Triplets sewing challenge - collars and cuffs

Well hello and happy 2016 to you! I hope you had a pleasant festive season and new year!

The boy and I just returned from our summer holiday in Port Stephens and are back to work tomorrow! Before we left I had finished up sewing a new dress for a new sewing challenge that Allie, Sarah and I came up with. We had planned initially to post our dresses before Christmas but of course life got the better of us and we had to delay. 

Much like our first challenge the dresses had to have a common theme or pattern. We invited Sarah from Style Sixties along this time and decided to make dresses that featured some kind of contrasting collar and cuff combo. We all decided to choose our fabrics as well so hopefully there will be 3 very different looks!

Cass - The twin dress

Why hello there long time readers and those of you who have wandered over from Allie J!

Not too long ago (ok it was ages ago I'm really bad at writing back to emails in a timely fashion) Allie contacted me and suggested we do a little sew a long. As fellow 60's lovers we often don't get the chance to sew along to many things lest we step outside our "time zones" so we decided to make up our own!

So with an opportunity to sew something cute for summer and also share something from my vintage fabric stash, I sent Allie half of my stock of this fabulous vintage cotton and we set ourselves a challenge end date of November 1st

Now it is actually November 2nd so I'm late for posting too, but I felt terribly feverish last night and had to go to bed. In fact I was already feeling icky while taking these photos. 

After sending off half of my fabric I was left with two metres to sew with, so with summer coming it was obvious that I could only really make a sleeveless dress. For my version I picked Simplicity 7952 from 1968.

I really liked this fabric for the interesting pocket detail along the princess seams.

Allie's version uses Simplicity 7194 which I also used for my Sally dress so we both have dresses that feature princess seams, which can be a real trick to sew sometimes but hey, no risk of pointy bust darts!

I cut this dress at the normal size 14 and it ended up huge! Like a size 18 which was so wack! So I put it on inside out and pinned out the sides and the front middle seam until it fit right at the front

Unfortunately this means that the back has a wide scoop neck which is lower then normal, which is fine, but its just not something I normally like, but it works just fine!

Cause of the fabric limit I didn't have enough to cut the armhole facings and being a summer dress there was no way I was going to line this and make it a sweat-fest every time I wore it, so I left it unlined and just finished the arm holes with bias 

I think both our dresses turned our pretty gosh darn sweet don't you? We both have some cute striped fabric lined up from Miss Matatabi. I'd love to have that sewn up before our weekend away in Palm Beach (If your from Sydney and have seen the series Avalon now, you might find that funny)

And just like Allie I have a bruise too (on my knee), but mine is from making an epic goal save in soccer! hehe

I believe there may have been mentions of possible further twin dresses soon, perhaps a wintery one cause I basically made poor Allie make a summer dress in Autumn!

Be sure to check out Allie's Lilly dress and also her whole blog! Its a 60s dream!

Cat xo 

Hello it's me, I've thought about us for a long long while

Hello dearest readers! I've been rather absent for a while haven't I? Happily it's not because of stressing sad reasons, this time it's because I've been mega busy with lots of fun happy friend filled things, and of course sewing!

So here's a little recap of whats been going on in Sewingthe60's land since July... 

The Love seat at Byron Bay Fresh

Pennylane, Joni, Hiroko, Bianca and daisies!

Today's post is a sort of mega sewing update post! 

As you may know I don't get to blog every day like I used to, and while the blogging may be slow, the sewing isn't! And if I wait to post photos of the things I've sewn, well you won't see the things I've made last winter till next winter at this rate!

So, instead here are a couple of things I have made over the last year that I've not had a chance to blog or perhaps they don't really need a whole post to themselves anyway to explain their awesomeness! 

If you want to see more detailed photos of each item, I've created a Flickr album which will have all those pics that I normally include in longer posts so if you are sewing the item yourself, you can check on the look and details there! 

First up we have The Pennylane skirt. So named because at the time of sewing I was watching the most wonderful film Almost Famous. Miss Pennylane the loveliest groupie of them all wears a similar suede button front mini in the film. 

Sandie

Ahoy hoy readers! I hope you've all been well? 

I have some rather exciting news! I bought a car! A red Fiat 500 to be exact, to be named Fiammetta the Fiat. She's very cute and little and doesn't have much grunt but that's ok, I'm still on my learners so I'm not allowed over 80km/h anyway. I can't drive it on my own without an instructor yet so for most of the time I just sit in it and listen to music and visit it in the garage and do funny things like that. Did you do that when you bought your first car? 

Hopefully I'll have my provisional license sometime next year so I can go on opp shopping trips and be able to bring home all those large heavy items I usually pass by with a heavy heart. 

Any way - it's time for me to post up a new dress! 

The travelling dress

A little while ago Laura featured a lovely frock on her blog as part of The Sisterhood of the Travelling dress being run by Joanna at Dividing Vintage Moments and it piqued my interest. Joanna, Laura and many other ladies from around the world have participated in a little dress chain mail, sending it around the world for each of us to wear and style as we desire and share the photos with you! It's been in warm and snowy climates, to New York City and even Hawaii! And currently it's down under visiting us antipodean vintage lovers! 

The dress is a 1940's handmade dress possibly made from an acetate or similar man made fabric from that era. 

I don't know a lot about fabrics from that period, but I assume it was one of those fabrics invented to make up for the silk shortage in WW2. Regardless it has a lovely style and didn't require any ironing when I unpacked it! 

The dress has so far been worn in a myriad of ways. True vintage 40's and 50's style, Victorian style and of course modern! 

I really loved the idea of taking part in the dresses journey and hoped that maybe I could add my own spin to it, so being a 60's blogger, I tried to imagine how a girl finding the dress in the late 60's would style it. 

You can find suitcases like these all over Etsy!

Grace

Well hey hey people! How have you been? 

I've been awfully absent but I'm still here, sewing away. I'm currently in between projects and waiting for a decent day to take photos of my new makes as well as cutting out scrap pieces for a quilt and pondering what to make next. Its terribly cold now that winter has come so all I really want to sew is cozy warm things. The Astoria jumper from Seamwork patterns is currently waiting for its fabric friend to arrive so I can whip it up and be all cozy and stylish for work! 

Anyway, I have something rather exciting for you to see - a new dress! 

Oh yes, yes, yes. I have a BIG backlog of things to post so let just get to it then shall we? 

Me Made May Part one

Hello readers! I hope you have been enjoying yourselves lately. It's been a very chilly May so far - winter is so close! So it has made for some very interesting outfits lately. Sometimes I forget to wear tights when it's cold and sometimes it's too warm for a coat and I have to carry the darn thing around. The other day I completely forgot to check the temperature in the morning and walked out dressed for a 20 degree day and it never went above 16! By the time I had to go home it was below 11 and so I resorted to wearing my wellington boots home with my stinky gym socks to give me some small about of warmth!

The things you do for fashion! 

Anyway, so here's how Me Made May has been going so far...

It's gonna be (Me Made) May!

Dear readers, it came to my attention just this morning that today is May 1st! 

Here I was sending my boyfriend "It's gonna be May" memes and having a giggle thinking it was April 30th, when low and behold my lovely sewing buddies around the world instagramming their Me Made outfits snapped me back into line with the rest of us using Australian Eastern time making me realise that it was infact May 1st, and therefore Me Made May! I often mix up what day it is because I read so many American Facebook posts and they are a day behind timewise leading me to believe it was still April in this instance 

A quick one while he's away

Hello dear ones! How have you been? How was your Easter break if you had one?

Most of the country has just surfaced from a lazy 4 days off camping and sleeping in and what not. It's our last public holiday until June's Queen's Birthday holiday (No ANZAC day holiday, what a crock) so most people cherished their state sanctioned days off thoroughly, as did I

My days off were spent sleeping, sewing, watching a whole lot of free Netflix and enjoying a friends birthday at the pub.

I also finally finished sewing a purple paisley frock that I had started some time ago but never had the interest to finish quickly, largely because summer dragged on quite a bit making this dress unnecessary, but the cool weather is here now which this heavy twill dress will be perfect for.

I'll of course post proper photos eventually for you all! 

Love Child

I haven't done any kind of TV or movie review in a while. Frankly cause most movies I watch have been reviewed or maybe I'm just a little too lazy. But every now and again a little gem of a show comes out - one that so far is only being shown in Australia that I absolutely must tell you about because not only is a good story but because visually it's a feast for the 60's loving eyes! 

Last year a new drama show was broadcasted on Aussie TV called Love Child, and though I meant to blog about it then, the next series is due to start shortly so I thought it was prime time to finally write about it.

FYI - So many spoilers!

Daisy chain

Oh well hey there pretty people! I promised myself I would blog at least once a week this month but I'm already behind on that little promise, oops!

Not that I fussed about it really. Everything has been pretty swell no-blog wise. I've been doing lots of sewing and this past weekend the boy and I took a little trip up to Katoomba in the Blue Mountains for my birthday! We visited Scenic World which is basically the most touristy thing to do up there. They have a train thingy that takes you down the mountain on a 52 degree incline at a nice little speed so that you can actually look around. I had this idea that it was roller coaster speed but the ticket seller just had to chuckle at me and said they wouldn't let as many pensioners on if it was!

Little Red Rooster

Hello hello readers!! How the heck have you all been? I've been having a lovely long break way from le blog to catch up on sewing and enjoy my new job which has been really enjoyable! My new boss is pretty cool and I even get to go out and play team football (Soccer) once a week, which has now resulted in a fractured second toe but otherwise, the comparison between my old role and my new role are streets apart. I'm feeling much more relaxed and I have time to do my job properly, not just squeeze 3 roles into one! 

And so yes, all this life happiness has resulted in a tonne of sewing! So many things to show you all, but first I should try to catch up on everything I'm well behind in! 

Pop to Popisim - Mods vs hippies night

Last Wednesday was an event that couldn't be missed! So much so that I went by myself! eep!

The Art Gallery of NSW is currently holding an exhibit - Pop to Popisim, which shows as you may guess lots of well known art works from pop artists from the 50's through to the 80's.

AGNSW likes to hold events called Art After Hours, which usually involves a bar, some music and various talks from relevant industry experts. Throughout the Pop to Popisim exhibition they have been holding events themed by each of the decades featured in the exhibit. The week before was 50's and this week is 70's. And I'm sure you can guess which one I went to! 

Chloe and myself in a new dress made from the giant floor cushion found at the op shop!

Françoise - a pattern review

Late last year, Tilly released a new pattern on her website called Françoise! A spunky little 60s number with raglan sleeves and a sweeping A-line shape

Tilly had reached out to me to give this lovely lady a review but I didn't get to sewing it well after the sew-along in early December cause things were just too crazy. But here she is now!*

2014 Things I sewed and did - A short review

Well, its that time of year again! And all I can say is that I'm pretty happy this year is coming to a close. Its been pretty shitty for most of the part, but there were also some really kick-ass things that happened this year and I sewed some really awesome frocks! 

At the end of last year, I had also made a bunch of sewing resolutions which I promptly broke, not cause I wanted to, but well, life happened. But I did make many splendid dresses and met lots of people through the Spoolettes and Makers Society. I also was featured in lots of magazines and other wonderful blogs. Here is a round up of the things I made this year. (There are more, but I'm yet to post them! 

Good day Sunshine, Shift dress sew along
Saffron, Charlotte, Peggy
Swing dress, Sally, Julie
Olivia, Tangerine, Chrissie

All in all 2014 wasn't too bad. I need to stop kicking myself for not blogging every week, and even though work was super stressful, I have a new job next year and therefore many more things to sew for it and opportunities to experience.

I hope you all enjoy your new years, I'll be down the coast sunning it up and spending hopefully a whole day at the beach! 

Thanks for reading this year and for being totally awesome and wonderful. I hope to see you all in 2015!

Cat xoxoxoxo

Busy as a bee

Merry Christmas readers! It's been a while since my last post, but I have a really good excuse  I promise! Well multiple excuses actually! I have been hiding out on the other side of the internet not reading my blogroll (500+ unread!) and generally being a busy little bee. 

I have been sewing, working and Christmas party-ing. All those sorts of things that stop me from getting around to doing anything blog related. I have however been reading all of your blogs, so apologies for not commenting where I normally like to do so. 

In other more exciting news, as of February next year I have a new job!

Isn't that exciting!? Its actually a secondment away to a different department at work in a higher role, but this department is a little more casual and they embrace fun and staff culture a little more then my current department. As someone who enjoys the atmosphere and aesthetic of work more then any thing else, I'm really excited at the prospect of working somewhere with a slightly smaller team but more responsibility in a relaxed environment. I really am going to miss my current boss and immediate team as they are so awesome, but this is a great chance for me to get more experience in my career and after the killer year I've had I really needed to be somewhere else away from the emotional drain of where I am now. 

So that means I'll be sewing more casual things! I love this idea so much as I've had to wear smart/business wear for 4 years. I celebrated by buying a cute little Japanese sewing book - Formal and Little black dress. It doesn't sound casual but the cut of most of the patterns is very loose and cute, like most Japanese books, so they could be easily made casual with the right fabric. 

Would you like to see what I've been up to this last month (in between work and getting sloshed?)

Olivia + Giveaway winner

Hello!!

Well now, I know I said I was going to announce the winner of the Make and Mend Fabulous give-away yesterday, but I got home a little late after attending my friends end of year Design Exhibition and after a happy amount of free wine, I may or may not have been in the mood to eat spaghetti and fall asleep on the couch. And cause, you know, blogging while under the influence can been risky... so yeah... Anyway! Everything looked wonderful and I'm very proud of my friend for completing TAFE with a small child and working as well! Super mum for sure!

So, I'm sure you've heard enough of my antics... The winner of the Make and Mend fabulous book, DVDs and vintage pattern tracing is... PIGEONWISH! 

Pigeonwish commented that she would "make me and my boyfriend coordinating outfits (in as classy a way possible) Wonderful answer! How many of us would like to make something not just for ourselves but also our partners? 

Congratulations lovely! I'll send you an email soon and thank you to everyone who entered the giveaway!

Now that the formalities are over, lets get on to having a look at the latest addition to the Sewing the 60s family, Olivia!

Burdastyles 50 Best bloggers Part 2 (and a giveaway!!!)

You may remember this post in which Burdastyle announced a competition to find the 50 best bloggers for sewers and I asked for your help in voting for me... 

Well guess what??

I AM ONE OF THEM! YAY!!!

60s style leaps all over!!

60's Fashion elements - The gritty and glamorous 1930's

Its been over a year since the last "Fashion elements" post. I know! I'm terrible!! But there's a lot to research and now I can finally give you a new design element that I've been enjoying noticing since watching Bonnie and Clyde and reading the "Sixties Fashion" book. 

The 1930s gave the 60s a lot of inspiration in the mid to late 60s, via films and designers who looked to the past for inspiration from the heros and characters that drove folk lore and adorned the screens during the dark depression era. So many films were produced in that period, that one would think there was no depression in LA, but there surely was and the films were often used as an escape from real life for everyday people. The fantasy of those films and outlaws like Bonnie and Clyde remained so ingrained in peoples memories that it was bound to repeat itself at some point. 

The story of Bonnie and Clyde was a perfect segue for the 30s to introduce itself to the 60s. One of things that really drove the popularity of this film in 1967 was the fashions and of course fantastical story line of Bonnie and Clyde. 

So popular was the films fashion that designers such as Yves Saint Laurent Norman Norell both designed collections based of Bonnie's outfits as played by Faye Dunaway