Lace For Everyday - Simple Top Enhanced - New York Sewing Inspiration

So many great things I'm inspired to sew - thought I have plenty on my sewing plate right now.... Here's another simple everyday garment that could well inspire my future sewing - spotted on the subway on my recent trip to New York. A simple sleeveless top - fitted or unfitted. This young woman's top is cut higher than her waistline, but I think I'd cut it right at the waistline, with a beautiful scallop-edged lace band. This very simple style would look good over any basic shorts, skirt, or pants. Note the armscye is also trimmed with a thin lace trim.

Antique-Retro Threads: Plum-Purple Pocket Dress - Mid Twentieth Century

                        

 I have  been thinking about adding embellishments to basic patterns lately, as I've been working on creating a rather

challenging embellishment on the straight skirt I've been sewing, using a pattern I created from my sloper. I haven't blogged about that project yet, other than a posting describing how I created the pattern.  

My own embellishment work got me thinking about this plum-purple frock,  that caught my eye at  the exhibit From Rationing to Rationing at the Museum of Vancouver. I saw it on our visit to Vancouver Canada in the fall of 2014. Yup, that's the visit, for which, I created my audio show  Embellishment Via Vancouver B.C.

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Pensamientos/Thoughts for this plum-purple pocket dress...

Fashion doesn't necessarily move as fast in real life as it does on the pages of a magazine. I recall dresses from my own childhood, in the 1960's, that harked back to many of the design elements in this dress, which is probably an end-of-the war, or just post-war creation.
* The fitted bodice is very mid-twentieth century
* Dainty collars added a popular innocent look
* No-button buttons were a simple embellishment many home sewers added. Buttons were often recycled from worn-out garments, so sewists had them around
* Short puffed sleeves stayed in style for several decades, certainly through the seventies
* Yokes also stayed popular through the late seventies
* Lots of pretty edging and trims like these, served up on plain fabric backgrounds,  are really reminiscent of the mid-century, before the mid-sixties, when dresses got much shorter and styles became all about crazy prints. Sewing up prints was in vogue, because printed fabrics were suddenly much more affordable and available.

And what about that pocket!

I created a similar pocket on my favorite black velvet bath robe, a few years back, by angling out the sides of a rounded pocket pattern. This one looks even more full. I must try fooling around with a pocket pattern to get a similar effect.

The pocket also  dips down in a heart shape in the center. And what about that beautiful embroidered velvet trim! It really tops off the pocket nicely.

* Lots of detail on the yoke was again very popular. It works because of the plain-colored background, even this peach colored lace can be over-embellished. I think that trim worked with ribbon is called insertion.
* Dark colored velvet bows at the neckline have a very mid-twentieth-century look as well. Doris Day often wore bows like this in her movies, especially black ones. Velvet bows were also popular as hair adornments. That was a signature style for Rosemarie in the Dick Van Dyke show, of course. Well into the sixties we could buy velvet bows on hair clips at the 5 and 10 cent store. I guess that would be the 5 and 10 dollar store now!

Reflecting on styles that affected fashions from my childhood, and considering embellishment elements that still work today - That's the kind of thing that keeps me ...

Enchanted By Sewing!

Ench By Sew-31: Historical Bathing Beauties

The April Enchanted By Sewing, Episode 31 Audio Show is Up !

Option I) Listen to the Audio right on the web by clicking on this link - No need to download 

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Option II)  Click on this link to iTunes  to download this and other Enchanted by Sewing shows to your mobile device (iPhone, Android, etc.) free from iTunes

Bathing and swim wear has certainly changed from the cover-em-up days!

 Have you ever sewn your own swim or bathing suit? I created a couple of bikinis way, way back in high school, but since then, frankly, I’ve been happier to buy my suits. I do however often stop off at various sewing blogs to sample bathing fashion creations that other sewists have created, and daydream a little at trying my hand at another suit one day.

I also get a kick out of hearing and reading about how bathing suits have changed over time, and thinking about what a shock people must have had to suddenly start seeing others, especially women, revealing so much of their flesh on beaches! The big changes in swim suit styling around the 1920’s seem to have been about the time when the  sport changed from ‘bathing’ to ‘swimming’ in the English speaking world. It wasn’t enough just to immerse ourselves in water outside, as we did indoors anymore. Now more people wanted to get some exercise when they went into a pool, river or ocean.

This month I’m sharing a walk around an historical bathing suit exhibit I saw at the Vancouver Maritime Museum in the fall of 2014. Won’t you let me know if this show gets you in the mood to sew your own modern day or historically inspired bathing or swimming suit, by posting below?

Babes & Bathers: History of the Swimsuit
http://vancouvermaritimemuseum.com/press/babes-bathers-exhibit-opens-maritime-museum.

Here is the promotion for the exhibit, from the web link at the museum. Please note that the show is no longer running.
‘
"In a city surrounded by water, swimsuits have always been an essential part of our wardrobe as Vancouverites. From swimming costumes to bikinis, bathing suit styles have fluctuated from the modest to the more revealing, all in a desire to make us fashionable by the water’s edge. Drawing on the private collections of celebrated fashion historian Ivan Sayers, you can now see the modest suits, revealing bikinis, and sometimes outrageous costumes that have been spotted on Vancouver beaches since the 1890s. "  http://www.vancouvermaritimemuseum.com/

Terminado! Sewing a Simple Denim Skirt Is Good Medicine

Things that make me proud of this simple elastic waist denim skirt?

* Got it done!
* Draped the pattern myself!
* Love the figure flattering fit!

BTW there are side seam slits too, from the knee part way up the outside of my leg. Haven't tried it on a bike yet, but I think that will work will. The slits make slipping in an out of a car quite easy.

I made the skirt originally to go with my denim bustier, but you know I'm a sewist with a plan (SWAP). This garment goes really well with several of my basic shirts and is a great wardrobe builder

I got more pleasure finishing this simple denim skirt than any sewing project I can remember. As I mentioned in my most recent podcast, Mind of the Maker, I'm having some health challenges that are putting a bit of a crimp in my recreational sewing time. Completing this project, slowly but surely, did a lot for my sense of mental as well as physical well being.

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Web Resources

Audio Podcast Enchanted By Sewing Episode 20: Mind of the Maker http://enchantedbysewing.blogspot.com/2014/05/ench-by-sew-020-mind-of-maker.html

Waistlines:Inspired by the Classics - Time Travel to the Italian Renaissance

The Combat of Love and Chastity

If I'd been an all around, well educated, know-it all Renaissance women, an uomo universale  (the modern term is a polymath), I bet I'd have been dreaming in Greek - in my Greek-inspired, just-below-the-bustline waistlines that is!

The Renaissance , or rebirth, was about fifteenth and sixteenth century Italians dreaming about being reborn - as imaginary Greeks. Men and women of this era (at least those who could afford the luxury of being well educated) prided themselves on their breadth of knowledge in the arts and sciences - music, conversation, mathematics, machines, equipment, painting, architecture, books, languages, and what else..... or yeah, the art of warfare.

I'm pretty sure that if I travelled back through time to sometime in the sixteenth century, I'd have been particularly caught up in the excitement over the creation of new technology. And it seems to me that the creation of a telescope would have provided me with much of the same pleasure as my modern times enthusiasm for software development.

But I wouldn't have been crouching over my design table all day long. After all  I would have been an uomo universale, 
a woman capable of engaging in and demonstrating many accomplishments.

Whilst singing and playing my viola or lute (always with a fine air of

Woman Playing the Viola, Solario

sprezzatura),  bandying over the significance of the positions of the constellations with a fellow courtier ("But look at Mars through my new telescope Andrea!"), and planning the next poetic verse in my current composition, I'm pretty sure  I'd also have been hard at work on another mental composition, a gown inspired, of course, by my supposed Grecian roots*. I might have already been wearing something that took me back to those times past,   something with a twisted shoulder element perhaps, like the one in Solario's painting of a musician.

Chaste Women in a Landscape

While I was fiddling, singing and discoursing among my fellows,  I would have been contemplating the creation of a dress with a substantial dose of color. My classical interests would go for something with simple, fluid lines. No fussy necklines or over embellishment for my gown. It would speak for itself in the way it flowed from a high waistline set just below the bust, creating long lines of naturally occurring seamless folds over the body,  in hues of russet or red. In cooler weather I might pair it with a cloak of deep forest green.

Whether it was dress design or a new ability to view the heavens, I'd have been stretching my interests just as far afield back in the sixteenth century, as I do today. 

You know, it's time travel like this that keeps me...

Enchanted by Sewing!

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"Prince of Foxes", set in the Italian Renaissance, is one of my all time favorite movies. It's based on a classic Samuel Shellabarger novel of the same name.  The movie is adventurous and romantic. The costumes are historically accurate and gorgeous.

* Of course women's position in Greek society didn't tend towards the well educated. These gals tended to be more like domestic appurtenances with no equal standing alongside the boys. A well-educated, monied Renaissance women could hope for a lot more when it came to society, education and an attitude of respect from her menfolk.

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Resources

Uomo Universale/The Polymath

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polymath
http://alexpetrov.com/memes/hum/renaissance-man.html

Vintage Threads: Myrna Loy Made the Clothes

Some women identify with Mariyn Monroe, others with Judy Garland. My favorite vintage film star is Myrna Loy, and my favorite images of Miss Loy are as Nora Charles in The Thin Man .

Wouldn't this be your favorite go-to outfit if you were Mrs. Charles? No woman has every looked as pulled together as Nora in this plaid bias-cut skirt, feather-endowed beret and bow combination.  And the shapely black companion jacket pulls it all together. I'd hazard a guess that the plaid is a mixture  of black and red threads on a white background. 

A modern sewist could pull off  the creation of a very similar  ensemble (she might want to ditch the bow tie and feather, to avoid looking a bit too precious) but she could never really put it together like Nora Charles did.

Some folks say that clothes make the woman, but in the case of this great lady, Myrna Loy made the clothes.
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Resources

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Vintage Threads: Retro Cow Gal Denim is Thoroughly Up to Date

63 years after filming, these gals duds are still in style

With some fashions we have to wait for a return to retro. But when it comes to denim duds, their style vibe just keeps on working.

Irene Dunn's jean-jacket and Ann Doran's vest and shirt combination are as classic today as they were back in 1950 when Never a Dull Moment was filmed. The topstitching on Miss Dunn's jacket is particularly inspirational for modern sewists. You can see it up close when you click on the illustration.

Just add some pumped up pouty lips, loose flowing hair,
and a come-hither expression.
Then... as soon as our waistbands move back up from their currently
below the waist position - likely to happen any day-
these nicely fitted jeans, with belt and classic plaid shirt will put
this picture right back in style.

Vintage Threads: Let's Hear it for Vibrant Color in Betty Joe's Checked Sleeve

Betty Joe's vibrantly sleeved
dress shows up in more than one episode
In the 1960's a few new dresses
a year was typical for the middle class

Take a look at Petticoat Junction (P.J) 's red headed Betty Joe's three tiered sleeve. I'd create this sleeve by cutting a very wide peasant-blouse type sleeve, pieced together from increasingly wide strips of the different checks, then separating the checks with a piece of elastic in interior casings. This style of sleeve was typical of mid-sixties sewing patterns, especially with a simple straight cut, no-waistline, dress. I adore this combination of four sizes of brilliant checks. Women were less afraid of brilliant contrasting color during this era than they are today.

What might surprise modern folks, even more than the bright shots of color, is that Betty Joe wears this dress in more than one episode! Can you imagine that? I don't know that I've ever noticed that in a modern t. v. show. (though with more dull colors and less distinctive styles, they probably are reused and I just don't notice). During the sixties era, most women simply had less clothes than many modern day females. Of course the fabric for their garments and the majority of their ready made clothing was produced in the United States, so individual clothing costs were a higher percent of a household budget. A few new dresses a year was pretty exciting for a middle class woman, and that was what the young ladies on P.J. represented.

I just started DVR'ing a few episodes of this retro 1960's t.v. show to catch retro clothing styles. ( Here's another of my Vintage Threads post inspired by P.J. http://meencantacoser.blogspot.com/2013/03/vintage-threads-i-want-bobbie-joes.html)  Now, I must admit, I've started watching the episodes. I like the style of the jokes and they way punch lines are delivered, more so than much of current t.v. humor. I'm also a fan of "Dog", who I believe went on to become the dog "Benjie" in later movies.

While laughing at many of the situations in the shows, those interested in learning about cultural attitudes of the sixties would benefit from watching these shows.  In one episode I recorded recently, one of the three beautiful sisters, Bobby Joe, indicated that the new county water project was important because of it's use in agriculture. Old, lazy Uncle Joe (the main guy to poke fun at, because he's always 'a-movin kinda slow') complained that, as a fisherman, his catch would be affected. At this point the laugh track cut in. Golly, can you imagine worrying about the health of a bunch of trout? Well, nowadays the laugh track would probably be repositioned after Bobby Joe's foolishly innocent remark and Uncle Joe would be a political go-getter determined to preserve native fishing rights. I'd also guess that Uncle Joe would be the leader of a vibrant seniors group determined to keep real estate developers out of the county instead of sleeping away his life on the front porch and swiping pickles in Sam Drucker's store. And of course there would be more cultural diversity on display. Even in the sixties everybody in the U.S. wasn't a gringo, though you might think so from what you saw on t.v.

I'm imagining recreating Betty Joe's vintage sleeve in a blouse, and wearing it when I meander over to Sam Drucker's store  for a game of checkers, and a pickle.

Shirt or Blouse? Pattern Plays a Big Role

I used Butterick 5226 for my No 1. Ladies Detective Agency Shirt I guess it's the more fitted character of the princess seams views that cry blouse! to me. The others strike me as shirts.  

Vogue 8747 is still in print

Vogue 8747 - much like the front-of-the-bust gathered shirts that Lexie in BBC's Monarch of the Glen wore, strike me as shirts. So I guess being more fitted doesn't always say blouse....

Simplicity 9857 is Out of Print
But several used pattern sellers on the web have it

*Simplicity 9857 (out of print). These garments, with their more romantic flowing lines, look blouse-like, don't they? Those front tucks are not at all crisp, so that must be it.

Vogue 2105 80's Blouse (out of print) Seems more blouse-like than shirt like. Why? Is it simply the way the pattern front styles the garment? Is it the deep open neckline? Perhaps it's the nearly hidden buttons and the somewhat formal, dressy look of these pieces.

Vogue 2105 is Out of Print
But several used pattern sellers on the web have it

McCalls 7360 is Out of Print
But several used pattern sellers on the web have it

I'd definitely call this a blouse....McCalls 7360 (out of print), says soft, both in it's romantic flowing lines, and it's traditionally feminine, historically inspired collar details.