Buttons, Buttons Everywhere

I never thought I'd say this, but I'm getting really tired of looking at buttons!  I found a woman with a good selection of vintage buttons on ebay last night though, and I think I've found them.  I actually ordered four different styles from her, but only got enough of two of them for the overalls.  One style is a cherry red, but the one I think it's more likely I'll use is a beautiful shade of yellow!  My mother has dubbed them the creme brulee buttons.  Don't they look yummy!?!

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Overalls Progress and Button Indecision...

So the overalls are coming along.  They're actually going pretty quickly -- when I get the chance to sew.  Thing is, I don't get that much sewing time.  Mostly during naps.  I got the buttons in the mail the other day, and as you can see in the picture, they don't match after all.  Darn monitor.  Anyway, I'm kinda rethinking red now even though I had originally nixed it as an option.  I need nine buttons, so the smaller ones in the picture, which are the correct size, won't work.  I have exactly nine of the larger dark red buttons, but they are bigger than the pattern calls for.  Think I'll see if they'll work anyway. 

I decided to underline the bodice with a lightweight cotton broadcloth I had in my stash, because the linen/rayon softened up quite a bit after laundering.

In progress overalls bodice.

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Yippeeeeee!! Bound Buttonholes Here I Come!

Let me start off by saying I hate making bound buttonholes.  Actually, the more accurate thing to say would be I don't make bound buttonholes.  If making a perfect bound buttonhole had been a requirement for graduation, I might not have the fashion design degree I have today.  That all being said, I love the way bound buttonholes look.  Awhile back I read a post about the Dritz Bound Buttonhole Maker.  Of course, they aren't being made anymore.  So, I've been watching them on ebay, but mostly they go for crazy prices.  Apparently, I'm having another lucky ebay day, because I just won one that was part of a lot of random sewing notions for only $12.51!!!  Hoping it'll prove to be as wonderful a gadget as everyone says!

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The Pattern Organization Has Begun!

Many thanks to those who shared their methods of organization!  I've given in and started The Great Pattern Scanning Project of 2010!  Actually, it's going much more quickly than expected.  All bow down to the new Kodak printer/scanner/copier!  We decided it was time to get a new printer as we were tired of spending ridiculous amounts of money on ink for the old one.  I had no idea that lots of the printers now come with scanners attached.  This thing is so much faster than the scanners I've used in the past.  I love it!

Anyway, I have about a hundred scanned so far.  I decided to create a Flickr account for them.  Then I created sets and have them filed in the sets by company and clothing type.  The nice thing is that one pattern can be in multiple sets, so they are all cross referenced, solving the problem of where to file outfit type patterns.  The actual patterns are filed away in comic book boxes and sleeves by company and number.

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Swirl-y Dresses

I'd love to have a real Swirl as much as the next gal, but I just can't make myself pay what they're going for right now.  Enter McCall 1596.  This certainly isn't the only Swirl-like wrap dress pattern out there.  I have a couple others myself actually, but I just fell in love with this one.  Once again, I couldn't believe I got it last night without so much as another bidder trying for it.  Yay!!  Hopefully, I'll soon have a few "Swirls" for the price of what one goes for on ebay!

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Fun with Fabric!

I need to give a big thank you to a blogger I just recently discovered, Tuppence Ha'Penny, for blogging Spoonflower yesterday!  I stayed up way too late yesterday night obsessing over creating my first fabric print in Photoshop!  It's based on a 1930's feedsack that I have but is in rough shape.  Here it is!  I'm rather proud of how it came out.  Let's hope the swatch comes out as I'm hoping.

I stylized the image here a bit.  The sample that was uploaded to Spoonflower doesn't have the "fabricy" texture applied to it and is higher resolution.

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Cigar Boxes & When It Rains, It Pours!

When I saw 1950's_atomic_ranch_house's post today asking what we store in our cigar boxes, I couldn't help but pull out my one cigar box and snap a picture.  This was my Great Grandfather's, and I used to have more than this, but this is the last one.  Sadly, when I went to open it, I discovered that one of the hinges has apparently rusted shut and the prongs that went into the box part have broken or popped out.  I use it to store Barbie clothes in.  Some is authentic Barbie, some made by my Gramma for my mom's Barbie-esque doll, and some by person's unknown for my dad's sister.  I have my aunt's Barbie too, but she isn't in the box.  I don't know if you can see in the picture, but my Great Gram apparently used it to store sequins! (for her burlesque costumes, I'm sure ;) )

The pair in the picture are my gramma and grandpa.

So, apparently it's true what they say about raining and pouring.  Today I got another copy of the Marian Martin jumper pattern on ebay!  Once again I just stumbled on it because the pattern number was nowhere in the listing!  This one was all of $4.99!  Now I'll have it in a size 14 and 18 which will make grading all the easier as I'm kind of a combination of the two sizes.

Just look at the adorable heart pockets this jumper is sporting!

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