1940s dungarees, A pattern review.

Phew! Well I made them, the Wearing History 1940s dungarees, but it certainly wasn't all plain sailing. I think I made the common mistake of thinking that as a fairly experienced sewer, I would have no problem!
Big Mistake!

Oh there is nothing wrong with the pattern and Wearing History have done a great job of adapting it to our modern figure shape without losing the essence of the original. It was my hurry to get them done and not as the pattern company suggests, reading up on past sewing terms which was almost my downfall.
That and being in too much of a hurry to make a toile of course.

The one thing I did do was be very honest with my measurements. Despite the fact that according to the pattern sizing I appeared to be making a garment about 3 sizes bigger than I normally would. It was a very good job that I did because even then it really fitted where it was meant to!
The other thing which I almost slipped up on was the low rise. Fortunately I checked this out almost as an afterthought and I am so glad I did. Without losing the integrity of the 40s style when all trousers had a much lower rise than our modern equivalent, I still needed to lift the seam about 2 inches to prevent it almost hitting my knees.

The biggest learning curve though was the button placket or as the pattern puts it left facings. I could not get my head round cutting both front and back double. Especially as I was using denim.
I had decided to deviate a little by lining the front and back bodice, as I don't like faced openings, and so cut one each of the the side facings plus a second in lining fabric to keep the bulk down a bit. I also lined the pockets. I would be interested to hear how others dealt with the button opening as if I had followed the original directions there would have been five layers of fairly thick fabric once they were fastened! Perhaps I still misunderstood the pattern here!
I did eventually sort it out to my satisfaction whether right or wrong, and I do love the finished garment. It still niggles me though as I like to know what I am doing wrong if I can't fathom a pattern.
As you can see from the pictures I wore these to the latest pop up Olive & Edna shop last Saturday and they were really comfortable and very practical. I think they will be getting quite a few outings in the future.

Thanks once again to Claire at Liberty Rose Grantham for the friendly welcome and help, and to all the lovely folk who came and supported us. If you are interested in Vintage and Collectibles there is a Vintage Fair at the New life Church St Catherine's Road Grantham this Saturday, 22nd November and another that I will be attending at Liberty Rose on Saturday 6th December. So do come and say hello if you are in the area.

Off now to make vintage pinnies and some more Christmas slippers,

TTFN

Jenny xx

TWINWOOD 2014......Just fabulous again!

Well we certainly picked our day this year. On a somewhat unpredictable weekend we spent Sunday at the fabulous Twinwood Festival and had a glorious day. Though not quite as hot as last year it was perfect for walking about and out of the wind was quite warm.
This year we planned ahead a bit and took fold up chairs.

We found our spot up on the bank so that we could observe the main stage, arena and dance floors and then took ourselves off to visit all the lovely stalls, do some people watching and enjoy the atmosphere.
And that's just it, something we noticed on our first visit last year, everyone is so friendly and there is such a joyous vibe over the whole festival!

It really doesn't matter how you dress whether you come to observe or really go the whole hog. It's a festival that is just so welcoming. Families,couples, groups all having a whale of a time to excellent and varied music from the 30s to the 50s.

Outfit details.....Navy hat, Miss Sally Victor (Ebay), navy floral dress, Simplicity 1587. 

Brown hat, Tootsie and Tiger Ltd Truro, Yellow spot dressButterick B5281

We had some lovely comments about our dress, were asked to pose for some photographs by a gentleman who had just become the new owner of a vintage motorcycle company, and had lots of conversations with other festival goers about where we got our costumes and just generally about the era. It was like being on an outing with loads of friends!

 Gorgeous frocks for sale

Fabulous vintage cars

Young and old getting into the swing of it.

There were some amazing acts and bands from rock n roll to swing, check out the Twinwood brochure for more info here and so many actually dancing it was a real pleasure to watch, in fact there were times when I wish I was 16 again.

So well done Twinwood yet again. We will be back!

Hope you enjoy the rest of the week, the weather is supposed to improve again, so hopefully the children will get a bit more outdoor fun before its back to school.

TTFN

Jenny xx

TERRIFIC TWINWOOD........

Now I don't want to shout it out too loud but yesterday was my birthday.....A HUGE birthday, and had it not been for two things I might have been a bit depressed. First there were the wonderful cards, presents, flowers and well wishes of my family and friends, rounded off by the most scrumptious impromptu party (in the sunshine) and secondly I felt a real spring chicken after watching 'Fabulous Fashionistas', a program about 6 women with an average age of 80 who completely destroyed any preconceived ideas you might have had about growing old........

However on our little jaunt (was it really 4 weeks ago) to the Twinwood Festival I didn't feel quite so young watching the incredible dancing talent on show! Jitterbug, Charleston, Jive my word did those guys and gals go!

The tickets were bought for us as a Christmas present by our DD and her family and at the time it seemed so far away, but my how those months galloped by and especially the last one when we were still trying to find what to wear.

I love vintage especially the 1940s and 50s, but would never pretend that I could always tell real vintage clothing or accessories. Of course we do have the Internet now and that's where I went for my inspiration. DH was lucky to have a genuine 1940s double breasted suit which I had found in a charity shop some time ago, and a genuine trilby and braces. so his outfit just needed the finishing touches. However for myself and my SIL it was just a case of trawling through books and Internet images and hoping that we would achieve a reasonable look, without it costing us a small fortune.
In the end I made a dress from an authentic 1940s pattern, and even made a hat from a 1940s pamphlet!. I didn't wear the hat however as it was made from felt and the weather forecast was not good, but it will keep.

Well I am chuffed to say that our menfolk must have cut the mustard as they were photographed several times and are now on the Simply Twinwood facebook site and all four of us were captured by a lady for her job, where she helped the elderly by taking photographs at vintage festivals and getting them to reminisce about their past experiences.

The weekend started very badly weather wise with some torrential rain on the Saturday, but our tickets were for Sunday and a rather misty and miserable morning soon gave way to the most glorious hot and sunny day, and though I am sure we would still have enjoyed the event there is no denying that being able to lounge on the grass listening to the big band sound, the incredible singing acts and watch the amazing dancing really made the day. A doubledecker bus took us from the car parks to the arenas and was the perfect start to a perfect day.

There were fabulous vintage stalls, a veritable fashion parade of different costumes, vintage cars, superb music and plenty of places to eat and drink.

As a teenager of the sixties you would think music festivals would be old hat, but I confess this is the first I have ever been to and I was a bit nervous, however the whole thing was just so brilliantly managed and the atmosphere so friendly I am already planning my outfit for when we go again!!.......

So if you haven't been and want a great vintage music filled day out I can certainly recommend it.

Have a great week

TTFN

                                                                           Jenny xx