All posts filed under: What I wear

Art Deco Weekend 2014

Published by The Dreamstress

Gosh, it’s been three weekends since Napier’s Art Deco Weekend 2014 and my life has been so hectic that I haven’t managed to post about it! Despite the weekend falling in the middle of The Project, I managed to take a few days off to enjoy the vintage life, and to try to recuperate. As usual, we drove up Thursday, so that we could get up nice and early on Friday for op-shop-a-thon, and a quick stop at the park to join in the wildest crowds of the weekend: Duck, duck, goose, pukeko! After thoroughly tiring ourselves out carrying bags of fabric and books and other vintage goodies around town, it was time to retire for a nap and a rest, before heading out for dancing at the SoundShell: My companion for the weekend was the gorgeous Elizabeth de la Ray of Ills Winter & Porcelaintoy, who you may recognise as the wearer of the Madge Bellamy White Zombie dress and the star of the Monsters music video. I got to dress her up again …

The ‘Who cares about Bulls & Bears when you can have Bunnies’ Dress

Published by The Dreamstress

And we’re off!  My first HSF ’14 challenge of the year is done! This is the 1929 “Bulls, Bears & Bunnies’ dress, and the ‘Economic Sunrise’ hat.  (The belt doesn’t get a name.  It’s just a belt.) I actually finished the dress on Boxing Day, but I only managed to finish the hat and belt this week. The dress is named for the exceedingly un-bullish economic crisis of 1929-32, which perfectly covers the dates of the dress, and for the fabric:  bunny patterned rayon!   I found the fabric at Arthur Toye’s in Wellington during the CBD Craft Crawl.  Well, I say ‘I’ found the fabric, but really I was looking at all the rayons for something to make another version of the Garden Party dress out of, and Juliet noticed this and said “Oooh, bunnies!” and I pounced on it and said “That’s perfect!”. Uh-oh. So we had the polite argument about who saw it first/wanted it more, because of course there was only 3m left in the shop, but Juliet very nicely let …

The 1930s Bad Plaid Celebration Dress

Published by The Dreamstress

Hurrah!  I have made it through the Historical Sew Fortnightly!  I’ve managed to make at least one item for all 26 challenges! Some were late, some took some time, but I did it! And here, of course, is my item for Challenge #26: Celebration: I’m calling it the ‘Bad Plaid’ dress, because the fabric is so awful it’s awesome, and because, well… I whinged about the pattern a lot as I sewed it up. The pattern is Decades of Style #3007: The 1930s Button Dress. Now, I’ll admit right away that half of the problems with the dress were my fault, at least in that I knew going in that the pattern wasn’t the most flattering style for my shape, and that I wasn’t using the best fabric for the pattern. I’m small busted, with a largish-rectangular ribcage, a sway back, and a full bottom.  I look great in empire waistlines, regular waistlines, and dropped waist – but the 1930s halfway-down-the-ribcage waistline?  Not my friend.  So that was the pattern problem. And this dress needs …