Playclothes Friday: Early man's Tuxedo jacket with tails

Hello everyone.

It's a good morning today, yay marriage!

But onto a much less important thing, repairing vintage clothes!

Upcoming projects.

Hello lovely people.

I spent yesterday cleaning and rearranging my work areas as I prepare for a week of work.

More awesome Playclothes repairs!

Hello everyone!

It has been a crazy few weeks for me. I have a cough (congested throat that may be a sinus infection) that I've had flair up for over a week. I hope it will go away in a bit.

1890s corset cover repair.

Hello lovely people.

Sorry for the lack of posts, I've been scrambling with so many other projects and just trying to stay afloat.

I haven't been sewing much for myself lately, but I have been doing a lot of mending, repairs, and sewing for others.

I will be posting a slew of vintage repairs that I have been doing for Playclothes, including sheering of some great Tiki dresses.

Right now I have this lovely antique corset cover that was in need of some delicate repairs.

The brown dress no one wanted.

Good morning lovely people.

In my ongoing work of sewing for the vintage store Playclothes, I came across this rather interesting late 40s dress in the repair pile.

Candy Shoe Repair

Good morning lovely people.

Our hiking path.

I know my blog posts have been sparse these past few weeks. Things have been bouncing like a ping pong ball on my end. Nothing bad, just things going everywhere and sorry to say blogging had to take a back seat.

This week approaching looks to be a bit more steady, like with hiking, I'm hoping to get back into the habit of blogging regularly again.

Lining to myself.

We often think that it's the visuals that need the maintenance. A skirt hem, a worn cuff or collar. But in truth it's the invisible part of the garment that gets the most wear that requires the most tending.

One of my vintage acquaintances came to me with some thrift store finds. These mid to late 60s coats with utterly trashed linings. She set them out and showed me the damage. Popped seams, shredded armholes,fabric tears, raw seams, you name it. They were not pretty, but the good news is they didn't have to be. She only wanted the linings wearable, because she was safety pinning them just to get by and it wasn't working anymore.

The cutest patch I've ever made!

A friend of mine has this lovely sharkskin vintage dress. From the details; the extended button front, the full pleated skirt and the reversed box pleated back, I'd say this number is from '47-'52.

The Gutted Cloche

How is everyone doing? 

It seems it's been slow around the tubal-interwebs. I presume people are out enjoying the summer before school starts. Since I don't have to worry about school in any capacity (yay), I've been sewing.

I designated this week my week to get rid of projects. I had paperwork I needed to complete, a freelance project I've been putting off, and other odds and ends. This cloche is one of them. I've only had it for a few weeks, but I don't want the project to get numb on me.

I finally got to use my darning egg!

BANNED!!!

You guessed it, I have officially been banned form the Queen Mary Hotel. 

Rip-up, Reuse, and Re-wear!

I made a resolution to NOT have clothing in my closet that needed alterations or was just a lost cause.

We've all done it. Made projects that you HATE and then stick them in the back of your closet. Then, when you think of that new project and say, "Oh! I have the perfect fabric for that!" Only to remember you used it on that crappy monstrosity now gathering dust in the bottom of your closet.

To this I say, no more! Get those old projects back out and get that fabric used again. Dont fear the bad sleeves, or mismatched pleats ever again! Its empowering!

So to spark inspiration, here are some of my lesser successful projects that were remade into new items I love to wear.

I *hated* this dress. HATED it. I thought this 30s number would look good. So, so wrong. So it became a 30s blouse. I love it now.

This 50s dress was another hate. Ick. Just ick. But the cotton was so nice, so it became a blouse.

This top one and bottom one were one of those horrid 'walk-away' dresses, but I call them 'fly-away' dresses. You know, the kind that wrap and have a flap in the back. Everyone who sews makes them, its a given, but I hate them. But thats another story, or perhaps blog post.

This dress (below) was just a bad idea. I wore it once and felt so, so stupid. So a blouse it became.

This last one the fabric was a great heavy twill. Too heavy for this type of dress. That and always felt I was gonna pop the zipper in it.

I have many, many more projects that Ive done this to. Its so gratifying, taking what you learned from an old project and making something else you would actually wear.

So I invite you all, cannibalize those unmentionable projects, reclaim them and find the joy in making something new again!

Hex for Victory

This is my serger.

Its nothing fancy, but it is a 5 cone with a differential feed (I have no idea what that means yet, but it sounds fancy, right?). Its my third machine, second model. The first serger I had was my mothers. I re-bought that old model when hers finally gave out. Mainly because I spent tons of time searching for replacement loopers and needles. This one was an eBay get, and at a good price. Ive had it for a few months and it works like a champ.

Well I was using it the other day and it just stopped stitching. I shit you not, I had a feeling my machine was gonna give out on me. I must be psychic (not really).

The hex screw that holds one of the loopers to its shaft was loose. I was crestfallen. I searched for over an hour online looking for a close sewing machine repair place. I *knew* this was the *only* problem, and I was leery of taking it anywhere and being told they would have to take it apart to get to the screw. So, before I decided to take it to a place, I went to Home Depot.

Im not afraid of machines. I love power tools, but Im not too keen on terminology. I knew the name for the tool was 'hex' but I didnt know if that was the *name*, know what I mean. Im a noodle head with those things. I also knew that Id get no help at HD, so I just asked the guy to point me to the tools (I brought my own stubby set in for visual reference) and he pointed to some ambiguous area then gave a "turn left".

I found them and bought a long hex set for $4. Worked like a champ. I was even able to reposition the looper back in its correct place! Yay me.

The joy comes from knowing I didnt have to spend any money on this. But I did get a buzz on fixing this tiny problem myself. Squeee!
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