sewing vintage

Phew, I don’t think I’ve ever gone this long without posting before, has it really been over a week? But I am back now, after a wonderful and exhausting weekend in Italy (pics to come!) and after a week that just flew by with work and family stuff.
But now, on to the sewing stuff! I’ve been really inspired by the beautiful costumes of some films I saw recently (this one and this one especially) and bought some vintage patterns on Ebay at a whim. They arrived earlier this week:

I knew they were vintage, but I was still amazed that they were so…well…old! Faded brown paper so brittle that it feels like it would crumble in your hands, I love it!
Of course I had to do a bit of fabric shopping immediately and get to work on the very simplest piece, the top:

The pattern calls for a side seam zipper. Now I am absolutely not confident when it comes to zippers, so I decided to leave out the back tucks in the shirt and see if I could pull it over my head then which worked a treat!

I was also pretty scared of the arm and neck facings so I finished the neckline and the arm holes with bias tape. I am thrilled with how it turned out!

I’d read so much about how vintage patterns and the sizing and fit can be tricky, but this one fits me perfectly and I am so happy with it!
I will definitely make this shirt again with some fabric that is just now on its way to me from the US. I will probably modify the neckline a bit, I had to wear it with a strapless bra because it sits so low on the shoulders.
As you can see on the pattern pictures the top is meant to be worn tucked into slacks or a skirt. I spent hours looking for a skirt that sits at the natural waist like the picture but of course that is not the style right now so I will probably end up just making the skirt as well and tackling that scary side seam zipper! I do so long for a pair of high-waisted slacks like the ones Anna made but they are definitely way out of my sewing comfort zone right now!
By the way, if you’re interested in vintage sewing, head over to Casey‘s and Jen‘s blogs, I spent hours there in the last weeks 😉

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