Silhouette Giveaway

Hey all you scrapbookers, card makers, crafters, sewers, and craft gadget lovers..... Kathleen over at Grosgrain is having a fabulous giveaway!  Make sure to head over there and check it out and you could be the lucky winner of a Silhouette Machine !

Check out these fun projects you can make:

Winners will be announced on Grosgrain May 24th.  Good luck!

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Pattern Review- Vintage McCall's 4251

I have a few weaknesses (like shoes, caramel, and vintage sewing patterns) and I have a few passions (like history, art, fashion, and vintage sewing patterns).  But only once in awhile do they cross... you guessed it, vintage sewing patterns!

My mom laughs at me because when I talk about vintage sewing patterns I'm really referring to anything before the 1980's.  The era that I collect the most are from the 1970's.  If I could afford and/or fit the ones from the 30's and 40's I'd probably have a drawer full of them too.

So, today I'm going to show you one of my very favourite finds.

Isn't this the cutest pattern ever?!?!  I absolutely love the illustrations from this time in McCall's history.  I tried to do some research into their fashion illustrators from the past but have yet to come up with anything.

The pattern is from 1974.  So far I've only made the top from View B but it fits perfectly.

I love that it sort of looks like a little jacket and top together (more so on the pattern than in my version).

I just used notions that I had on hand which meant only three little rosette buttons instead of 5 all the way down the front.

Even though I have a small (OK, maybe not so small) stash of lace in my stock, I don't tend to use it very much to embellish.  But I think it's the perfect thing for this little top to give it that "vintagey" feel.

There are two darts in the front and two in the back that help give it that oh so perfect fit, but the real secret is that it has a side zip.

The pattern calls for anything from cotton to challis to satin or wool for fabric choices but I went with a cute floral printed cotton. 

Something interesting that I've noticed with a lot of vintage patterns is that the yardage is usually for both pieces in a two piece outfit so you just sort of have to lay things out if you're only making one piece, to see how much you need.

Did you see the price up top??? 

Vintage patterns are always a bit of a risk because the fit of everything was so different in each decade.  You can see on the back of the pattern above just how much the body measurements have changed compared to today's patterns.  I've made tops, dresses, and jackets from older patterns but have yet to attempt pants because the waistlines are all so different than the trends of today.  But this one is so cute that I just may have to give it a try.

This pattern was so much easier to put together than I thought it would be.  The neckline and the armhole facings finished everything and made it easy to attach the lace edging.  If I ever make this top again I'll probably use an invisible zipper instead of using the lap over technique but that's about all I'd change.

Overall, I love this pattern.  I love the envelope drawings and I like how it fits in reality.  If you're a pattern collector and you come across this one in your travels I definitely recommend that you pick it up.

I'll be sharing this at the linky parties throughout the week.  You can check out the linky party tab up top to see where I hang out when I'm not here.

Also, make sure to check out the Follow my Friends feature this week for another fun blog to visit.

The flowers are coming! The flowers are coming!

Eeeeeee!  It's so exciting.  This past past weekend we got a little taste of summertime.  The temperatures were hot hot hot, the sun was shining, and finally the flowers started blossoming!

My pear trees are starting to bloom!

I have no idea what these are but they're so cute and pretty.

1 lone but perfect tulip.

Some kind of little bluebell.  I'm not sure if
I planted these or they just showed up~

I planted some containers too but they're not full enough yet to show you.  Hopefully everything will grow quickly though.  The thing I'm most excited about are my plum trees!  Have you ever smelled the blossoms of a plum tree?  Even though I'm chokingly allergic to flowers I find it the most incredibly intoxicating scent. 

I had no idea we could grow fruit in Saskatchewan until I bought my house and all of the trees starting sprouting apples, pears, plums, and every berry you can imagine.  Yummmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. 

As you can tell, I overdosed on the sun and am high on vitamin D right now.  Everything is beautiful and wonderful.  I'm trying really hard to send out positive thoughts for this weekend.  It's the long weekend in Canada and it has been known to snow on campers that weekend in the past.  Hopefully this year we're done with all that and can get back to fun in the sun...at least for the next 4 months!!  Yippee!

Promise I'll get back to crafting and sewing next.  I have a great vintage blouse pattern all done up and ready to show you for tomorrow.  Make sure to come and check it out~

Follow My Friends: House Revivals

Hi everyone!  It's that time again...time to check out another great blog.  Today I want to introduce you to Amanda over at House Revivals!

Amanda is a trained interior designer who is now tackling her own beach house.

Here's what it looks like now:



but here's what it's going to look like soon!



She has great crafting tutorials:

Burnt Peony

Woven Paper Stars

A tab devoted just to interior design advice on topics like:

Tips for renovating your kitchen


Tips on chandeliers in the bathroom



She has loads and loads of shots for every room to inspire your own decor or you can just follow her along with her beach house remodel.

In a recent post she showed how she got grass cloth off her walls.   The pics aren't so pretty so I'll leave it to you to head on over to House Revivals  to check it out.  The progress is very impressive~

While you're over there make sure to say hi and come back and let us all know what kinds of fun things you find.

If you'd like to be featured, just hit that follower button in the sidebar and add your button or logo to the tab that says Follow My Friends .  Each month I'll feature at least one blog from the page.  Feel free to visit everyone else there too!  (I'm having some trouble with the linky tool at the moment but will have everyone's logo's back up as soon as I can.)

Have a  great week everyone!

And the Winner is....

Thank you to all of my new followers and to everyone who entered the Thank You Giveaway!  You all left such nice comments.

       
The winner of the Etcetorize blouse and bracelet has been chosen by random.org:

True Random Number Generator

Min:

Max:

  Result: 10

 

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Comment #10 from Kadie said...
I love just about anything with mod podge but I think my fave is your bangle bracelet. I have a thing for bracelets right now. I am a new follower.

May 10, 2011 9:18 AM 

You can see the bracelet tutorial that she mentioned here .

Congratulations Kadie!  I'll be contacting you soon to get your shipping details.

Have a great week everyone~

Garage Sale Finds

Hi everyone!  I've been so busy enjoying the sun, cleaning up my yard, weeding the garden, and going to yard sales that I haven't had time to do a craft or any sewing this week....yikes!  Busy, busy, busy but I'm not complaining.  I think I almost forgot how amazing it feels to have the sun beating down on my back.  I love it!

Anyway, enough gushing about the lovely, lovely sun.  My friend and I went out to garage/yard sales for the past two weekends and we've found some great treasures.  Here's my stash so far:


I think I'm going to decoupage that chair,
the whole entire thing!!!

I try not to pick up too much junk when I'm at a garage sale.  I have enough of my own.  I'm 99% sure that I'll put all of this stuff to good use.

I can't even tell you how thrilled I am with this cookie jar find.  I have absolutely no need for a cookie jar however, this is exactly the same cookie jar that my grandma had at her house when I was growing up.  My grandma's was given to my sister, who should have it because she has two little cookie monsters, but I always loved the look of it.  Today I found this one and almost burst into tears with the memories that came flooding over me.  Now I have one of my own and even though it wasn't actually my grandma's it will sit on my counter and remind me of her.   (And yes, from time to time it just might have some cookies in it.)

I have to admit I didn't really know what I wanted to do with this thing.  I bought the plates separately and was considering making a plate collage on a wall in my kitchen or something.  But even though these plates are probably too small and I wasn't actually going to leave the hanger gold, I think it looks kinda of cute together.  So maybe I'll just put it up like that.  (Please excuse the Girlicious CD.  I can't help it.  I like their music.  It make me want to dance.)


loads of vintage sewing patterns in the bag

It's hard to tell from the picture but this great hanging lamp has a sort of opalescent glaze on it.  I think it's going in my bedroom.

And look at this!  An entire bolt of great quality wool!  My friend asked me what I was going to use it for and was a little surprised when I rattled off a long list of projects.... pants, skirt, blazer, coat, hat, who knows!  So much wool, so many things it could be!

There are two things missing from my pile.  The first is a brass desk lamp that is already sitting on my desk.  And the second is a surprise that is currently sitting in my garage awaiting a coat of primer and paint.  I'm hoping to work on it tomorrow (in the hot hot sun!) and will share it with you when I'm done.

Hope you're having a great weekend~

PS....tonight is the last night to enter my Thank you giveaway.  Make sure to follow the link and leave a comment before midnight (May 14th)!