1950's Peasant blouse goes Medieval - Advance 6754

In one of my previous posts I told you I was going to attend to a special event, the Highland Games held in a short drive's distance. Many visitors wear Scottish dresses, some even medieval outfits with a Scottish touch to them, so I thought it would be lovely to do the same.

I have a kilt I bought once from a kiltmaker in Inverness, and my husband has one as well. But when we went to a medieval festival some years ago, I was impressed about the attention many people payed to the details of their outfits. So it might be a lovely opportunity to have both, medieval and Scottish united in one outfit. (Besides the fact that my kilt is black and is very heavy, so a lighter cotton dress would be lovely.)

Looking for a decent women's peasant dress pattern for the top, I came across this wonderful blouse from the 1950's. It seemed perfect for my project. The long-sleeved version sewn of a natural coloured cotton voile, it would look quite "medieval". And I hoped the good patern design would provide a better fit than the usual peasant chemise patterns.

Etsy

I'm well aware, the use of a serger is not very authentic for a medieval garment, nor is the elastic I inserted in the neckline and sleeves. But in the end, the blouse would be very comfortable to put on and to wear this way. As I was not going to a re-enactment event and the blouse would probably be worn also on other occasions, I didn't care.

Etsy

I changed the pattern slightly, as I wanted more fullness, so I added 2 inches on both front and back and 1 inch on the sleeves. I also made the blouse a little bit longer, as well as the sleeves. This is the thing I like so much about sewing - you can make a garment fit your taste and your needs - not contrariwise.

So here's the finished blouse. I wore it with a handmade leather corset belt, which was not as comfortable as usual, as it was a very hot day. And I still am a little bit more chubby than when I bought the belt. I think the blouse would also look nice with a waistcoat or a full corset.

Wee Boy's Kilt

Finished toddler kilt from back with pleats

We are planning to attend to the Highland Games held in a place not far away from where we live. As I love Scotland and all things Scottish, we have to go there. Absolutely.

Me and my husband, we have kilts, genuine Scottish kilts of course, made of wool. But what about our kids?

This event demands for a suiting outfit, and as in Switzerland it's probably impossible to get Scottish dresses for a little boy and girl, I have to make it myself.

Here's the mini kilt for our 18 month old son. If you are interested in sewing a toddler or baby/infant kilt yourself, you can easily follow my description as a guide. I have made a kind of kilted mini-skirt for me before, years ago when I was young and lank and wanted to show my legs. So I knew what was waiting for me...

Of course I first made some research about how kilts are made. This garment is quite interesting, and it usually asks for a lot of fabric. Some illustrations looked very complicated, almost frightening...

From costumes.org

From costumes.org

They may be  good for a adult's outfit done by a professional kilt maker. But not very helpful for a mini kilt.

This one is a extremely simplified version especially for small kids and was only of limited use for my project.

Scheme 1

Of course I KNEW there were different types of pleats, but I didn't know how many and how difficult it probably could be to make them. As I said, the whole project should be quickly done, I decided to go for the most common pleats, the casual knife pleats.

Scheme 2

I had a small piece of wool-looking tartan-woven poly fabric in decent boy's colours I had bought on sale, just enough to make a slightly longer than knee-length kilt. I didn't want my boy to grow out of this garment outfit within 2 months, so I planned to make it slightly larger.

There is a lovely instruction with some good sketches about making a kilt for Highland dancers. In the end, my baby boy kilt was something like scheme 3 and 4, even though I first wanted to make the kilt as simple as possible. (As usual I am very late with these projects for the Highland Games...) Maybe I tend to like things that are complicated -  they are more of a challenge to my skills than the too simple ones... But in the first place I wanted it to be a slightly simplified version of an adult's kilt, so the sketch show here was very helpful. Of course I compared it to my own professionally made kilt I bought in Scotland and made some alterations.

Scheme 3

This illustratione depicts very well how the finished kilt, if you like to add a lining etc, could look like from the left side...

Scheme 4

As to the making....

Skill requirements

This is definitely a project for a skilled beginner or an advanced sewer. Especially the pleats are a little bit more demanding. And the maths for the exact measurements should be done precisely. If you do not like to work as accurate as possible, you should maybe find a different project. A kilt is an accurately made garment, especially the pleated part. Be sure you have enough time (unlike me...), if you have never done something like that before. I usually don't rarely baste stitch my projects, as I am too lazy ta save time. But to get all the pleats neatly, it's absolutely necessary to baste stitch each and every one!

Fabric requirements and notions

This garment needs no pattern as such. I just measured my boy's belly circumference (although he is not chubby at all, never was, he still has this buddha-like belly, adorable!). It is 46cm. For the apron parts I took almost 1/2 each of the circumference, about 24 cm each, which would be reduced by 2 darts an each of the aprons. Thus the aprons would be about 21cm in the end.

This requires the pleated back-part to measure about 25 cm, but with slightly more of the double amount of fabric - due to the requirement of the knife pleats. Looking at the  relevant scheme, you easily can see that the pleats double the fabric. So make sure you have enough fabric available. 

The pleats should be done in a way that arranges the stripes of the tartan fabric in a nice way. Of course, the pattern repeat differs from fabric to fabric, depending how small the plaids are. I was veeeery lucky that the pattern in my case was just perfect for the depth of the pleats. My pleats were about 2.5 cm deep, and just by sheer luck I could arrange the stripes in a way that a regular pattern resulted in the pleated back part. (Look at the pictures below.) But don't become desperate when it doesn't work like that with your tartan fabric. It doesn't come out that even with professionally made kilts. As I said, it all depends of the size of your tartan pattern and the depth of your pleat.

Normally, such fabrics are not wide enough, so you may have to sew the pieces together. This is not a problem, as professionally made kilts are made the same way, and the seam can be hidden in the pleats.

I was again lucky as the 130cm wide fabric was just enough for the small kilt.

As to the length of the fabric, I had a circa 35cm long fabric piece. My kilt should be just a little bit longer than knee-length, about 22cm. Add some seam allowance for the hem, at least 3cm, and some for the upper edge where the waistband is going to be sewn on, about 1 cm or a little bit more. Of course you will also have to make a waistband. For a finished band of 1.5cm, you need 5-6cm of fabric. My fabric piece was just big enough for this project.

You need a cotton or linen fabric remnant if you wish to make a lining on the top part. This however depends on what kind of fabric you use and how true you want to be with your copy of a "real kilt". For my son's kilt I didn't want to have one, and I was in a hurry to finish the project, so I let the lining

For the closures, I used small leather straps and buckles I once made for the above mentioned skirt. As I can't wear it anymore and is a rather embarrassing, I wanted only to re-use these small closures as they looked like the ones used on Scottish kilts. I think you can also buy them in well-assorted haberdashery stores, this of course saves a lot of time and work.

Fabric recommendation

I highly recommend a polyester fabric or a poly-wool blend. Woolen tartans are often on the more expensive side. As they are available in various weights, if you maybe have genuine woolen tartan fabric, a leftover from another project, make sure it's rather a lightweight fabric. Heavy fabrics make such a small garment very bulky and are, according to my experience with heavy-weight tartan fabrics, rather difficult to work with if you are not used to it.

Of course you can also use fabrics of a similar texture or weight, such as medium- or light-weight jeans, cord, tweed, woolen flannels etc. It's up to you! But please keep in mind that pleats, even if ironed well, last better in synthetics, woolens and blends than in cotton.

Technical requirements

You need a sewing machine. A serger is nice to neaten the bottom hem, but you can do that with your sewing machine too. Be sure you have machine needles for thick fabrics. 

A hand-needle and some thread for basting and some for sewing. Scissors of course. A measure band.

And, last but certainly not least: an iron!

That's it.

Vintage Style Aloha Shirt For The Best Of All Husbands

In one of my recent posts I wrote a little bit about the history of the Aloha or Hawaiian shirt. All started with my husband's wish to have such a shirt, reminding him to his favourite youth sequel with Tom Selleck as Magnum P.I., wearing the same kind of shirts and having a lot of fun... And who am I to deny to my best of all husbands (BOAH) such a wish?

I already wrote how and where I found the wonderful material for the shirt of his desire.

It was exactly what BOAH wanted: traditional white flowers on a dark blue background. Even if he IS a courageous and very cool guy and wears colours other male probably wouldn't, we didn't want his first Aloha shirt to be too brightly coloured. I think this fabric is perfect.

So I had to find a simple yet perfect pattern with yoke and collar. I found one for free, but it was available only in size S/M. My BOAH is quite a tall guy, and from his belly you can guess he loves good food (as most Italians do) and cooking, so I needed at least a size L. After all the changes I had to make on the pattern, it was almost something new. However, if you would like to use the original small pattern and get help from a nice tutorial, have a look at Melly Sews blog.

I cut the front and back parts longer and sloghtly curved, as BOAH is definitely NOT going to wear the shirt tucked in his trousers as some men do, which is, according to my understanding, bad taste..., so the slightly longer shirt will surely look perfect with short trousers on a warm sunny day.

For a perfect finish, I added mother-of-pearl buttons from my grandmother's stash - all in mint condition.

He loves his shirt, and I'm very proud to se him wearing it. He looked very cool on our Italian vacation at his grandma's home next to the the beautiful palm tree.

Edit: I later shortened the garment a bit as it was slightly too long for a Hawaiian shirt. The shirt is still in use on hot summer days for that special summer feeling.

New pattern: McCall 6523 - Misses' Blouse

I just got a new pattern today. :-) Well, as this is a vintage blog, new means: newly acquired. I bought it from Lanetz Living, a place I buy from since 5 years. Even though prices everywhere went up: They still have reasonable prices and a lovely choice throughout all eras. (But be careful: "This website is addictive and can be hazardous to your pocket book, proceed with caution!")

The pattern dates from 1946. I love raglan sleeves, and when it comes to sewing summer tops, there's nothing lovelier than a puffed sleeve raglan blouse. The blouse has a rounded front yoke that extends to the shoulders. Five buttons close the back which has a slightly tapered waist. The sleeves can be long and full, gathered to wrist cuffs or short, puff sleeves edged in piping. 

However, the buttoned back closure is not what I prefer, as usually I need someone to help me close all those buttons. BOAH (best of all husbands) usually is off to work... And I can't ask the postman to help me dress up. ;-) It might be worth trying to make this pattern with a light knit fabric, so the buttons become obsolete. What do you think? Has anyone made any similar experiences?

(Unfortunately, I forgot to save the original photograph when I purchased the pattern, and I have no time to make one myself this week, so I just took these pictures from sellers on Etsy... Hope they don't mind. I guess the item is still available there... My pattern is a size 12 only.)

Pattern: 6523
Manufacturer: mcCall (McCalls)
Year: 1946
Size: 12
Type: Misses' Blouse
Bought from: Lanetz Living

My Vintage Style Silk Wedding Gown

Maybe it could be a good way to make you know me a little bit better by showing you my handmade vintage wedding dress. As many of you I'm not a professional seamstress, and I never had a particular sewing education, so this project was really something special. It was my first vintage project EVER. And it was a lot of work.

The whole thing started when I tried on a wedding dress in a bridal shop. I liked it a lot, but it was not comfortable, I don't like polyester and I was afraid of the embroidered tulle train. Besides that, it seemed to be "not me". The seller tried to hurry and made a lot of pressure, as it was the last piece. But I needed more time to think about, and I was not really sure about it, so a real odyssey on the search of the perfect dress began. 

I don't know how many gowns I tried on. And I guess I lost a lot of weight trying them on. Wish I could repeat it, it was an entirely comfortable way of losing weight... In my head I had the picture of my wedding gown I once had seen in a Vogue pattern book in the early 90s, but no dress came close to that somehow blurry picture. It had to be something completely different that was available in all those posh shops. In the end, I was so desperate that I started to search the internet for Vogue wedding gown patterns, hoping to find the ONE pattern I thought I had in my mind. Of course it was a hopeless quest...

But I found something else instead: pages and pages with the most beautiful vintage patterns from the 30s, 40s and 50s - and they all were much closer to what I had in mind than any dress I had tried on before. I fell in love with this vintage Givenchy pattern so much, but the only copy I found was too expensive. The fact that Hubert Givenchy designed this dress for the unforgettable and outstanding Audrey Hepburn makes it a very searched after item for pattern collectors... 

But I saw very soon that there are many very similar designs. So I bought some of these patterns and thought that each one of them, without sleeves and with some accessories, could make the perfect wedding gown for me. I soon realised that I would have to make it myself, as there are not so many professional seamstresses here in Switzerland, but I thought it would be possible. I had made some decently good fitting garments for me before, and I was confident to make it in time. My choice was this vintage pattern from about 1956, Butterick 7708. As many other patterns, I bought it on Etsy.

Still, the whole idea made me very nervous... 

Finding the perfect fabric was sheer luck. There are only two fabric stores left in Zurich, and I was so lucky to find the most beautiful Duiponi silk in champagne colour. I love roses, so I knew already from the beginning that I would add some fabric rose accessories. I was lucky again that they had the same fabric in a shade of pink. I felt so happy when I came home with my big bag full of this wonderful silk. I love silk, and I love roses (did I mention it before?), and therefore I had to have roses on wedding gown!



First I made the ring-cushion, just to get an idea of the fabric, how it felt to work with this silk. Then I made some kind of moussline, a test-bodice from a cotton-fabric to make all necessary alterations. I don't tell you how many times I had to alter the pattern (I guess women in the 50s had different body measurements, and I have a rather small bust), how many times I had to change this and that, as I wanted the dress to be sleeve-less and with some boning added to the side of the bodice. You really don't want to know that I had to re-make the silk-bodice again as I made a terrible mistake when I cut it the first time... At a certain point my dear husband (DH) and me had some sleepless nights as it seemed my sewing-machine didn't work properly anymore, and we were afraid it was broken. I always was afraid to run out of fabric (I still have some left!), and of course, I always was afraid to run out of time. Of course, it's a nightmare for a bride to add such a project to all the other, regular wedding preparations. I had so many sleepless nights, and in those hours in my mind I was always trying to find the perfect solution for the boning, for the under-skirt, for the straps, for the fabric roses etc... I was mentally sewing, when I was at work in my office and even at night. And, in addition to all, we were expecting our little daughter (I was in the 2nd month of my pregnancy at the wedding). This was such a special time, and my DH and I still look back from time to time and lough about it - especially remembering all the many times when he had to assist and close the zipper of the almost finished bodice with his eyes closed...

My dear friend Kunigunde with the finished gown

Of course, at a certain point, he couldn't help me anymore, and I'm glad I had a dress-form. (Her name is, by the way, Kunigunde.) Of course, I put an awful lot of work and time and nerves in this dress, but the more the dress advanced, the more I enjoyed it. In the end, making a pompadour and the rose accessories was just like having a delicious desert. The roses were made after a Vogue pattern (Bridal accents V7009), as well as the ring-cushion. The pompadour was made after a pattern from a 90s Burda magazine, and, the day before the wedding, I even had to make a bolero, as the weather was not so good as expected.

I was so proud when I put my dress on on my wedding day, so proud. And so were my parents. You can't imagine the feeling, and it made me feel even more special on this special day. And my husband's smile and look when I entered the church - I was so happy, and it was worth all the labour and the fears and the troubles.

Yes, I was already pregnant, but it's not the belly that shows it but my gesture. But nobody noticed... :-)

Today, almost 5 years later, when I look back to those weeks and especially look at my pictures, I don't regret it at all. Of course, some people looked down their noses at my "homemade" wedding gown, the probably thought it was not chic enough or not as posh as this or that glittering designer dress sold in the boutiques in Zurich City. But I don't care - this is a one-of-a-kind vintage style wedding gown, as unique as I wanted to feel on that wonderful day, and nobody ever could take that away from me and from my DH's memories. I certainly would make SOME things in a different way, and definitely I would start earlier. But this dress really makes part of our wedding, and I would do it again. 

Aloha - Hawaiian Men's Shirt review

You may ask "What's so vintage about a Hawaiian shirt?" - well, first of all, a Hawaiian shirt is a classic, it never gets out of fashion. And it has a long history!

Hawaiian shirts, or Aloha shirts how they used to be called first, were made since the mid 30s or even earlier, by Japanese and Chinese immigrants - in Hawaii, obviously. They used to be made of left-over kimono fabrics.

 The shirt became constantly more and more fashionable, especially when after WW2 many soldiers brought back the garment to their mainland homes from the service in the Pacific islands. In the 50s, tourism on Hawaii increased due to faster airplanes. And so the colourful shirts with tropical prints became a standard souvenir.

Frank Sinatra, Montgomery Clift (r.) and Ernest Borgnine (l.) in the 1953 movie "From here to Eternity" - Photo: Ronald Grant

Renowned fashion designers and textile manufacturers like Alfred Shaheen raised the Aloha shirt to a higher level. He also produced the fabrics with tropical designs and traditional batiks.

Alfred Shaheen (1922-2008), Photo: AP

In 1961, Elvis Presley is wearing one of Shaheen's shirts on the cover of "Blue Hawaii". And of course in the movie as well...

Photo: Michael Ochs Archives / Getty

The Honolulu Chamber of Commerce 1946 funded a study of Aloha shirts and designs for comfortable business clothing worn during the hot Hawaiian summers. The City and County of Honolulu passed a resolution allowing their employees to wear sport shirts from June–October. City employees were not allowed to wear aloha shirts for business until the creation of the Aloha Week festival in 1947. Obviously this helped the textile industries on the islands and made the shirt even more attractive to visiting tourists.

Since the 50s high-end Aloha shirts are produced today by Tori Richard until today. In the 1983 movie "Scarface", even Al Pacino is wearing an Aloha shirt. Unfortunateyl tucked in his trousers. A terrible fashion faux-pas. The same mistake was also made by Mr. Moustache Tom Selleck aka Magnum P.I. in the famous series about a private investigator on Hawaii. Despite this (I guess it was common in the 80s) the Hawaiian shirt became more popular even in Europe. 

Magnum P.I.

Some of the shirts worn in these episodes are still available today. Funny thing: the unforgettable Frank Sinatra is appearing as guest in one of the episodes - again wearing an extremely cool Aloha shirt. Did I ever mention how much I adore Frank Sinatra? Who says men cannot wear flower-patterned shirts?

Don't mess with Frankie Boy (unknown source)

If you are interested in further details about Hawaiian dresses, have a look at Konadlicious' wonderful blog (Vintage Musing of a modern Pinup). Mainly about the most beautiful women's dresses... Awesome!

You may ask, after reading my post, why I am writing so much about the Aloha or Hawaiian shirt? Well, I recently fell in love with a vintage fabric on Etsy.com, and despite my cram-full stash I couldn't resist to buy it. 
It's an Alexander Henry fabric with marvelous, rather traditional white orchids, plumeria and hibiscus flowers on a dark-blue background. Of course I have no idea how old the fabric is, I guess it's from the 90s, not what comes close to the vintage range of my interest, but I thought it would be nonetheless nice to share it with you.

However, after getting my fabric I was talking to my husband about something, and somehow the conversation got to the subject of Hawaiian shirts. My husband is a keen admirer of Magnum P.I., and he told me how much he would like to have such a shirt. He even showed me a picture of his favourite pattern - it was a white hibiscus flower print on a dark-blue background. How cool is that?

So after being absent from my sewing machine for some weeks, this is going to be my next project. It's going to be a gift for my husband's birthday - today!

My brand new Lutterloh measuring tape

Certainly to many a seamstress out there, Lutterloh is well-known. A sewing system called "the golden rule", which allows you to draw a pattern in your size from a miniature pattern. All you need is the Lutterloh measure tape inlcuding a special scale and some enlargening skills. And the original miniature pattern, of course.

Sounds simple enough. And yet a brilliant idea.

Recently I was given an extremely precious and generous gift: a kind lady gave me the copies of her Lutterloh collection, which is almost complete from the very beginnings in the mid 1930s until the year 2000 and somewhat. This IS a real treasure, believe me. I was so agitated and almost moved to tears, as I was a complete stranger to the nobel donator. I still feel very touched when I look at the inspiring designs of these decades. 

Look at this lovely design from the autumn 1939 issue. My father was born then, but I doubt my grandmother was looking so stylish. Living on the countryside in Northern Switzerland she probably was dressed more like a peasant woman, even though she ran a hardware store.

Autumn 1939

And these two beauties are from the winter/spring journal 1942/1943. Hard to imagine how during the WW2 such wonderful and lovely patterns were designed. It was, by the way, probably the first partially coloured issue.

Winter/spring 1942/43, during WW2

Well, of course, I'm not so taken with the 70s, not to mention the 80s (I grew up in this time, so I know how we look like on the pictures taken then....). But still I treasure these patterns. And you never know, what to me seems to be not so vintage, may be very vintage for my daughter one day.

Look at the coat, isn't it gorgeous?

Winter 1952

I could go on showing you pattern after pattern, each one beautiful and stylish. I promise, as soon as I tried out my fist Lutterloh pattern, I will surely make a very detailed post about it.

You see how small the patterns are. All those tiny numbers make me feel a little bit uneasy, but there is a nice instruction video on the company's homepage, which should make it easier to draw the patterns for my size. (I wouldn't probably look THAT slim, I'm still fighting to get rid of my "not-so-vintage" pregnancy pounds, he hee...)

But here's the best thing about it. As the measure tape the nice lady gave me was almost useless, I contacted the Lutterloh company.

They still exist, not so far from where I live, in Germany. I was called by Mr. Lutterloh himself who is an extraordinary kind and interesting person. The system was invented by his grandmother, so the company is still run by the family, now in the 3rd generation. He probably could tell a lot about his company. I like stories like this, really. He was very kind, so I could order a new measure tape. So, I am very sure that one of my ned projects will be a Lutterloh pattern!

I only (only?) have to figure out how to enlarge the pattern, but as it was easy enough back in 1936, it should be feasible today as well.

And there's good news! They plan to make a re-issue of some vintage pattern - so maybe some of you vintage sewers will be interested in this.