Vintage Girls in a Modern World

For the white shirt, we just cut a small adult t-shirt down the middle of the front and then hemmed those edges. To get the crossed over robe look, we just wrapped it around him and then added a tie out of the same fabric as the robe. His mama paired the robe and the shirt with some brown pants and boots, and VOILA. There you have it! The simplest Jedi Knight costume tutorial that you have ever seen, with the cutest model in the whole world!

Don't hesitate to leave a comment if you have any questions or just wanna say hi!!

Write you guys soon!

Miranda

Thanks for reading, and check back soon for a full outline of all the outfits I wore on my trip to Mexico! Also don't forget to follow us on instagram, as we post there quite frequently :)

Miranda <3 p="">

Hi everyone, it's Zahira again!

In the end I was so happy with the way it turned out. It was exactly how I had envisioned it! Unfortunately, It is a little bit of an impractical design with the way the hood opens like that to the front, etc. So, even though the outer fabric is totally water proof, the jacket does very little to keep out the rain. This is a little bit of a problem if you live in Raincouver. 

Overall, I think this garment is meant to be more of an accessory than an actually useful jacket. If I make it again, I will make it with lightweight fabric to use as an accessory in the spring. I'm not sure I would make it again though.

XOXO,

Zahira

 

I love what Mimi G. Style did with the pattern. I am a huge fan of colour blocking, so if all goes well the first time I sew the pattern and I choose do sew it again, I will maybe do something similar to this.

This pattern, like many Vogue patterns, offers very simple and elegant dresses. I know that I could make this pattern over and over again with different fabrics and I would never get tired of it. Using different types of fabric, this dress could be very formal or very casual. I also like how vintage view C looks, with the longer skirt. 

I just love the idea of texture blocking. For a long time I've wanted to make a black dress with different fabric textures. View D of this pattern is perfect for this. I could use normal black fabric for the main body of the dress, and either black leather or some sort of back brocade fabric for the side panels. Thinking about fabric shopping for this project makes me tingly all over!

Deer and Doe's Chataigne Shorts

Deer and Doe is a small french pattern company that offers a selection of lovely patterns fit for a wide range of skill levels. I've had my eye on these patterns for some time now, but I am yet to sew any of them! I chose to put these shorts at the top of my list for two reasons: shorts are the one item that I cannot buy from stores and they are super cute. But does anyone else relate to the short buying struggles? Like they either fit your hips or your waist or your thighs, but never all three at the same time?? Anyway, I thought these shorts would be a very good excuse to order a Deer and Doe pattern before the summer comes. 

So I'm starting the year with lots of determination and (in my opinion) some very reasonable sewing goals. Hopefully I pull through and get things done. 

Wish me luck!

Zahira 

The two things I didn't like from my first try were the sleeves and the neck. The neckline was extremely bulky and had unreasonably uneven stitching (probably because of the bulk?) and the sleeves were simply horrid. 

This time around, to avoid bulk in the neck area, I only folded the neck in once and stitched it with a straight stitch. For the rest of the garment I used the special stretch stitch setting on my machine, but avoided it here to achieve a cleaner look. 

The sleeves that come with the pattern are not proportional to the rest of the dress. So, instead of sewing the sleeves and side seams according to the pattern instructions, I left them open but still sewed the sleeves to the dress. Then Miranda pinned my sleeves and sides to fit me, and viola! A perfectly fitting bodice!

The hem that I sewed in this dress is one of the best hems I've sewn in my life. I achieved this flawlessly flat hem by first basting it close to the edge. After ironing the basted hem with A LOT of steam, I went in for the top stitching. The only annoying part of this method is that I had to seam rip an entire row of stitching on a circle skirt, which, if you didn't know, is about a mile long.

In all, I am very happy with the results of this second go. I would honestly make this again because I love wearing this dress. This is a fairly easy and wearable pattern, but beware the sleeves.  

XOXO

Zahira

Hey guys! Over the past few months, we have been working on a really cool project that we want to share with you guys and get more people involved in. After watching videos of Syrian villages being hit with chemical bombs in a social justice class, we, along with our friend, decided to try and make a change. Since we love to sew, we thought that maybe we could try and make a positive impact by using our skills of sewing, and with the help of a company in our area called "Our Social Fabric," who kindly donated more fabric and notions than we could have dreamed of to our cause, we were able to actually do it. We sewed makeup bags, tote bags, and aprons, and sold them at a local craft fair in December. Through that fundraiser, we were able to raise a substantial amount of money and purchase a Christmas dinner and lots of presents for a Refugee family in our area. Since this was such a success, we want to put it out there to all of you, so that you too can make a change by doing what you love. Look into what organizations are accepting and sponsoring refugees in your area, and even if you and some friends organize a small sale of some type of sewing, the money you raise will still be a help, no matter how large or small the sum turns out to be. 

One of the reasons our sale was such a success was because of the fabric that we got donated, so if you know of any fabric companies in your area and you want to do this to, theres no hurt in asking what they're willing to donate. 

We have both grown as both sewers and as people through this experience, and so we encourage others to do the same. The people that you meet and the lives that you change will stay with you forever, and if you're sewing anyways, why not make a little bit of it go to a good cause. 

If you do decide to do something, feel free to use our logos, and please let us know how it goes! You can contact us on any of our social medias, like our Sewing For Syria Facebook Page, or even shoot us an email at sewingforsyrians@gmail.com if you have any questions. 

Thanks so much for reading, and we hope this inspired you to make a change!

Miranda and Zahira

I picked up four vintage patterns for a dollar each at the fabric sale that we went to, and I am so so excited to make them. I already started altering the Style 4026 pattern in the bottom right corner, and I'm planning on making the blue dress but with three quarter length sleeves I'll have to draft myself (the pattern was missing the original long sleeves, but I figured I can fix that myself.)