A lucky find

For the past few months my success rate at garage and estate sales has been pretty low. Not many listings of items that I might be interested in, and when I did stop by the finds were minimal. My luck changed last weekend and if I could find a nice sale with hidden gems like these every few months there will be no complaining about quantity, when there is so much quality to find.
Here is the hidden treasure that I found at this sale.

Madeleine Vionnet by Betty Kirke, with a forward by Issey Miyake.

This book is so gorgeous I can't even begin to tell you. As it states on the cover wrapper, "Madeleine Vionnet was the greatest dressmaker in the world. Considered a genius for her innovations with the bias cut - one of the most difficult and desirable cuts in clothing design - she is legendary among haute couture designers and her dresses are considered masterpieces".

I could get lost in this book and study it for hours, her designs are so clever and you can see echoes of her techniques in everything shown today. 

The book includes photographs of her creations and patterns for many of the designs, mixed in with a biography tracing her life and the developement of her couture house through her retirement. She lived to be 97 and saw the influence her work had on designers such as Balenciaga who was a great friend.

This dress, in the section called "Quadrants" is from 1932. I could see this looking completely modern at a formal event today.  The name is "Bias to Grain".

Another one I particularly liked is this one that is also in the "Quadrants" chapter, called "In-Out-In" and uses a shape called barrel cuts.  Below is the technical drawing, which shows the 3-dimensional petals that form the skirt. 

I have just looked through the book and read a few chapters, it deserves some further study. I wish I had a reason to attempt one of these styles, it would be a fun challenge.  If you are looking for a book to put on your holiday wish list and you like fashion history I recommend this very much (and you have a generous gift giver to suggest it to  - quite expensive as new).

More estate sale goodness, I also picked up these books.  Those paperback Singer sewing books are really good reference volumes, the photographs are fantastic.  I refer to the Tailoring book all the time, if you ever see it snap it up!

                
By this time my arms were getting tired, and I had other stuff to do that morning so I tore myself away from the sale, but not before adding whole bunch of nice muslin fabric. I do claim that I rarely make muslins and OK, that is true for myself, but when it comes to sewing for other people I definitely will do one.  Should I tell you that this haul was claimed for less than the price of a couple of fancy coffees at you know where (something that my inner cheapskate never lets me purchase anyway). Which is great, because then I have more mad money for estate sales.

Here is a sneak peek at something that is just about completed. Not really a muslin...let's call it a "denim" instead of a muslin since I often use old denim to test things. Actually it is a preliminary version in anticipation of an item for my mom. Hey, I just made a dress for my sis, gave the black denim jacket to Alice, working on a garment for mom. It's time to get back to some selfish sewing :)  That could happen as I just ordered 3 Vogue patterns this morning on the sale. Eeek. Uncontrollable in the face of new patterns. Oh well, a very minor vice.

happy unselfish sewing to all, Beth

No idea what this plant is but I should try and get another one, the tag is tucked away somewhere. It is a lovely vine that is putting out all kinds of flowers this year.

V1191 Kors dress sneak peek and a birthday present to me

In my last post I asked if a designer could be a genius.  The jury is still out on that one, but testing my theory I am making Vogue 1191 Michael Kors draped front knit dress for my birthday dinner.  It is Labor Day weekend here in the US, which means my birthday falls around this time.
Some years on the actual day, causing many jokes about how my mother felt when I was born, ha ha.  Never heard those before.  But actually I have always thought it was fun to have a birthday fall on a long weekend, and usually I am on vacation, so this is the first year in about fifteen that I am at home.  Which is a good thing as I am not quite up to suitcase wrangling or long plane rides.  We are set for a lovely weekend and I have plans for a dinner out with family and friends so I am sewing this dress.  
It is fun when other bloggers give a sneak peek of their projects  - Shannon of Mushywear does this very well, and she recently used this same fabric. Great minds think alike and it is interesting to see a fabric made up in totally different styles.  Here is a look at my work in progress.

That is the pattern piece pinned up behind the dress form.  With these crazy what I call mobius strip pattern pieces, I find it helpful to have the piece there to reorient myself when putting it together.
Here is the pattern envelope, I am doing one design change which is to make it a sleeveless dress as the fabric is more summer than winter and I wanted to wear it now.

My next post will be the finished dress, including how to change from long sleeve to sleeveless.  For some reason I want to write a "compare and contrast"  since I am currently fascinated by these drape and twist dresses.  I made the Donna Karan V1159 earlier this year and these two dresses have some similarities and also big differences in construction and result.  


For my birthday present to me - a couple of books for my sewing library.  They came in the mail yesterday and I spent about at least an hour with the Pattern Magic book.  Now that is genius.  There are so many things in it I would like to try, especially the Bamboo shoot bodice, however I settled on the Twist top as a first project.  Then this morning in my blog reader - Carolyn of Handmade by Carolyn who I admire so much is wearing her version of the top.  Kind of getting me interested in winter sewing! 

The second one is Pants for Real People by Palmer and Alto.  While the photos and styles in their book series may be a bit dated, the information is fantastic and I highly recommend their fitting books.  So maybe I will finally make some pants for myself.

Here is today's SunnyGal garden photo, actually taken in June.  This is my favorite Hydrangea, the big mop head type, which has retained its purple color since being planted there next to the front door.  

Happy Labor Day Weekend Sewing,  Beth