Crown Made Vintage Seamstress

Gertie is one of my favorite seamstresses/sewing instructors – I’ve been following her for years and have all her books and most of her patterns (Simplicity/Butterick, and her own line, Charm Patterns). Her most recent is the Jane Set pattern- which features this lovely bodice paired with capris or shorts. I’m not quite ready to dive into the capris but I LOVE that bodice so I set out to pair it with a pleated skirt!

I first made a muslin, which ended up being 2 muslins to get the right fit:

Once I got the fit correct, I went about “fussy cutting” this beautiful fabric (also Gertie’s – she has a gorgeous vintage inspired fabric line) to make best use of the borders and different sized flowers:

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The instructions were straightforward and I only had one hiccup: I forgot to add my pockets and had to seam rip the side seams of the skirt to put them in. I debated doing this but decided I HAD to have pockets!

I love the interior details of this dress! The inside is just as pretty as the outside:

And… ta-da! Now that I have this bodice down, I’m going to use my Hawaiian fabrics and attach sarong skirts for some Summer vacation dresses!

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During a Friday night 3:00 AM “think session” (don’t you just love those?), I decided that I HAD to make an outfit to wear to wear to see the Avengers on Sunday – HAD to. One of those ideas that you just can’t get out of your head. A simple elastic skirt should be easy, I just had to find the time Saturday to do it in-between all of our activities. Totally doable, right?

So, my first thought upon waking was to not deal with Joann’s and just use what I had, but that would not make it a quick project so off I went- luckily the cutting line was non-existent and I was in and out quickly with these fabrics (oh yeah, I decided to make one for my daughter too):

The skirts came together pretty quickly, as they were just single seam, elastic casing waists. I don’t usually go for elastic waists since they can look bunchy- but for an “emergency” project it’s perfect! The only issue on mine is I cut it too short so I had to add a bias strip for the hem- but I actually am please with the way it looks!

And of COURSE why not make more work for myself and whip up some Captain America headbands? Being a crafty hoarder means you have lots of felt and plastic headbands around..

Ta-DA!! All in all, took about 2 1/2 hours for everything and now we are “extra” for the movie!

I’m going to start posting my projects and processes here again; I no longer am selling. But I think it would be fun to document my vintage sewing journey! I’ve also just binged (twice in a row yikes!) Mad Men again, and I realllly want to make some more clothes based on those amazing costumes! I’ve already done two, see below, and plan to make the Betty floral dress soon!

The “sad clown” dress (so named by the costume designer for the show, Janie Bryant):

Kitty Romano’s red roses dress:

And plans for the next one:

 

I made this wrap skirt for our amazing elementary school librarian! I just love it. I used the Windham Fabrics “Literary” fabric line. Another well fitted, deeply pocketed skirt!

I have been so busy getting ready for my brother -in-law’s wedding and Christmas that I haven’t done much custom sewing. I did have a client ask for a gift to be made for her sister for Christmas, and we decided on this wrap skirt in bright colors to potentially go with many tops in her closet. When we were picking out fabrics, my client described this one as “Peter Max-ish”, so I’m going with psychedelic to describe this one! This skirt is perfect to give as a gift, as it can fit many sizes. It also features roomy pockets, a favorite of mine!

This dress is so cute! Made with Cotton and Steel’s Cookie Book collection fabric. Lined bodice, box pleats, and pockets!! A really fun dress, and she looks gorgeous in it!

The fabric is Beauty and Brains by Alexander Henry Fabrics. When this client told me she wanted to wear this dress to New Orleans for her 10 year anniversary, I knew I had to get it done in time because it would be perfect for that!! I converted her previous telephone dress into a halter dress, and this is the result! Looks gorgeous on her!

Custom prettiness for a client! All fabrics from The Cloth Pocket here in Austin. Top fabric is Cotton and Steel Sprinkle basics in navy, and skirt is Birch Organic Fabrics in Tall Tales Buttermilk. Box pleats and as always, pockets. Really love this pattern combination! This dress was super quick to whip up because I already had my client’s pattern on file- this is her second dress. When that’s the case, we only need to alter a few design details and the dress is finished faster – no muslin needed!

Here is my amazing soon-to-be sister-in-law (with my bro-in-law of course) wearing the dress I made (and that she helped to custom design). She wore it to take her save the date pictures! She said she’s received many compliments.  She looks gorgeous!!