Bias Stripes and Buzzing Bees

This dress was a labor of love, because all those lovely stripes, well, they were not printed onto the fabric very straight. While matching stripes is always "fun" enough, matching stripes that slightly curve was, what are the kids saying these days? Extra...it was extra. Everything worked out in the end though, and I am well pleased with the final dress!

The only issue is that the neckline doesn't site perfectly flat against my collarbones because I had to accommodate for the angle of the stripes, a sacrifice I am willing to make for perfect stripes! A tip for hemming a striped or contrasting pattern dress/skirt like this one; hem by hand stitching with thread that matches the lighter color and then color in the stitches that end up over the dark sections with a marker when you're done. I hemmed this dress with the ivory thread and then carefully colored the stitches that landed over black stripes with a black marker so that all of the stitches became totally invisible. Because the stripes on this fabric were printed a bit crooked (more curved towards the selvages) I did end up having to cut the back of the dress with horizontal stripes instead of mirroring the chevron effect I did on the front. It was easier to deal with horizontal stripes over the center back zipper anyway, so that was actually helpful. The A-line skirt is cut so that the center front and back are mitered into points and then the side seams of both the front and back fall along a black stripe so that when the side seam is stitched it becomes a single black stripe down the side. Fun with stripes! This fabric is a thicker stretch cotton sateen from Mood Fabrics, and does come in navy blue stripes as well. Even with all of the extra work, I do sorta want to make another striped project already!

For this first wearing I paired the dress with one of my favorite hats and both black and red accessories. The nice thing about black and white is that any color will work for accessorizing, and I really want to wear this dress with orange or purple for a Halloween look later in the fall! Something about black and white stripes like this just says Halloween to me, I blame that great dress in the Sleepy Hollow film and other Tim Burton films for this association. For now it's summer sun and beautiful irises instead of pumpkins and spooks, not that I'm already excited for fall or anything...

Dress & Bracelet: Made by me
Shoes: Royal Vintage Shoes
Hat, Clutch, Earrings, Parasol, & Belt: Vintage

Cataloging Catalogs: Montgomery Ward Spring Summer 1943 (Pantsuits, maternity, aprons, swimsuits, and more!)

Once again it's time for another installment of Cataloging Catalogs! Today we have more pages from the Spring Summer 1943 Montgomery Ward catalog again of course, as it seems the pages are endless! Today we move on from just dresses to some different items like slack suits, juniors (!) maternity, aprons, nurses uniforms, swimsuits, and jodhpurs!

I can't wait to keep scanning and sharing the rest of this catalog with you all, next up will be blouses and sweaters :) As always, feel free to pin these images and share them if you see something you like, I'm putting these up as a reference for everyone. 

Adding to My Navy Twill Summer Suit

I already have two little short sleeved jackets and one pencil skirt in this same dark navy blue organic cotton twill from Mood Fabrics, but this year I knew I wanted to add an A-line skirt into the fray for even more mixing and matching possibilities. I've still got even more left over fabric from this skirt too, so I can possibly make yet another piece that will coordinate with it all! I do love me some coordinates <3

The sun is back and I have been enjoying days spent wandering the isles at all of the local garden centers and admiring the many flowers. I have been on a rather long spending freeze, so instead of browsing floral print fabrics I have been admiring the real thing instead. Sometimes I get in these moods too where I want to redecorate a room and re-fresh my surroundings instead of my wardrobe, so lately I have been window shopping for dressers and bedside table lamps. You know you must be getting older when you are excited about investing in a new dresser and some picture frames for your upcoming birthday!

Not that I don't have some pretty vintage accessories on my wishlist, because I do, but first I have to reorganize everything as I am running out of room! There is still a huge overflowing pile of fabrics waiting to become frocks down in my sewing room too, and I've simply got to get back to sewing after taking a break this past week. I have some pattern drafting to do too of course, as I have a lot left to show you all about how I draft my patterns! More of those posts coming soon :)

I hope you all have had a lovely Monday!

Twill Suit: Made by me
Shoes & Gloves: Amazon
Clutch, Brooch, & Earrings: Vintage
Sunglasses: Sunglasses Museum (Etsy)