On a Little Bit of Carroll Fun!

Still here...just can't manage to get all the posts I've started writing up in a timely manner and I was determined to get this one up before the year ends!

In October, I had the pleasure of going to the opening of an exhibit on spectral science and technology and a magic lantern show. 

This required the making of a coat, of course. A fellow Carrollian brought this marvelous Mad Masquerade by Riley Blake fabric, which is made up of advertising cards with illustrations from Carroll's Alice books, to my attention quite some time ago, but I'd been putting off using it because it's such a busy print and I wanted something that would do it justice. I ended up deciding that my revised pattern version of McCall's 9130, would do very nicely. 

Aside from choosing to cut it out during a heatwave and not really clearing enough space to do so in a convenient manner resulting in very sore muscles for several days, this coat came together without too many issues. As an added note, unlike last time I made it, this time I happily remembered to include facings and the front seam allowance.

Normally I would spend a significant amount of time searching for the perfect buttons. Nothing I looked at seemed quite right for this coat, though, and then I couldn't decide between what I did have. As a result, there are two round metal buttons, two grey rose buttons, and two cream colored rose buttons, which I find perfect considering the theme.

A wide width ribbon tied in a bow finished off the outfit! 

As for the exhibit, the big highlight for me was seeing a distorting mirror that belonged to Lewis Carroll! As you can see, I was upside-down with delight over it! 

Other fun things included a board of Houdini's keys used by his wife in attempts to contact him after he died (part of continued efforts to expose frauds, which became a large part of Houdini's later life), a variety of magic books and tricks, and several magic lantern projectors. 

 

As someone who doesn't go out and about often, it was a delightful event to attend! 

❤ ❤ ❤

On Two Little 1920's Elephants!

Hi, happy new year a quarter of the year in, clearly things are not off to a racing start on here...

Ages and ages ago, I came across an image of a pattern for an elephant from the September 1921 issue of Allers Familie Journal on Pinterest and it went in a folder for later use. Time went by and after quite a bit searching I manged to hunt down a digital copy of the magazine on the PLU Archives and find the remaining pages I needed for his clothes.

And then I forgot about it, which was followed by remembering it a considerable time latter and finally printing the pieces out. The project then was put off for ages while I tried to find the right fabric both in terms of color and texture. 

Found the right fabric about a year and a half ago and ended up buying it in two shades, and then once again it was put off. Recently I decided it was time to tackle this project (with motivation coming from possibly needing some gray for another project). With continued indecision over which of the two color gray fabrics I was using, the solution became that I would be making two elephants because, why not also make a girl elephant? 

I did end up translating the original instructions from Swedish more just to see if they did anything fun construction-wise, but then it became a mission to get it all translated resulting in over four hours of "fun".

And...after three months (no, it should not have taken more than a weekend), I had Imogene and Walter.

 

With Walter I used the pattern from the magazine for his clothes, although I'm not entirely sure they were the right size for him since I resized the page from the magazines and originally for the body I was working with a screenshot image. Imogene, being my own idea, I used the pattern for Walter's shirt, extending it and leaving off the sleeves, and adding a bias tape belt. I keep wondering if she might need a sequin brooch eventually. 

 

 

♥ ♥ ♥

On a Thanksgiving Pie Skirt

For various reasons I haven't been sewing clothing items for the past year, but when I saw this pie fabric early or mid-summer, being a pie baker I just couldn't resist and knew that even if I had to push myself I was going to make a circle skirt for Thanksgiving. 

In September I decided that if I could at least get the pieces cut out I would then be able to sew them together at a later date, which ended up being Veteran's Day weekend and this past week. 

Sewing a circle skirt together is fairly quick, although when I reached the hem I found I forgot how to use the narrow hem foot on the sewing machine. As usual the hem waffled, but as I always shorten the pattern when I'm tracing it, I never have a perfectly curved hem anyway, so this probably just adds to it doing that. While not typically considered ideal, I actually like the look.

I had wanted a baby ric-rac on this, but for some reason neither fabric store had off white and I ended up finding a nice olive green medium sized ric-rac for purchase by the yard, which I'm rather happy with as it was the color I wanted in the first place. 

Only a few things need to be adjusted on this. I need to go back and fix the 1/8 inch worth of white selvage that is showing in the one side seam (I spent about an hour unpicking the other side seam to remedy this problem and just could not handle unpicking a second seam, thought I'd be okay with it, but it bugs me) and I think I'm going to try using a fabric marker to color the bit of white showing at the zipper opening (I will NOT be redoing the zipper). Last night I also managed to sew the hooks slightly off from where they are supposed to be and as I didn't make my typical adjustment for my larger than me pattern, this skirt needs all the help it can get it terms of it being tighter in the waist, so they'll need to be re-sewn on.

That being said though, it's a very nice skirt for Thanksgiving and while it wasn't going to get it made this year, I already have the Wearing History "Harriet" Drop Shoulder Blouse pattern and some white on white print fabric lined up for a matching blouse.

  Happy Thanksgiving!♥

On a Spidery Capelet!

This is going to be the first of several "things I made last year, but never shared on the blog" posts. 

In the case of this project, I made it last October and then toward the end of the month the weather was too warm to wear it and I never managed to get a picture of me in it.

Anyway,  last year I gave into a childish whim and bought glow-in-the-dark spider web flannel. I wasn't entirely sure what to do with it, but I bought enough that I would have a few options and ultimately decided on a capelet.  

It was made using the same self drafted pattern I made my penguin capelet from in 2018, though clearly minus the hood. I definitely wanted it lined as I don't always like the feeling of flannel, so I went with black cotton.

While it's a thin flannel, I wanted to avoid bulk on the edges, so rather than bagging it out, I went with the option of using bias tape around the edge. I wasn't sure if I wanted white or gray, but then I came across some metallic binding while I was browsing at the fabric store and decided that it would give it an extra special touch to have a bit of shinny! Having been a year, I can't remember the exact details as to why, but I'm pretty sure it was less expensive to buy a wider width (possibly blanket binding even), so I bought that, then cut it in half, refolded the edge, and ironed it back to get a narrower width. As can be seen it turned out pretty well!

Overall, minus all the time spent on attaching and hand-stitching the binding on, this was a pretty straightforward project! ♥

On a 1961 Woman's Day Magazine Bedtime Story Toys Pattern Set

More about the November 1961 issue of Woman's Day...

While I had the magazine out of its plastic envelop to take a picture of the page with the lion pattern (last post), I figured I might as well flip through the rest of it and came across this page with a nice array of story time dolls. It primarily got my attention for the Alice doll, which was an earlier version of the 1965 one I made (seen both here and here), but I was thinking it might be nice to make Hansel and Gretel or Mary and her cute little blue embroidered lamb. 

However, it turned out, unlike the other toys I've made from this issue, the patterns weren't included in the magazine. As the note at the end of all the description states:

Because we know our readers like to work from full-size patterns (last year almost 50,000 of you ordered our patterns for stuffed cats), we have prepared special patterns and directions for both the Bedtime Story Toys themselves and their colorful costumes. To order patterns for this bonus toy feature, offered in addition to the 100 ideas included in our gift portfolio, use the coupon that appears on page 122.

Clearly that coupon was not going to do me any good a little over 60 years later. Based on past experience, while these patterns are out there (I, in fact, have the above mentioned printed cat pattern sheets which were given to me by a family friend who purchased them and also still had the page with the pattern grid and the cover from the magazine-my Cheshire cat was made from it), to find an actual original set that's all there, in good condition, and at a reasonable price is kind of rare. 

With low expectations I sat down at the computer. I started with Etsy where nothing came up at all, which was disappointing since I was at least hoping for the possibility of a digital pattern. Then I went to ebay and I found a set for a little under 16 dollars!! And it was complete, uncut, and according to the description not musty!!! Needless to say I was very excited and promptly bought it!

The set arrived last week and I am now happily contemplating tracing the patterns on to tissue paper for use and making that cute little sheep! ♥

On a Little Lion: A Photo Post

This is Raspberry! 

 

Raspberry was made using the lion pattern from the November 1961, Woman's Day magazine that also contains the patterns I used for my herd of reindeer and the elves I made last year. As usual, I altered it, making the decision to skip giving him a mouth and, after a little over an hour of sewing yarn on, deciding the the mane didn't need to go under the chin.

I bought the fabric I used (which hard to see in the photo, has gold, shiny streaks in it) specifically for this pattern and had a brief moment of hesitation when I started, but it ended up giving this little lion the perfect 60's look!

♥ ♥ ♥

On a Ladybug Named Grenadine

Still only able to do smaller sewing projects and, so, I introduce you to Grenadine. She likes syrup and is awaiting some other tiny friends. 

Like Gunter, my turtle, and the Christmas pudding, Grenadine was a random make and cut entirely free hand. I was initially going for a slightly rounder shape, then ended up tapering the body half circles a little extra making it more canoe shaped, which I actually like better. 

I was also intending to double up the felt on the wings, but as it's more decorative and I'm not going to be doing anything that will pull the felt out of shape, I ended up deciding to just let it go at one layer. All the spots have been stitched on, as have the eyes. 

I am really attempting to get back in the habit of posting more again, so let's hope this will be the start of more than just book review related posts this month! ♥

On a Couple of Carrots: A Photo Post

I managed to avoid giving into the urge to add faces to my pumpkins, apple, and corn, but couldn't resist making a pair of smiling carrots. 

Happy almost Easter!

♥ ♥ ♥

On a Bit of Green for Spring

My St.Patrick's Day post did not get up, nor due to a challenging past few weeks did one of my St. Patrick's day projects even get finished. To avoid going through another month with just a book review, I've decided to do a a brief post devoted to vintage green things that make me happy.

Tea cups! While most of my teacups have plants on them, two get the prize for being on the greener side. 

The first one is part of a playing card set, which came in white, black, and avocado green (unfortunately, the ones I found didn't have the saucers).

 

 

The second one belonged to my great-grandma and has a delightful little scene at the bottom, which I love!

This record album, which spends a lot more time in the frame that it does on the player, has a nice green glow to it, which makes the lovely ladies on it stand out ever so much more, in my opinion. (Possible sneak peek for a future Album Cover Story, as it's been quite some time since I've done one and I really would like to resume that series.)

 

 

One can't get through this post without seeing something sewing related, so here we have some buttons, a belt buckle, and a small spool of green thread. The green thread came from a vintage Tidee Maid Deluxe sewing box that was filled almost entirely with little spools of green thread.  

And not vintage, but I wanted to share it before the month was over, this shamrock was my one completed St. Patrick's Day project.

There were two little clovers to go with this large one, but turning the stem portion turned out to be an absolute nightmare and I managed to poke a hole through the base of one of the stems, turn the one stem inside out through it, then couldn't get it right side out again, and had to cut it off. That being said, from this point on, any clovers I make will absolutely not be made out of any fabric that is 100% polyester! ♥  

On A Happy Valentine's Day!

Well, I did not exactly get off to a roaring start this year when it comes to posting. I haven't had much I wanted to post lately and didn't really feel like being online last month, but I'm hoping to remedy that within the coming weeks as I would like to finally get a long overdue outfit post up and I have a new tiny sewing project that is almost ready to share. 

Today, however, I just wanted to pop on here to wish everyone a happy Valentine's Day and share my latest garland. In December, I got it in my head to sew a bunch of small hearts using poly-poplin and stringing them up on baker's twine seemed to be the best way to display them. As I mentioned before, despite it being a pain to work with, I like the wonkiness that results from a fabric that doesn't really hold a crease. 

And to conclude, one of my favorite vintage valentines from my personal collection (for some others see this 2017 post). I love that it has a wheel you can turn to change what appears in the theater, though today I'm only treating you to the one view! 

A very happy Valentine's Day to you!

♥ ♥ ♥

On Some Christmas Elves!

Last year I went on a reindeer making spree using the pattern from the November 1961 issue of Woman's Day; this year I managed to get a hold of an actual copy of the magazine (someone else had shared the reindeer pattern) and had plans for making the elf on the cover along with Santa. Santa didn't materialize this year, unfortunately, but I did make the elf...sort of. 

While I started following the pattern (shrinking it down to match with the size of Silverbell, the reindeer), somehow I ended up making two girl elves and pretty much ignoring the accessories and clothes. In part, I feel like the beard was a deciding factor for this, and, if I'm to be honest, not making Santa, as I was not going back out to the craft store to find fake fur or something along those lines to make it, I didn't think the white yarn I had looked right, and I had several shades of brown yarn handy.  

Meet Candy!

Cookie and Silverbells are great friends!

The shirt from the original pattern did remain. I just turned it round and have them wearing it as a jacket instead and to break up the stripes I gave them little aprons. The tiny shoes, also from the original pattern, were hand sewn out of felt!

There is supposed to be a third youthful boy elf to go with them, which I was intending to make the vest for, but I never quite decided on what fabric I wanted for the body and clothes, so he's still a little pile of pieces. He might get finished within the week, but we shall see about that dependent on how I'm feeling. Meanwhile, I have these two sweet elves to help me wish you the merriest of Christmas!

 

♥ ♥ ♥

On Gunter Meets Pudding: A Photo Post

 Gunter--Pudding; Pudding--Gunter. Remove the Pudding!

A random and spur of the moment project that ended up being perfect for my tired, unfocused brain as aside from size (pieces were cut free hand) and color of the holly leaves, there are very few choices to make when it comes to how a classic pudding looks. Gunter approves of the pudding! ♥

On Autumnal Decorating: A Photo Post

Last year I shared my wonky pumpkins, but never got around to sharing the other two decorations I made and now I have a few more new decorations to share before we move into the more Christmas-y decor makes (forewarning, you'll be seeing some shortly!)! 

I really like decorating the mantle and with Thanksgiving being my favorite holiday, last year I went all out making an applique and a garland of acorns to add to the pumpkins, leaves, and other little glass and stuffed animals which typically grace the space.

The garland of acorns was made last year on somewhat of a whim and involved cutting out the fabric at random without any definite pattern being used. Because of this I ended up trying two different methods of making them thus resulting in some that are flat and some that are round and puffy and, while the stems are looped on all of them, some I decided to put thread loops on, which allows them to hang at different levels from the baker's twine. When I pulled them out of my autumn box again this year, I was just as equally delighted by them as I was last year!

Moving on to the bigger decorations, last year I also created a pumpkin and leaf applique to hang from the center of the mantle. This past week, I made two smaller mirror image appliques to go along with it. I'm becoming rather fond of making these and am thinking about making a few more for other holidays.

And finally, all the stuffed animal making this year resulted in the desire to make patterns for and sew a few more poly-poplin fruits and veggies. Last month I learned I do a marvelous job making square apples (I felt a bit like Dumbo blowing the wrong shape bubbles when I stuffed it) and this past weekend I sewed an ear of corn (pun very much intended). 

Wishing a very happy Thanksgiving to my US readers!

♥ ♥ ♥

On the Final Hundred Acre Wood Residents!

Well, my ongoing Winnie-the-Pooh sewing projects made using the patterns in The Pooh Craft Book started in June of last year have come to an end, as over the past three months I finished the final three!

Rabbit was completed the end of September, Winnie-the-Pooh the last weekend of October, and Tigger two days ago. 

There's not much to say about them since they were all very straightforward when it came to piecing them together. Rabbit was probably the most simplistic of the entire bunch and went together in a few hours, I left Pooh's eyebrows off and am not sure if I'll be adding them in the future, and Tigger ended up last because he was going to need the stripes painted on, which was not something I was looking forward to (painting felt is not a pleasure). The painting was actually a pretty quick process, though, since I wasn't going for precise and detailed stripes and they came out decently.

 

All in all a lovely Hundred Acre group, I would say! And now I need to find a new literary sewing project!

♥ ♥ ♥

On Celebrating Hatter Day in This Style!

For those unaware, today in places where the date is written month first, 10/6, is considered Hatter day (for others, it is June 10). This unofficial holiday is based on the price tag on the hat of the Hatter in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, which rather than the date actually stands for 10 shillings and six pence, but provides an excellent excuse to acknowledge, contemplate, and celebrate "Chapter 7: A Mad Tea-Party".   

Over the past few months, I've been very slowly working to finish the Mad Tea Party set from the November 1965 Woman's Day magazine (Alice and Dormouse both finished in 2012) and a Cheshire Cat from a 1960's issue of Woman's Day that contained a set of cat patterns, and thought it a fitting way to celebrate the day by sharing my finally completed set!

Rather than just sharing them like I normally would, for fun I decided to stage them in scenes from both Chapter 6 and 7!

Some sewing details for those interested in how I almost went mad in finishing up the set and started wondering if I was offending Time in how long I was taking in doing so.   

The Cheshire Cat 

"Did you say 'pig' or 'fig'?"

The Cheshire Cat had the least amount of adjustments primarily due to its simplicity, so I'm going to start with it. I downsized the pattern from the original, so that it would fit in with the other dolls. This made the seam allowance on the inner portion of the legs a bit tricky, which is why my Cheshire Cat doesn't exactly sit flat. This, however, I think it makes him a bit more whimsical, so I don't mind a bit. 

 

Additionally, I opted to leave the tail bare rather than put yarn loops and along similar lines decided I really liked it without stripes. I also tried what I'm thinking of as under-sewing the felt on its eyes and nose (meaning I stitched through the middle of the felt instead of coming all the way up through it) and am happy with how secure they seem to be. For some sparkle, since he might disappear at any moment, I used metallic embroidery thread for the whiskers! 

 The Hatter

The Hatter was a small scale lesson in lining, as both his vest and jacket are lined. I decided to try my own thing on the first sleeve of the jacket; let's just say doing the second sleeve according to the actual instructions went better. 

Next, his hat! Against my better judgement, primarily because I just wanted to be done and it was in my stash, I used poly-poplin. It does not crease or hold in place where you want it to and is certainly one of the most uncooperative fabrics to have chosen. On top of that, I had just barely enough stabilizer, which in the case of the primary piece had to be hand sewn on to the outer layer to make sure the hat didn't fold in on itself. As can be seen, the support for the top of the hat is made up of scraps shoved in there, so that will need to be replaced when I get more. Once again, though, despite spending over 6 hours on the silly thing, I was pleased with how it turned out.

The March Hare

I adjusted quite a bit when it came to the March Hare. The instructions called for the shirt opening to be at the back and the collar piece to be directly tacked to the March Hare's neck, but I didn't like that the Hatter's shirt actually buttoned in front, while the March Hare's didn't. Based on this, I ended up cutting the front of the shirt open, adding a placket, and hand sewing the collar piece onto the shirt (a truly maddening task that was made worse by not cutting the collar piece base at enough of a curve). The shirt was to be closed with hooks and eyes, which I did end up doing except at the front with the buttons covering the stitching from them.

Other minor changes I made were giving him a bow tie instead of ribbon, swapping out the pom pom tail for a gathered circle piece of fabric and not finding any fake wheat shoots that I liked and not wanting to buy an actual wheat bundle, I ended up using raffia on his head, which I think denotes his madness quite nicely.

Now, there is actually one more Wonderland pattern for the White Rabbit included in this particular magazine. I didn't really feel compelled to make it because the White Rabbit does not attend the mad tea party in the book. Additionally, one of my first stuffed animal projects that I drafted and sewed completely by hand was the White Rabbit and being ever so fond of it, I'm willing put this last pattern on hold for a much later date. 

Wishing everyone a happy Hatter day filled with muchness of tea, contemplation on ravens and writing desks, the singing of "Twinkle Twinkle Little Bat", any other mad tea party activities you should chose to engage in, and, of course, the wearing of a hat!  

 ♥🎩♥