A Pattern and a Giveaway!

So I know that pictures of my sewing projects have been few and far between in the last few months of blogging. Some of that is due to a months' vacation back in the US, and some is due to trying to figure out my new camera, and the rest of the blame goes to the fact that I've been too busy working on pattern pdf's to get pictures taken, or anything sewn, for that matter.

I just finished turning another of my vintage patterns into a pdf for download in my shop and I'm excited, cause it's a hat and purse! Gotta love accessories, right? This one came from a great 1940's catalog and it's just gorgeous!

It gives tips for coordinating different fabrics to make matching hats and bags, as well as how to embellish with bows, feathers, etc to make several different versions of the same hat.

Which leads me to the giveaway part. Would you like to win a copy of this pattern? Yeeeeeeeeees? Good. All you have to do is...
1. Become a follower if you're not already. You can leave a comment telling me that you follow and it will count as an entry.
2. If you like A Few Threads Loose on Facebook you get another entry.
It's that easy.  I'll pick a winner by random number generator and announce the winner on Monday the 18th. Good luck!

What to put in a friensdhip box

Have you ever made a friendship box? I haven't. But I have put together my share of care packages for friends abroad, deployed, or stationed overseas and this ad in Butterick Fashion News from August 1947 caught my eye.

Here is the add blown up a bit for better viewing.

 

This sounds nice since it's for children, but if I wanted someone to send me a friendship box, it would be full of sewing patterns, cheeseburgers, and booze. 

My question to you is, what's the best thing you ever got in care package?

Adventures in Sewing... Part 2

Today for your sewing educational pleasure, here's another Adventures in Sewing by Marian Corey. This one was featured in McCall's Style News of July 1953.

He're a close-up of the text in case you're as blind as I am!

This is super helpful if you're a larger bust size than your original pattern. In my case, I'm often a size or two smaller but luckily you can employ the exact same method for taking your pattern in at the bust too!

Let me tell you about someone who made my day...

A few months ago I won a lovely Hollywood 1633 wrap front blouse pattern on ebay. It was advertised as complete so I payed quite a bit to get my little hands on it, only to find it missing a piece when I got it. Grrrrrrrr. I ranted about it here on A Few Threads loose and soon put the pattern on the back burner until I could work up the nerve to try drafting a replacement piece for the pattern.

So needless to say, I was pleased beyond belief when the lovely Ally of SloCrafty on etsy sent me a note asking me for my address so she could send me a copy of the missing piece from her own pattern.
Ally's Hollywood 1633 can be found in her shop here.
Ally and many of my lovely readers are wonderful reminders that good Samaritans and generally awesome people are still out there, being nice just because they can.
I love you guys.
So to thank Ally for saving this pattern from my "wish I could but probably wont ever get to" pile, I'm going to shamelessly promote her shop. Many of her patterns were already in my favorites, because she has some really great ones.
Like this gorgeous keyhole neckline 1940's dress pattern:

http://www.etsy.com/listing/76813747/40s-mccall-6785-keyhole-neckline-shirt

Or there's the charming teen halter dress pattern, which I already have a copy of and highly recommend.

And last but certainly not least this halter dress and bolero pattern that screams "take me to the beach!"

So go check out the pattern eye candy at SloCrafty and thanks again, Ally, for making my day!

I'm Ba-ack with Adventures in Sewing...

After three weeks of trotting across the globe, visiting family and raiding antique shops as I go, I'm back in green, rainy, and magical Norway. I'm exhausted and fighting off some major jet lag and a shocking lack of sleep (toddlers should be banned from airplanes, no offense parents) so I'm going to keep this short and sweet.

In my growing collection of vintage pattern company flyers are some lovely glimpses of the sewing world's advice column equivalent (rotten sentence, I know, but I'm sleepy, so just go with it.)
These little articles were one page features called "Adventures in Sewing" by Marian Corey, author of the 1951 "McCall's Complete Book of Dressmaking".

Here is one from McCall's Style News, September 1947 edition. (you can find a pdf for the whole edition in my etsy shop).

My head is on backwards, but let's talk about marking our patterns, shall we?

Here is the text in a larger, more readable size:

Stay tuned for more yet to come, including another Mail Call post, and a sneak peak at the whole suitcase full of sewing loot I brought back with me.
And now, to sleep.

The Winner, and whole bunch of flowers.

We have a winner for this week's vintage pattern pdf giveaway.

The winner of the above vintage 1940's bra pattern pdf file by random number generator is The Creative Miss W.

Congratulations!

On another note, I just learned how to make really gorgeous flowers out of napkins of all things!
 I found some great napkins in different colors with a great raised damask texture from my local Norwegian version of the dollar store. So in other words, the five dollar store.

I made them in  two sizes, large wall size, and small enough for a vase. The large ones I put in a row in my stairwell.

Free Pattern

I have stumbled across a lovely blog called Neu4baur.
I find it be quite full of brilliant sewing and fashion whatnot, and highly recommend you check it out.
Neu4baur is also offering a pdf for free of the awesome pattern below.

The pattern is part of a new and brilliant project that involves digitizing patterns for the modern age. I can't wait to see more. This particular pattern is from the rare and reclusive German vintage pattern magazines. They are hard to find, and even harder to approach as a seamstress, and I'm excited to see how her approach works with such a challenge.
If you decide to sew this pattern, drop me a line, I'd love to know how it works for you!