vintage sewing machines

 Do you know about the Vintage May series that's going on this month? It's being hosted by skirt as top & Craftiness is not Optional.

skirt as top just had this wonderful post about modern patterns, vintage style.
And Craftiness in not Optional just posted some lovely eye candy of vintage notions.

Be sure to check them out & look out for my guest blog post on skirt as top coming up really soon :)

So with all of this vintage fabulousness going on, it has inspired me to blog about everything vintage sewing related. And so I start today with my vintage sewing machine collection...

A couple of years ago my mother passed away & I was the fortunate recipient of all of her sewing machines, let me introduce you to them, in chronological order:

Vintage Sewing Machine #1

Singer class Model # 127
Registration # G 3954211
Quantity made: 10,000
Made: March 9, 1915
Factory name: Elizabethport in Elizabeth, NJ
(Information found here)
With original sewing cabinet, the sewing machine tucks down into the cabinet for storage.

Wow, this one is really old ~ almost 100 years !!!  It was bought used (in the 70s/80s?) as a decoration that my mom kept at the end of the stairs, in the basement. I don't know if it works, I've never tried sewing with it. It currently serves as an end table in our living room.

 *****

Vintage Sewing Machine #2

Singer 301
Made: 1952
With original sewing cabinet (the sewing machine tucks down into the cabinet for storage) & stool, instructions manual (I love the graphics from back then) & parts ! 

This was was bought used (in the 90s?) that my mom used as a decoration in the basement. It looks like it's in really good shape. Again I don't know if it works, I've never tried sewing with it. It currently serves as an end table in our living room. I heard that back in 1956 a Singer 301 cost $383 !!!  That sounds like a lot of money for 1956, but I also understand that women in the 50s sewed the vast majority of the clothes for her family & that Singer 301 sewing machines lasted forever. So it wasn't a hobby, but an investment for the entire family.

 *****

Vintage Sewing Machine #3

Automatic Zig-Zag International 205 DeLuxe
Made: I'm guessing late 50s/early 60s ???
With original sewing cabinet, the sewing machine tucks down into the cabinet for storage.

I have very little information about this one. I don't even know the brand name, there is no instructions manual, & all of my online searches have ended with nothing. I don't know if my mom bought this one new or used. What I do remember is that my mom sewed with this one a lot. As you can see, it's seen better days, it's been loved a lot (used a lot). I remember using this sewing machine growing up & back then it was old.

 *****

Vintage Sewing Machine #4

Singer Touch and Sew Model 756
Deluxe Zig-Zag Sewing Machine
serial no. AS 618484
Made: 1970
(Information found here)
With original instructions manual & box !

I believe my mom got this sewing machine brand new (but didn't get the sewing cabinet) because it's still in the original box. I remember sewing with this one growing up, I even borrowed it from my mom in the late 90s/early 2000s to use from time to time until 2003 when I got my own & current brand new modern sewing machine.

Thanks mom !
And Happy Mother's Day !

Do you have any vintage sewing machines? Would love to hear....

Flutter Blouse

Kids Clothes Week Challenge Spring 2012 is going on this week & here's what I've sewn so far....  it's the Girl's Flutter Blouse found in Stitch magazine (spring 2012 issue).

This blouse was designed by Carla Macklin & Erin Wagner of Clever Charlotte. It features raglan sleeves, pintucks, & a keyhole closure.

I made it in size M(4-5), the fabric is Country Club Classics-Mini Floral Lawn bought at JoAnn's, with navy blue velvet ribbon & 4 shank buttons from my vintage button collection.

It appears I have a tradition that every Spring KCWC I sew something from a spring issue of Stitch magazine:
2010 it was a pink ruffled halter & 2011 it was a girl's floral party dress & a white eyelet ruffled halter

Be sure to check out all the kid's clothes people have been sewing this week in the elsie marley flickr group.

Wrap Dress

 {Project Run & Play season 4 Sew Along}

Another season of Project Run & Play is here & the second week's challenge is sportswear. As I was reading the sportswear definition I saw Diane von Furstenberg's name ~ immediately I thought of her signature look: the wrap style dress & decided that was going to be my inspiration.

This started out as a woman's white eyelet sundress. I transformed it into a sweet sleeveless, collarless wrap style dress for my 4 year old girl.

This wrap dress:
:: is from a self-drafted pattern
:: is fully lined (did some hand sewing to achieve this)
:: has 1 pleat in the front & 5 in the back
:: is non-fussy
:: is 100% cotton ~ easy to wash, easy to wear
:: has a strap that wraps around the outside of the back of the dress due to a large button hole style slit on the wearer's right side (see detail in the up close photos)
:: is ready for all the sunshine & warm temperatures expected this summer !

Be sure to check out the Project Run & Play flickr group to see all the sportswear creations.

The third week's challenge: upcycle

PS the first week's challenge was the circle skirt ~ unfortunately I didn't have time to whip something up, but I have already sewn circle skirts in the past... with a scallop edge & for the lullaby league girls in The Wizard of Oz musical performance... and I will for sure be using circle skirts in my future sewing...

PPS the Spring Kids Clothes Week Challenge is April 23-30, so I hope to pop in here a few times during that week with a few project reveals, see you then !

Bow Dress

 Snip, snip, sew, sew, new dress... HELLO !

Another deconstruction, upcycle project here, this time I used a woman's size 6 bebe dress made of light blue silk dupioni. You can see how the original dress (didn't) fit my daughter in the before photo...

 The inspiration for this came from the cp blog, where her inspiration was a RED Valentino dress worn by Elle Fanning in Teen Vogue February 2012.

This is how I turned a used woman's size 6 bebe dress into an Easter dress for my 4 year old daughter...

 First with a seam ripper I removed the invisible zipper & hook & eye closure.

 Secondly I removed the lining from the dress.

 I cut open one seam in the front of the dress & one seam in the back of the dress, then cut off an inch or two.

 In the front I removed the the top left & right side panels, reshaped them (cutting off the top of the straps, etc) & sewed them back on. I added 2 inverted pleats in the front & hand sewed on 2 bows. Bias tape was added to the arm holes.

From the fabric pieces that I cut off, I made the 3 bows & bias tape, but the bias tape wasn't cut on the bias as I didn't have enough fabric.

 I must say that I did do some strategic cutting as there were some stains in the dress that did not come off when I hand washed it.

 You can see a seam on the hair bow because that's the only way I could figure out how to make another bow with the very little remaining fabric I had.

No patterns were used, I made this specifically to my daughter's measurements, so she had like 59 fittings !  OK maybe not that many, but you get the picture, I don't have a dress form, so instead she had to do a lot of fittings.

This dress cost $0 to make as the original dress was given to me as a gift. I used some thread & electricity to run my sewing machine, otherwise I only used the fabric from the original dress & reinstalled the original 16 inch invisible zipper & the hook & eye closure.

There are only a hand full of tiny fabric scraps left over.

If you're interested in sewing a version of this in a woman's size, here is a pattern that might work for you:
Simplicity 2282 which was inspired by a vintage 1960s Simplicity 6225

Happy Easter everyone !

PS this type of challenge is my favorite to do, if you like this sort of project, too, feel free to check out these other ones I did:
:: silver bridesmaid skirt to jingle bell dress
:: light blue bridesmaid dress to Cinderella dress-up dress

Clever Charlotte Guest Giveaway

 
Grosgrain is having a clever charlotte sewing pattern giveaway ~ go check it out here:
Clever Charlotte Guest Giveaway