Butterick Hollywood-Inspired Challenge

Butterick is having its 150th anniversary this year and they are having a contest to celebrate. Create a vintage-inspired garment based on one of their current patterns and you can win some cool swag. For more info, visit the challenge webpage. The challenge ends June 20, 2013, so plenty of time to sew!

I would LOVE to enter this, if I can find some time. An obvious choice would be to pick something from their retro line. But, a quick look at some of their other patterns shows a lot of promise as well. My favorite is the Marfy tunic and skirt. This could easily be modified into a 1920s or 30s dress, don't you think?

Craftsy Classes on Sale until Sept 17

Just got an email today that Craftsy classes are on sale for $19.99 until Sept. 17th. So many rockabillies are DIYers so I thought I'd put this out in the blogosphere. Here are some of my faves:

Sew Retro Perfect Bombshell Dresses

Drab to Fab Furniture Upcycling

Product Photography Primer

Vintage Style Pom Pom Hat Tutorial

I just LOVE this adorable pom pom hat featured on Grosgrain! The tutorial is easy to follow and very visual. I am thinking that there are so many other materials one could use for this. Perhaps tulle or chiffon for a more elegant feel? Or maybe recycled sweaters?

Washing Vintage with Va-Voom Vintage

The absolutely charming Brittany at Va-Voom Vintage just posted a very thorough and informative blog post about washing vintage, including a breakdown by fabric. Do yourself a favor and visit the post here!

Butterick Rockabilly Retro Pattern on Sale

Butterick has weekly $2.99 sales on their patterns and this week is a cute retro pattern B5707. This pattern is on sale until 12/25. I love the neck treatment with the bow!

Free Vintage Apron Pattern

Bramcost Publications is having a fun 12 days of vintage handmade party where they are posting free patterns from their various vintage books. Todays post is a free vintage apron pattern that is super cute and not very difficult to sew.

Sale on Sewing Patterns

V8728

McCalls, Butterick and Vogue are having a big sewing pattern sale that ends today. Butterick and McCalls patterns are $2.88 and Vogue is $3.88. There are a ton of great retro and historical patterns right now. Here are some of my favorites:

 V2903

B5209

V2961

B5435

M5094

Retro Butterick 4790 WalkAway Dress Sew-a-Long

I am SO excited! Remember my post a few days ago on the nifty tutorial for the Walk-Away dress on Edelweisspatterns.com? Well she is doing a sew-a-long! Be sure to see her sew-a-long post on it to join in.

Retro Butterick 4790 WalkAway Dress Tutorial

I haven't had a chance to make this pattern yet, but I had a friend who did and she had to do all kinds of crazy things to it to make it fit right. Well, this post on Edelweiss Patterns blog explains why the pattern is so tricky and gives a tutorial on how to fix that. According to Katrina's post, the pattern companies don't regrade the original vintage patterns, but make "adjustments" for the modern woman (she got this tidbit from a McCall's pattern maker). So the tip is to choose the pattern size by your collarbone measurement and grade the rest of the pattern out.

It may sound a bit funny, but it really works! The blog post explains everything and has pictures (thank goodness!). Be sure to see her second dress attempt for an even cuter version! Also, she is toying with the idea of a sew-along for this pattern, so if you are interested please visit the second version post and leave a message.

1949 Skirt Re-Pattern Giveaway (closed)

Laura on Sew Retro has re-patterned a gorgeous 1949 skirt with bow (above) and is giving away a copy of her pattern. To enter the giveaway visit the Sew Retro blog.

Free Vintage Sewing Pattern

Thanks to the blog A Few Threads Loose, I can repost the link to this beautiful vintage pattern that is available free on the German site Neu4bar. I would suggest this for an intermediate to advanced sewer because some of the writing is in German, but can be figured out if you are familiar with garment construction. I converted the pattern measurements from cm to inches and they are: b-40" w-32"  h-42.5". Don't forget my posts on resizing patterns to grade up or down!

New Vintage Vogue Pattern

Vogue just came out with their new patterns for summer and I am loving Vintage Vogue pattern V8728 from 1946. I have a soft spot for the gathered chest next to a fitted waist look. I could see this dress as a bridesmaids dress at a summer wedding with the right material.

I am not thrilled with the material they used for the live model picture. It is a jersey knit (one of their suggested materials), which is odd to me. It seems like a jersey would be comfortable, but not really enhance the crispness and fullness of the gathers.  I do ADORE the live model's hair though. It's like a double roll, but one of the "rolls" is actually a deep wave and the larger roll looks like it almost be half a pompadour. It looks like a sea sculpture. Love it!

Tart Deco Mother's Day Sale

I have put a few items in my store on sale, including my vintage teacup pincushions and hanky sets. The sale runs until May 7th so get your goodies while they last!

Retro Butterick Pattern $3 this week

For those of you vintage bloggers that sew, you can get Butterick pattern 5605 is on sale this week for $2.99 online. The sale goes to March 20th.

BTW, they are also hiring a patternmaker in N.Y.

Blog Spotlight- Sew Weekly

I just adore this blog! Sew Weekly is a project blog by the talented and very creative Mena Trott to create a wardrobe sewn by her. Her taste is very vintage inspired and she usually uses vintage patterns and recycles/upcycles vintage items from thrift stores. I also like how she gives you very specific information about each piece and what inspired her to make it.

I have been reading this blog for a while, but the holiday dress she posted about recently was fabulous and I knew I had to blog about it and spread the retro-sewing love! This dress was made with a vintage 60s pattern and a tablecloth. Love, love, love it!

I have a pink scalloped tablecloth I bought to make a dress and I am so inspired by Mena's post that I may have to move it to the top of my "to sew" list.

Make sure you stop by her blog to see her other creations. Here's another of my favorites- An American in Paris Combo.

Butterick 5579 Retro Apron Pattern On Sale til 12/19

Hey vintage sewing fans! This pattern is on sale through Butterick online for $2.99 until Dec. 19th. It's a newer pattern and I love the idea of bringing back 1 yard apron patterns. If you pick it up, let me know. I haven't gotten it yet and I am curious about it.

I Own That?!? Seasonal Clothing

pic from loweroaklawn.com

Continuing with my closet obsession, I have recently discovered the joys of rotating one's wardrobe for the season. I don't really know why I haven't done this before- most likely because when I was younger I didn't have enough clothes to rotate and once I did I was paranoid that I would store something I would end up needing and then have to wade through my storage space to find it.

No longer am I a slave to my unfounded fears because I have jumped into the cravice of clothing storage and I like it! No pumas! (If you get that reference you get cool points)

The beauty of going through the process of choosing clothes to store is that you almost always will find something you forgot you had. I totally found a cute shirt I don't remember buying at all! Plus, I always tend to keep wearing the same things because they are returned to the forefront of my closet and are easier to grab again. I came up with all kinds of fun outfit ideas as I went through everything, as well as started a mental list of what would be needed to complete some more outfits.

BUT before you start tossing your clothes into a box with visions of closet space dancing in your head, be sure to follow a few steps so you aren't surprised by a stinky (or mothy) box full of stuff when you unpack again at the next seasonal switch:

1. Make sure everything is clean. Even if you only wore it once you should wash it again. Have you ever seen a vintage garment that is in almost perfect condition except shredded armpits? That's from your body, dearie, and it will erode away at your dainties and attract bugs. Even if you can't see it, it's there- trust me.
2. Pick the right storage box. Cardboard may be cheap but it won't protect your cherished pretties. I decided to go with a plastic bin with a lid that attached firmly and tightly. I used masking tape and a sharpie to mark it as seasonal clothes (so I can find it and not weird out- see above)
3. To help keep bugs from feasting on your wardrobe delights stay away from icky toxic moth balls and go natural. Use herbs known for repelling pests, like rosemary, cloves, and mint. I got some dried herbs from a natural food store (they can be used to brew tea too) and put a mixture of about 1/2 cup in a ribbon sachet I made. Another option is to use nylon leg and tie it at the top, then put that inside a circle of light cotton material and close up with a pretty ribbon. Place it at the top of the bin so the smell is strongest where the bugs could get in. If you want to get really fancy you can wrap your clothes in acid free tissue paper.
4. Try to store the bin in a place that is well-ventilated so must or mold doesn't form and dark so ultra-violet light doesn't get through. [I found this out through research kids, I have no idea about how ultra-violet light travels or attacks your clothes invisibly. Too high-tech for me!]
5. For good measure, use this semi-annual culling as an excuse to go through your stuff for donations. I found at least 3-4 things that I was able to part with this time around, plus a couple more that I kept but mentally tagged for future consideration.

So there you are! Go commune with your closet and enjoy the extra 3-5 inches on your clothing rod. That's room for at least one more crinoline!

New Vogue Pattern Down With Love

I just got the email that Vogue has come out with its new Fall/Winter patterns and there is one Vintage Vogue pattern that I am SO going to get when there is a sale- Vogue 8687.

This pattern looks like it was used verbatim for the Down With Love movie. You know that scene where Renee Zellweger's character walks into the bar with her book publicist, played by the delightful Sarah Paulson,  and they have dresses that match each others' coats? Yep, that one!

pic from http://www.smh.com.au

50s Circle Skirt Tutorial

I am so excited about this post about 50s circle skirts on Casey's Elegant Musings! She actually scanned pages from a vintage Smart Sewing booklet with directions and ideas to make your own skirts. Thank you Casey!!!

Tart Up Your Sewing Room

Hold on to your hats! I have gotten addicted to making teacup pincushions. I made one for an apron swap I am in right now and it was so fun I made more. A LOT more. So I am going to start selling them in my online Tart Deco store on etsy.

DuBarry's Delight

This teacup is especially wonderful because it has 3 claw feet. I made the cushion smaller to see the flower detail inside the rim of the cup. The pink flower is included, but not attached.

Sherbert Tart

A candy-colored cushion with handmade ribbon flower and glass raspberry affixed on top. Comes with decorative paper flowers, not attached. There is a lovely ornamental pedestal bottom on the teacup.

 Red Velvet Daintie

This is my favorite so far and the most unusual. A half-moon pin cushion of red velvet and vintage lace allows a flower detail to peek out from the inside of this bone china teacup. The cup also has a pedestal bottom that fits gently into the matching saucer.

All the pincushions come with matching saucers that are not attached, but can be at your request. To lay claim to one of the above lovelies visit my Tart Deco etsy shop or click on the title of each pincusion for a direct link.