All posts filed under: Sewing

Things I sew – historical and modern

Sewing for wee ones

While I mostly sew for myself, I do occasionally sew for other people – especially if they are tiny. Well, little. I don’t love sewing for newborn babies, but if you are a close friend of mine, and you have had a little girl in the last oh, 20 years or so, chances are your wee one has been given a version of McCalls 8121: This poor, battered pattern was my Grandmothers, and ever since I inherited it I have been using it to make little frocks and bloomers for the girl toddlers in my life. It’s got duckies on it! And the girl has a kangaroo toy! Most of the early versions of the dress I made have had the duck applique (after all, I do love ducks), but lately, I’ve been branching out. Here is a recent-ish duckie one: It’s made from the fabric that remained from making my sherbet stripes dress, and is trimmed with vintage piping, and a bit of replica 1930s floral fabric. Here is dearest Mum-to-be opening it (with …

The Goddess of Small Happinesses Frock

Published by The Dreamstress

I have a small mountain of finished projects to photograph and blog about, which is a good thing, of course, but still slightly daunting! Still, every mountain starts with foothills, so, one photoshoot and blog post at a time, I will make it to the top. Today I’m aiming for Mt Olympus with a chiton-y, goddess-y frock. I made this simple frock all the way back in November. I keep coming back to the 1920 Vionnet Chiton dress in my sewing, and finding more ways to play with the basic concept. It’s such a clever dress idea, and it really works. This dress is a great example of how incredibly, and unexpectedly, flattering a dress made from a simple rectangle of fabric can be, especially with some helpful pattern placement. It’s doing all the right things for me: emphasising the curves of bust and hip, creating the illusion of a really small waist, lengthening, and hiding a bit of tummy squidge. I’m currently battling the squidge, which has slowly been creeping in for the last …

Just a boring old petticoat

Published by The Dreamstress

One of the problems with my sewing is that I sew A LOT, and not all of it looks particularly interesting and dynamic unless I manage to do a whole photoshoot in it, in a picturesque locale (which, luckily, there are lots of in the Wellington region!). Thing is, photoshoots take a lot of time and planning, and a willing photographer (which, unluckily, Mr D is not often). So I do a bit of self-timed photos, and a lot of mannequin photos. Even with good images, some sewing isn’t that interesting without a really good story, and it’s too easy for too many blog posts to be summed up as: tl:dr – I sewed something and there were a few tiny problems but I fixed them and now I mostly like it. There isn’t a particularly interesting story for this sew. It’s a petticoat suitable for wear under late Victorian and early 1900s garments. It’s a basic 5-gore pattern with a bit of back gathers and a placket closure. It has tucks and a layer …