we’re back with week 2 of vintage may!  last week, Jess and i launched this year’s festivities with a joint photoshoot with our little gals, and today, we both decided it’d be fun to sew vintage-inspired looks for ourselves!

i decided to sew a look inspired by the female propaganda icon of World War II, Rosie the Riveter.

“Rosie” was the face of a government campaign to bring women to the workforce to take on jobs traditionally done by men while they were away at war – especially in munitions and aviation factories.  it portrayed factory work as patriotic, and Rosie has since been adopted as a symbol of women’s strength and feminism.  i can get behind that!  the expectation was that women would return to their former jobs/lives after the war, but the symbol of Rosie lived on, as women realized they could do work traditionally done by men and they could do it well!

in doing the research for this post i saw that the “we can do it” poster commonly associated with Rosie the Riveter isn’t actually supposed to depict her which is a bit confusing, so hey, let’s talk about the clothes.

 

i wanted to make an outfit that nodded to Rosie’s traditional blues, but could be worn as present-day wardrobe staples as well.  i used Grainline Patterns to create both the shirt and the shorts.  it was the first time i’d used Grainline garment patterns (i sewed a Portside Duffle around Christmas) and i’m totally in love with these clothes!  i keep finding excuses to wear them!  i’m now a Grainline groupie!

the shirt is the Archer, sewn in a navy swiss dot from Mill End.  i sewed a size 8 straight up and it fits great.  it’s flattering and easy to wear and i love wearing it.  i actually used the Archer sew along on the Grainline website as my instructions – the one thing i noticed with Grainline is the actual pattern instructions are pretty bare bones, but Jen does a great job of posting photo sewalongs on her website that even include Wes Anderson-style videos for the trickier parts.  love that.

a button down shirt is the kind of garment where taking your time on the details really pays off and it can be intimidating; but the result is just so great it was worth the time and effort for sure.

aaaaand since i’m not quite back to my normal shape around the midsection and need to be able to nurse a baby on a moment’s notice, it’s a perfect wardrobe staple for me right now.  i definitely need more Archers in my closet!

now the shorts!  they are the Maritime Shorts, also by Grainline, also in an 8 with no modifications.  and again, there is a sewalong, which i used as my instructions and loved (especially since i got stuck on step 1 – be sure to snip into your seam allowance BEFORE you try to match those curves up!).  this was my first time inserting a zip fly and though i have no photos of it finished, it went in great!  like a dream!  new technique mastered.

i’ve actually been struggling with finding good shorts most of my adult life – i don’t want to look like a teenager but i don’t want knee-length either, and most of the shorts i go try on are either too short/tight or too long/matronly.  i love how these fit.  maybe i’d add a tiny amount of length next time but they’re not uncomfortably short for me by any means!  i sewed them in a nice chambray (again from Mill End) and they’re super comfy.  ready for summer!

my headscarf is just a 31″ square of red polka dot cotton (similar here).

now as badass Rosie, i INSIST you go check out Jess’s creation.  she looks so great in her vintage-inspired wear.  and hey, she took my photos today!  super fun to have a fellow sewing blogger as photographer – too bad she lives so far away and we can’t do it more often!  thank you so much, Jess!