All posts filed under: 20th Century

Rodeo & Wrangle & Ramble in Style

Isn’t it wonderful when you get the excuse to make something that you’ve been hankering after for ages and ages? Fifteen years ago I inherited Grandma’s stash, and I’ve been sewing with it and enjoying it ever since. A few pieces of her stash I made up right away, because they were that special, and a few pieces were so, so special that I’ve been trying to decide what to do with for a decade and a half. This fabric was one of those: How cute is that? How utterly, absolutely, totally darling and adorable is that? And perfect for a Western challenge! I would have loved a full dress of it, but I only had 2.1 metres, it’s only 90cm wide, and there was a lot of age damage. I considered blouses like Simplicity 1868, but that didn’t seem to do the fabric justice. The perfect solution? Butterick 8044â€²s not-quite-a-circle skirt! (yes, I am so in love with that pattern, and if it weren’t for my True Love Story outfit I wouldn’t have considered …

The ‘True Love Story’ dress

Published by The Dreamstress

Yesterday I told you the story of Grandma’s $4.50 blue hat, and Butterick 8044, and how I had always wanted to make it up in blue wool. Sewing it up was a dream. I had to size the pattern up a bit because I don’t have a 30″ bust, but everything went together perfectly and fit beautifully. A made View A with short sleeves, because it looked like that was the version Grandma had made (though she might have made both bodices – there were no obvious alterations on the bodice pieces). The only alteration I made to the top was getting rid of the side button placket, as I could pull the bodice over my head without it. With the skirt, I finished the yoke by cutting a second set of yoke pieces and bag lining it, so all the raw edges will be finished on the inside. The pattern had it finished with only a waist stay, and I was afraid that wouldn’t lend enough stability to the yoke in my thin, draping …

A true love story – and a pattern

Published by The Dreamstress

I barely knew my grandparents. I grew up in Hawaii, and my surviving grandparents lived in California, so my memories of them are limited to a few trips to the Mainland, and their few trips to Hawaii. I last saw my grandfather when I was in university, six months before he passed away. My grandmother had been gone for five years, my grandfather had just moved into a nursing home, and my aunts were clearing out the house. I was about to head off to New Zealand to study abroad, and knew I might never have another chance to see my grandfather. While I was visiting my aunts showed me a few pieces of Grandma’s clothes, and her enormous hat collection. We had the loveliest time looking at all the hats, laughing at the flower-covered 1960s beehives, and cooing over little veiled ’40s numbers. My aunts insisted I try on Grandma’s dresses. They fit like a glove, and thus, as the only grandchild the right size (and the only one …