A Free French Turban Pattern from 1932

 Hello my dears. I woke up this morning with the strongest urge to play in my vast (scary, like found one day dead, crushed under a stack of magazines, VAST) collection of vintage French magazines.

While enjoying a particularly lovely edition of C'est La Mode from 1932, I found a charming little turban-making lesson that I had previously overlooked.

The lesson is of course in French, but being of a mood to share, I translated the instructions for you over my morning coffee, (oh, freshly-roasted Costa Rica beans from Acme Coffee in Seaside, how I adore thee!) cleaned up the illustrations for you, and voila!

We have a pattern/ tutorial for a lovely French turban that you can make out of square scraps of slightly stretchy fabrics.

I would recommend using matte jersey, or perhaps even a stretch silk charmeuse blend. You might try it with woven fabrics, or even ribbon, but you'll want to braid the body more loosely, I imagine. The pattern doesn't include any suggested yardage so I would say you'll need at least half a yard of fabric to be safe, and about 1/2 yard of matching grosgrain ribbon for the band.

Anyhow, I'm off to get a haircut, do some shopping, and enjoy the rest of my hopefully relaxing weekend.

Happy sewing!

Random Free Pattern Day

Hello lovely readers. Whew! It's been a while, hasn't it? I know, I've been putting blogging waaaay out on the back burner for quite a while now. To be honest, I don't know how often I'll be able to blog for the time being. I've been dealing with some rather intense chronic nerve pain this year and it makes it difficult for me to do anything, including sit at the computer for very long. I've had every test in the book and so far my half-dozen doctors have just given up and called it Fibromyalgia.
Soooo, that's been a whole heap of fun...

Today, to try and distract myself, I decided to play with some lovely vintage French magazines. I then stumbled across a lovely little sewing pattern included in one of them that I just had to translate and share with you all!

This sweet little pattern from 1939 comes as a diagram with measurements (in centimeters) that should fit a 10 year old girl. It can also be cut on the bias in stripes for a cute little chevron effect.

You can download the pattern for free at my website! Just click here and scroll to the bottom of the page. Click the "Add to Cart" button, checkout (no payment necessary), and the pattern will arrive in your inbox.

Happy sewing!

 

My New Year's Present to You...a free pattern!

Hello lovely readers. My Google blog reader is full of great "best of" and "top 2012" posts from all of my favorite bloggers. Those are much fun but I thought that I would do something different instead. I have a present for you.

A free pattern just for A Few Threads Loose readers!

This great little pattern originally came from a 1949 sewing pattern catalog. And now it's digital, and it's yours for the sewing!
Click Here to be taken to the free download. It's an easy two page pattern with a simple diagram and sewing instructions.

The original description is great. It reads:
"Love to look neat as a pin? Like to comb your hair after you put on your dress? The make this smock-modern aid to good grooming! You run it up ever so quickly from this pattern and instructions, in that wonderful new plastic fabric. Use it when you comb your hair, when you put on make-up, or to protect you while you shampoo or give yourself a home - permanent. And not to make a pun, it's a wonderful shower present, you know!"

I just love that friendly, woman to woman tone that articles from the 1940's use. It's so informal, so...blogger-like!

And what should you use for fabric, you might ask? We've come a long way from the first plastic fabrics. Check out this great Amy Butler laminate cotton from Fabric.com!

Or this lovely cotton laminate from Anna Maria Horner:

Or this eye-catching cotton laminate by Heather Bailey... my personal favorite.

I hope you all have a lovely New Years Eve. There are no parties for me, just my sweetie, a bottle of Champagne, and some Champagne Belgian truffles and that's just the way I like it!

P.S. Speaking of bubbly, I'm celebrating the New Year over at Mrs. Depew Vintage with a coupon code for 10% off. Just use "Champagne" in the 'apply coupon code' part at checkout. It expires Jan. 2nd!