Mom's Sewing Machine

While I was at my mom's last week, I took a good look at her sewing machine.  Mom's machine is a Kenmore with a built-in cabinet, circa about 1963 or '64 - she doesn't remember exactly when she got it, but it was either just before or just after I was born.  The top of the table opens out, and then you swing the sewing machine up from underneath.  Mom told me she and my dad paid $150 for this machine back then - a lot of money for a young couple!  But she felt it had paid for itself many times over the years.

I have so many wonderful memories of this machine.  My first sewing machine experience was in my 7th grade Home Ec. class, but I liked it so much that I continued to sew on this machine afterwards, with Mom's help.  Throughout junior high and high school, and on into college, I sewed my own clothes on this machine. Later when Mom and my brother got me my own sewing machine as a gift, they got me a Kenmore.  It was so easy to use because everything was in the same place and worked the same as Mom's machine.  However, Mom's machine is ALL metal - it takes some muscle to lift it up out of that cabinet!

We had fun looking at the stitch cams and the attachments.  This machine uses round "cams" for the different decorative zigzag stitches.  There's a different stitch for the front and back of the cam.  I'm not really sure how these work but the edges are like cogs, and each one is different - like a key.

I only ever used the plain zigzag, which is in the machine (you can see it in the second photo).  But Mom said she did use a couple of these more decorative stitches.

Another thing I never used was the fancy attachments that came with the machine - in fact, I'm not sure I ever knew she had them!  And even if I did know, back then I wouldn't have known what they were used for.  I was really impressed with the assortment of feet that came with the machine - some of these I don't even have on my newer machines, but wish I did!  I took pictures of all of them:

Not only a narrow hem foot, but:

1/4" hem foot,

3/8" hem foot,

5/8" hem foot and

7/8" hem foot!  Jealous!!

Bias binding attacher!

Gathering foot.

Straight stitch foot.

Edgestitcher.  Not sure how this one works!

Ruffler!!

Quilting guide.

One attachment I did use was the buttonholer.  I like this one because it has such great grip on the back:

I used the zipper foot a lot too, but forgot to take a picture of it.  I much prefer the Kenmore zipper foot to the ones that come with the Janome.

All the cams and presser feet fit neatly into a little box for storage:

Along with the instruction manual:

And the manual is full of cute illustrations and chatty text, a la 1960s:

Fun with attachments!

When I was a little girl, one of my favorite things to do was dump out the coffee can where Mom kept all her old buttons and look at each one.  Getting out her sewing machine and all its pieces was the grown-up equivalent!

Did any of you grow up with an adult who sewed?  Do you have fond memories or stories about the machine you grew up with or learned on?

The Happy Accident Skirt

When I went shopping for skirt fabric last week, all I knew was that I wanted corduroy.  I really didn't have a particular color in mind, and when I came across this shade I thought it wouldn't really go with much.  But I loved the color so much I couldn't leave the store without it. 

Happily, it turns out I was wrong!  When I got home, I realized it went with my new Renfrew, and I was pretty excited.  But yesterday after I finished the skirt, I went digging in my closet and came up with about ten different sweaters and tops that look great with this color!  So now I'm even more excited!  This morning I did a little outfit roundup of my favorites from the pile.

You'll notice that I left this skirt pretty long.  The first time I made this pattern I took quite a bit off the bottom, but for winter I'm kind of digging mid-calf skirts and dresses over tall boots.  Of course, not one of these looks incorporates tall boots, LOL!

First up, the full-sleeved Renfrew, along with my beloved Frye Carson Oxfords (SO comfy) and winter white legs:

Next, with the "Betty" sweater I made two years ago and have worn . . . never!  Such a pity because I love this sweater!  But I never had a skirt I felt looked good with it - until now!  It's such a cropped style that it requires a skirt (or pants) with a higher waistline like this one.   These Cuban-heeled Seychelles "Scene of the Crime" pumps are from 3 years ago.  They were sold at Anthropologie under the style name "Ancient Woods Heels."

I'm pretty excited about the next one - look how great this color goes with my latest Archer shirt!!  It's like they were made for each other!  Also, I'm wearing this sequinned leather belt I bought from Loft years ago and haven't been able to wear much, because it's waist-sized and most of my jeans and pants hit me at the hip.  Glad to have a use for it, as I think it's a very pretty belt.

And finally, here's my very favorite look.  This is a sweater I bought probably ten years ago from Anthropologie.  It's always been one of my favorite pieces, and I used to wear it quite often when I was still teaching.  I haven't worn it for a couple years though because it's a little small on me now, and so has to be worn as a top rather than as a cardigan.  The colors in the print are just perfect with this corduroy - I'm so excited to be able to make an outfit with this sweater again!  The shoes are Kensington Suede Loafers from J. Crew probably 5 or 6 years ago.  I think they are so amazing - I bought them in three colors (black, aubergine and the vicuna shown here) and I'm so glad I did.  I wear them all more frequently than I do a lot of my fabulous shoes, because they are actually quite comfortable.

By this time, I was getting tired of changing clothes, but here's a little peek at another old sweater that looks great with this skirt.  This one is probably about ten years old too, a floral printed lambswool/angora cardigan from Boden that I used to wear all the time.

So, what a happy accident!  Probably it wasn't an accident at all - I guess all these items were tucked away in some deep corner of my memory, which nudged me on to pick up this fabric.   Does this ever happen to any of you?  You're drawn to a fabric and can't figure out why, and later you discover it fills in a hole in your closet?

Zippity Doo Dah!

I decided to take a "sewing day" today - i.e. ignore the housework I ought to be doing and work on a skirt instead.   It seems like it's been forever since I sewed, even though I made a dress last week and a t-shirt the week before that.  I think that's because both those garments were made with the serger (except for the hem of the dress), so it has been quite a while since I've used my sewing machine.

The skirt started out as a "Murphy's Law" skirt.  I bought some really pretty curry-colored cotton corduroy last week at JoAnn's with the intent of making a Hollyburn.  I was so excited about it that I washed and dried it the very next day, but when I ironed it, I discovered that there was a half-inch wide faded stripe running down the center of two of my three yards!

It doesn't look super noticeable in this picture, but trust me - it really is in real life.  And not only that!  There was a "bald spot" in the middle of the fabric:

Grrrrr.  I guess this $4.49/yard fabric wasn't such a bargain after all.  I considered taking it back, but then decided that I'd use it to make a different skirt because I love the color, and it goes perfectly with that full-sleeved Renfrew I made:

So today I got out my McCall's 6409 (1962), cut everything out and got started.  I'm making the same view I made this spring, the least full one.  Because of that faded spot, I had to shift the zipper from the side seam to the back so I wouldn't have to cut the back on the fold.  I added my 5/8" seam allowance with the help of my quilter's ruler:

Despite its flaws, the fabric is really quite nice - soft and drapey.  I didn't want to add extra bulk at the seam allowances, so instead of serging them like I usually do, I did a stitch-n-pink, which is more in line with the vintage of the pattern anyway:

I wanted to do an invisible zipper like I usually do - it's my favorite kind because of the clean look.  But I didn't have one on hand, and it was raining cats and dogs so I didn't feel like running out to get one.  But I did have a regular zipper, so I settled on doing Sunni's lapped zipper technique from her Craftsy class.  And boy, am I glad I did!

I've been avoiding lapped zippers for years because they always end up looking kind of funky.  But Sunni's technique provides a very clean, professional look.  Check it out:

Have you guys tried this yet?  This is not the way I learned to do it back in the day - it is SO much better.  I never thought I would say this, but I think I might be a Lapped Zipper Convert! 

Also, can I just say:  I'm very proud of myself that I thought things through and made it so the opening is toward my right.  Usually I just dive in without thinking and end up getting things backwards.

I'm going to turn my attention to knitting for the rest of the afternoon, but with any luck, I'll finish this in the next couple days.

A Plain Dress

I haven't had much time or inclination lately to do a lot of sewing.  But on Wednesday I got the bug, and I had a free day.  So I made up a dress I've been thinking about for a long time:  a lengthened version of the Dixie DIY Ballet Dress I've made 3 times already (one of which I never even blogged).

When I made my last Girl Charlee order over the summer, I bought 3 yards of Olive Green Solid cotton/spandex.  My aim was to make a dress similar to one I had about 20 years ago (yikes!) and wore to death - just a simple, olive green, mid-calf length t-shirt dress.  This fabric was billed on the GC site as midweight, but of course it's not that heavy.  Can you tell I'm getting discouraged with their offerings?  So many times the fabrics I've received have not been what I thought I would be getting.  But I digress . . .

I read a lot of reviews before buying the Ballet Dress pattern that said the sleeves were quite wide. I  know that Dixie updated the pattern a while ago and slimmed them down.  But I decided to use the 3/4 sleeve pattern from the Renfrew tee, mostly because I had never bothered to trace the longer sleeve from the Ballet Dress pattern and the Renfrew sleeve was sitting there, ready to go.  I did walk the sleeve cap around the armscye before cutting, to make sure the two would go together, and it's a perfect fit!

To lengthen the skirt, I extended the center front and side seam lines by a lot - 14 inches, because I wasn't really sure how much longer I wanted it to be.  After the dress was put together, I ended up chopping off three inches, then turning the hem back by 1.25".  I fused Fine Fusible Knit Stay Tape to the hemline before turning it back, just to see how I liked it.  And it did give me a nice, firm yet flexible edge for hemming.  I chose to do a zigzag hem rather than coverstitch because I had a little bit of thread left from another project that was almost the same color.

The rest of the dress was constructed entirely on the serger.  The only other change I made was to lengthen the neckline binding like I did before, to 19.5".  I see in my notes from that dress that I ought to have increased my swayback adjustment, but didn't remember until after the dress was done!

The shape of the dress is just what I had in mind.  I only wish the fabric were a little heavier; it clings to all my lumpy bits and is more revealing than I'm comfortable with.  I chose the least revealing photo, and I'm wearing tights and a slip underneath:

Still, it's a good dress for layering with my knitwear, like this:

Outfit details:  Sweater:  Evie by Kim Hargreaves; belt:  Loft, old; boots:  Born Tatiana, old; scarf:  Vera Neumann, super old!

This is one of my collection of vintage Vera scarves.  I've probably got about 45 of them at this point.  I just love her artwork.  This one is quite large, and all silk.

Lately it seems all I want to do is knit, and I've succumbed to a bout of Start-it-itis.  But I did manage to finish something, and took photos today while I had this dress on, so I'll be sharing that one tomorrow.

Do you guys ever try to recreate garments you had years ago?  I usually shy away from any of the styles I wore in the '90s, but the original dress (from Tweeds mail-order catalog - anybody else remember that?) was such a simple shape, it's really pretty timeless.  I'd like to do this dress in other colors, if I can find some heavier knits to work with.

Winter Sport Fashions

A couple weeks ago, my mom told me she found an old knitting magazine from 1957 while doing some deep cleaning, and asked if I would like it.  Would I?!  I think you all know the answer to that!

A week later I had it in my hot little hands, and the other day I took some pictures of all the designs to share with you all, because I think this magazine has some really neat stuff!  There are lots of sweaters in this one I could consider making.  This magazine is also different from a lot of my vintage knittng magazines in that each design has a name, like modern patterns tend to.  Most of my older magazines just have numbers for the patterns.

So without further adieu, I give you "Winter Sport Fashions . . ."

Lake Placid

I really love the cover design, especially in this vivid red.  It's hard to see here, but this sweater has a zippered front closure.

St. Moritz

I really like this one too, although not for a man.  I could see this with a tartan skirt . . .

Two-Boggan

Muahahaha!  A pun!  I love you, vintage knitting magazine!

Ski Train

Those toggles are hiding another front zipper - what a great idea!

Ice-Cap-Ade

The hood zips open to lay flat, AND there's a little zippered pocket at the bottom of the front placket!

Snow Queen

This one is crocheted, side to side, in an interesting textured stitch.

Slalom

Deep raglan brioche stitch sweater with oversized turtleneck that doubles as a hood.  Yes, please!!

Alpine

Cuff to cuff construction again, this time in knit.

Fair Isle

Well, that's an original name!

Ski Tow

"Quiet down!  I'm on the phone!"  I think it's interesting that the bottom hem is turned back the way you would do on sleeve cuffs.  Doesn't seem very practical!

Lodger

Oh boy, dolman sleeves.  One of my biggest weaknesses!

Iceland

More dolman sleeves!

Two-Some

Nice.

Snow-Ball (skirt)

OK, I went ice skating just about every day after school when I was a kid, because we lived across the street from a pond.  I'm certain I never looked this cute!

Ski-Jump

Somehow these motifs have a tiki feel to me . . .  not very conducive to skiing.  Or sweater-wearing.  But I like it!

Snowflake

So classic in black and white.  But would you get a load of those eyebrows?!  What's going on here?!

Chalet

You can't see it here, but the contrasting insets down the outside of the leg and at the shoulder have a leaf lace pattern.  I think this is pretty slick, although I don't see myself ever knitting it.

 

And of course you have to have hats and mittens.

So what do you think?  As I write this, it's 70 degrees and sunny - a little hard to think about winter.  But I love looking through vintage knitting magazines no matter what time of year!