Tag: vintage

Rose Tattoo Retro Dress

Alexander Henry dress

Yesterday I finished off a dress that’s been almost done for far too long.

It was mostly already finished. I just had to add the waistband, sew the top and bottom halves together, and add elastic and binding. Ta daa.

I have a sneaky suspicion it’s going to be too long in the bodice for me, and therefore might need to be re-homed with somebody taller. I hope not, because I’ve just bought a buckle on Etsy, for making a matching belt!

It started life as one of my many versions of Butterick 6582. I don’t think I’ve ever made this dress exactly as per the pattern, and this incarnation is no exception.

This time I’ve left out all of the waist darts on the bodice, and gathered it into the skirt with an elastic waistband. The arms and hem are trimmed with bias binding, and there’s also a layer of tubular crinoline in the hem, to help it stand out without an extra petticoat.

The fabric is Alexander Henry’s “Rose Tattoo”.

Amazing psychedelic twill!

A giant parcel arrived for me yesterday – look what was inside!

Psychedelic Twill

This fabric is a bit of a mystery… it was sent to me by a friend, but I have no idea how old it is, what it’s made from, or what it was originally designed to be used for.

It’s a heavy twill, and it feels as though it’s mostly cotton. The fabric is 53″ wide, with a printed area of 51″. The selvedge doesn’t give away any clues, it only shows the six different colours used in the print. No date, no designer, nothing.

I’m guessing 1970s, from the combination of the pattern and the colour.

This print is BIG – you’re looking at about 30″ x 21″ (77 x 53cm) in the photograph – so I suspect it was intended for curtains and upholstery.

Personally, I think it would be great for an unusual skirt or dress!

A tiny piece of history.

Inspired by Ruth Singer, I’ve spent this afternoon making a wall hanging organiser for all my reels of thread.

(Possibly not the cleverest thing to do when suffering with a bad wrist and a splitting headache, but hey.)

My new thread organiser

Take one enormous cork board, a hundred and eighteen panel pins, and a big hammer…

Grandma Rose's old sewing threads

I particularly like “Turkey Red Shade” and “Dk. Shrimp”. Giving all of the colours numbers instead of names just isn’t as much fun.

Vintage threads

I think these are my favourites. “Barbour’s Linen Thread” is perfect for sewing together my little shoes – I only wish I could buy some more!

The Glacé threads are very fine, but strong enough for sewing shoes, books and bags. The 40 weight is also good for quilting, apparently.

Less than forty of the threads on that board are mine – the rest came from my Grandma Rose and my Aunty Sue. My Grandma’s 87 now (I think), and I haven’t known her to do much sewing during the past 34 years, so some of those threads must be pretty old. I don’t know that I’d want to use some of the oldest cottons for sewing seams, but they’d be lovely for decorative work.

I’m extremely amused to notice that, with very few exceptions, these reels of thread represent three generations of loyalty to the same brand. Sylko, Drima and Coats have all become merged over the years, into the thread division of Coats Crafts.

Shame the packaging isn’t as beautiful as it used to be.