Catalog Sunday

November Pattern Showcase

My sad little Christmas tree. It needs some work.

Good morning you lovely people. I know I didn't do a showcase last month. Frankly I didn't get much in the way of patterns, or anything at all on October. But November was a plentiful harvest for sure, wink, wink.

Stout Alteration Tricks: Pick a sleeve based on your boobs.

Well, upper bust.

I know this is going to sound strange, and perhaps I spend way too much time pondering the fit of the bust to arm, but I've been asked a bit about how to pick a sleeve when you are altering a garment, or if you want to change the sleeve on something new that you are making. Here is what I've concluded.

It all is in the boobs.

For me, when I pick a sleeve, I want one that will give me a good range of motion. To determine that, its about the upper bust/arm pit ratio and how much of you actually fills that area. Sure, we all know to adjust this when we are making a garment, but also, if you are adding a different sleeve to a garment, you will also need to take into consideration the armscye with the new sleeve. 

That's why some sleeve patterns came with mockup bodice pieces to test the sleeve, which I think was brilliant. Match that up to the bodice of what you want to add the sleeve to and you're golden. But a lot of times that's not the case, and a lot of times if you are adding a sleeve, you don't take this measurements into consideration. I know I didn't. This I'm sure we all know.

April Pattern Showcase!

Ever misspell the word 'of'?

Yea, I know. Sounds silly, right? It happened to me once, and I realize typing about misspelling a word is kind of odd. Is it 'ove', uve', 'ovee'? It happened to me. A complete brain fart for a good five minutes on how to spell that silly two letter word.

Same thing could apply to me working on my man's shirt. I did the sleeve plackets yesterday, and although I've done them before, I simply forgot. I mean I was lost. I totally had a brain fart, and those trite McCall instructions didn't help me much.

January Pattern Showcase!!

I got my internets back!! I'm so elated. It's tough going without regular service, especially when you have an etsy store!

These were the emails that I got this month! WOW, I'm so popular! :)

This month I spent most of my pattern allowance on that great German Catalog. Don't worry, more of that will soon come.

But I did get some cool patterns.

The above Du Barry I thought was a stunner. Look at that bodice. Normally 40s Du Barrys are really bland, but I saw this one and just went wow! I'm also planning on making it up for the Air Raid.

I have my Warden outfit all together, but I did want to change into a dress for the evening. Now I have to think am I going to be able to scrape enough cash together for some wool crepe.

This 30's Customode I saw on the vintage Pattern Wiki when I was doing some random search. I was floored. NEVER expected to own my own copy. Yay patience!

This above one I'm thinking of making floor length.

After all, I do have a floor length gown deficit.

Even though I didn't get too many this past month, I did get some more great vintage rayon. It just seemed to fall into my life this January.

The left rayon is enough for the front of a blouse. Its a dark brown with blue hats on it. I KNOW!! The middle one I have enough for a skirt and the front bodice of a dress. The coral flowers I might have enough for a dress. I really like that fabric and got a good deal on it.

Oh! So much vintage fabric, so little time!

Happy sewing!

Stout Woman Revolution: Choosing the right sleeve.

Long sleeve. Cap sleeve. Kimono sleeve. Drop shoulder sleeve. Flutter sleeve. Short sleeve. Cuffed sleeve. Two piece sleeve. Fitted sleeve. Sleeveless.

Oh, what to choose.

It's no secret the love I have for sleeves.

I select sleeves for garments based on my confidence level. I'm a plain type of sleeve gal for most outfits. Either a basic design for day dresses, bracelet length for winter dresses. I used to lack the confidence in displaying my arms and made all my sleeve lengths at least past the elbow. But then I got brave, and started doing shorter sleeves and, well, the earth did not explode after all.

I just don't think my arms are my strongest asset. There is nothing wrong with that, but oh, how I do so envy the larger ladies who can work a flutter sleeve.

*Gasp*

So feminine and frilly and wonderfully womanly. Delicious. Or, her more practical cousin, the cap sleeve. Squeeee! In a contrasting fabric from the garment's bodice? Be still my heart. Or, for the stout woman who can do it with pride, sleeveless. I worship you.

But, as I've said many times before, I'm about making what you have work the best it can, and for me, I feel the most confident with sleeves that cover most of my forearm.

It is a personal choice.

How daring do you feel? How safe do you wan to be? Even with all the decisions of fabric and choosing which notions to use, sleeves are often something that most just take at face value. But then there are some outfits where the sleeve is the *best* part.

If there are some tips I can give with sleeve selection it would be these:

1) Choose a sleeve based on the seasonal design of the garment.

If it's a sporty number, chances are you don't want to do a full length cuffed sleeve.

2) If supplementing a sleeve, do a mock up first.
New sleeves have to be adjusted to the bodice of the design you are using. Subtle alterations from the opening to how far the shoulder length needs to be extended should be looked at. I've ruined many a garment by not planning ahead.

3) Don't overpower the design of the outfit.

If you choose a fantastic sleeve, make sure the outfit plays with it, not against it. Too many design elements can harm your overall intent for the garment.

4) Play with fabrics.

Two tone your design, or use a different fabric to use up left over material. Buttons, bows, cuffs. Yay!

Thats it for now.

Happy Sewing!!

The Vintage Pattern Primer: Collecting Accessory Patterns.

Sleeve patterns, collars, dickies, hats etc. If you are just starting your vintage pattern collection, you might ask yourself, is it worth it to collect these patterns?

I would say yes and no. Perhaps I'm not the *best* person to chime up on this, seeing as I am gaga over accessory patterns. And if you do decide to collect these, I'd like to offer up some tid-bits of advice.

Accessory patterns are by far some of the most expensive patterns you will ever come across. Why? Because despite their incredible variety, they are genuinely rare. Having collected for years, I've seen duplicates of perhaps...three of the patterns I've collected floating out there. I've seen many, many different versions of patterns from hats to sleeves, but finding a complete, wearable accessory pattern is a challenge in and of itself.

#1
Be prepared to pay.
In my last Vintage Pattern Primer, I listed a 30s hat pattern that got away from me. $100+ is not unusual for a hat pattern, at all. I've even seen 40s hats go for that, and those pop up much more often. You could get a stroke of luck and get find a pattern underpriced, or get one from Ebay that didn't get a lot of bids. Consider your self LUCKY, and I will be eternally jealous.

These types of patterns are not just sought by gals who might want to make them up, but by collectors because of being scarce. So don't be too dismayed if you find them way over your pricing budget.

#2

Is it worth it to pay so much for an incomplete pattern?

Desperation leads to higher prices.

This 30's Du Barry sleeve pattern was on Ebay and went for $50+. Its missing an entire sleeve (#1). It makes you wonder, did it sell so high because it's a great pattern, or because its a sleeve pattern?

This one went for $74. Its spectacular, but it was too small for my comfort, so I didn't try for it. But I wanted to.

But on another site, I got this pattern for $20 because the instructions were missing.

This. Was. A. Find. I'm still beaming over it!

Because these patterns often have so many pieces, they come up for sale a lot of times incomplete. Sometimes its a cuff, or a whole sleeve, or collar. Often its the interesting part that made you want the pattern in the first place. While buying it as is might be good, you have to ask yourself if its worth it, or do you want to wait and see if another will come along.


#3
Are you actually going to use it?
Is this going to be a collection piece or functional piece? That might change your attitude.

#4

Hats

One of the most sought after accessories patterns around. The hot ones are 22 and 23" heads, but you can find tons of 21" head patterns that dont go down that much in price either. They come in all styles you can muster. And pay attention to that. Look on the cover, is it just one basic style refashioned into many, many different styles, or is it genuinely lots of different hats in one pattern. Find the value there.

#5

Sleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeves!

One of my absolute favorite accessory patterns.

I LOVE sleeves! LOVE them. I'm a huge advocate on changing a sleeve of a regular frock to make it into something new and grand. Sleeve patterns offer up countless options in doing that. The trick with changing sleeves on dresses lies in the armholes. Often, depending on the sleeve your shoulder measurement can change inches. You might consider doing a mock up of the bodice prior to cutting it out.

Thats what I found so interesting about this Du Barry pattern. It offers a bodice mock up in the envelope to address such an issue. So, so clever.

Thanks Du Barry.

#6

Collars

This is an accessory pattern that is getting big.

But I do think these are some of the most scarce. I have two, both from the 30s and both complete. I'm super lucky. I think this is one you have to ask yourself are you going to collect this because, or are you going to make it up. I mean, how many of us alternate collars anymore (perhaps this is the wrong crowd to pose that question to...)?

#7

Gloves

Often all the glove patterns I've seen are for teeny tiny hands. The cool thing about gloves is you can find modern equivalents that can pretty much do the trick.

Like this one. I'm not going to grade a glove pattern, no way. Gloves fit into that special category of, "They still make this type of pattern but no one wears them anymore." I can cheat with a modern pass.

#8

Miscellaneous Patterns

Slopers, flowers, dolls, costumes, aprons (well, aprons are their own world, really).

I wouldn't get any of these types of pattern unless they were complete.

So you've been priced out of an accessory pattern and you are disgruntled. What do you do?

#9

Look for patterns with included accessories.

Most dress patterns have two sleeves, or a sleeve that is alterable into a completely different design. While I don't think you need to grab a pattern based on one design facet, look at it overall in your collection and see if adds to the dimension.

#10

If shopping online, grab a screen shot.

You might not have the pattern, but who says you can't have a picture of it? Try to get both back and front of the pattern envelope. You never know. You might run across a dress with a sleeve or collar a lot like the one you adored.

#11

Lastly,

Don't count out reproductions, especially if you want to make the pattern.

Dresses, pants, and the like are pretty easy to find repros of, but accessories are not. I guess thats why I reproduced some (with a collar one in the pipeline). Not saying buy mine (thought that would be awesome), but look around and see what's out there. If someone is lovely enough to want to share their original with the world, then perhaps you might want to support that.

Thanks everyone!