Hello dearest dear readers!

I finished my clockwork gypsy skirt and have been working on my retro 'walk away dress', which is coming along swimmingly. The retro dress has been trimmed in bias along all the bound edges and the hem of the underskirt has been pinned. Halfway through pinning the horsehair braid to the overskirt's hem, I ran out. I was rather distressed but unwilling to go out to the store for the second time in a day to get more. I shall have to fetch some later. I also sewed the snaps to the front closure, sewed decorative buttons over them and sewed a button and elastic loop to the underskirt so it can fasten behind my back. I'm rather pleased with my dress and cannot wait to complete it.

I've been thinking about my Pretty Peggy Pepper costume. Here's a (not very good) look at the costume:

I was thinking of this skirt, shorter of course -
And this blouse -
Thoughts? Then of course I need the hat and the sash...I'll probably forgo the boots (unless I decide to invest in a pair that could function for this and my Princess Leia dress, which is a good idea) and just wear my plain white parade gloves. Another idea is to just purchase a ready made red blouse which might be easier.

I wanted to make more progress this weekend on my sewing projects but c'est la vie. At least I finished one and got another mostly finished. All I need to do to my retro dress is hem it. Still have alterations to do and costumes to make for the Misses Dashwood and Van Eycke.

Bonne nuit mes amis!

Miss Leah J Wilde

Sewing ideas

I'm putting these here because if I write them down, I'll just lose the note.

1. A plaid full gathered skirt, like this one courtesy of Gertie's New Blog for Better Sewing (my latest blog obsession)



2. A sheath dress w a sheer overskirt. I could probably use my retro Butterick for this, with several adjustments. The only question is where the heck do I wear it? (also from Gertie's blog)

50s wrap dress update

wHello darlings!

Last night I actually started on sewing my oh so adorable 50s wrap dress. It went together amazingly easily. The first step was to pin and sew the darts in the front and back bodice. I'm not going to lie to you dear readers - I hate darts. They're rather fussy with their placement and annoying to pin and sew. But they do make a garment fit so I suffered through sewing eight of them - yes EIGHT darts: three on each side of the front and two on the back. After sewing the darts, I sewed the two pieces of the overskirt together along the back seam, then sewed the skirt to the back bodice. The next step was to sew the front to the back at the shoulders, then I did a quick fitting. I looked the pattern up on a pattern review website and several people said they had issues with the fit, but Miss Dashwood and I agreed that no alteration was necessary. I was actually rather surprised considering I do not possess the desired silhouette of the early 1950s. In other words, I'm not very chesty. I do however possess hips that would make a non-curvy girl sigh in envy if she was in that era. My next step was to cut several strips of bias from the purple calico. I wanted to follow the pattern and use purchased bias but I could not find a good color and decided instead to just make my own. I pinned one strip to the dress - started at the hem of the underdress, up around the armhole and down the front of the overdress. I have the other side, plus the neckline to do. Then of course comes stitching the bias into place.

Other projects I worked on last night -
1. I finished modifying a bustle I made Miss Dashwood several months ago. She was uncomfortable wearing it with a bustle pillow so I took out the top piece that would set atop such a pillow and resewed the ribbon ties along the top ruffle. She seems rather pleased with it.
2. In preparation for a pirate themed event this weekend, I pulled out a cream colored cropped blouse (its actually part of a Bavarian drindl). The elastic at the bottom of the blouse has failed over the years - after all the blouse is older than I - so I removed a few stitches in the casing, snipped the elastic and pulled it out. I then checked my supplied and was unable to find narrow enough elastic but I did have elastic cord. So I threaded the cord through the circle at the end of a large safety pin and fed the doubled cord through the casing on the blouse. I tried it on, adjusted the cord, knotted it and snipped it. Viola, the blouse is now ready to be worn this weekend! I'm thinking of just pairing it with cream bloomers and a red sash. Don't know what shoes to wear though...

Things I need to do - (1) hem Mary's pants after I get matching thread (2) take in Miss Dashwood's dress (3) finish my retro dress (4) make outfits for the Misses Dashwood and Van Eycke. I've also got a couple Christmas gifts in the works - a quilt for my beau that I've started cutting fabric for and aprons for my parents that I've purchased fabric for. EDIT (5) I still need to finish my clockwork gypsy skirt. I'll be taking a lot of sewing to my beau's this weekend to work on, won't I?

Sew much to do! Sew little time!

A bientot, mes amis!

Miss Leah J Wilde

Sewing project update

First off all, my sewing machine - affectionately named "Fern" - is at the doctor's. It looks like she needs a new motor. So I'll probably be using Miss Dashwood's machine over the next couple weeks to get some projects done.

Clockwork gypsy skirt - sewed on the bottom tier and pinned the hem and the elastic casing.

I cut out the blouses and the skirts for Miss Dashwood and Miss Van Eycke. They should go together pretty easily.

I also cut out a new dress for myself - an adorable retro Butterick wrap dress.


Isn't it cute? The underdress is going to be a purple calico floral w blue and green in it and the overdress is a bright green broadcloth. I'll probably use purple binding on the edges as long as I can find a good color. I need to search through my stash for buttons and snaps - try to save at least a little bit of money.

I have two pairs of pants in my sewing bag to hem for a friend. And that concludes this sewing blog update!

A bientot!

Miss Leah J Wilde