Return of 3263

Over a decade ago, I happened upon an amazing selection of vintage sewing patterns in a thrift store.  Most of them were immediately put on eBay, but I did keep and make several.

My favorite was Simplicity 3263, from 1950.  It was a simple shell shirt pattern, with some interesting double dart details.  The original owner (Betty Rose--she had written her name and address on most of the pattern envelopes, and I was actually able to look her up and learn a bit about her) had extended the sides of the pattern, and I cut it that way the first time I tried making it, and I liked the way it fit. I made the shirt a few times, every one extremely cute.

Eventually, though, I gained enough weight that the vintage size 14--even with the modifications--was just too small, so I sold that pattern, too.  Years later, I developed a sudden nostalgia for it--I considered trying to recreate it by hacking some other patterns (I am not up to making a personalized block), but I couldn't get a result that I even wanted to test.  I looked at what options were for sale, and even managed to find Betty Rose's old pattern for sale on Etsy.

I let the interest fade, but it jumped back recently, and I found a vintage size 18 (B36) version of it on eBay--for more than I usually spend on a pattern, but not bad for a vintage pattern, so I got it.  That was also around the time I got the die cutter, so I was distracted by that for a while.  But! I finally tried making the size 18!

 It's a little large!  But I can work with it!

Replacing the Upcycling

About five years ago, I made bodices to use with thrifted skirts--one with a fake Burda 6401 bodice, and one with Simplicity 9153's extended shoulder bodice.

I wore them a lot.

So much, in fact, that the delicate thrifted skirts started wearing out.  I tentatively mended some of the problem areas, but, honestly, it was getting to the point where the mends were stronger than the fabric, so I knew it was time to replace the entire skirt on both of them.

My last visit to the craft thrift store was made with hope of finding some fabric I could use to that end, and I was thrilled to find nearly 9 yards of a lightweight black woven cotton (if there's anything synthetic mixed in, a burn test said there's not much of it.)

I did take some time to make a complete dress before getting to the skirt replacements...mainly because the black of this new (to me) fabric is not the same black as the old bodices, and I wanted at least at least one loose summery black dress that was all the same black.

But then!  On to the new skirts!

Ready for Summer

I like making loose, high waist, pullover dresses from lightweight cottons for summer wear.  My original plan this year, in that regard, was to use some of the lightweight woven black fabric I got from the craft thrift store to replace the worn-out thrifted skirts on some dresses I made a few years ago--I thought the fabric felt like a poly/cotton blend, so wouldn't really want to use it for a top/shirt/bodice.

I decided to do a burn test on it, just to laugh at how much of a plastic blob it turned into.  Well.  It did not turn into any kind of plastic blob, instead burning to a crumbly black...not exactly ash, because when has a burn test ever behaved exactly like the charts say it should?  So I decided that meant maybe there was enough cotton content to use for a top/shirt/bodice after all.

I used my "fake Burda 6401 modified to a fake McCall's 8157" and decided to go wild with a tiered skirt and here we are

 Honestly...it ended up a bit too long.  I eventually fixed that.

Citrus-esque Vest

Continuing the patchwork adventures with the die cutter and the scrap bins, this time with the goal of making a vest front.

I've made two versions of New Look 6514 using woven cotton patches made from 2" squares that I cut by hand, choosing to cut the squares at 2" because I have a ruler that width.  I later made Simplicity 9630 from heavier fabric patches, cut at a larger size.  Now that I have the die cutter, I wanted to try...smaller.

I chose the 35mm square die, with the idea that the finished squares would be around 1".  Roughly.

I had spent time (happily) poking through the scrap bins and sorting out groups of coordinating fabrics.  This one was built around some Very 1970s green and orange prints, contrasted with black and white.  I originally assumed I would use it for doll clothes, but this project required more fabric.  A lot more.

I pulled some from other scrap assortments, the small yardage stash, and a little bit from the large yardage, too.  I don't generally have a lot of orange or yellow, so that need, plus a variety of black and white, meant I called in a few Halloween prints.  There are no pumpkins, so the Halloween touches may be subtle.  It's fine either way.

Rainbow Foil Camouflage Bucket Bag

Of all the fabric I ordered from FabricMart in January, the most 100% impulsive choice was a black synthetic knit with a foiled design, bearing multi-color splotches on silver foil, and the foil laid down in camouflage blobs.  And, since it was $1/yard (and I was ordering other things--specifically, more of the apple print--so shipping costs would be distributed), I got silly and ordered ten yards of it.  Yes, as a knit, it's 60" wide.  The quantity of this fabric is mildly overwhelming.

Also, after taking the time to figure out what to do with all of the apple print--for which I had at least the one plan, when I ordered it each time--I did not want to spend a lot of time trying to use up all of this fabric at once.  It would be fine in the stash until inspiration hit.  But.  I still wanted to make at least one thing from it before putting it away.

And, while I honestly probably will make a jacket from a bit of it, eventually, like I did with some of the other foiled knits from the same manufacturer (here and here), I didn't want to do that now.

For reasons that aren't entirely clear, my mind settled on making a bucket bag.  I'm not sure if I've ever even owned a bucket bag before, let alone made one.  I definitely don't have a pattern for one, but, after looking at bucket bags for sale, and at blogs showing how to make them, I felt confident enough to start cutting a bunch of rectangles and a few circles and start sewing things together.

 

 I think it turned out OK.

Apple Print Patchwork Bag

So. I had gotten to the point where most of the remaining apple print was in the form of unavoidable odd scraps left from all of the other things I'd made.

What do you I do with odd scraps? ...well, normally, my answer is "squirrel them away for later," but my small piece knit fabric drawer was very very full, so I decided to grab other pinks and greens from there and make something from patchwork.

Now, while I do very much like the patchwork cardigan I made from knit fabrics last year, I felt like the fact that I have already made a cardigan (two, if you count the not-so-successful first attempt), a motorcycle jacket, and a vest from the apple print meant I had plenty of apple print options for the upper body, and the two skirts were literally good coverage for the lower, so it wasn't time for another patchwork skirt.

I eventually remembered the Very 1990s bag pattern I'd gotten from the craft thrift store, McCall's 8705

 

The messenger bag in view C was the whole reason I'd picked this pattern--yes, I can and have figured out how to make messenger bags without anything but my own imagination, but sometimes it's nice not to have to think so much.

Especially when I was going to add the over-complication of patchwork to the project. 

And that's when I discovered that whoever had owned this pattern before had not put the pieces for view A back in the envelope, nor had they returned the first page of the instructions, which is where the yardage requirements are (the back of the envelope has full color photos of the bags in different fabrics than the front views.) (There were also pieces from a completely different bag pattern in there.)  The missing yardage requirements (or anything relating to view A) weren't a problem for this project, because the whole thing about making patchwork specifically to make other things is that you only need to assemble as much as you need to cover the pattern pieces.

I did later find a listing for the pattern with a picture of the yardage requirements, and noted them for the messenger bag, which is, honestly, the only one of these I'll probably ever make.  Beyond the added labor of the patchwork (and issues caused by the bulk of medium weight knit patchwork), this was a fairly easy thing to make.

 

Apple Hat

I am nearing the end of the apple fabric, but not there yet.  The remaining pieces are not large enough to cut parts for clothing--well, not for human-size clothing, I did make a(n as yet unphotographed) sweatshirt for a larger doll--but there are accessory possibilities.

So I made a beret.

There's nothing challenging to making this kind of beret: trace around the largest plate we have, cut two layers, cut the center from one side using a lid from a cardboard oatmeal canister, repeat for the lining, figure out how long to cut a strip to be the band, sew them all together. 

There was enough of the NYC stretch silk left to make the lining, and I was even able to place the doorman in the most unsettling prominent spot.

It's actually a bit smaller in diameter than I like, but I was limited by the remaining contiguous fabric.  I considered making a newsboy hat, but I'm not always happy with how the pattern I have turns out, and that would have been a lot more work for potential disappointment, so a beret it is.

And, so, I get marginally closer to using up all of the apple print.