1950's Hand-Sewn Leather Gloves

As you might already know, I have been away from my home and my sewing machine for a great part in the past two months. While I used some of my spare time improving my drawing skills, I also made sure I always had a little hand-sewing project along. This was one of those:

I know, I know: We are all ready for summer, but when I started them, it was still chilly. And it seemed like too much fun to pass up...

I found the pattern in one of my 1950's magazines:

The 1938 Dress: Finished! Vote and Win!

If you are here to vote and win, just scroll down to the second half of the post! :-))

So this is the finished dress from my 1938 magazine:

A Blazer for Mom

My mom has always been the biggest promoter, sponsor and motivator of my creative undertakings, no matter what field they happened to be in. So it is no surprise she also gave me a little push onto the next level in sewing: making a tailored garment for someone other than myself... She also insisted on being my first "real" customer, wanting to pay for it. At this point Mom, I apologize for how long you had to wait for this!
She expressed her wish for a blazer in Spring, and I only now got done with it... But then again, we live 800 kilometers apart from each other...

I knew this project was going to stretch my abilities a bit, a blazer is a difficult garment to begin with, and to fit it perfectly, there have to be several fittings... First, we decided on a general shape and pattern to base the blazer on. I didn't want to have to make the pattern from scratch, as that would have probably taken me an extra 5 years...

We took the 50's blazer that some of you already know from my 1950's Travel Set as a first guideline:

There were plenty of adjustments to be made. I made a muslin for a first fitting, which went surprisingly well and we actually only needed one additional fitting after that.
We changed the sleeves from 3/4 to full length and I added a sleeve vent to it - which was a first for me and I struggled a bit with making the pattern for it...

Making Shoes! #1

As promised, here comes my post about how to make your own shoes!
I found this amazing booklet:

It must be from the 40's, by the look of it (the print), the aesthetics and the content. It is called "Die Schuhnot" which translates basically into "Shoe Shortage", and teaches how women could make their own shoes with left-over materials they had at hand - torn clothes, fabric scraps, pieces of leather, twine, cardboard. It is mainly about making house shoes, but in the second part, there are definitely some that could be used outside, too.

UPDATE: A dear reader commented that the booklet could actually be from the time of the first world war, and she is probably right. Even though I have to say some of my pattern magazines from the late 30's and early 40's still do use the old print (Frakturschrift - anyone know this term in English?), the shoe styles of the booklet are a pointer to the late 1910's, right?

Me-Made-Mittwoch #10!

Here is one of my "Classics". The blouse and skirt are both from a travel set from 1953. You can read a little more about it HERE on this blog, or a little more about it in my BurdaStyle studio HERE. They are both made of fancy silk fabrics and a treat to wear. The pattern for the sunhat comes from the June 2009 issue of ANNA. As much as I have fallen in love with hats, I'm not sure I will wear it today. I like the shape, but not the fabric I used. It is too "country-side" for the city :-) I think I will make it again in about a dozen solid colors though.
I took the picture yesterday evening, and yes, of course I ironed the skirt today before putting it on...

Cat-and-Kascha came up with this idea, and you can join us anytime!
And if you want to see the other me-made-Mittwoch outfits (Mittwoch = Wednesday), click HERE.
Have a lovely Wednesday everyone! I will be terribly busy again, but I am looking forward to visiting your blogposts this evening!

Me-Made-Mittwoch #2!

Here it is again, Me-Made-Mittwoch! Mittwoch is German for Wednesday, and I love this idea. While it really is easier than doing a whole month at a time (as in Me-Made-May, Self-Stitched-September, in case you don't know what I'm talking about...), it does give me a good opportunity to incorporate my own stuff into my daily wardrobe. Eventually, I want this to be the case every single day of the year...
I made this blouse, it's a Burda pattern you can find out more about in my BurdaStyle studio. The blazer is from my 1953 travel set, blogged about HERE, and in my BurdaStyle studio HERE.
There is also the tiniest little me-made-detail on my shoe, which you can only see if I sit down. One of the buttons fell off and where are you going to find that exact one? Well, I put on a tiny crochet flower I once made with the tiniest crochet hook I own...
For styling enthusiasts - I am a real beginner myself... - the colour of your socks make a much bigger difference on your outfit than you might think! :-)

Vintage Pattern Plaid Blouse

Isn't it funny how some outfits just seem to tell you where to take them? For some reason this one makes me want to spend a whole day in the library.

I know I am a bit late to jump on the wagon for the tie-front blouses... I had meant to make this one for so long, but other projects kept interfering. I used a blouse pattern from 1953 that I had made once already for my travel set (you can read about it here).

My 10 Piece Winter Travel Set!

About a year ago, I found a 10 piece travel set in a magazine from 1953. I loved it so much - all the pieces, as well as the idea of having 10 home sewn pieces that can be combined with each other - that I have decided to come up with my very own 2011 version.

Here is the one from 1953 (and yes, I did sew every single piece of it!):

Source: Vorbachs Neue Moden, Heft 5, 1953

And here are my 10 pieces: