Sew, Knit N Stretch

1960s Sew Knit N Stretch 228

I’ve been collecting these Sew-Knit-N-Stretch (the precursor to Kwik Sew) patterns for about a year. These particular designs date from 1969 and 1970, so I can’t really think of them as being “vintage” just yet. Okay, yes, they’re from before I was born, but only by three or four years. And that’s NOT OLD. Definitely not.

The peculiar thing about these patterns is that they come without any kind of size reference whatsoever. Yes, they say “S-M-L-XL’ on the front, but there is absolutely no indication, anywhere, as to what those sizes might mean. Not on the envelope, not in the instructions, not on the pattern pieces. Not anywhere.

Sew-Knit-N-Stretch

I made an XL in this one, a complete guess, and thankfully it turned out quite well. Okay, they have been relegated to pyjamas, but I need to do a bit of fabric thinking before I make another pair. The pattern calls for power net (as they’re supposed to be a “control” garment), I went for cotton jersey… but I think perhaps some kind of sportswear fabric might turn out to be a good in-between answer.

Sew-Knit-N-Stretch

You saw these as part of Me-Made May – and yes, they’re now pyjamas too. I made a size XL, thinking they’d be nice and comfy, and I think they will be in a woven fabric. In a knit though, I can definitely go down to a size L without any trouble at all.

Sew-Knit-N-Stretch

This pair I haven’t made yet, but I think I’m going to start by tracing off the size L this time, and hoping that the sizing is the same as for the other patterns!

These, and the ones above, are designed for nylon tricot. Personally I’m not a huge fan of nylon – it creates static electricity, it clings to your legs, and it’s hot and sticky in the summer. Hot and sticky is precisely what I’m trying to avoid by making this type of underwear, so I think a different fabric choice is going to be required. It needs to be something slippery, so that cotton dresses move nicely over the top, but not something that’s going to be hot or static or climb up your legs in an annoying way.

I think I need to stalk Scruffy Badger’s blog – she makes some lovely running shorts in sportswear and performance fabrics, so I think there might be inspiration to be had over there!

Sew-Knit-N-Stretch

This one is the weirdest of all, in that it turned out to (mostly) fit first time! I made a 36C, assuming it would be too big, and I could then alter it down to fit. In an off-the-shelf bra I wear a 36A, or a 34B, or a 32D, depending on what mood the manufacturer was in on the day they decided to pluck the imaginary sizes out of thin air. Surprisingly the 36C turned out to be almost spot on… although the more I wear the slip, the more I wonder whether I should try and find a copy in a 38 to see whether that would fit even better.

Most UK bras are sized using the frankly bizarre “+4” system – you measure around your ribcage to find your underbust measurement, you add four inches to this measurement for no readily apparent reason (three inches if it’s an odd number, obviously), and that’s your bra size. You then measure around the fullest part of your bust, and work out the difference between the under bust and over bust measurements to determine which cup size you need. Then you go to a shop, take every bra in that size into a changing room, and weep gently as not a single one of them turns out to fit you, and they’re all wrong in a different way. Or is that just me?

Anyway, I wonder whether, being a dressmaking pattern, this bra slip is actually given as a dress size, rather than a bra size. Dress patterns are sized according to your over bust measurement, and most of the vintage patterns I buy are a size 38 or 39″ bust. (This could be anything from a size 14 to a size 20½, depending on which decade the pattern is from.)

Actually, a quick search has turned out to reveal that the bra slip is only available up to a size 36, but what looks like the identical bra pattern without the slip part is available in a 38. Perhaps I can cobble the two together and see what happens.

Selfish Sewing

Sew-Knit-N-Stretch 206, 1969

I work on alternate Mondays, so the two I’m at home have been officially designated “Selfish Sewing” days. Days when I can try out new patterns and work on my own wardrobe, without worrying about whether I should be sewing for the Eternal Magpie shop.

My Panty Girdle (with Crotch Piece) pattern arrived at the weekend, so that was the ideal candidate for my first day of Selfish Sewing!

Sew Knit N Stretch 206

I wasn’t sure what size to make (there are no measurements given anywhere on the pattern!), so I decided to go with XL, which is usually around a vintage size 18. As you can see, the pattern’s nested really nicely, so I can still make other sizes if I need to. As it turns out, in the fabric I’ve chosen (which is just a printed jersey t-shirting), the size XL was almost perfect! The only thing I need to change on the next version is to make a small sway back adjustment, by taking an inch or so out of the centre back seam at the top. Excellent!

I left out the suspender attachments on this first try, mainly because the fabric is nowhere near strong enough to hold them up. If I do decide to make a power mesh version for wearing with stockings, I think I’d probably need to cut a size smaller, to make them more like a proper “control” garment. As it is, they fit really nicely in jersey, are very comfortable, and I think this first pair will make quite serviceable summer pyjamas.

Sew Knit N Stretch 206

The cotton jersey t-shirting was a piece I had left over in the stash, as was the little lace panel. As you can see, these shorts aren’t going to win any prizes for glamour or beauty, but they make a fine wearable muslin, which was the point of the exercise. Before I make more, I need to acquire two things – some stretch lace for the legs, to stop them from riding up, and some stronger elastic for the waistband. The piece I used is nice and soft, but it lacks recovery – when I stretched it out to stitch it into place, it didn’t stretch back as far as it should have done, which could be a problem once they’ve been through the wash a few times!

The instructions for these were more comprehensive than those for the bra slip, and they had lovely little step-by-step illustrations. The only one that was a little bit tricky to understand was the diagram for the waistband elastic – it was too small to really see what was going on, and I think if you didn’t have experience of applying lingerie elastic, you could get yourself into a bit of a muddle. I’m particularly glad that my sewing machine has both a triple straight stitch and a triple zigzag – those are absolutely invaluable for sewing strong stretch seams. The triple zigzag also makes the top stitching look very professional, although all this triple stitching does use up an awful lot of thread. Two complete bobbins, for a garment that only takes half a metre of fabric!

I think the vintage-inspired wardrobe is making good progress – I just need to make a few more of everything now!

A quiet month

1970s dress

Oh dear, I do seem to have got out of the habit of blogging again lately. I’ve just been feeling a bit… quiet. Which anybody who knows me will be aware, isn’t very much like me at all. I’m somewhat lacking in creative inspiration, and I’m feeling a bit fed up about it, and not really sure quite what to do with myself.

Still, the odd bit of making is happening. This is the result of Butterick 4736, the 1970s dress pattern I mentioned last time. I’ve been wearing it quite a lot, and it’s really comfortable. One person did ask me whether it was vintage or reproduction (both, I guess?), thanks to the enormous collars, but I have to admit I rather like them.

1970s Butterick 4376

I made the shorter length which, being a not-very-tall person, is pretty much spot on. I keep half wondering whether I could cut it off at hip level to make a blouse, but I’m not quite sure that would work. I need to dig out a piece of fabric that’s not quite long enough to make a whole dress, and see how it comes out.

1960s Sew Knit N Stretch 228

I have also made this bra slip, and against all odds it fitted perfectly! Straight out of the packet! While I was rummaging around in the sewing room I found a forgotten bra-making kit, which had just enough fabric and elastic to make the top half. A quick dash to the fabric shop later (the princely sum of £2.14 having exchanged hands) and I had a metre and a half each of polyester habutae and nylon lace to make the bottom half. It’s the perfect length to go underneath the 1970s dress, and now that I’ve established the fit I can make more in some nicer fabrics. I’m thinking stretch silk, and maybe some soft jersey versions to wear as vests.

fleece jacket

Oh, and then there’s this. Inspired by a knitting pattern I saw on Etsy, where the collar folds back to make pockets, I put together this fleecy jacket. It looks a bit too much like a dressing gown in this spotty fleece, but once I’ve ironed out some technical hitches (I made a mistake on one of the lining pieces, so it doesn’t fit together quite right) I can feel quite a few versions of this one coming on too. It has wide kimono sleeves, which means that the sleeves of my dresses will actually fit down it – currently a problem, as all of my existing cardigans were bought or made to go over t-shirts!

Sew-Knit-N-Stretch 206, 1969

And then, to add to my increasingly glamorous collection of old-fashioned underthings, there’s this. Currently on its way to me from the US, it’s a 1969 pattern for a long-leg panty girdle “with crotch piece”. This is important, as the opposite of “with crotch piece” is not “crotchless”, it is in fact “with a godawful seam in a terrible place”. Which is why I don’t wear ordinary cycling shorts underneath my dresses. So uncomfortable! These shorts can be made from a variety of materials, depending on how restrictive you want them to be. I’m aiming more for comfort than shapewear, so I’m thinking about cotton jersey, and maybe just the faintest whiff of lycra for the front panel. I’m quite interested to see the instructions for these, as the directions for the bra slip were quite minimal. I’m hoping this one’s a bit more thorough.

I think I’m finally starting to get somewhere with my new-old wardrobe though. I’m still very tempted by beautiful 1950s dresses, but it’s looking very much as though the 1970s are actually much more me!

Improving on Me-Made May

28/5/14

You may have spotted that I didn’t post very many photos from my Me-Made May escapades. This is partly because I mostly look like some kind of strange triangular bag lady (I like layers, and most of my clothes are comfortable-shaped), and partly because it turns out that I only wear about four outfits, over and over again, with very minor variations. How boring!

28/5/14

Towards the end of the month I made a last-ditch effort to wear some of the smarter clothes in my wardrobe, only to discover that when I put them on… well, suddenly they’re not so smart any more. This dress is now very firmly on the “waiting to be chopped up and turned into something that doesn’t look like a giant floral sack” pile. There’s just no point in wasting time and fabric making clothes that require waist shaping in order to look nice, when waist shaping isn’t something that I actually have myself. Although, having said that, my other vintage dress (also made from an Advance size 18½ pattern without alterations) fitted really well and looked lovely!

17/5/14

See? I still don’t have a waist, but the dress looks smart, not like a huge great cushion’s attacked me while I wasn’t looking. I think this is partly down to the fact that this dress has a smooth skirt rather than miles of pleats. (Also: not a selfie, vintage-style foundation garments, not layered with t-shirts and bloomers and giant boots on account of it being freezing at work.)

Lace crop top

Sadly, even if I did have the budget to wear lovely things from Kiss Me Deadly every day, the fibromyalgia simply wouldn’t allow it. But, the whole Me-Made May experiment did reveal that I am very much lacking in the Me-Made underwear department – despite the fact that I spent plenty of time and money on the London College of Fashion’s Structured Lingerie course back in 2011. I bought this lace when I came back, in a fit of enthusiasm, and it’s been untouched in a box ever since, along with a metre and a half of pink, and four metres of a prettier-than-it-sounds grey. This particular lingerie is about as unstructured as you can get (no wires, no fastenings, nothing), but I used a lot of the skills I learned on the course to make it. The pattern itself is from Sewing Lingerie, a Singer reference book, where it’s described as a “sleep bra”.

The wide stretch lace that I used to make this is actually really affordable, and comes in lots of different colours and patterns. If this one (and the pink one I’ve just finished, and the two or three grey ones I’m going to make next) turn out to be comfortable, I can feel a drawer full of these coming on before Me-Made May next year!

Blooming Lovely

black & red bloomers

Today I have been mostly making bloomers. I made a pair on Tuesday afternoon, from some deep purple cotton lawn, which I wore to work on Wednesday. They were so comfortable in this heatwave we’re having, that I got up today (my day off) and made four more pairs!

Please excuse the creases on the black ones – I tried them on when they were finished, and they were so comfy I wore them for most of the day! They’re cotton lawn, trimmed with broderie anglais trim that I salvaged from a skirt that wore out years ago. The red ones… I’m not quite sure about. I love the trim – it’s vintage white nylon lace, with a little row of red machine-embroidered roses running through the middle. Worn with the right dress over the top they might look great, but at the moment all I can think of is Christmas!

Red & white bloomers

This pair’s better – a slightly different shade of red, trimmed with inch-wide nylon lace. I want to stand on an embankment and wave these at a train, though I suspect I might get into trouble! And yes, I know that Jenny Agutter waved a red flannel petticoat, not a pair of bloomers, but wouldn’t it be a fantastic image to recreate? Both red pairs are polycotton, left over from my Steampunk costumes. I’m not sure why I had so much left, or why I decided to make two pairs of bloomers given that I have no other red clothes to wear them with, but I like them anyway.

pretty pear trim

The white ones though, they’re my absolute favourites.

I pulled the fabric out of a box thinking it was going to be the slightly stiffer polycotton, and was thrilled to discover that it was actually a piece of cotton lawn, just big enough for a pair of bloomers! But look at this trim, isn’t it absolutely adorable? Little pears, for goodness’ sake! I have no recollection of where I found it. It could have been a random Fabric Land bargain, it could have turned up in one of my vintage haberdashery boxes. I only had a small piece, so I’ve been waiting for the perfect project to use it on – and here it is!

Kiss Me Deadly – Paradise Girdle


Photo © Kiss Me Deadly

A few weeks ago, one of these turned up in the post. No, not a lovely blonde lady with a pointy dagger, but a Kiss Me Deadly Paradise Longline Girdle.

Given that during my recent wardrobe purge I threw out every single piece of uncomfortable lingerie I owned (which to Paul’s dismay was nearly all of it), this might seem like a bit of a bonkers purchase. And it is, a little bit. But in its favour, it’s stretchy, it doesn’t dig in anywhere, and best of all – you can colour it in.


Photo © Kiss Me Deadly

Yes, you read that correctly. The design itself is black and white, but every Paradise girdle is supplied with a set of paints and a brush, so you can paint your own. I chose the pearlescent paints, because I like the subtle effect in this picture, but you can also choose from sparkly, glittery, or glow in the dark! Kiss Me Deadly are awarding prizes for pictures of the finished result, so I’d probably better get a move on and colour mine in!

I do need to make a small alteration to mine first though. Despite the advice on the KMD website to order this particular garment by your waist size rather than your hip measurement, I went the other way. This means it’s a little bit too big for me at the top, but I’m glad I went for the larger size otherwise I think it would have been too constricting for me at the bottom. Please note – my body is a very odd shape, thanks to 20 years of IBS and three lots of abdominal surgery, so if you’re buying one of these I would still recommend following the fitting advice on the website! However, I have the technology to take in the side seams at the waist without disrupting the technical construction of the girdle, so I’m going to do that before I get the paints out.


Photo © Marks and Spencer

Recently, Catherine wrote an article for The Lingerie Addict about What It’s Like to be a Woman with a Disability in the Lingerie Industry. This was particularly well timed for me to read, having just thrown out all my bras and replaced them with distinctly un-glamorous (but tolerably comfortable) brightly-coloured cotton crop tops from M&S. (Yes, they’re for children. Yes, that makes me feel weird.) Some of my health issues are different from Catherine’s, some of them are similar. And let’s just say that the multiple mirrors in a Marks & Spencer changing room do very little for the self-esteem of a woman who’s almost forty, overweight, in constant pain, and trying on children’s underwear as something of a last resort. That was not the most enjoyable morning I’ve ever had.

But, I did realise that if these crop tops are comfortable enough, then I could probably get away with one of Kiss Me Deadly’s more unstructured bras, like the Van Doren. (I love the style of the Fifi, but just looking at that narrow band makes my ribs hurt!) If this is a picture of the back of the Van Doren bralet (which I think it is), that nice deep strap and wide elastic combination looks very promising indeed.

First things first though – time to make that alteration to the waist of the Paradise girdle, and then get the paints out! Honestly, clothes you can colour in? Best. Idea. EVER.

Vintage Underwear

Vintage Underwear

On Saturday morning I went to a local antique shop, looking for a wooden hand that I could use to display gloves. (As you do.) I didn’t find one, but I did find four lovely pieces of vintage underwear that I snapped up with great glee!

Vintage Underwear

First out of the basket was this petticoat. It’s in perfect condition, just a few rust spots here and there, and it actually fits me! I’ll just need to shorten the straps, and unpick the tape that’s been used to create gathers under the arms. Then I can wear it underneath the dresses I’m planning to make from my new pattern.

Vintage Underwear

Next up was not one, but two pairs of great big drawers! They’re decorated with drawn threadwork on the legs, each in a different style. Both pairs are a bit damaged. One has a lot of yellowing and a hole in the crotch. The plan for these, I think, is to cut away the worst of the damaged fabric and put in a whole new panel. I’ll also need to replace the elastic and drawstring at the back.

Vintage Underwear

The threadwork is gorgeous though, so fine! I genuinely can’t tell whether the spots in the middle of the squares are made by hand or machine. They’re so even!

Vintage Underwear

The other pair has a simpler design, but no less lovely. These have been repaired quite a lot, and will need a fair bit of work doing if they’re going to be rescued and returned to a wearable state. There’s a small tear at the front waist, and the drawstring channels have come apart on both sides. The crotch is intact in this pair, and in fact looks to have been replaced. The stitching is so tiny that the seams are virtually indistinguishable from the surrounding fabric. There’s also quite a large tear in the back of one leg, that’s been mended in a similarly delicate way.

Vintage Underwear

Both pairs are monogrammed with the initials “MR” just to the left of the centre front.

Vintage Underwear

And last but not least, there’s this pretty little camisole. More modern than the other pieces, it’s overlocked on the inside, and made from lawn rather than densely woven cotton. I can’t tell yet whether the straps will need replacing, or whether they’ll be fine after a good hot iron.

Vintage Underwear

The ribbon that’s threaded through the channel at the front definitely needs replacing though, and there’s a tear that will need to be mended. There’s also a double row of stitching around the waist, that must presumably have once contained elastic. This one’s not as carefully made as the others, which makes me feel less bad about altering it rather than trying to preserve it. In fact, I’m thinking that I might turn it upside down, and make it into a pretty little petticoat or summer nightdress for my niece.

Not bad, for a completely unexpected find!

Ghostly pants…

Ghostly pants...

Here I am, showing my underwear to the internet again. Please excuse the glimpse of my horrid garden beyond, I’m far more embarrassed about you seeing that than I am about showing you my knickers!

These started off life as a teddy, but I made a mistake while I was applying the elastic to the top. It didn’t fit right, and the straps kept falling off my shoulders, so I decided to take the scissors to it and try again. This is the result – a pair of french knickers in lovely soft bamboo fabric.

The centre front and back are finished with french seams, but I got a bit lazy at the side seams and just overlocked them. The legs are lazier still – just a lettuce hem run straight through the overlocker.

I wanted to use a soft, wide elastic as I thought that would be more comfortable than a narrow lingerie elastic that might dig in. I deliberately didn’t cut them on the bias, mainly because I didn’t have enough fabric to do that when I was cutting an entire teddy, and also because the fabric has such good drape that I didn’t think it was necessary. I may change my mind as I wear these, but they’re so soft that I think they’ll be fine.

Now all that remains is to wear and wash them a few times, and see how they cope with actually being worn. If they’re as comfortable as they look, I can foresee plenty more pairs of little bamboo shorts in my future wardrobe!

Floral fabric and vintage knickers

1980s underwear

I had intended to spend this morning sewing, but the temperature in the Shed soon put paid to that. It took an hour and a half for the little heater to force its way into double figures. Brrr! I think this is perhaps the only disadvantage of working in a Shed in the garden – it’s blooming cold when it snows!

By the time I’d spent half the morning sending work-related emails (on a day when I’m not at work, more fool me), it seemed pointless to start something when I have to go out this afternoon to catalogue some more beetles.

So, here are my latest bargains from the weekend!

The fabric is a £3.49/m cotton from Fabric Land, and it’s creased because it’s been through a 60° wash and the tumble dryer. This is a much harsher treatment than it’s ever going to receive once it’s a dress, so I can be confident that it won’t shrink or otherwise misbehave in the wash once I’ve spent ages making it. Paul mumbled something about cushions when I showed it to him. Rude.

The pattern was a bargain from my local Sue Ryder shop, in the centre of Reading, which has a large Retro and Vintage section that I love to bits. I’m not sure whether 1988 (the date of this pattern) counts as either Retro or Vintage, but it was 25 years ago… which certainly makes me feel old!

Anyway, the pattern only cost £2, and although some of it’s been cut up and sellotaped back together (argh!), the part that I really wanted is still intact. That’s the two different styles of french knickers, which I plan to make both in printed cotton and in bamboo. The pattern’s a size too small for me, but I plan to cheat it by sewing with smaller seam allowances.

I wonder whether I actually do have time to run up a quick pair now, before I go off to my beetles…?

Simplicity 2184: Vintage dress pattern holy grail!

Well, it’s taken me almost five years to find it, but here it is – my vintage dress pattern holy grail, in the form of Simplicity 2184.

Raglan sleeves. Short and long sleeve options. FRENCH CUFFS. Convertible collar. In a size that I don’t have to re-draft too much. HALLELUIA! All I need to do is add pockets in the side seams (and 3″ to the waist) and it will be PERFECT! It even still includes the embroidery transfers for the monogram. *swoons*

It’s probably just as well that I need to wait for it to arrive all the way from Canada (I bought it on Etsy, from HoneymoonBus), hopefully that will ensure that I’ve calmed down a little bit by the time it arrives. I’ve already mentally sewn it in about 153 different fabric combinations, and thrown out every other item of clothing in my wardrobe. I need to slow down.

I posted the link on Facebook, and several people were somewhat boggled by the term “Slenderette”. Thankfully a friend discovered that Gertie (whose blog I am now reading obsessively) had contacted Simplicity to find out what on earth. Apparently the term was used for patterns that were specifically designed to make you look more slender. Not that this is going to work for me, as I’m going to have to let out the waist by at least three inches to make the dress fit – or invest in some fairly serious underwear.

Yes, underwear is still an ongoing issue. This stupid annoying fibromyalgia thing that I’ve got going on means that wearing a bra is absolutely excruciating, so I haven’t done it for the best part of a year. (And the Fashion Police didn’t arrest me or anything! It’s been a revelation!) Those “secret support” vests – sorry – camisoles with a soft bra hidden inside are a bit better, but they still have a constricting band of elastic around the body, so they’re not ideal. I did make a lovely soft teddy from bamboo fabric, but there were some issues with the fit (which is why I haven’t blogged about it yet), and Paul said it looked “like Victorian underwear – in a bad way”. Clearly some improvement needed there!

I keep looking at Kiss Me Deadly, whose vintage-inspired underwear would be perfect underneath this type of dress. But sadly their pretty things are outside the realms of my budget at the moment (anybody want to buy me a Vargas dress? Go on, you know you want to!), and I’m not 100% certain that my body will tolerate being squished by powernet all day.

So perhaps while I’m waiting for this pattern to arrive and fill me with wonder and glee, I should concentrate on doing some experiments with underwear. I’ve only made a couple of bras since I went on LCF’s Structured Lingerie course, and that was two years ago. Now I really want to do their Lingerie Workshop, but again, budget, and the courses take place in the school holidays, which is when I tend to be doing extra hours at work. Hey ho.

In the meantime, I’ve been reading blogs such as Ohhh Lulu, and reading my 1970s and 1980s lingerie-sewing books, in the hope that these might encourage me to get over my terrible fear of wasting fabric, and actually cut something out. I think now’s the time!