Monthly Archives: April 2016

Return to Retro

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Once upon a time before I had two beautiful girls I would wear 1950s inspired dresses all the time. The fit and flare silhouette really suits my pear shape figure and so it was pretty easy to make dresses in that style and have them turn out well every time! Who doesn’t love a good swishy skirt?

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Lately I’ve felt the desire to return to my sewing roots and give the mid-century retro look another try. Dresses and skirts from the 1930s to the early 1960s are fantastic and feminine and everything I love in clothes.

So today I’m here to share a new version of the Sewaholic Hollyburn Skirt. It’s a favorite of sewing bloggers and I can see why! In fact I saw a vintage pattern that looked exactly like this pattern somewhere on the internet this week, but of course no I can’t think where. The fact that is it drafted for a pear shape is even better.

Edit: YES! I figured it out. I saw it on Tanya’s Instagram feed! It looks exactly like Marian Martin pattern 9488. I was only able to find one blog post with a good write up of the pattern. Looking at the pattern pieces, this is nearly identical to the Hollyburn.

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This version is a straight forward version B with the tabs at the waist and a knee length in a size 16. No alterations at all. I made a couple of these last summer too, but in the shorter length and I don’t like them as much. The longer length suits my life a little better.

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YAY! No sway back adjustment needed!

The fabric is the only fabric I buy at JoAnn’s on a regular basis. It’s their Linen Look in navy. A cotton and rayon blend that wrinkles like crazy, but it easy to work with and particularly easy to wear in our hot hot summers. Plus it is almost always on sale.

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Added bonus, the skirt looks perfect with my t-shirt from Mischief Made Me!* I’ve wanted to wear this shirt ever since I received it, but had no bottoms that coordinated. So happy to be able to wear my mermaids now that the weather is warm!

Now for your bonus mommy daughter matching outfit pictures including this week’s dance pose with Lu.

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I also bought yardage of 7oz 100% cotton dark denim. Trying to decide if I should do another Hollyburn or something different. Sound off if you have an opinion!

 

* I’m related to the owner of Mischief Made Me so she graciously gifted me this shirt. I love it though and would have happily bought it myself if she’d accept my money. This is an XL size and my bust is about 42 inches. Matching kids shirt is here.

Easter 2016 – Part 2 – The Kids!

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Nothing says Easter like the blur of children as they run around excited by the thought of the Easter Bunny and candy and eggs and toys!

And getting them to both sit still and look at the camera? Hahahahaha Nope.

And gosh darn it, why is the best picture also the one with our neighbor’s trash cans in the background?

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But regardless Easter 2016 is behind us and frankly I’m glad of it. I got hit with a sinus infection of doom on top of having bruised my tailbone so I ended up skipping all the festivities and staying home while my husband took the girls to Easter dinner. Oh well.

The more important part is the girls looks so darned cute in their Easter dresses!

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Lu was so darling in her Lily Dress from Green Bee Patterns. I feel like this is the first time I made her more of a big girl dress instead of a baby design and it shows. Hello my long legged girl! She’s gotten so tall!

The pattern itself was some what annoying so I’ll do a separate post as a pattern review, but the end result was quite nice on her. I am very pleased.

Charlie is a girl on the move! She was just thrilled to sit at her grandparents house and eat cheese and crackers and hunt for Easter eggs.

For her dress I made McCalls 6913 and OMG I loved it so much. This is the 1 year old size and it was still quite large (Charlie is just now out growing 9 month clothing), but that means she should be able to wear it all summer. The pattern didn’t include a diaper cover, so I grabbed one from another baby pattern. Didn’t end up showing, but oh well!

The fabric from both dresses is from the Sommer collection by Sarah Jane and trimmed with some Free Spirit Voile in this bright melon color. I just loved the way these are Easter dresses, but the bunnies are a small fun little surprise so these can be worn all spring and summer.

And now onto some other sewing. I’m not really sure what to do next. I have fabric for a couple skirts and I have some quilting to do, but for right now I think I’m happy to knit and relax while I recover from being ill.