vintage may 3 starts today!
Jess and i are excited to kick the festivities off with projects for our little gals. i’m calling my look “the midcentury traveler.” my imaginary backstory is that E is getting ready to catch a train to go summering back east with her grandparents in the late 1950s or early 1960s.
and guess what? she’s taking her best friend with her!
happy May Day! Jess and i decided today would be the perfect day to announce the return of our series, Vintage May!
this is year three for Vintage May! wow, that flew. year one we focused on kid clothes – you can see my roundup here. last year we celebrated both adult and kid clothes – you can see my round up here! we both really love putting on this series together and celebrating vintage/retro style with you – sew from vintage patterns, fabrics, inspired by the fashion of days gone by – it’s all fair game.
the series will run from May 12 – 23 and Jess and i are pulling together a fun giveaway at the end, too – be sure to follow me (bloglovin, feedly, Facebook, etc.) so you don’t miss a thing!
we’ve lined up an all new fabulous group of guests this year…here they are (in no particular order)!
TrueBias :: One Girl Circus :: Cut Cut Sew :: Petit á Petit and Family :: Sewing Like Mad :: JoJo & Eloise :: Groovybaby…and Mama :: Leximade :: Buzzmills :: Welcome to the Mouse House :: Oliver’s Fancy :: Sew Pony :: Stitched Together :: Emmyloubeedoo :: Girl Like the Sea :: Sanae Ishida
also, the reason we’re announcing this a bit early is we’d love to have you join us! it’s always so fun seeing people sew along, and we like to round up your projects too! please add your project photos to the vintage may flickr group. and if you’d like a sneak peek of what’s inspiring our guests, check out our collective pinterest board.
here’s a sneak peek of what i’ve been working on…
and be sure to head over to craftiness is not optional for a peek from Jess, too!
we’re so excited!
so i’m blogging this one, and i’ll wear it, but i’m a bit disappointed in it.
it’s the fabric. i’ve made this mistake a couple times – i get drawn in by the softness and drapeyness of knit blends with modal in them, and each time i’ve sewn with that stuff i learn how difficult it is. it moves, it stretches, and it clings to the body in not-so-great ways. the other project i made with it never got blogged, it was so unwearable. it’s just so pretty on the bolt!
the pattern is my free scoop top pattern. i’d been hankering to sew for myself again (it’s the spring top sewalong and selfish sewing week after all!) so i grabbed this fabric out of my stash on a whim. unfortunately, all knits are not created equal, and this one just wasn’t right for the project. sigh. i really like the color and it’s fine layered with a cardigan, but getting a clean-looking hem just wasn’t possible here. if you make a scoop top, promise you’ll use something a little more stable and a less slinky, okay? like a nice jersey. the rayon jersey i used for this one seems to be the most successful, wearability-wise.
see that weird, wavy hem? ugh.
also, the neckline stretched waaaaaay out and didn’t snap back, even after a spritz with water and a toss in the dryer. it’s the scoopiest scoop top ever, and not on purpose.
i sewed something for myself, though! it’s still so rare for me, it’s always a bit exciting. since this top, i’ve made a couple of very successful self-sewing projects i can’t wait to show you…but i’ll just need to hold my horses until the proper month!
i’ve gotten in the habit lately (ohhhhh in the last two months or so) of combining a little handmade thing with a store-bought gift for new babies. i love giving handmade gifts and i’d love to sew more elaborate things for these special little ones, but i’m a bit short on time these days and everything always feels last minute.
here are a couple examples.
for good friends that just had a baby girl, an outfit i would have loved for Em to wear as a baby – a lap shirt locally made by a little lark, some babylegs, and a baby circle skirt! mostly neutral colors with feminine touches, and just a smidge of coral pink. 😉
i referenced Dana’s free pattern and tutorial for the skirt, but bound the hem with chambray bias tape to finish it.
for another friend’s baby shower, i bought a trio of classic board books, and made a couple bibs using my free bib pattern.
she doesn’t know if she’s having a boy or a girl, so i kept them as gender-neutral as possible (so hard to do – everything always ends up looking either boyish or girlish to me). i backed both bibs in gray ikea towel. the ones i made when O was a baby worked well for the baby spit up phase and still fit him now for popsicles and such, so i know they’ll last a while.
i added a cloud appliqué to the top one. i love adding appliqué to bibs, and i always forget how quick and fun these bibs are to make. great scrap buster! these fabrics are from my hospital bag lining and Em’s “karate dress” as she calls it.
do you have a quick go-to baby gift?
my little niece turned 3 recently, and a couple weeks before her birthday my sis asked me if i could sew a quilted pillow to go in her “big girl room.” she gave me a sham from the bedding set she had ordered to coordinate with, and set me loose design-wise. her new bedding was inspired by the balloon dress i made that she seems to be wearing every time i see her lately – it sure does make you feel good to sew a gift that is so well loved, ya know? i was actually going to sew her another dress until this request came in. 😉
i decided to make a simple log cabin pillow showcasing some special fabric. i wanted it to have enough contrast to stand out against the pink/cream balloon bedding my sis had bought (see below) didn’t want it to be too serious – it had to have whimsy! and i happen to think typewriters typing hearts with gold polka dots is pretty darn whimsical.
my friend Kelly (nope, Kelly says not her – probably Jess but she can’t remember) had given me a fat quarter of this super special Ruby Star Rising typewriter fabric (Melody Miller for Kokka – couldn’t find the typewriters online but Superbuzzy and Miss Matatabi have some Ruby Star Rising left). it was so generous of her – i’d never owned any of Melody’s fabric but always admired it, and i’m ridiculously excited about cotton + steel, too!
it pained me to do it, but i trimmed off a few inches on each side, then added a 1” border of dear stella confetti sparkle and then a 1.5” border of kona charcoal.
i backed it with more confetti sparkle and a scrap of kokka polka dots from this coat. i ended up super happy with this fabric combination…it just made me smile when i brought it all together.
the quilting is a diagonal grid 2” apart – consulted Jess for quilting advice and whether to add the second boarder, sometimes I have trouble with quilting vision and she has it in spades. it’s hard to show in photos but i love how the darker border splits up the polka dots and makes the front look like it’s floating in a frame.
i also made a little raw edged heart pillow with scraps from Em’s hide-and-seek dress. it’s got a little Liberty pocket for secret treasures (or maybe baby teeth, when it’s time for her to lose some!). Em stuffed it for me!
i felt like it needed a special (wonkily) hand stitched touch, so i stitched around the bottom right typewriter heart with embroidery thread. the pillow closes with an invisible zipper and there’s a down pillow inside (from IKEA).
the little gal seemed to be a fan and it went really well in her room! these photos were actually taken in Em’s new room (she switched with the boys before C’s birth but i can’t do a proper tour for ya until i sew her some curtains, sorry).
quilted pillows are such a fun gift to give!
skirt as top 