Sewcial Saturday

Hows your weekend going lovely people? 

Mine's been quite good so far! Yesterday was another opportunity to hang out with the Spoolettes for a little sewcial sewing day. (I'll never get sick of sewing puns!)

We hired out a community hall, popped up some tables and chairs, got ourselves all ready to sew and then... nothing

There was no electricity! 

It was pretty annoying but we found out one power point worked so we daisy chained all the power cords and boards for a few hours until an electrician came to sort everything out. A little bit of an electrical hazzard to bring some excitement to the day!

There was only a few of us at that point, so as more people arrived more machines were whirring away and more heaters to warm up the space.

Listen and Look: Everyone - Van Morrison

Hello to you! 

Have you been enjoying your week? I had a nasty cold the past few weeks but I'm all better now, nothing some time off work and lots of movie watching couldn't fix. 

And of course I've been feeling very happy! Have you been feeling happy? (Don't say happy too many times it looses it meaning... ) 

I've been trying to get out of bed each morning to do yoga, but getting up in the cold at 5am is hard, so I maybe only do it sometimes... but I do go to a proper session two days a week and its really so fun and every time I can reach that little bit further or balance that little bit longer I feel like I've achieved something major and makes me very happy! I still can't get the whole breathing through your nose bit, mine is always blocked for some reason! 

Anyway, so for today's post I thought I could pair up a song that makes me very happy along with some dancing, fun and happy looking 60's people

Press play whenever your ready and have a little dance in your house! 

  

Wishin' and hopin' and thinkin' and prayin', Plannin' and dreamin'...

I know I haven't posted a new project in a long while, and if you read carefully you will notice that I have been having an emotionally shitty year, but now I think I am finally able to turn things and time back into my favour. No more poopy times for me anymore - no way Jose! 

I know this because I feel actually quite excited to sew again and have been carefully squeezing time to do wee little sewing jobs here are there in between regular life stuff. (The ironing pile is even looking less daunting) Sadly, my winter sewing plans (as blogged here) kind of went out the window so I didn't get around to them, and McCall's 8939 is still sitting on the chair half done, but don't worry I won't let them become UFO's!

So what have I been sewing?  

Choosing, storing and using vintage patterns

Hi everyone! How's your week going? 

I was having a little ponder the other day when shopping for patterns about challenges that new sewers might have when it comes to picking out vintage patterns to work on for the first time.

When I started using original vintage patterns, my main concern was the sizing as well as what pattern would suit me best. 

So hopefully in this post, I can give you some tips about how to choose vintage patterns, how to use them and finally how to store them so they are yours for many more years. 

Vogue Sewing book 1964

Its time to get a little sophisticated around here! 

You maybe remember earlier this year I showed you some photos from the Simplicity Sewing book of 1969. Well I also happen to own the Vogue sewing book from 1964 - which is completely different to the Simplicity book. 

Everything is way more couture focused and speaks a lot more of Paris and the classic sewing techniques you can learn. Very fancy!

So while one of these books is fun, colourful and the models are all dancing around. This book is beautifully  photographed and includes lots of lovely illustrations, not unlike the kind you might find inside Pierre Balmain's sketch book.

So lets have a look!

Its give-away announcement time!

Well hello! How was your weekend? 

Mine was well spent getting started on a new weaving project, shopping for dreamy vintage dresses at Retrospectrum and learning about Filipino food but not actually getting to eat any!

Isn't this dress fab!? It matches my blog theme!
Photo taken by Dann @ Retrospectrum

But I know you don't want to hear about all that! I know you just want to know who the winner of the give-away is!!!

Miss Catherine's Pattern Mysteries

I do love it when I can pick up any vintage item and see traces of the previous owner, like second hand clothing that has been altered or handbags with small notes left inside the pockets. But my favourite things to find are the tiny notes on sewing patterns from a hopeful seamstress or from a fashion loving daughter to a mother.

When this pattern - Simplicity 5670 arrived the other day, the notes written so many years ago were quite interesting!