Vintage Girls in a Modern World

Hey everyone, Miranda here!

With Halloween just around the corner, today I get to show you guys my cutest cousin in his Jedi Knight costume! My Mom's cousin lives in Italy, and for her birthday she requested a picture of this little dude dressed up as a Jedi! It took us a lot longer than expected to get the costume and all the pictures just right, but the end product turned out amazing!

With the help of my Nonna, we designed the robe from scratch just by cutting out the general shape and then hemming around the edges, along with adding a really simple hood (yeah, it was really that easy).

Hey guys!

Welcome back to the blog! It's Miranda here with a new post and the promise of a steady blog post schedule starting in September! Woo! Today's post is the sequel to one that I posted over a year ago on the McCalls 7543 off the shoulder pattern.

I said in my previous post about this pattern that I wanted to eventually make the dress version, and so here it is! I whipped this dress up before my trip to Mexico in the spring, and it has gotten tons of wear throughout the summer since then. This pattern is definitely one of my favourites as every time i make it, i end up loving the end product even more than the last time.  I for sure see at least one more of these dresses in my future, plus I know my cousins have requested some for themselves too. 

This is a jacket made from a pattern that my friends gifted me for my birthday. This pattern looks like something I would wear for spring, but since my birthday falls in the fall (see what I did there?), I decided to alter it to make it fall appropriate. I chose to make view D, fully lined with a zipper instead of the string or cord. I got the fabric for this project from my favourite local fabric store called Dressew. I used a mustard coloured canvas fabric (my favourite colour) for the outside, and a blue fuzzy fabric for the inside.

I spent about $30 for everything that day. The layout for the mustard fabric was super easy and roomy. Unfortunately I made the decision of fully lining the jacket AFTER buying the fabric so I was cut short with my blue fuzzy. So I (again) turned a blind eye on the straight of the grain with my sleeves and chugged forward. This kinda really sucked because this fabric had such a distinct straight of the grain, but in the end I am the only one who knows anything is wrong, since it was lining. 

For construction I couldn't really follow the written instructions because of all of the alterations I made. I sat down before hand and walked through everything in my head to make sure it would work out in the end. Basically, I sewed all of the outside, then all of the inside as if they were two separate garments. I used casing and elastic for the waist of the outside, but for the inside I was lazy and just stretched elastic over the waist and sewed it down with a zigzag, gathering it that way instead. Then, I sewed both parts, right sides together, at the front (including the hood) while sandwiching the zipper, right side facing the mustard.

Now let's take a moment to look at the pocket.

I sewed the pocket to the sides, as the instructions indicated, but I understitched it before sewing the two sides together. This made the understitching easier and neater. Beware that you have to be very careful about matching seams and understitching when you sew the sides together. 

My top New Year's resolution for 2018 is to sew more. My next resolution is to make more blogposts. For the first blogpost of the year, I will talk about some things that I want to sew this coming year, so hopefully this whole sew more things thing happens. For this specific post I will limit myself to store bought patterns:

McCall's M7539

The first pattern I want to sew is one I already own. I bought this pattern because I liked the variety of garments you could make with it, but more specifically because I can see myself wearing every single view that the pattern offers. In a single pattern you have a skirt, miniskirt, shorts, and pants. What more can you ask for? 

I already have fabric I want to use for this pattern. I haven't decided if I want to make view B or View C with this fabric, but I will be deciding soon. If someone wants to help me choose, your opinions would be much appreciated! I am so indecisive. 

Vogue's V8997

Hey everyone it's Zahira!

Do y'all remember that peplum skirt a made a VERY long time ago? And remember I said I was gonna make a matching top? Well, I did it!! It's been a long time coming, but it's finally done. 

I used the fabric that I had left from sewing the skirt. It didn't look like there was very much fabric left, and I seriously doubted that I would have enough to make an entire top. But when I totally ignored the straight of the grain, there was plenty of fabric. (Disclaimer: try NOT to ignore the straight of the grain)

Hi guys, Miranda here!

Long time no write, huh?? Well, here I am with a pattern review! Last summer (I know, I know, it took me 500 years to write this post) I made this beautiful yellow off the shoulder shirt to take with me to Hawaii. 

I hadn't been able to find the time to sew anything in a while, so I decided that my first project back would be this cute and simple off the shoulder shirt. It was my only successful project this summer, so I am very proud of it and wore it tons when the weather wasn't killing us with frost. 

The instructions were great, and I didn't have to make any adjustments, so I'd say that this was a great success! I am planning on sewing a long sleeve version of this as well as a dress version soon, since it was such an easy and cute pattern and I know that I will wear it lots in the spring! I'm hoping that it will go as well as this one :)

Thanks for reading & write ya soon!

Miranda

Hey everyone! I know it's been a while, but I'm back!! 

I sewed this pattern way back when I was in Gr. 9 and I was not exactly happy with the end result. I came across the pattern recently and decided to give it a second chance using fabric I got from our local fabric store's clearance section for $2/m.