#VintageSecretSanta

I took part in Chronically Vintage's very first Secret Santa exchange this year! Jessica did a wonderful job hosting and everything was so very organized.

 

I just received my package on Saturday and let me tell you, I was blown away by the contents! I shared all of these on my instagram with the tag #vintagesecretsanta.

 

 

It turns out my Secret Santa was none other than the beautiful and oh so sweet Molly Maka from Milwaukee,Winconsin.

 

 

The first thing I came across in the box was this McCall 6916 from 1947!! It was wrapped and I had no clue what it would be! So exciting!

 

 

Then underneath the pattern, I unpacked this amazing woven sewing box! I don't know when it is from, but it is gorgeous, and will be forever among my favorite things in my sewing room!

 

 

When I opened the sewing box, there were more little treasures inside! There was a little baggie of these amazing Bakelite buttons!!!

 

Underneath the tray there were two baggies full of vintage salvedged buttons! I'm a nut about buttons and truly have several jars of them, but none that are vintage! I can't wait to organize these and see what I can do with them!

 

 

This wonderful apple cookie cutter was also in the box! I'm a huge collector of apples and I adore things like this.

 

So the piece de resistance was this pair of jeweled apple pins! I mean these things are the bees knees! I screamed with delight when I unwrapped them and I still can't believe how beautiful and well kept they are. I want to do some research and see if I can't find out a little more about them. The fact they are a matched pair of pins is so interesting to me. I haven't seen anything like them before.

 

So thank you so much Molly! You definitely went above and beyond and made an apple and button loving vintage girl very very happy! Thank you Jessica for hosting a wonderful event! I look forward to taking part in the years to come!

 

"Is Christmas Fun or What?"

I bought this fabric from a buy/sell/trade group that I am a part of and when I saw it, I just knew that it was going to become my Christmas Dress. Well, turns out it was just enough for a Christmas skirt and an adorable little a-line dress for my baby girl.

 

 

I loved the border print of this Mary Engelbreit fabric. It's from her "Isn't Christmas Jolly" line.

 

 

It's so fun and festive! The colors are so bright and vibrant. I love the little candies that are made to look like flowers and the polka dots and stars.

 

Of course, the candy shapes on the fabric just begged to be made into covered buttons. I also handpicked this zipper. That seems to be my preferred way to do them now. I cannot sew a zipper in by machine to save my life. Well I'm sure I could if it were a life or death situation, but seriously, it is always a disaster and I end up ripping it out at least 3 times before I just give up. I think I need to take a zipper class next year!

 

 

This skirt has almost 4 yards of fabric gathered into it dirndl style! I don't normally do dirndl skirts because I'm a bit of a rectangle/pear shape and that much fabric in the waistline tends to make me look much larger than I am. Of course due to the border print, I didn't have many options. I thought about pleating the waistline, but I was short on time, literally decided to make this skirt the night before I needed to wear it to a company Christmas gathering. So I decided to keep it simple and pair it with a black sweater in order to make it as slimming as possible.

 

I'm really glad I didn't do a dress though because seriously, with this pattern all over, it would have been way too much, even for me, and you know my motto is; "Too much is never enough!"

 

I made this dress for my baby girl's first Christmas. I actually completed this first because I still hadn't decided if I was brave enough to wear the fabric myself. It's just a simple A-Line jumper, with cute little covered buttons at the shoulder. I can't wait to see her toddle up to the tree, she just started walking, in this dress and her tights with her little red glittered shoes. It's going to just be perfect. I'm looking forward to getting pictures of the both of us in our Christmas finery.

 

Thanks for reading!

Beautiful Dresses for Holiday Parties

So the holidays are fast upon us and that means Holiday party season is here! Here's a list of gorgeous, glamorous, dramatic evening wear patterns that I think would look amazing at any holiday party. Feel free to click the link above the pattern art to be taken to a random seller.

 

McCall 7595 - ©1933

So glamorous. I love the deep open back on this one.

 

 

 Butterick 6810

A classic ballgown style. I love the surplice bodice.

 

 

 Vogue 599 - ©1951

This is by far my favorite in this group. The single shoulder but double strap is just fabulous. The drape on the hip is also lovely. This just screams Old Hollywood. This is one I'd love to find for sale. If you see if let me know!

 

 

 Simplicity 1795 - ©1956

Another lovely dress. I would love to see this in an ivory lace with a bold red satin sash for Christmas.

 

 McCall's 5131 - ©1959

A spectacular gown by Pauline Trigere. The tulip hemline and deep back v are just beautiful.

 

 

I love all of these and wish I had the time to track them all down and sew them all up. Then I would have to find someone to invite me to tons of holiday parties!

Presenting... McCall's 5411!

So if you've been following along, I've been participating in a sew-along hosted by the lovely Beccie at SewRetroRose. We were sewing this pattern.

McCall's 5411

I chose this blue cherry blossom fabric with a lovely hot pink contrasting trim and button.

Well, the dress is finally complete!! I finished up this weekend and I couldn't be happier with how it turned out. I'm definitely planning on doing a couple more of these for next summer and I'll be trying out a different neckline and possibly some alternate pocket styles as well!

I had to make some changes to this pattern to get it to fit properly and it could still use some alterations but as a whole it's a good fit now. I had to take out a couple of inches at the back bodice because it was gaping something awful when I first tried it on.

After making that adjustment it fits pretty awesome and I'm so excited to say that I finished my first actual vintage pattern! I would like to lower the neckline on the next one, or perhaps do a v-neck. The possibilities are pretty endless as far as customization goes on this one. I'm looking forward to Beccie's roundup post later today so that I can see everyone's beautiful frocks at the same time!

Excuse the terrible pictures (the bare feet and the lack of makeup, it was later in the evening and I was just hanging out with my kids), I do have a decent camera, but no internet at home and it's pointless to try to upload anything. So, crappy phone pictures it is. I'm actually wearing the dress today at work and even though it's terribly dreary, rainy and colder out, I'm still rocking this frock like it's no-one's business! This sew-along was my first ever and I think I did pretty good with it. I made some great new vintage loving friends through the wonder of the interwebs and it feels so good to have some like-minded people in my life, even if we've only met in cyberspace. 

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving and enjoyed the time with your families.

On to the next!!!