Slenderette Tropicale - Simplicity 2847, 1958 - Done!

This is my third Vintage Pattern Pledge item for 2014!  It's also the 3rd 
Simplicity 2847 Slenderette pattern I've made; older ones here.  I love a shirtwaist!

And here I am modeling it in front of our garden, which we began working on in earnest this year (as opposed to just mowing the grass & ignoring it).  It's coming along quite well & is mostly native plants now. We've been in the house 3 years now, and have done lots inside...it was time to stop being bad neighbors & spruce up the front.

The Roommate & I also made the low slate wall you see...we are inordinately proud of it & it looks great--really adds a lot to the yard.  All of which is a way of saying, this is why I haven't been sewing much, and why the one thing I have been sewing has taken forever!

Another reason it took forever?  Because it's fully lined with silk & I used Hug Snug seam binding all over the place.  It looks great inside, as you can see. 

I do love this pattern!  It's got pockets, which I always look for on a dress. 

It's a really interesting pattern also because the bodice front & back have the sleeves built in...meaning no sleeves to inset, which I hate.  

It does have lots of buttonholes, though, which makes up in difficulty/impatience for the lack of sleeves!  

 The buttons are juniper, and we got them in Tallinn when we were there about 2 weeks ago.  I bought 8, not really sure what I'd do with them, and then got home & realized they'd match perfectly with the Tropicale.  

I get a lot of use out of my other Slenderettes, so I'm expecting to wear this quite a bit over the next few months before fall sets in.  

Slenderette 2: Fully-Lined & Finished!

Here's my 2nd take on Simplicity 2847, a Slenderette pattern (just love that name!).  I finished it a few weeks ago & have worn it twice--and received lots of comments about people needing a vacation!  

Close-ups of the fabric & the pattern are here.  

The Roommate thought the fabric was for him when I first pulled it out!  I set him straight on that, explaining that it was 4 yards, not 2, so unless we each got matching shirts, I was turning it into a dress.  He decided he didn't need another surf-themed shirt.  

I also fully-lined this with some 60/40 (poly/cotton) I got on sale at Hancock's.  I think I bought 10 yards.  I mostly had the lining figured out but got a bit of help from Allison at Bits of Thread.  

I am still using up bits of my old hapi coat from Japan; I'm really having trouble giving it up.  You'll see to the right that I used it to line the sleeve-cuff, and I also used it for the pocket-lining.  I like having those little reminders.  

This is a great summer dress.  Nice enough that it looks good for teaching or conducting tours at work, but it's very comfortable & has pockets.  I also think it's flattering...although I'm not sure I look slender in it!  But I can dream. 

Surf's Up! Simplicity 2847 (again)

I really love this pattern (you may remember it from my first post, as my Route 66 dress). 

You may also remember that the Roommate has a large collection of what we call "fun shirts."  Which he had made by his tailor when we lived in Abu Dhabi.  The fabric was so cheap & tailoring was so cheap that he has about 30 of them now.  Well, I bought myself some fun fabric, while we were there & finally decided to turn it into a fun dress.  When he saw the fabric in my sewing room, the Roommate said, "Oh, am I getting another shirt?"  No, dear, this one is for me!  I'm lucky he doesn't hold a grudge!
And I decided this is the time to learn about lining, too (I usually wear silk slips--also from my tailor, but they don't work so well for underarms).  So last Friday I took another open studio class at Bits of Thread so that Allison could help me put in an off-white cotton-poly lining.  

Cannot wait to wear it!  Summer is definitely headed our way here inside the Beltway...

Oh, regarding Zac Posen vs. Michael Kors as judges on Project Runway?  Zac is great, but I miss Michael!

Let's get started!

Route 66 ran right thru the town where I grew up.

My friend Tilly suggested I start a blog, as I usually send out more than a few emails when I complete a project (with photos, of course).  So here goes.  I've recently purchased 2 vintage sewing patterns via Ebay (thanks to Tilly's suggestion) and it jives nicely with the vintage knitting pattern I made last winter.  So here's a Slenderette pattern (Simplicity 2847 - 1950s?) I completed a few weeks ago (just in time for Tilly's DC trip, of course), made with Route 66 print fabric.  (You'll soon notice that my husband & I like "cool" prints.) I happened to have a red belt that I got at Esprit in SFO back in the late 1980s with great western-style icons on it (horse, cactus, etc), and it works perfectly.  

I don't know about you, but I think those old patterns take a lot for granted.  They seem to have less instructions than patterns do nowadays, even though the patterns are more difficult.  It must be a reflection of the good old days when most girls learned how to sew and would already know things I've had to figure out.  I wish my mother lived closer--she is an expert seamstress and can figure out things so quickly. 


Fortunately, as I've gotten older (I'll be 50 soon), I've realized that do-overs aren't time wasters.  Instead, they fix the item so I won't be ashamed to wear it!  I am also better about not getting bored with something...I either stick with it 'til the end, or I put it aside until I feel like working on it.  (I have a wool cardigan that I lost interest in when the temperature outside got to 85F, but I'll get back to it this September.)

Update: I have been wondering about the date of this pattern, so just did some research: ©1958