Body weight and sewing

Weight is a touchy issue for most people. I know it can be for me. Right now I am struggling with mine and it's effecting my desire to sew. Keeping my weight in check through our home remodeling has been challenging. I am not into looking paper thin or anything, but I like to maintain my weight. Fast food has been my "friend" over these last few months and the expected pounds came on. So now there is a choice to be made, do I sew for my bigger size or squeeze into my current clothing? Everything within me says "don't make the next size up". The hours that I have invested in making "tailored" clothing were happy hours and I don't want to leave those beautiful garments behind for a plate of fast food. So, today I am starting to look more closely at what I am eating, with the hope of losing the extra pounds.  Along with that, I had a revelation during me made June that is changing how I sew.  During June, my weight was still okay, but I realized that I was avoiding wearing some of my handmade garments because they were so fitted.  Looking back, I was sewing with the idea that I was going to lose a little more weight.  Lesson learned, stop over-fitting sewing projects and build into place a level of comfort for a healthy weight. I know my weight will have it's up and downs in the future, but my reality is this, there is a number range that my body likes to stay in. My dream size is in my mind, but my body says we are staying  here. So I am making peace with that and will be sewing for a more "normal" weight in the future.

Here are a few tips for making weight friendly garments.

1. Adding EASE!  Ease is defined as those extra inches in a finished garment that one can pull away from the body. I am finding that I really like having lots of ease in my lower hips and legs. When clothing is tight, it's uncomfortable. In Fit for real people , Pati Palmer suggests having a certain amount of ease for different garments. Here are her guidelines. You can easily add ease with a french ruler by drawing in a line outside the cutting line. Check out this book for more details. It's wonderful!

As I look at this chart I see that most of my skirts have about 1/2 inch of ease in the waistline. I will be adding a bit to that for comfort.

2. Considering the design/lines of a garment before sewing will tell you a lot about how your shape will fit into that design. This can be helpful in decisions of making a fitted skirt or an A line, or a boxy jacket verses a fitted one? Remember if you gain weight a boxy jacket may still fit when a fitted one get snug. A wide variety of styles in your closet can be a saving grace when the scale is moving upward.

3. Fabric selection is so important. Fabrics with a small amount of stretch go a long way for shoulders, bust-line and hips. As I use some of my non-stretch vintage fabrics, I will be adding more ease to the pattern at the lower hip-line for comfort. This will ensure freedom in movement.

4. I have given this tip before, it's worth repeating. Adding one inch seams instead of the standard 5/8 to the outer seams of a garment can be very helpful. If you need them the extra fabric is already there and can be let out pretty easily.

5. Resist over-fitting a garment. When fitting your garments. Baste the seams together. Now sit in your car. Can you reach everything easily? I say this because if I can sit in my car and be comfortable, then I know I have enough ease. Or stand in your kitchen and make a simple meal, can you reach the top shelf without splitting a seam? Test drive your garments before truly sewing up the final seams. Anyone can stand in front of a mirror and hold their breath in for a fitting, but can you pick up the baby and carry her around the house while wearing the garment, that's the question.

6. Consider adding a little elastic in the back of pants or skirts for those monthly times where the scale is going upward.

Sewing a wardrobe has become a way of life for many people, and let's face it weight loss or gain can  happen a long the way. Considering weight changes is good insurance of great fitting clothing for the future.

Have a wonderful vintage day!

Gina

old patterns

These are some of my oldest patterns,  I think they are from the 20's.  I am in love with the details of these wonderful dresses. It's so funny how times have changed. If you look for instructions to make these beauties, you will find them printed on the pattern itself. For example, on McCall 6471, it simply states join the underarm seam to the bodice of the dress. Yes, we have come a long way with instructions for sure. I bought these patterns years ago before vintage sewing was in. So they were priced pretty reasonable.
This past week I found these Colette patterns waiting for me in my mailbox. I am so excited to get cracking with them. I love the ginger skirt and have been wanting to make it for awhile. Finally, remodeling in our home is almost done, things are returning to a new normal, hooray!  It's time to sew again!

Have a wonderful vintage day!

Gina

Giveaway Winners!

Thanks for entering this giveaway.  I always love reading your comments! Okay, I played with random.org last week and finally gave up because of various reasons. So I decided to divided the names into categories and had my son Isaac pull a name from each bowl. He really enjoyed fishing out a winner. For door number one, the purse, Isaac pulled out Casey's name from Casey's Elegant Musings.  Congratulations Casey!
                                   

Door number two is for the Tack- it tool, the winner is Christy from Christy Sews! Congratulations to Christy! Enjoy it!

Finally, the patterns go to Marie from A sewing odyssey. I think you will enjoy them Marie. Congratulations to you! 

 I am so happy for you all. I hope you all are having a great vintage day!

Gina

Strawberry Jam and a hair cut

I just follow the recipe in this box! It's delicious!

Every year I make strawberry Jam. It's wonderful on ice cream and angel food cake. I always feel all vintage when canning! There's just something about putting on an apron and working in a kitchen that feels good to my heart.

Since going down the rabbit hole these last few weeks, many little adventures have come my way.  A new haircut, working on losing weight again, cleaning up and remodeling our 100 year old home.

This is a 80's hair cut. I am not sure that I love it but, I can hot roller my hair and it stays for a while.

New hardwood floors are being put in soon!

We pulled the walls out in our family room and found there was no insulation.  It had always been cold in there, now we know why. So we got busy with fixing that. Crazy! 

Friends, my grandfather died this week. He was a wonderful man. I will be having family stay with us next week for his funeral. So, I promise that after my house is in order again that I will be sewing up a storm, I do MISS it so much! 

Well, tomorrow is the last day for the giveaway entry. It's opened worldwide! Good luck and have a great vintage day!

cleaning up and a giveaway

This post has little to do with vintage life, sewing or the alike. I'll be frank, life has been taking me deep into a rabbit hole, the trip has had some bumps, but been very good and all consuming! I won't share a lot since this is really a sewing/vintage blog, but I want you to know why I have fallen out of touch over these last couple of weeks.  I woke up one day and  knew I had to come to terms with having too much stuff and not enough places to put things.  As I looked into my junk drawer of life, I realized it was too full and brought me sadness, not joy. So this past month I have been giving furniture, dishes, toys and everything you can think of away, including a boat! This process started with cleaning out my closet. I have cleaned out EVERY Drawer in my home and feel a sense of relief and sanity returning. Now I only have things that are useful or make us smile.
As I was cleaning out my stash of my vintage collections, there were a few items that I wanted to give to someone who really loves them. I thought this might be a great giveaway to anyone who reads this blog. There are three items to choose from. Just leave a comment on which giveaway item you would like, 1, 2, or number 3.  I will randomly pick three winners and the prizes will be mailed out to the winners.  Please leave me a email address to get in contact with you. Entries for this give away will end on July 28th at midnight EST.

First up, being a purse lady, I love this purse, it's green! These pictures are okay, but the green color is much more vibrant than what is coming through.

Giveaway item number 1!

Next behind door number two, Tack it! Yes, this is a vintage pattern marker. It makes it easy to mark darts with a tap! Fun for sure.

Giveaway number 2

And behind door number three we have vintage patterns. They are from the 40's. The dress is for a 36 bust. 

Giveaway number 3

Thanks to all of you, good luck!

Have a Fabulous vintage day!

Gina

green skirt finished!

Wow! This summer is flying by! I have been sewing a little on the side. This happy, green, skirt was made from a vintage pattern I found in my stash.  I have been looking for a wider A-line skirt for a while because I have a bad habit of propping up my leg when I drive and wanted a skirt that would allow me to assume my "driving position" while wearing it.  This skirt is just shy of a  half circle. It came together pretty nicely. Although I am noticing that with every vintage skirt pattern that I have made, the waistband is smaller than the body of the skirt, making it impossible to sew without "easing in" the garment and creating little gathers. I am not a fan of gathers on me. To remedy this I have been cutting my waistbands 1/2 inch longer, so that they match up with the body of the skirt. It has worked like a charm. Now the skirt sits flat against me.  I also installed another lap zipper. I am really liking lap zippers, they are great for using up all those vintage zippers I have been collecting. I am pairing the skirt with a white blouse for now. Yes, I just created a gap in need of a pair! LOL Skirts are always needed in summer, I live in them. So now it's time for some blouses. Vicious cycle isn't it? Where is Summer is going? I noticed Joann's had fall wool for sale already yikes!

Have a wonderful vintage day,

Gina

Insides matter

These last few weeks have been like swimming in jello, moving, but getting no where fast. Do you have weeks where your projects and goals feel out of reach? I have been feeling very stuck without my iron and camera.  The rest was good, but I sure missed blogging, sewing and you! My Rowenta iron came back from the factory this week. The diagnosis was a faulty water holding tank. The manufacturer recommends not overfilling the water tank. I have been known to overfill my iron at times. Although this didn't break the iron it's a good measure to keep in mind against overfilling.

 

I have been sewing two skirts this week, I wanted to pause and look at the inside of these garments. Over the last 6 months, part of the joy of sewing for me has been to create a clean looking garment. One that I could wear inside out. Some of the things I do are simple, but to me make a garment look more couture. I don't have a lot of finishing tips, but I thought I would share the ones that have served me well with you.

1. To reduce the overall mess, I clip every thread after sewing a seam. I use thread cutters, they are wonderful. Doing this really helps me keep of top of those loose thread.

2. This sounds like a given, but finishing all seams at the right time creates a beautiful garment. There are many ways to finish a garment. I use my serger a lot. Sewing is like a Chess game is some ways. You have to know the moves you are going to make while sewing up a piece.  I am finding mapping this out ahead of time very helpful. Sometimes you should serge a pattern piece by itself, other times it's necessary to wait until you have made a seam. Mapping out your seams, results in less wasted thread and a better looking garment I am finding.

3. There is a little game I play when sewing my facings to make them look good. I try to sew them as straight as possible, doing my very best work. Yes, it's silly but my stitches are improving because of this game and I smile when I see them!

4. Iron every time, every seam, a garment won't come together without ironing and it will look wonky on the inside. I iron the seams after sewing from both sides and steam them in place. This makes a huge difference with the finished seams.

What are you sewing this week?

Have a wonderful vintage day!

Gina