Getting a sewing space organised, treasures to sort and a Nautical Dress: part one

 Hia!

This week it has been sweltering in Melbourne, temps hovering in the early 40's (Celsius).  I have been very grateful for air conditioning and as it has been so hot it has been perfect weather to stay inside and play with patterns.  Hooray!

Sorting Treasures

A couple of weeks ago I had a delightful visit from a friend of mine.  She had been sorting through her sewing room and had brought me a car boot full of what she called 'old rubbish' but was undoubtedly gorgeous vintage treasure.

Goodies, lots of gorgeous goodies!

Lovely finishings and ribbons, sumptuous fabric remnants, pins, zippers, elastics of all varieties, dainty beads, antique laces, tatting, colourful ric rac, vibrant bias binding, beautiful buttons, delightful embellishments and some amazing 1940-50 children's clothing patterns to draft.  I could go on, there was so much it was like Christmas all over again.

I don't know about you but I absolutely love trimmings and finishings.

I was so overwhelmed by her kind generosity and enjoyed every moment she spent with me, going through everything, passing on her sewing knowledge and giving me advice and inspiration.  It is a true treasure to have such a friend.

With all these new treasures at hand I have had to reorganise my sewing storage and decided to more efficiently structure my sewing space.  All my sewing happens in the living room, so it is pretty important that it can all be packed away quickly, neatly and easily.

Before

I believe it is so helpful to have all my sewing bibs and bobs organised in a way that I know exactly what I have and where to go to get it.  That way things get used, not forgotten about and I avoid going to the shops for brown velvet ribbon when I already have some. Win!

So here are the results after sorting and organising

After

                        

Fancy Nautical Dress Me Hearties?

Also, this week I have started that summer dress I mentioned last week.  It is another Butterick pattern from their 'Retro Range' B5748 circa 1960.

I love nautical styles, reds, navy blues, and crisp whites.  Always have, always will.  

Over the years I have tried on heaps of sailor dresses (with their cute collars) but not found one to suit, so I plan to make a sailor dress when I find a good pattern.  

In the mean time, however, I am giving this dress a nautical touch.  

Red and white striped poplin with anchor motif and blue cotton for the lining

After my last fitting debacle, I decided to kick my fitting skills up a notch and learn the art of making a muslin.  Well, it is not really an art, but a great technique for getting a well fitted garment.  A muslin is a mock up of your garment in a similar but cheaper fabric.  It helps your see how the fabric weight works with the design and shows you where there may be fitting issues.  You create your muslin according to the set pattern measurements, then adjust the muslin to fit your body.

              

Cutting the muslin, I am using jars to weigh
down the pattern piece instead of using pins

Here you can see the gaping where adjustment
needed to be made in the shoulders, chest, sides
 and arm holes

Mark your adjustments onto the muslin, then transfer those adjustments to the pattern.  After which you can make up the garment and it should fit you well.  (Hopefully :-)  Haven't got that far yet). 

Marking adjustments to the muslin

Adding adjustments to pattern

As you can see I also decided to change the neckline in this process as well.

I have now cut out the fabric and lining with the adjustments, and it is ready to sew.  Yippee!

So next week there will be pics of the dress coming together in all its sea-worthy goodness, and no doubt I will have plenty to chat about as I learn another new technique: understitching.

I leave you with a pic of Betty Boots my Boston Terrier, who has been my little sewing companion.  She is so cute! 

Have a great week, stay cool! 

History Heroine :-)