1930's Sewing Catalog Leach Way

I'd like to share with you a fabulous catalog I found on ebay recently and I am hoping one day to make a blouse from the front.  The illustrations in these catalogs really are works of art.  Another great thing about this catalog is that there is still tissue patterns with it.


Just looking through this catalog, I'd want each and every one of these outfits.  They are all just so special.

Check out the lady with the cigarette...so politically incorrect nowadays but so interesting to see.  She is thinking as she smokes "Hmm which lovely blouse shall I wear?"    I think the blouse I am most attracted too is the striped version.  You really have to be able to follow seam and cutting grain direction to accomplish this look.
Can I say I'd like a subscription to Leach Way?

I hope you enjoy a stroll through this magazine from the late 1930's as much as I do (did).   I'm probably not going to be able to blog as much as normal in the summer months but I am hoping to have some interesting things to share.

Let's take a peak inside....

A Skirt, A Hem, and A Blouse

I thought I would share a couple of images on my hair the day after putting it in pin curls and wave clips.   I felt like my hair was a little thicker in nature and I appreciated the loose curls.  My hair is now back to its flat ol'self.     The 1950's blouse I am wearing in these images is from Concetta's Closet.  It has a charming toile effect on it with bouquets of roses and sweet images of a two love birds picnicking in the countryside.


This is an image with my new dress form, Celine (named by my daughter), more on this form in a future post.   Isn't this rayon skirt fabulous?   It is cut on the bias and drapes beautifully.  It is however way too long.  It would drag on the floor if I wore it as is.  But, I am wondering if this wasn't partially the style?  Check out the beach skirts below.  I guess these ladies didn't mind their skirts gliding with the ground.  Looks glamourous in the vintage image but not quite practical for me.   I have already decided to bring it up this skirt a little.

Skirt purchased from Etsy Friendly Fox Vintage, handmade.

A little bit of a similar look?

A local event to attend. Could it be possible?

There is not much happens, vintage wise where I live.  In fact, not much happens at all:).  So, when I found out Dandy Wellington was headed out this way,  the children and I got dressed up to attend a lovely swing event.  It's so nice seeing a swing band in person.  I wish I could do this every weekend.  

My hat is a recent purchase and it's so remarkable that this hat has lasted so long, being straw.  Someone really took good care of this hat.  Don't you often wonder the history of your purchases?  I'd love to know the story behind this hat. The hat is from the 1930's.   The straw is a larger cross weave which makes for a fascinating pattern.  I found this hat while browsing Facebook.   I noticed that Wildfell Hall Vintage put this hat on their page.  They also have a great etsy store to visit.  I quickly inquired about it, as it really is difficult to find vintage straw hats from this period.

Outfit Details:

Dress: Manhattan Vintage Show thinking 30's appears to be handmade but of beautiful quality.  I hope one day to be able to sew like this!

Rhinestone Buckle:  I added this to the dress.  I had bought it on ebay and it had been sitting in a box just waiting to be used.  Vintage 1920's.

Hat:  Wildfell Hall Vintage

Gloves: Manhattan Vintage Show

Necklace:  Rubylane

Earrings:  Screw-back rhinestone

Shoes:  ReMix...gotta love ReMix shoes so comfortable

Bag:  Hand beaded celluloid.  It's just so beautiful inside too.  I don't recall if it was ebay or etsy.  But, I do remember getting it for a really good price.

My son took these pictures since my husband was not around.  I thought he did a pretty good job.  I know some could be more focused but he was a very good sport!

                                    

I set my hair in finger waves and pin curls.  I looked to inspiration from the lovely book I won from Janey,  Style Me Vintage Hair.   I thought my hair turned out quite well and I really do love the finger wave look.  I even like the look the second day as it becomes more loose and still curly (next post I'll show the second day look).

At the event:

My daughter said I looked like an alien with these glasses on.  I'd probably have to agree but still like the look, regardless:)

Here is an up close image of the dress so that you can see that it is cut into panels for a "flutter effect".  The "flutter effect" as I call it is so fun when you are walking to have kind of a sway to the bottom of your dress.  I  believe this dress was handmade but a lot of time was spent making it.  The hems were done so lovely.

I also wanted to share some more details on the bag.  Check out all the wonderful beading.  I encourage all you vintage lovers to at least have one vintage beaded bag in your collection.  It's amazing the amount of time it must have taken to bead this bag.  You just won't find this nowadays.

The inside is very interesting too with an attached little mirror cradled by a swirl of silk-type material.  I wonder if this bag was even used considering the condition of the interior.  

Here is a closing shot of the fabulous band.  Certainly well worth the event and I'm hoping to go back again next year.

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Hello all, just a quick note to let you all know that I am on Bloglovin at "DividingMoments" not "DividingVintageMoments".   When I first started out my blog it was "DividingMoments" and I haven't switched my blogspot to include the word vintage.  It would require a whole new blog.

So anyways, follow me on Bloglovin,  I just got through transferring over my blogs:))

I think I also need to make a sidebar next for this.

Oh, thought I'd also share a picture of my new pet,  "Scottie".  Isn't he cute?

Outfit post coming up tomorrow.

"Look West Fine Sailor, It's On To 1947 We Go."

I'm not exactly sure why but fate seems to point me to the year 1947 as well as 1938.  I'm also keen on the early 50's too but I don't think I have a set year for the 50's.    Do any of you have a favorite year?

I have a few things to tie up before I begin my next sewing project.  There is this lovely rayon beach skirt I bought that needs a new hem so this will give me a great opportunity to work with rayon.  This I hope to do this week.  I also think it could benefit from a zipper instead of snaps.

In the meantime, I thought I'd share with you 1947 sewing styles.

My next sewing project fate has dropped in my lap so I'm going with it.  I originally thought I should do another reproduction pattern but what the heck...let's try a vintage one.  If I become completely confused, I'll just come back to it.  I am going easy on myself and tackling a skirt.  I really want to work with rayon but I'm not sure if I'll get there with this skirt.  I have to think on it some more.

I liked the look of this skirt on this particular pattern as the lines seem simple and can still introduce me to new concepts.  I had no idea this pattern was 1947 until I got the pattern and saw this year noted on the back of the envelope.  I'm not quite sure about the seam line going right in the middle, maybe I might be able to move this to the side.

So, the year 1947 it is and my-o-my what a grand year it was!  This is the year that Dior introduced the New Look.  When I page through fashion magazines of this year, many flashes of "ohh's and ahhh's zip and zap through my mind.

The pattern envelope has simple solid colors but I was thinking I might try a print.  The pattern is in really good shape and was not expensive so I'm happy to start out my first vintage pattern with a skirt.  I really wanted a blouse but I'm still hunting down the right puffy sleeved model for this.  I think I would like a late 30's version of a blouse...maybe even 1938, if I am particularly lucky.

I love the idea of a cummerbund.  I'm wondering how a print would look though.  I haven't seen this pattern replicated yet by other vintage seamstresses.

I thought I'd share some other patterns from 1947.

McCalls  4927

McCall 6781

Simplicity 2075

What I love about these vintage patterns is the stripes and the play on form.  Not sure if I could be as accurate as this pattern below with just two perfect stripes runing down.  Love the horizontal and vertical play on lines though!  I do have a future pattern I hope to conquer that does have red and white stripes but I don't see it being as difficult as this one.

Simplicity 2071  (I recently bought this pattern too before I knew it was 1947.)  I can't wait to see how the bows are formed.  I would think you'd need some stabalizer to keep the structure of the bows.  Too cute! How could you not want to wear this dress?

Simplicity 2144

McCall 6824

If a vintage pattern is too intimating, here is a reproduction pattern that looks to have great possibilities.

Guess what, I just recently won my very first Vogue Pattern book.  It is from, you guessed it, 1947!  So, I'll post some of these images coming up in a future post.  I was hoping my skirt would be in this book, but wouldn't you know it, I just missed the cutoff and I'm thinking it is in the next issue.  No worries, this issue has some interesting things to share too!

These are not related to 1947 but I really wanted to share these.  Aren't these two patterns awesome?  They show you how to do sleeves.  They are quite pricey.  These are certainly patterns to keep in mind for the future.  How cool!

This one is currently at $50 and still going.

This auction just ended at $64

First Dress Simplicity 2444

So, here it is my very first hand and machine stitched dress by me.  I choose the Project Runway Simplicity Pattern 2444.   I'm glad to have started out with this dress because there were quite a few blogs to visit for inspiration and a fabulous tutorial on YouTube that helped me along (more below).


First off, I'd like to say this was a "working" muslin for me.  I'm hoping to do this dress again with some corrections to the pattern to better fit me.

Outfit Details:

Hat -ebay purchase vintage cartwheel hat
Necklace -Bakelite recently purchased
Bracelet -vintage but probably just regular ol'plastic.  No matter, bought it to match:)
Dress-details below made by me from Simplicity 2444.   Fabric is out of print but it is from Michele D'Amore Marcus Brothers, Metro Collection.
Shoes- Vintage

I added a little hook and eye but forgot to close it in this picture.

You can see how I had to add a couple of darts to the front  at the top (also to the back).  I hope in my next draft this will be corrected.

Work in process images:

Issues:

1.     Biggest issue - I had to add a couple of darts to the top neck area on front and back that I'm not too happy about but I didn't like how much  bulk there was on the top.  I've seen this issue on a couple of blogs so I'll have to figure out how to fix the pattern up for my next draft.    If you have this problem when you try it out, here is a great blog post.  I'll try this next.

2.  The pattern called for you to cut the skirt into four sections.  I don't understand why the front couldn't be one section.  Next draft will be one section to the front.

3.  I'll probably add to the hemline as I like it a bit longer.  In this case I didn't hem anything under so there was no seam allowance.  I added a bias strip to the bottom.

4.  Next dress I will learn how to add a lining.  I didn't like the interfacing on the sleeves and neck area.

5.  For some odd reason when I was making the sleeves, one turned out slightly bigger than the other, I'm sure this was totally my fault.  Next time, I'll make sure they match before stitching them on.  I was able to fix this.

6.  When I went to put in the hook and eye, I realized my top was slightly off at the top with the bias binding, too late to correct.  I'll have to keep in mind to make sure this lines up better next time before stitching in place.  This is completely my fault and not the pattern.



Things I Loved and Learned:

1. I tried out a couple of different stitching foots for my sewing machine.  I didn't like the bias foot for my machine ended up doing it by hand with a neat gadget.  Much more fun!  I also loved making my own bias tape from coordinating fabric.  This isn't part of the required dress pattern but is great for finishing off edges.

2.  Loved the pockets in the dress, some people have said that they add bulk, but I don't think so.  I almost considered not having them, glad I didn't.

3.  I barely scraped by on my fabric amount, but this was my fault as I just grabbed the polka dot fabric I had, eyeballed it and thought, "I have more than enough".

4.  I think I memorized this tutorial.   So glad I had this to refer too!  Thank you Professor PinCushion!  I actually had bought the pattern and was looking around for resources and came across this one.  Boy, did it make it so much easier for me not knowing a thing about how to do a pattern, how to cut, basically everything.

5. Keep note of the grain lines on your pattern, these could be your best friend.   I was having a little difficulty laying out some of my pieces based upon the pattern directions.  I had cut off a section thinking I didn't need it when, I probably did.  But, lucky for me, I just followed the grain line on the fabric pattern and it was okay.

6.  Actually loved putting in a zipper.  I put in an invisible zipper and it wasn't too difficult.  It helped me out a lot that I bought an invisible zipper foot.  I recommend this foot to those of you considering making dresses.

7.  This pattern does give you the confidence to go out and try other patterns.

8.  My belt was total fate!  I love the idea of fabric matching belts (in general).  It is difficult to find the resources to make these.  I was cruising around ebay a few weeks ago and an auction for a bunch of vintage belt kits with just the belt material caught my eye.   You may also remember my button buy here.   Isn't it great that in this batch of buttons was a matching buckle the perfect color for what I needed for this dress?




Pattern: