Updates and Giveaway Winners

It's that time again time for me to announce the winner of the new pattern giveaway.
The winner was selected by the random number generator at random.org:

And the winner is Khristie B, who wins her choice of either the new Halter Top Blouse PDF pattern

Or the new Wrap Blouse PDF pattern.

Congratulations to Khristie, you can email me at afewthreadsloose@gmail.com to get your pattern.

Also new in vintage PDF patterns is the Multisize Bateau Neck Blouse Pattern.

It's an easy project made from only two pattern pieces and can be made with little time and effort.

And as promised, and mentioned yesterday, I'm half way done with the corselet pattern. Here's a sneak peak:

Have a great week, everyone!

Sewing with Vintage French Patterns

I have lately been working on drafting beautiful corset/ corselet and garter belt patterns from an old French diagram and it's been an interesting experience.

The measurements are given in centimeters, which I prefer because it makes drafting that much more exact. The only problem is, the pattern was simply noted as being a size 44. A size 44 in 1940's France could mean any number of things and I immediately set out to research exactly what kind of size I was dealing with.

I could find almost nothing and resorted to digging up my French pattern stash (very girl should have one). I have yet to use any of my vintage French patterns yet, as they require some skill and patience, which I'm gaining, and lots of translating of text, which I love doing but seldom have the time for.

I dove into researching the differences between a size 44 by one company and a size 44 by another. All of that is below if you're looking to learn the same thing some time, some day. But first, lets just ooh and aaaaah over some pretty patterns, shall we?

Looking for a little color!

As much as I love my new sewing studio, I can't help but feel that it's just TOO white.

I have decided to decorate the hell out of it much in the same manner as these beautiful sewing rooms:

Photo from Allsorts.

Image from AllPeopleQuilt

Two New Patterns!

With the holidays over I'm back at digitizing my favorite sewing patterns for your enjoyment and I have just finished a new one!

This fantastic little halter top pattern really reminds me of Marylin Monroe and her carefree and playful fashion sense.

The whole thing has me dreaming of warm weather, grabbing my man and sneaking away to a beach somewhere WAY south of here and never coming back :)

But, alas, it's still winter for half the world so there are other options. I finished this multi-sized wrap blouse pattern before Christmas but didn't have much time to make a to do about it.

And of course you know what new patterns mean... A GIVEAWAY! The winner will get their choice of one of these new sewing patterns.

To enter, leave a comment to win telling me which pattern in my shop is your favorite. It can be a paper or pdf pattern. Please make sure that I have a way to get a hold of you if you win.

For an extra entry, you can do any or all of the following if you like:
1. Like A Few Threads Loose on Facebook.

2. Like Mrs. Depew Vintage on Facebook.

3. Mention this giveaway on your blog.

I'll announce the winner next Sunday, January 8th. Good luck!

What do you think?

I have had a thought. Vintage German pattern magazines are few and far between, and expensive if you can find them but the patterns contained within are marvelous.

Would any of you be interested if I were to turn one, pattern sheet and all, into a pdf?

The pattern sheets included with these vintage magazines (if you're lucky enough to get one intact) are very similar to Burda Style pattern sheets, only the pattern is usually given in just one size.

There would be only very basic instructions in German but the pdf would provide all of the patterns for one edition on a pattern sheet.

It would be challenging, but worth it for the hard to find fashions. What do you think? I would love to hear your thoughts!

My Sewing Space

We have been blessed that every assignment we get sent to, my sewing room just get's better and better. I was lucky enough to have a dedicated sewing room in our last two homes but our new home just takes the cake. Here I started out with a somewhat small second bedroom to work in (lucky thing about being so far away in Norway, I seldom have to make room for guests in my sewing space.)

My sweet husband noticed that I had spent less time sewing than usual in my new space and he suggested that it was too cramped, and that I should spread out. We have a large upstairs landing and he helped me turn my studio from a one dark room to a large open bright space, plus a room for the overflow!

 

 I'm so happy to have a big open space with plenty of light to work. And at my back I have a great big sewing table with adjustable length, my birthday gift for this year.

I plan on filling the walls with sewing pattern and vintage fashion memorabilia.

A 1950's Anne Adams catalog, the first of many to be hung in this room.

 The art is a collection of vintage lingerie magazine ads from Vogue that I acquired from this great shop on etsy.

This one is my absolute favorite.

The bolt of fabric in the background of this one is just idea for a sewing room!

UPDATE: You ask, where do I stash my fabric and sewing pattern collection? In the adjoining room! That's right, when he said spread out, he meant I should use the landing and the second bedroom. The fabric and pattern mess is neatly stowed away in the next room! I asked him why he didn't mind me practically taking over our second floor and he said, "Why would I mind? You love this stuff, and I only go upstairs to shower and sleep."
What a guy. :)

How about you? Do you have your dream sewing space? Or are you creative within a limited space?
I know what I'm doing with my space today. I just got some amazing quilted silk velvet fabric in the mail from fabric.com

and I'll be making slippers today from it using this great vintage slipper pattern pdf I finished recently.

For love of a silk shirt.

Did everyone have a great holiday? I had a wonderful Christmas, as my husband decided that he needed to outdo my parents for record of best Christmas of '95 when I got a new bike.

This year he got me beautiful suede boots (he bought me SHOES!), jewelry, and wonderful Swiss watch, and an iPad 2! I was not expecting such a fantastic new toy! We spent the morning enjoying our presents and each others company with a roaring fire and hot chocolate, then we had some wonderful friends over for a feast. Even though I missed my family I felt so blessed.

So now that the holiday rush is mostly over, I'll be getting back to working on the PDF's I have in development that I've been telling you about, and I have a project to share.

I finished this silk shirt a week ago but was just not able to get pictures taken (oh, illusive lighting!).
This shirt was a combination of two Burda magazine patterns (2/2010) and was part of a plan to copy a Victoria's Secret shirt (post about that here).

However, the velvet I ordered turned out to be all wrong for the shirt (scratchy, stiff, horrid stuff!) and the silk I used this time was my back-up fabric.

I sort of interchanged collar and cuff pieces to my liking until I had what I liked from both.

For the fabric I used Radiance cotton/ silk poplin from Fabric.com which I cannot recommend enough! The fabric has a great body to it, not quite stiff, but as easy to sew as regular cotton only with the luxurious feel and sheen of silk. I want to make EVERYTHING out of this fabric!

 I know, wrinkles, but I wore it all day working at the computer and then my sweetie came home  and it was take pictures right then or have no more daylight. It still looks good wrinkled.

For the fuffs, I made cufflinks with my extra buttons and the sleeves are closed that way.

 How was your holiday? Did you get any good gifts or make any wonderful memories? Do you have grand sewing plans when the holiday is over?