Tag Archives: dress

I spotted Hollywood

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Some of you might remember my slight obsession with Bette Davis.

Well, most of the time this makes me watch her films and read books about her. But sometimes I can’t resist and buy memorabilia. My most treasured item surely is an autograph my boyfriend bought me for my birthday two years ago.

The framed autograph on my vanity table. Note the box I showed you in my last post in its natural habitat.

But there is another kind of memorabilia that I am itching for. Do you know Hollywood Patterns? The company was founded in 1932 and sold patterns connected to stars and starlets (source). Simply by putting a little photo and the name of a movie star on the envelope turned a standard pattern into a collectible (a method that applies still today, though maybe not anymore for patterns). And as you can imagine, today they are worth even more.

Bette Davis had a total of 16 patterns named after her. Every now and then they pop up on ebay or etsy. To the more or less high prices of the patterns themselves adds the postage from the US to Europe, so to buy one of these is alway quite an expensive pleasure. (Now please don’t link to any pattern you found for sale on the internet, I don’t look at the mentioned websites very often, simply because I don’t want to tempt myself to spend that much money too often ;-). If I am in the mood and the position to buy one, I will search for it.)

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Last year in late autumn I spotted a beautiful one on etsy, Hollywood 1221, published in 1934. And my boyfriend was so kind to give it to me as a christmas-present (darling, I love you!).

I already copied the pattern a few days after the holidays (because the pattern is so old I don’t want to use the original pattern pieces anymore), but it wasn’t until before our Sicily-trip I finally decided for a fabric and started cutting (this is the mentioned dress I wanted to sew for the trip but didn’t finish).

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The choice of fabric wasn’t that intelligent in hindsight. I used a white spotted green cotton print I bought a few years ago in the odds-and-ends-box of a nearby fabric store that doesn’t exist anymore. I had already planned to use it for my Fall-for-Cotton-dress, but I had too little of it (appr. 1,5m). I chose it because I thought it was close enough to the spotted fabric on the envelope drawing and could look good (but it is not really appropriate for this time, in the sewing magazines I own polka dots don’t appear earlier than late 30ies, in earlier issues I only found them to be used for children’s clothing).
For this project it was just enough, I had to cut the lower back in two pieces, otherwise it wouldn’t have fit.

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Well, the resulting dress is really…dotty. The matching of the pattern is at some seams better than at others, unfortunately where it didn’t fit was in the centre front (in contrast to the text on the linked page, it is a two-piece skirt. There is no seam in the pleat and I didn’t think of adjusting the width of it to match the dots).

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Can’t help it, but I absolutely love this photo!

The pattern asked for two zippers, on at the side and one in the centre back. I used a white nylon zipper in the neck and a light cream one in the side seam (because I had them in stock, I do know they aren’t authentic for the 30ies)  Both zipper-seams are hand-sewn as is the hem.

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I used white thread for all seams, this seemed to be a better match than green one.

The size is a straightforward 12, only thing I changed is I shortened the hem by 7cm.

Because the pattern was too weird with the stomacher in between I applied a rest of white cotton ribbon after having already finished it, now it is a lot better.

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yes, too lazy to match my nail polish

I used every bit of it. As you see, it wasn’t enough to attach it on both ends of the stomacher-part in the back as well, the rest I had was just enough to form the button-loop for a button in the neck above the zipper.

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As I said, I didn’t change anything. Like the most american patterns, the seam allowance is  included, something still unusual for me, because it makes it difficult for me to imagine how large it will be in the end (and in this case it was difficult to match the pattern as well). When looking at the result it seems as if the bodice is a little too long, when making it again I should try to shorten the stomacher-part.

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I decided to take the photos outside, because it was quite a strange light and the appartment pretty gloomy. The day had been hot and only a little later there was a huge thunderstorm. So this may explain why our camera changed the ISO to several thousands without me noticing it (don’t know why it was set in the automatic-mode) and why the white is so flashy.

Well, to end this post: I love it! It looks quite special and still I think the fabric wasn’t the best to use for this pattern and to make it suitable for everyday-use I should reduce the volume of the sleeves a little, they are a bit on the emormous side.

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(dress: Hollywood Pattern 1221/ette, shoes: Siemes Shuh Center, fragrance: Stella McCartney – Sheers)

So much for today, love

ette

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Nearly forgotten – Fall for Cotton

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Yeah, it rhymes 🙂

Maybe some of you remember. Last autumn Rochelle and Tasha hosted a Fall-for-Cotton-Sew Along. It is already march now, but maybe some of you still remember.
In fact, I managed to finish the dress in time (deadline was september 30th), maybe you saw my final result in the Flickr-group or Rochelle’s final slideshow.
But though I finished the dress, what I didn’t finish was the matching bolero. Days before the deadline I headed to a conference meeting in Lyon, flying from France directly to London for a job interview, came back to Bern after one week only to work the next day, on whose’s evening my dad arrived to help us with moving from our old flat to the one we have been living in for a couple of months now.
As you can imagine, I didn’t have much time to sew at all and with the temperature dropping my motivation to finish a summer’s dress wasn’t as high as it should have been.

But the bolero didn’t need that much work anymore and so one afternoon in winter I was destined to finally finish it, only to realize that I had no idea where I had put the last piece to be attached to the bolero’s hem. It took me some more weeks to find it and so I finally made it without any further catastrophes.
That all happened back in january and now, only a very short time afterwards (cough, attention, sarcasm) I managed to photograph the result.

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laughing or dazzled?

I already showed you the fabrics I used, a comparably stiff purple cotton and an old duvet cover printed with purple and brown roses. To line the bodice I used a white cotton batiste.

It ws one of the rare occasions where I worked with a pattern that had the seam allowances included, but it worked surprisingly well. I changed literally nothing (partly because I rarely do and often realize too late, what should have been changed, but mostly because I have difficulties to imagine the outcome of cutparts with the seam allowance included. I know, many draw the actual seam line themselves, but that means to double the work at my most loathed step in sewing, transfering the pattern to the fabric, no option for me 😉 ).

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the neckholder closes with two white fabric-covered buttons

I have to admit, the fit is not as perfect as could be and I have to pay attention which bra I wear, because the bodice is a little too large around the bust, but nothing that can’t be fixed with a good push-up. 😀

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The skirt consists of four parts that add up to a wide, but not a full circle skirt.
First I planned to shorten it considerably to end just below the knees, but then I loved the idea of having a real tea-length-dress. And knowing I will only wear it with heels, I don’t need to fear to look too short. In the photos I am wearing a small petticoat underneath.

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un-elegant attempt to show you the width of the hem

The belt is not attached to the dress. I don’t like the untidy look of it and though I do like the idea of avoiding a too cute bow, to me it looks as if I ran out of fabric. Maybe I will arrange the knot and sew it close, adding a press fastener or hooks and eyes closing to the back (more likely: I will leave it like this and will complain about it as long as I own the dress).

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where is my belly button? I know I saw it right here…

Now I only have to wait until next summer, but with the temperature rising outside I am positive that it won’t be too long. Today it was at least not too cold to wear it, though I was happy to stand in the sun.

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Maybe I am a vampire at last, cursing sun already at the first spring day…

But honestly it was much too bright. I had the choice between standing in the shadow or being blinded by sunlight. All the photos needed massive photoshopping because on most of them the skirt seemed almost white. And you can clearly see that it was too bright, looking at my >.<-face.

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(dress and bolero: ette/Simplicity 7218, necklace: gift, petticoat: Blutsgeschwister, white shoes: Siemes-Schuh-Center, purple shoes: Diesel, fragrance: Cologne Lavender & Thyme)

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PS: Needless to say I was unable to decide what shoes to wear and therefore chose both 😉

see you soon,

love, ette

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Wearable fail, a 60ies pattern

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Some years ago I found a hardly used 60ies pattern in a charity shop for the steal of 50 cents. It was opened, but not cut, so if it has been used somebody has carefully traced the cut parts.

The pattern is for a classical mod dress to be made in a multitude of variants. It was part of a pattern line of a german TV seamstress, Marlene Esser. She had her own sewing show in German television in the 60ies and 70ies.

I chose a fabric I had bought in Lyon last fall, a dark blue piqué with small twigs and birds on it. It is a rather stiff fabric and a very cute pattern, so I wanted a very neutral cut and nothing too girly. Additionally the fabric pattern calls for a garment with only a few seams.

The pattern is already a multisize one, but because too many lines would have been too unclear and difficult to tell apart (as said in the pattern desciption), they only traced every second size (they should see our modern ones). The instructions say, if you need the size in between, you should trace your own line half a centimetre beside the printed one.
Now, the smallest size on the envelope was 38, the smallest size printed was 40. Even considered that sizing used to be different back then, 40 is still a little large. So I did as I was told and made my traced pattern a little smaller. I knew it was too large, but because the front was only made from one part with very large darts I decided to give it a try, before manipulating the pattern. And of course, afte having sewn together all the pieces it was way too large. To turn it into something wearable I pinned it onto my mannequin and removed a lot of fabric from each seam.

And unfortunately it was so much that I had to add a seam in the centre front. In fact, this is one of the variants given (see first picture, the dress on the very left), but it completely destroys the pattern.


*shy look at my shoes*


*bad model-me doesn’t know how to pose*

The result looks more like on of those fitted chinese-style dresses than a 60ies-A-line-dress, so the fitting changed the style of this dress significantly. And though there are some minor flaws (like the neckline, which sticks out on one side, fortunately not visible in the pictures), I think it is wearable and even if it won’t become my favourite dress, it will move into my wardrobe and is most likely to be worn every now and then.

I used light pink bias binding for the arm and neck openings and a pink zipper I still had in my stash.

The traced pattern is already in the waste-paper collection. If I am really to make a second version someday in the future, I will try to make a fitting pattern based on the original one. The one I made was too far away from anything I could wear, so the best would be to completely restart.

Improvised beehive only for you, I am sure I could do better. 😉

(headband: i am, belt: 2nd hand/h&m, tights: ?, shoes: deichmann, fragrance: j.p. gaultier – madame)

 

I hope you have a nice sunday, see you soon,
love

ette

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What I wore…navy and white

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Life is what happens while making other plans…

I don’t know why time is running so fast these days. Between writing job applications, working in the book shop and preparations for our new appartment there seems hardly any time left. I haven’t sewn for days, I didn’t even read much.
The last weekend I went home for a short visit, because my grandmother celebrated her 80th birthday. I left Bern on Saturday morning, arrived in my hometown at half past two, the birthday started at 4pm. On sunday I had a long breakfast with my father before heading to my mother, where I spent the afternoon with my siblings and my niece (I gave her the pinafore skirt I showed you, unfortunately it doesn’t fit as I imagined it to, but I hope that this will change in a few months, because it was still a little large for her). Monday morning I went to the town hall, firstly to vote, secondly to renew my ID. In between I had to take a passport photograph, because I had forgotten to bring one, and brought some parcels to the post office. I had lunch at my grandparents’ before I headed to Düsseldorf to meet a dear friend I know from my time at the local university. In the afternoon I went to the airport and arrived in Basel at 10pm where my boyfriend picked me up, it wasn’t until 11.30pm that we arrived at home. How exhausting this weekend had been I only realized the next day, when I felt terribly tired around 1pm and decided to take a short nap. I didn’t wake up before 5pm and went to bed in the evening like always, sleeping my usual 8 hours until next morning. It seems as if I really needed some additional rest.
Tuesday passed in a blink, unpacking luggage, doing the laundry, checking all the stuff on the internet I had missed over the weekend. Today I had to work and me and my boyfriend were really looking forward to tomorrow, when we will both have our day off. Unfortunately our landlord told us directly after we both got home today, that there would be a prospect visiting our appartment tomorrow afternoon, so our day off will be spent cleaning annd tidying up, as we neglected this a little the past few days.
On Friday we will be handed over the keys to our new appartment, which means that I could spend every spare minute packing boxes and driving them to the new adress, besides this I will work a few hours in the local museum, examining some antique traditional costumes  in their collection.
As you see, plenty of things to do and no end in sight, I don’t really know when I will be able to sew again and how I am to realize the Fall for Cotton dress I announced so flamboyantly.

To show you at least some photos I will leave you with some outfit-pics, again.
This is what I wore on Saturday to my grandmother’s birthday.
The hat was a present from me to myself after having finished my MA-thesis, it is a late 50ies Schiaparelli hat I bought at ebay America. The dress is the only “designer dress” I own, I found it for a reasonable price in a local outlet centre last year, while searching for an outfit to wear at a wedding (I don’t want to start a discussion about the designer’s statements and the reactions to them. I I do vehemently dissociate myself from any ideas or idealogy of this kind. I bought this dress because I had spent the whole day searching for something affordable and appropriate to wear and had to decide wether to buy this dress or leave with nothing). The shoes are the same white court shoes I showed you with my last wedding-guest outfit, but I embellished them with shoe buckles I found at a flea market some months ago.

Please excuse the bad quality of the photos and me, it was half past seven in the morning.

Here is another photo of the hat I took right after it had arrived:

(hat: Schiaparelli Paris via ebay.com; dress: Galliano; shoes: Siemes Schuh Center; shoe buckles: Flea Market)

I really hope I will be able to show you something more interesting and handmade soon!
Love,

ette

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What I wore…to celebrate

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Monday was the day…I had my very last oral exam, one hour, four topics. I was a really great exam, my Professor simply let me talk and asked some questions at the end of each topic to see if I really knew enough about the subject and was able to react to react her objecting an argument of mine.

I can’t really believe that it is all done now. Nearly as long as I can remember I went to school or to university, when I will be given my report in October I will officially be a Master of Arts. Now I will start searching a job or maybe think about directly going back to university, enlisting as a Ph.D. student.

A friend of mine had her exam after me and as soon as we were both finished we went to have lunch all together, with our professor, her assistant and my boyfriend.
Now, several other friends had their exams the next day and so I joined them on tuesday evening to celebrate a little.

What I wore: I found this dress a few months ago in a vintage shop in Bern. I saw it and knew it was older than the 70ies and 80ies stuff they sell in large numbers (they always have some 50ies and 60ies stuff as well, but I am not always lucky to find something I really like and fit into). So I bought it without even thinking how to wear it. I believe it being late 40ies/early 50ies.

After having watched it a few weeks as it was hanging on my wardrobe door I began combining it with different accesoires and shoes. I have shoes to match the colour of the outfit, I have grey ankle boots, white court shoes, light pink sandals. But it looked all horrible. The cut, the fabric, the colours, all added up to create a lovely granny effect. Lovely if you are indeed a granny and are about to celebrate you 76th birthday, but I still have 50 years to go to do that. So I was sure that I couldn’t style it authentical or even classical. What I did was to break the style combining the dress with a heavy leather belt and black boots.

Because it was pretty cool outside I also added a white cardigan.

Outside I paired it with a creme-coloured trenchcoat and a lovely early 60ies umbrella I bought at a flea market last year.

Outside it has a standard patterned fabric, but on the inside it is lined, so all the wires and bars of the umbrella are covered. Imagine women with their helmet-like 60ies hairstyle, getting tangled in an umbrella would have completely ruined the hairdo. So it was certainly a really clever idea to cover all the frame of the umbrella.

(dress: vintage, bought at Fizzen; cardigan: Carhartt; belt: from my uncle; boots: charity shop; umbrella: flea market)

Yay, Duckface, don’t ask, I was tired and came home late.

See you soon, love

ette

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Fall for Cotton – Sew-Along

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Puh, you know, I wanted to concentrate on my final exams taking place next week, I wanted to finish my 40ies coat to finally wear it this autumn, I wanted to prepare our household to move soon, I wanted to finish my Chiné-dress, I wanted to write a little more about different periods than mid-20th-century again….yes, I wanted, but did’t.

Why? Because one of my favourite bloggers is hosting a Sew-Along. Tasha and Rochelle have just opened a Cotton-Vintage-Sew-Along. You can pick whatever fabric you like, as long as it is 100% cotton and sew a garment, as long as it is related to 1920ies to 70ies fashion. All participants share their progress in a Flickr-Group and show they finished projects in the end.

It was purely coincidental that I had already cut out a Reprint of a 1950ies Simplicity Pattern, consisting of a dress and a bolero. Unfortunately I don’t have the pattern envelope, but I found another blogger who made this dress and photographed it.

First I wanted to go for a green cotton fabric with white polka dots and plain white cotton for the accents. But I had to learn that I had not enough fabric, so I searched my storage and ended up with this two candidates:
A very heavy purple cotton and a vintage duvet cover, printed in purple and brown. The dress and the bands on the Jacket will be made from the patterned fabric, the bolero, the belt and the straps of the dress will be made from the purple fabric. I just hope it will work, the purple one is very stiff, I hope not too stiff to turn it into the bolero.

As often, I won’t make a work in progress out of it. I will upload some photos into the  if you want to keep up with my progress. But of course, I will show the finished garment here as well.

Anybody who likes to join, too?

See you soon, love,

ette

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