Vintage Hankie Dress

I've done a couple of posts about vintage hankies and little projects I can do with them.  But until now I haven't actually made one into a garment.

I forgot to take a picture of the hankie before I started, but I decided to use it as the bodice of a toddler Easter dress.  Since it was such a sheer fabric, and because it had scalloped edges that didn't quite fit the pattern pieces, I fused it to a lightweight cotton.

  Then I zz-ed around the edges to make sure it stayed put.

Made the little dress from McCalls 6017.  The purple sateen cotton was bought on Etsy.

And best of all found a seersucker fabric that EXACTLY matched this 50-60 year old handkerchief!  I was absolutely thrilled when I found it at Hancock.  They couldn't have matched better if they were designed to go together!  

So I used it for the flounce.  Adorned with yellow rick-rack which is just about my favorite thing in the whole world (I love yellow and I love rick-rack!)

I always dreaded the thought of cutting up one of my hankies, but I love this little dress so much I might actually take the plunge and do it again.  (Hankie I used is in the middle of this picture.)

Easter Dress Number Two:  McCalls M4817.  My nod to vintage sewing here is the old Boiltex Rick Rack from the 1940's.  I've had it in my stash for quite a while waiting for just the right project to use it.  I LOVE the color!  And it worked perfectly here.  My attempt at an appliqué wasn't perfect, but if you don't look too closely, its not bad. 

Oh...and the back zipper is also from my stash of mid-20th century notions.  It is an old metal Talon zipper "Orient Blue".  Again, it perfectly matched the blue in this fabric print.

I also got to have some fun with my ruffler attachment on these dresses.  I used it for the bottom flounces on both of them because they are so long - 130" on the pink one - that it would have been difficult to gather it and keep the gathers even.  So instead I have nice, perfectly pleated ruffles.  Love!

Getting My Vintage Fix On

Keep finding vintage fabrics in this similar color scheme.  All these were purchased separately - the top two on the left are actually feed sacks, the others were tablecloths and/or curtains.

Don't know what I'm going to do with this, but so pretty!

I Have Vintage Feed Sacks!!!

Just a very quick post to gloat a little.  On my last post I showed the pile of vintage fabric I found at the Estate Sale.  At the time I was more caught up in the new sewing machine (which I gifted to my daughter-in-law who is learning to sew for her two little girls) and of course the Gun Story.  

So I finally got a good look at what I've got in this fabric stash.  I am a little slow on the uptake sometimes, but it finally dawned on me that these are Depression era feed or flour sacks.  CLUE: (for those as dense as I was!) they were sewn into sacks with a very heavy cotton thread.   I googled it to be sure, and  the dimensions match those of feed/flour sacks from the 1930's - 1940's that were made of bright prints which women would re-use to make clothing.   (Today we call this "Repurposing" but our Depression era grandmothers were way ahead of us in this concept.)  

During the Depression and the War years these were vital sources of fabric for many families and women were extremely competitive about getting the patterns they wanted - and enough of each pattern to make an entire garment.   Since they measure approximately 44" X 38", that is basically about one yard of fabric as it would be cut from the bolt.  Therefore it might take anywhere from 2 sacks to make a little girl's dress to 3-4 sacks for an adult woman's housedress.

These came out costing me about .50 apiece.  They sell on eBay for anywhere from $12-$30.   Score!  :)

Granny Get Your Gun - an Estate Sale Adventure

This is where it all began.  I was chasing an Estate Sale and this one was F-A-B-U-L-O-U-S.  The kind I really love where Grandma dies leaving her 1950's ranch house filled with vintage treasures and the family just wants to liquidate the estate and move on.

(Note:  yes, I do feel a little creepy being one of the people pawing through all the worldly goods of someone's dearly departed.  One day, I imagine, someone will be pawing through my stuff this way.)

Anyway, I arrived a few minutes before the sale began and folks were lined up outside the door. When they let us in everyone swarmed through the house with something specific in mind, I'm sure. Everyone looked intent on scoring something they saw in the ad.  I was here for the "vintage sewing machine and fabric" (of course!)  

Within 5 minutes I had laid claim to this pristine Singer Touch & Sew 600e in a very nice desk.  All the accessories and the manual were included and the whole thing looked like it had just come off the showroom floor.  It held a place of honor in the Dining Room, no less - this was a treasured and well cared for sewing machine.  $75.  MINE!  (I gifted it to someone in my family.)

Then I found the room with the real goodies, I'm talking Died and Gone To Vintage Fabric Heaven kind of stash.  Stacks upon stacks of fabrics labeled "$1 per piece" and best of all there were feed sacks included.

GORGEOUS!

But here is the real adventure....

GRANNY GET YOUR GUN

I'm rifling through a large carton of fabrics picking out the prints I like when I come across a small, heavy box buried near the bottom in folds of fabric.  Hmmm...some kind of sewing machine attachment?  The box was circa 1950's and said that this was a revolver - yes, as in gun.  At first I thought it was funny that an old lady would store her sewing supplies in that box - except that it really was a gun in the box along with a supply of bullets.

Bad Angel, perched upon my shoulder whispering in my ear:  "Leave the gun in there and ask how much for this whole box of fabric then pay the $10-$20 or whatever and walk out with it.  You didn't put it in there, it was already in there, so this is totally legit.  They snooze, they lose.  Finder keepers, losers weepers..."   

WAAAIT!!!!

Good Angel: "Okay, this isn't supposed to be in here.  This was someone's mistake, they didn't know it was here, they overlooked it.  You could get away with it on a technicality but you know it's not yours to keep.  Let's give it to the grandson and do the right thing".

But, but....

"No buts.  Do Unto Others as You Would Have Them..."

Okay, okay!  Yes, that is right.  I will turn it in.

Let me just say that waving a gun around a crowded room of treasure seekers resulted in a few startled expressions but nobody's jaw dropped lower than the seller's when I handed him the gun and told him where I found it. This dude was flabbergasted, he took it and stammered that it wasn't for sale...he didn't even know it was there....thanks...

And also let me just say that Bad Angel yammered in my ear all the way home about how much I could get for a vintage gun, and how it would pay for the sewing machine I just bought, and how anyone else would have taken it, and wasn't I a schmuck.  But Good Angel smiled smugly because she had already won the argument and it couldn't be undone.  So There!   

(And the family always wondered what happened to Grandpa...)

***********

Well I'll end this story with pictures of the most darling EVER vintage aprons that I bought - along with all the fabric shown - for a total of $7. 

Isn't this the cutest apron EVER???  It is organdy with appliqués and binding.

And how cute is this?  

One of my best ever days Estate Sale-ing.

Vintage Fabrics, a couple of finds...

The ultimate vintage sewing experience?  Sewing vintage fabrics on my Singers and of course using all those nifty Singer attachments which make it so much fun.  (I'll show those later - each and every one.)  But first a couple of recent fabric finds.   

How absolutely gorgeous is this?  Scrounging around in an antique store recently I came upon a basket stuffed with odds and ends of old linens.  I picked up this piece which was sewn into what looked like a huge pillow case (?).  Bought it for $3.  Unpicked the seams, washed and ironed it, and I have 1-5/8 yds of beautiful chintz fabric.  It hasn't told me what it wants to be yet, but I love just looking at it.  

Then the other day at an Estate Sale I came across this piece which I bought for $1.50.  A very lightweight cotton in a dainty, delicate print.  It needs to be made into a darling little dress of some kind.  

UPDATE:  Sunsuit I made for a sweet baby girl with this fabric!