Sew in Love... McCall 6021

Hello lovely readers! I'm sorry for my blogging absence this month! In Norway a few years ago, I was diagnosed with a permanent and very painful nerve condition... which I recently found out was a misdiagnosis! The real culprit was a childhood injury that had left my ribs completely misaligned for nearly 20 years. The treatment is a weekly excruciating rib adjustment that leaves me tender, tired and completely useless for days. The upside is, I'll only need about 6 months of treatment, as opposed to a lifetime of medication and pain.
So that's my recent crazy...
Today though, I surfaced from my useless stupor to get the mail and to my delight, I found that a much anticipated pattern had arrived for my collection and I just had to share!

McCall 6021 Ladies' and Misses' Set of Underwear from 1929.

I had no idea when I bought it on Ebay if it was even complete. I was thrilled to open the envelope and find that the pattern was still in its factory folds! (a jackpot for us pattern collectors - it means the pattern has never been used, never even been unfolded in the last 90 years!).

But even better than that, nestled inside one of the folds was this!

One of my absolute favorites is the little found objects in patterns and books. Valentines, drawings, pressed flowers and four leaf clovers, and pretty, pretty advertisement cards always make my day!

When I do find things like this, all I can think is, I wish these never expired, and you could go back in time, get your subscription at that stellar price.

But back to the pattern, what do you think of it? I bought it for the bra mostly. The tap pants from that era, while beautiful, are so long they're practically skirts, and not super sexy. However, for costumers and anyone who wants her lingerie for that Gatsby even to be spot on, this is perfect. Should I make a reproduction of it, do you think?

The Super-Secret Christmas Robe from 1951

A couple of years ago, I found an amazing vintage Mens' robe pattern on Etsy and fell in love. I snapped it up, ordered some amazing rayon fabric and some ultra-soft micro fleece to line it with. When the pattern arrived  I was so excited... and then somehow I never made it. You know how it is, projects pile up, work gets too busy and then before you know it, it's two years later - no robe.

Vogue 8753

So this year I was determined to sew it for my husband for Christmas, and I was determined that he wouldn't even know I was sewing something for him. In the middle of finals project and a really busy month at Mrs. Depew Vintage I was sewing this robe like a crazy person. And let me tell you, lining rayon with micro fleece is about as easy as getting a puppy to hold still during a cat parade.

I sewed between assignments and studying, before and after work, at midnight while he was working night shifts and every time my husband rode his motorcycle into the driveway I madly dashed to stash everything into my studio closet and delint the threads from my clothes to hide any evidence of my undertaking.

The flat felled seams with the added bulk of a lining fabric, no matter how much I graded, were insanely hard and I ended up hand binding all of my seams inside just to keep everything clean. I was determined to use every skill in my playbook to make this robe the nicest thing my husband ever owned.
2/3 of the sewing was by hand to get everything just right and after about 70 hours of work, it was finished with just one day to spare! I even had time to embroider his initials on the cuff before wrapping it.

The rayon had two beautiful sides to it so I made the cuffs, pockets, sash, carriers and lapels with the lighter, contrasting side.

The black micro fleece lining looks really sharp in contrast to the grey and is so soft and warm that I have to resist stealing the robe for myself every morning when I let the dog out at 6 a.m.

The rayon has just the slightest metallic sheen to it on one side.

Of course it's about 4 sizes too big for Lusty Lulu (love her new name!) but it looks great on the man himself. (I don't make him pose for blog photos, he's shy.)

I also finished the inside with a hilarious "This took Forever" label by Sublime Stitching that makes my day every time I catch a glimpse of it.

And now I'm quite relieved to be done working on this giant project and back to sewing for myself. This week I'm making myself a few bras using this pattern.

How about you? Did you make any of your gifts by hand this year?

Sew Expensive... Millinery For Every Woman Sewing Book

Hello my dear readers! For you today I have another Sew Expensive moment brought to you by the internet and people with too much money!

For today's installment, I have a stunning book that recently sold for an equally stunning price!

This beautiful, and painfully rare book sold on Ebay recently for a sum that made me quite literally squeal. I scared the hell out of the dog.

This original Millinery for Every Woman by Georgina Kerr Kaye sold for an incredible $587.90 (that's 427 € or 354 £!).

Why would this amazing little tome go for so much, you might ask? Because it's full of hat patterns and very rare millinery knowledge that is slowly dying out. Very few people make their own hats any more compared to the average woman of the 18th century who often knew how to make just about anything. That sort of knowledge is rather scarce these days so a book like this would find a very welcome home among those who wish to preserve that kind of knowledge.

If you're interested in making your own hats, there isn't a lot of info readily available and books like these are not easy to find!
But don't fret, my dears, there is an alternative to spending half your rent on antique millinery books! There are several re-prints of this book currently available on Amazon for as little as $25.

In other news, Happy New Year! Another year has gone by and I find that as a whole, I'm just as content with life as I have been for the last 7 or 8 years.  So no resolutions for me, just happy business as usual.
How about you? Any grand resolutions you hope to keep?

Name the Dress Form Contest Winner!

Well it took the judges and I a bit longer than expected to deliberate! We loved the many names that you clever readers came up with but only one could win. The choices were so good that even the judges couldn't land on the same one! In the end I took the top 6, tossed them in a bowl and picked one at random. So, the new girl has a name! Meet Lusty Lulu!
Which means that our gift certificate winner is Emily! Emily also happens to write a great vintage-style blog, well worth checking out!
(Emily, I'll shoot you an email to work out the details.)

A special thanks goes to our guest judges: Brittany of Va-Voom Vintage Blog, Tilly of Tilly and the Buttons and my best friend, Becky!

In other news, a few days ago I finished my last final for the classes I was taking at my local community college. Boy, was it a relief! I loved the classes, my professor was brilliant, and my classmates were hilarious (ever seen the show Community? Spot on.) but I was exhausted from too much work, puppy, super-secret Christmas sewing (he doesn't even know I've been sewing anything!) and homework.

I especially loved my Fashion Illustration course. I went from basically drawing stick figures to a pretty decent grasp of the industry standard "10 head (tall) fashion figure".
For my final project I drew illustrations of my corset and long line bra from the Ohhh La La Pin-up Sew-Along and while they're not perfect, I had so much fun creating them in Photoshop!

If you have some free time next month, try a class at your local community college and learn something new! It's a blast!
I'll share more of the super-secret sewing project after Christmas so I don't let any cats out of bags but right now, I'm off to walk a German Shepherd pup who is sick of chilling calmly in my studio all day.

Happy Holidays!

Name the Dress Form Contest!

Happy December, lovely readers! I'm happy to say that I finally saved enough money to get a professional dress form. She arrived in the mail a few days ago, and ever since, I've been looking at her and all I can think is, "What the hell is your name, lady?"

The new girl. So far her hobbies include being banged on by a wrench during assembly and getting cat fur all over her while I wasn't looking. (How!? She's hanging up!)

Growing up in my mom's antique store we had a bevy of different dress forms about and most of them had names. They were often in a shocking state of undress and a tradition of giving them racy names stuck. I have been giving my own dress forms (and other inanimate objects like cars, vacuum cleaners, computers and curling irons) slightly inappropriate names ever since... (thanks, mom.)

You've met "Slut Jane the second" (the descendant of a particularly naughty-looking lingerie dress form my mother named a few decades ago) and "Boobs McGee" (my bullet bra form from the 50's) already and it's time to name the new girl. Preferably something equally inappropriate so she'll fit in with the rest of the girls.

So I know from reading your comments and emails that you're a clever and often hilarious bunch and I would love your help naming the new girl!

For the next two weeks you can leave a comment with your name idea on this post and I, and a panel of judges will choose a winner.
Our lovely guest judges include two of the coolest sewing bloggers I know; the talented and hilarious Brittany of Va-Voom Vintage Blog and the witty and clever Tilly of Tilly and the Buttons! Our third judge will be my best friend Becky, who is basically one of the funniest people I have ever met (and also the most talented artist I've ever seen!).

The person who submits the name we choose wins something too, a $30 gift certificate to Mrs. Depew Vintage!

The rules: I don't mind dirty words in your comments but others might, so keep that in mind. Also, the name can't be too inappropriate... I do have to blog about it after all!

I'll be announcing the winner on December 19th so submissions are welcome until then!

Best of luck!

Modes et Travaux... What was in style for November 1937?

Happy holiday week, my dear readers! I have a whole week off from classes thanks to Thanksgiving break (for which I am eternally grateful) and I'm using that time to catch up on Mrs. Depew Vintage projects and  a few blog posts!

Modes et Travaux no. 430 from November, 1937.

Today for you I have something that just made me swoon. A glimpse of Modes et Travaux from November of 1937. (Pronounced "mode eh travoh" for my English speaking friends).

So what was so in demand for exactly 76 years ago? Yards and yards of lace!

"Lace for small or big evenings!"

Can you believe that there were sewing patterns on offer at the time? One could simply pop down to the corner newsstand, pick up a gorgeous fashion magazine, and then for a mere 13 frances, one could order the perfect evening gown pattern to make in time for a Chirstmas gala. If that wasn't easy enough, you could even order the lace or fabric featured from the same magazine!

Wouldn't it be great if Vogue offered a similar service?!

These gorgeous dresses made my brain go all sorts of happy places which led me to a point where Madeleine Vionnet tickled my memory. After a bit of searching, I remembered where I had seen it:

Madeleine Vionnet gown - Image courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

I often browse the Metropolitan Museum of Art's website for goodies like this.

Madeleine Vionnet gown - Image courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

This gown is from 1939 but it first perfectly with the fashion spread above, don't you think?
Anyways, I'm off to put a few pies in the oven in anticipation of having my oven occupied tomorrow.

Have a happy week!

New Paper Patterns Sitting on my Shelf of Awesome.

Boy have I been busy, my dear readers! Between two college classes (why, oh why did I think two at once would be a good idea?) running Mrs. Depew Vintage, and le pup needing full time watching, I've been seriously overwhelmed! I dropped everything yesterday to go get a massage and today, I'm sore but also a bit recharged again. When I haven't been chasing after Butters (le pup has been renamed... it's a long story), doing homework, or taking care of the house (so much pet fur to stay on top of...) I have been busy folding patterns!

I thought that I was going to hate it but there's something so satisfying about breaking a large piece of paper down into exact fractions so that they fit perfectly in their little envelopes... over and over again... I'm such a sucker for repetitive work.

I have started with my most popular patterns, most often requested by those with no printer at home, and so without further ado, here they are!

Depew #1003 available at Mrs. Depew Vintage.

Depew #2013 available at Mrs. Depew Vintage.

Depew 2012 available at Mrs. Depew Vintage.

Currently they sit in a place of honor right under "Boobs" McGee, my 1950's bullet bra model.

My "Shelf of Awesome".

Next up in paper patterns will be the 1950's Style Bathing Suit pattern (Depew #1001) and the ever popular 1950's Style Beach Bustier (Depew #1018)... if I can ever find the time to finish them!

I was so excited about how reasonable printing costs were in comparison to what I paid in Norway! It means that I can offer reprints of my other paper patterns for lower prices. Huzzah!

This has been a big project and I'm so relieved to have it finished for the time being. But enough about me!
How about you? Have you been working on any of your own big projects lately?
And when you're finished, how do you usually reward yourself? With a massage? New clothes? Shoes? More fabric?

Happy sewing,