac. She pioneered a unique gypsy-luxe bohemian look: long fluid chiffon skirts, airy capes, shawls, platform boots and lots of black.

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Stevie Nicks performing on stage, late 1970s. Note the beaded black lace shawl with a classic cotton tank top.

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Stevie Nicks in the early 1980s, wearing a white fringed shawl, low-cut dress with a ruffle, and high-heeled boots.

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Fleetwood Mac in the late 1970s. Stevie in the center wearing a black chiffon dress and a top hat.

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Stevie is on the bottom right wearing a lace blouse and an ethnic print handkerchief skirt (or dress?).

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Wearing a white lace shawl and a black dress.

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This photograph isn’t really a good example of her personal style since you can barely see what she’s wearing, but I love the rock and roll vibe of this shot.

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“I was very influenced by Janis Joplin,” Stevie said during a recent interview*, “the one time I saw Janis in person, and all the times I saw her on television with her feathers and her bell-bottomed pants and her beautiful silky blouse tops.” Stevie travelled to San Francisco to the Velvet Underground in at attempt to re-create her look. “It was a tiny little store, but it had the most beautiful things,” Nicks recalls. “Tunic tops that came down to your mid-thigh, and evening gown, old-lady nightgown material bell-bottoms that weren’t really wide, but instead fell straight over a really high boot.It was in that room where I thought ‘Wow! These are the kind of clothes I’m going to wear forever.’”

My new sewing motto from now on is: sew clothes that I’m going to wear forever.

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This leads me to my next sewing project, Butterick 6287 from the late 1970s:

b6287 ‘

I don’t have any fabric for this yet, but I’ll probably modify the hem so it has an asymmetrical hem or a handkerchief skirt.

* (interview source: LA Times, 10/23/97, Airy Godmother)