Doughnuts

I made doughnuts tonight ~ the real, raised kind. I iced some with apricot glaze. They are very good. Would you like one?

One Sheet Wardrobe

Yay! The digital camera finally came home from two weeks at summer camp with its owner. Now I can post what I accomplished while they were gone. Once again, I did my favorite thing ~ I found a cotton sheet at the thrift. This one appears to be from the 50's or 60's (because the label looks like the kind that were on our sheets when I was a very little girl). It is very heavy white cotton, twin size, and I made:

1) Jammie pants! I trimmed the hems with some loopy lace trim intended for sheets. I purchased it years ago at a Springs Mills outlet store.

2) A sundress! This is Simplicity 4220, view B. It looks rather ugly on the pattern envelope, but I like how it turned out. I had to take the sides in quite a bit, and I left off the ties. I think they look too juvenile on me. Also a close up of the bodice. The lace trim (at the hem too) is from my stash.

3) A skirt! Actually, only the inset godets came from the sheet. The vertical panels with cutwork embroidery are from three thrifted valences. I was able to cut two vertical panels from each valence, which gave me six panels. The skirt needed eight panels, so I cheated and used non-embroidered areas of the valence to make the final two panels. I hid those at the side back. The skirt isn't hemmed yet, but daylight was quickly fading and I wanted to get the photos tonight.

I was surprised at how much I got from one sheet.

Can you tell I like lacy white things?

My Growing Library

On my recent trips to the thrift shop I found more children's books (I keep looking for The Golden Egg Book but don't find it). Notice my growing collection of Little Golden Books; I love reading them because of the classic stories, and because they are short. I now have two copies of Prayers for Children, but not on purpose; I don't always remember what is at home! I love Eloise Wilkins' artwork of children in this book especially.

Wardrobe Advice

I found this gem of a quote on another blog (Pleasant View Schoolhouse), and I thought it was hilarious. Wardrobe advice from 1922:

"Always select or make designs that enhance your daintiness, your femininity, your exquisite delicacy and tenderness. Do this with every stitch of clothing you have, from bungalow aprons to bathing suits, from sport costumes to ball gowns. Endeavor to provide yourself with an entire wardrobe of dainty and cuddlesome garments, each piece as bewitching as the wearer herself." --Fascinating Womanhood, St. Louis: Psychology Press

I Bought An Ancestor for $1!

I'm always amazed what I can find at the thrift. Greta and I popped in the other day because she was looking for vinyl records for a friend. As I made my usual circuit of the store, I found a really nice tablecloth for our dining table when it is fully extended. Then I found some old picture frames. One I liked especially because of the wood; it looks like mahogany. This isn't a shabby old frame to paint, like I usually buy. It's quite nice. But it had an old photo of an old guy in it. When I got home and took it apart to wash the icky glass, I looked the old man over more carefully. Who would donate their grandpa to the thrift store? I felt sorry for him, so I decided to adopt him. I tentatively named him George since we have quite a few Georges back in antiquity. That's how I came to buy an ancestor for $1. What a deal.

Tablecloth Blouse

I almost finished a blouse I made from a vintage linen tablecloth, circa 1930. The Professor's grandmother gave me the cloth years ago, and sometime later, I used a corner of it to make a dress collar for daughter #1. I've wanted to make something with the remaining parts of the cloth, and I finally got inspired by a post on a blogsite. Someone made a peasant style blouse from a tablecloth, but hers had cutwork and embroidery throughout the body of the cloth. Mine has cutwork only at the corners.

The first photo shows the pattern pieces in place. I laid the sleeve piece on the bias to use the cutwork. I really could not think of any other way to lay it out and still incorporate the cutwork areas. In the upper right of the photo you can also see the area I previously used for the collar.

The second photo shows the almost-finished blouse. The lace trim edging the plackets and trimming the sleeves previously edged all sides of the cloth. I just cut it off and zigzagged it on the blouse.

Everything is now complete except the buttonholes because my buttonhole dial decided to have a fit this afternoon. I may have to find a friend with a better behaving machine!

The last photo is a close-up of the cutwork area on one sleeve.

Sheet Dress

My first project for Wardrobe Refashion is complete! I found this sheet at the thrift for $1.48. I decided to make a dress because the floral print is so large; here is the pattern I chose:

But I had several problems with it: Firstly, the flutter sleeves didn't flutter; they flew! Straight out! That's not exactly the look I was after. So I tried cap sleeves, but my oversize arms and shoulders looked terrible. I just about decided it would have to be sleeveless (not my favorite look) when I opted to try the short sleeves from my favorite blouse pattern. To make the cap fit smoothly, I had to cut the bodice armhole bigger.

Next, the waist wasn't working. On the pattern you can see the shirring at the waist; that is created with two rows of casings and elastic. Every time I breathed, the elastic took a hike north. So I had to pull the dress down every few seconds. My fix for that was to rip off the waistband from the skirt and the bodice, cut it down to fit my waist, then add gathering to the bodice under the bust and across the back. For the skirt to fit the waistband, I added 1/2 inch tucks at the center front and at both sides of the back. I really love it now.