Vintage Simplicity Blouse

I must admit I am feeling rather productive at the moment!  Two finished sewing makes blogged within a week of each other.  Little do you know that I was working on this blouse for months. It was one of those projects that I would pick up here and there for 5 minutes then move onto to something else.  It was a really simple make though so it was easy to tag team against other projects.


The pattern I used for this one is vintage Simplicity 4606.  When I first saw this material in Spotlight it instantly made me think of this pattern so I bought some.  It wasn't till I got home that I realised the fabric pretty much matched view 4 from the pattern envelope.  No wonder this pattern came to mind!


So I made view 4 with hardly any modifications.  The only adjustment I made was to take the side seams in a little bit extra.  I wasn't entirely scientific with this but I would guesstimate it was probably an extra 2/8" on each side.  Now while I am happy with how the blouse turned out I'm not sure if I like it on it's own like this.  I think I would prefer it tucked into a skirt of something.  I am thinking my Freddie of Pinewood dungarees or my Sew for Victory suspender skirt would look awesome.


I was always told that when buying vintage patterns to buy your exact measurements as they tend to not have as much ease in them as modern day patterns.  However, every time I have made a vintage pattern in my exact measurements I end up taking them in.  I have made a couple of vintage patterns that are a size down from my measurements and they fit perfectly.  So my question is have you had the same experience or is it a case of me not measuring my bust properly?

Life Since Baby

Hello, how are you? Long time no chat!  Since Miss Imogen entered our lives we have been taking some time to work things out and settle in.  It has been an interesting ride to say the least but we are taking it all as it comes and figuring it out together.  There have been a few fun things going on around here too so I though I would share some snippets of the past few weeks.  If you follow me on instagram (@petticoatsandpeplums) you have probably already seen these.

I arrived home from hospital to a parcel on my doorstep.  It was a couple of vintage dresses I had bough while on maternity leave.  They don't fit me just yet but they are inspiring me to get back into shape.  These were bought from RileyBella123 on etsy and I must say this store was a dream to buy from.  The sellers communication was incredibly helpful and prompt and the little sweater clip was included in my package as a free gift.

I was spoilt by my work colleagues with a gorgeous bunch of flowers.  The came packaged in a hat box which I was able to keep once the flowers deteriorated.

I have also been thanking my lucky stars for the amount of help Corey has given me.  There were a few nights after hospital he tended to Imogen so I could catch up on my sleep.  I thanked him with a pancake breakfast one morning.  He is seriously the most helpful husband in the whole world and I am so grateful to have him!

This past weekend was gorgeously sunny which called for my new hats first outing.  I am so in love with this hat and it was only $15 from Kmart.  Gotta love bargains!

My gorgeous sister came to visit last weekend and spent the majority of the weekend with Imogen snuggled into her chest just like this.  It was adorable to watch and I can't wait till she is here again in a couple of weeks.

While my sister was here we also went out for dinner to celebrate my birthday and I was able to squeeze into one of my vintage dresses.  To say I was stoked is a massive understatement! I currently fit into about 3 vintage dresses in my wardrobe.  The rest I are so fitted in the waist that it is probably going to be a while before they fit.

I managed to squeeze a small bit of sewing in while Imogen was taking a nap during the week.  More on this to come shortly.

On my birthday my parents came around with dinner and a delicious caramel mudcake that my mum made.  It was absolutely delicious and very much appreciated!

And I was massively spoilt by Corey with a new sewing machine for my birthday.  It's an Elna 5300.  It has 50 stitches and 3 different buttonholes.  I have read through the manual but haven't had a chance to sew on it yet.  Hopefully this weekend while Corey is home.  The other super exciting present I got was from my mum and dad - a ticket to A Chorus Line! My mum and I are going in December and I can't wait!!!

So we are starting to fall into some resemblance of a routine so hopefully this means I will have a little bit of time for some crafting and be able to share some more exciting things with you all soon.  Until then....

Vintage Caravan Cake

Last weekend we had a belated celebration for mum's birthday as she was on the Central Coast visiting her brother on her actual birthday.  Mum & Dad came to our house for dinner and we had soft chicken tacos and this delicious cake.

 

Mum and Dad are always talking about when in a few years time they are going to pack up and go travelling around Australia in a caravan.  Mum loves vintage caravans so I thought this would be the perfect cake for her.

I got the idea from this cake and it was pretty simple to recreate.  All it took was some fondant, a licorice roll, some food safe pens and one silver cachous.  I named the caravan Pos because that is my mum's nickname.  All her brothers and dad call her Pos and all my cousins call her Aunty Pos.

The cake was white chocolate mud cake and it was delicious!  I had to make Mum and Dad take the left overs home so I didn't spend the week eating cake.

I'm really happy with how this cake turned out.  This is the last birthday in my family before Squishy comes along so who knows when I will get to make another cake like this.  I have an idea for a nice simple cake for Corey's birthday in November and I am just hoping that I can manage to make it for him around looking after Squishy.

Baby Vintage

One of the most exciting parts of having a little girl is all the adorable vintage clothing that I can buy for her.  I have spent many hours searching through etsy and have had to exercise a lot of self control not to buy every cute thing that I find.  The other week though I finally gave in and purchased a few items for her.

I am pretty sure that sailor dress is my absolute favourite thing I have ever seen!  These all came from Perfectly Vintaged on etsy.  I also bought this cute top and pants set but I couldn't get a decent photo of it.  I am so excited to be able to dress Squishy in all these cute outfits.  But do you know what is even more exciting then buying vintage on etsy......being given my baby clothes to dress Squishy in!

When my mum gave me the boxes of stuff from my childhood one box contained a bunch of clothes.  These pictured above are just a few of my favourites.  It is going to be so much fun to dress Squishy in these clothes and take some photos to compare her to how I looked as a baby.  The denim dress above was the dress I wore on my first birthday. Too cute!  No doubt her vintage wardrobe is going to grow and grow along with mine.  Don't be surprised how if there are more posts like this in the future.

My New Vintage Dress

A few people said they were interested in seeing my new vintage dress I bought from Kitty's Vintage & Kitsch when we went up the mountain the other week.  I managed to convince Corey to take a few photos for me on Sunday before we went to the Farmers Markets.

Excuse the dodgy picture.  It was very early in the morning especially for a Sunday.  I was so happy that it was good weather that day though so I could crack out my new dress.  This week it has gone back to being really windy and little too cold.  Hopefully that won't last long because I am really looking forward to some Spring weather.

Plain Pattern Project #1

So the plain pattern project sew-a-long has started off very plain.  I made the first version of my pattern over the weekend with some thin cotton fabric I had in my stash.  I have had it for ages so I don't really remember what sort of fabric it is but it is really soft and light.

 

My pattern was vintage Butterick 2396 which I shared on my first PPP post here.  This pattern suits this sew-a-long perfectly because it is very plain indeed.  It has very little shaping to the body.  The best feature of this top are the buttons that run down the back.  This is actually what drew me to this pattern in the first place.

Even though it looks boring as bat shit on the coat hanger it looks a lot better on.  Here is how I wore it to work today.

 

I already have plans for my next two versions and I think they will both turn out heaps better than this version.  Even though this version is still wearable it is a little plain and boring for my tastes.  For my next versions I think I will adjust the shaping and fit quite a bit.  I also have some great ideas of how to take this pattern from plain and boring to fun & exciting.  

Daily Style - Farmers Market Morning

This weekend was relatively quiet. We had our nephews first birthday on Saturday then spent Saturday night at my aunties house. Sunday we got up early to go to the farmers markets with my parents then just stopped into a few shops and hung around home for the afternoon. This is the first time I have worn this dress because when I bought it it was a little big. It has taken me a few months to finally do the alterations on it.

Dress: Kitty's Vintage Kitsch

Boots: Rubi Shoes (on their last legs)

Belt: H&M

I am so glad I finally got around to altering this dress. I altered a few other things while I was at it too. Now I have some brand new things to wear! It has satisfied my urge to go shopping for a little while which is good because we need to save as much as possible for the wedding. Only 2.5 months to go!

Daily Style - Scouts Honour

Today we went to Greazefest which is a rockabilly festival in Brisbane. It was a really fun day out and I have some photos to share but first I wanted to share my dress that I wore. I bought this dress as a present to myself for getting a new job. I actually bought two dresses but I wanted to share this one first because it is awesome.

It's an authentic vintage Girl Scouts uniform made in the USA. According to my research it was made between the mid 1950's to 1968.

This patch below the numbers was only issued between 1955 and 1960 which narrows the timeline down a little more.

This patch is the Juliette Low Centennial Patch which was issued to celebrate the 100th birthday of the found of the Girl Scouts in the USA.

I believe that these gold stars are issued to Senior Girl Scouts for their leadership work.

I would love to learn more about this uniform and I would really love to know where troop 137 was based. When I google troop 137 it comes up with both Nassau County and Brownsberg, Indiana so I am not too sure which it would be. Or it could have been somewhere else entirely!

50s Head Scarf Tutorial

Today I whipped up a little project that I have been wanting to do for quite some time and thought why not put a little tutorial together for you guys at the same time. This project is super quick and a great way to use up fabric scraps. This took me half an hour to make even with stopping to take photos. I hope you enjoy it!

Now the first thing you will need to do is fold your headscarf. I am sure everyone knows how to do this but just in case I put together a quick photo tutorial to help you out.

And from here it is really easy. Just follow these simple steps....

And that is just how simple it is to have a new hair accessory in no time at all. If you use this tutorial to make a head scarf let me know in the comments so I can check it out. Enjoy!