Volume 16: Wedding Dress Progress and Summer Sewing

I missed writing a newsletter last week (I was busy, that’s my only excuse), so I have extra to share with you today!

The Wedding Dress

I finished the wedding dress! Except for the hem, but we need to purchase the right petticoat to go under the dress before I hem it. I worked on it for exactly one week, which seems fast, but once I’m entrenched in a big project, I don’t think about much else until it’s done. I actually really like complex projects, so this whole thing has been very fun for me.

I won’t be sharing the complete dress until after the wedding, but I feel like I owe you a snippet because of how many emails of support I’ve received about it! So here’s the completed bodice.

I then gathered 6 full yards of fabric onto that tiny waistline! Haha.

She tried the dress on a few days ago for the first time and said it’s exactly what she had wanted. So that was nice to hear :)

My Dress

I did decide to go with the blue lace over the navy challis for my mother-of-the-bride dress, which I ordered and have received, so that’s what I’ll be working on next. I think I’ll be able to start this weekend, but I have a different rayon challis to make a wearable muslin, just to make sure it’s what I want before committing with my lace fabric.

Doll Rescue

Yesterday I posted a video on YouTube about some vintage dolls and doll clothes that I spent last week restoring to the best of my ability! It’s a fun video, though slightly different from my usual sewing content, and it’s generated some very sweet comments about childhood and dolls, and whimsy in general. Watch it here.

This is one of the Vogue Ginny dolls in the box of dolls someone sent to me after rescuing it from a trash situation! If you want to see how haunted she looked before, you’ll have to watch the video.

Organizing A Vintage Pattern Haul

After announcing that I’m happy to adopt any vintage patterns y’all want off your hands, I received quite a number of them in the mail! I needed to organize them, so I spent a day sorting them and they look so nice now. I filmed the process and chatted about patterns, vintage patterns, and pattern organization last week on YouTube, so you can watch that video here.

Someone in the comments called me a hoarder, of course, which has never happened to me before, possibly because I had such a tiny sewing room in our past home. I have a bigger space now, but I don’t think my stash has increased by much. And I do have a business, after all.

BUT, I can make a case for obtaining and holding on to these traditional paper patterns. Have you heard the news this week that Abbie Small, who purchased and promised to revive the Big 4 patterns earlier this year, has left the company and several other employees were let go? The future of Simplicity is unclear. Paper patterns may never make a full comeback. When the upheaval with JoAnn happened was the time I stopped being a pattern minimalist. These things are worth preserving!

Summer Tops

I have already put these patterns to use! I needed some summer tops in my wardrobe, so I ordered three fabrics and made three tops, two using vintage patterns, and one with a PDF indie pattern. I shared the first one in the last newsletter, but here’s the second, using an 80’s pattern and a cotton from Califabrics.

Then I made a Helen’s Closet Reynolds top out of a super fun rayon from Surge Fabrics. I love this pattern and have made it several times, both the top and the dress, but I like it best after I altered the neckline to be scooped, and added length (5”.)

I have one more fun fabric to use for a Summer top and then I think I’m set!

Coming Soon

I found myself in desperate need of more pin cushions! I stopped using magnetic ones because they were causing my foot pedal to short out since I kept them near the machine (crazy), and I’ve just been shifting the same one pin cushion around ever since. It’s a very cute one, using my pyramid pin cushion pattern, but I wanted to try making the traditional tomato style.

I figured it out and am filming a tutorial for it this week, so stay tuned on Monday for that video and pattern.

In the meantime, there are still a few vintage pattern collage card sets left! If you haven’t gotten yours yet, click here to buy them. They’d make very cute gifts for your sewing buddies.