I get a bit carried away with books I Must Have, but this gets somewhat expensive, so in an effort to control my habit, I’ve been requesting and borrowing many more books from our library… great thing is, I have these wishlists all over the place, and slowly I borrow and read the books, so see if they belong here in our home..

With all my sewing fun times, I’ve been so tempted to get more and more books about fashion and sewing…

So, this book, Fashion; A Visual History from Reghency and Romance to Retro and Revolution by N J Stevenson.  And, no surprise, I Love It.

Here are some teasers, see what’s inside… 1920s.

Some of my most favourite outfits and designers. 1930s…

1940s…

And from my favourite era, 1950s..

and more.

and, yes, more still.

Into the 1960s now, I actually have a gingham stash, and well, seeing this, I’m hoping there’s enough for a shift dress!

Love the red dress too!

1960s sci fi, see?  Pretty much my all time best fashion era.

Chic.

Dior and Chanel would probably be my all time favourite designers, though really so different.  Can you have too many red dresses?  I think not.

And finally, the 1980s…

I left a dress out while pinning and ironing darts recently, Luna and Blake came across it grabbed a pin cushion and started ‘pinning’…  I was happy as I could quickly get a bit of seams sewn while they were happily working in their thing behind me…

I was impressed to see Luna (Blake was assisting by passing pins – that’s the thing he loves, the pins…) was creating her own darts in the dress, and adding more to the ones I had made.

And if you’re wondering about the dress, it’s my next sheet dress, just to get the feel for the pattern, and because I love the  look and feel or vintage sheets…

Simplicity 7031…

Were was my iron!!  The fabric is lovely, though slightly worn, its a shame, it makes it just a little light on, so am going to decide soon if it needs a bit of lining, which would be good practice.

I’ve paneled it so the center panel is a nice crisp section, near the edge of the sheet, and the side panels are the slightly faded ones, hopefully it will look good!  I’m making the right hand version, with the longer sleeves.  I’ve also cut the belt, so I can have a play around with that too.

A lovely woman posted me this pattern to try out, and it’s SO pretty and unused, it’s a style I’ve not tried before, Butterick 8977.

Not sure when I’ll attempt it, I will be doing my first trace and sew with this pattern as that will hopefully preserve it or at least save it from being overly handled.

I found this huge roll of lightweight upholstery fabric at my mums place, and was imediately inspired.. though I’m uncertain how it will feel on, the back (should have taken a photo of the reverse damn!) you see the weave of the fabric, and it actually feels soft… so may be quite good !  I also thought as the fabric is fairly thick it might hold the shape and hang well.. so it’s here for me to look at and think about for a time…

Just cut this dress out while up at mum for a couple of days with the kids… marked the dots, all ready to go!  In theory I could whip it up this evening but the little ones have been wakeful.

I’ve also just spent way too long trying to find the best place to put the ironing board (never thought I’d be excited about bring home an ironing board in my life..) and drinking tea from a new tea cup…

This is another experimental dress, I’m using a vintage sheet as I’m unsure about the design, and am a little sacred of cutting up some really lovely fabrics I have in my stash… not just yet.

I’m doing the right hand version, with longer sleeves – and I decided to cut the belt just in case.

This little number has been at mums for a while, until I was ready to smuggle it in piece by piece…

I really love it and found it in a stash mum was wanting to re-home, Crown Lynn?  Maybe, made in New Zealand is on the base.  I tried it out tonight and yes, it’s dreamy.  And take a look at the leaves on the saucer!  It even came with a bonus saucer, so if this one is not up to it, then I have a back up (thank god).

See those leaves?  Just SO autumn.

A current project I’m working on is documenting our family handwork, specifically the collection of vintage embroidery.  This includes work by my nana Shirley and her mother, and some other unknowns, maybe older family pieces, or work made by family friends.

This is one of my favourite sets, I love the beige colour, the composition of the the violets and the wide crochet boarder.

So simple, and the reverse of this piece is so perfect, you know the sewer was skilled.

See?  Not a thread loose.

More old curiousities from mum’s place.  I have always remembered this doll, I think it’s the print on the fabric, and s/he’s also like my sleepy dolly that I had (and still have) when I was little.

She is a little worse for wear, sadly.  Though she has been well loved.

I was interested to see how she was finished where she was closed after stuffing, straight down the back.  Not what I had expected.

She’s on the vintage yoyo blanket…

This vintage yoyo blanket has been in my family as long as I can remember, and it was made by a friend of my nana’s.

This is the size of a lap blanket, and covered a rather large dolls bed that was at nana’s and then our house.  I enjoyed the different textures of the fabric used for the blanket, especially the metallic sparkly pieces!  This is a photo of the reverse…

And front and back together.

Love how these were colour coordinated with the kitten pictured on the tin…

Stunning.  But what’s inside?

I just get all excited when I find treats like this!

And this one?

It’s only crammed full with bias binding (Yusss!)

This lot above was from another flowery tin, more bias binding, some wider pieces this time…  yipeee!

I’m resisting the urge to put bias binding on all my edges, yes, even frocks.  I know I’ll have fun, but I know I will regret it!

All this thanks to my nana, and my mum of course for keeping EVERYTHING.  Here’s my nana, my grandfather and my dad:

More treats from mums house!

An oldie and a goodie, Successful Dressmaking, this is my bedtime reading.  I have plenty to learn, so it’s good to have a book to refer to at the moment, and I LOVE the illustrations.

These are the inside cover images…

And this one, the only colour plate.

I remember reading this when I was a kid.