A Sheer Collection: Retro Style

Recent fashion magazines tell me sheers or transparents, often layered, are a trend. Judging by the clothes I was making back in the late 80s to early 90s it seems the trend was around then too, and it seems I was besotted!

Back then I was a student; I was still living with my parents, and my recollection is that the little I was earning through holiday / weekend work was spent on nightclub and dance party entry fees, self-rationed Japanese Slippers*, and the occasional pair of shoes.

* you know, the green cocktail - made with Midori!






 

So here are two blouses I made from cotton voile.  I used to wear these layered over a smart white singlet (definitely not a chesty bonds), with a calf-length narrow black linen skirt or very wide leg cream linen pants.   I remember dressing like this for uni - crazy me - this is not how the other science students were dressing!

All the relevant patterns are shown a bit lower down the page.

Vogue Perry Ellis pattern used for the orange and yellow blouses (and a third sheer blouse made from paisley chiffon - I will see if I can find it too):

top left = yellow blouse, main = orange blouse

And the Ralph Lauren and Anne Klein patterns below were used for my cream linen pants and a black linen skirt - I still have the cream linen pants somewhere...

bottom half = crream linen pants

black linen skirt

 


















Around the same time I made quite a few other sheer garments.... can you imagine a sheer outfit: blouse AND pants?  Don't worry, the pants were double layer chiffon PLUS lining fabric so they gave an impression of sheer without actually showing anything. They swished around in a noisy, luxurious way when I walked and just felt special :-). And I think I wore a coordinating (homemade) silk cami under the blouse.

 

Some close-ups too: the louder colour is more realistic, but doesn't show you how sheer the fabric really looked. These pants were made using the same Vogue Ralph Lauren pattern as for the cream linen pants mentioned above. They're a really wide legged trouser leg - I think close to 60cm (23") wide at the ankles.

2 layers of chiffon plus lining...

Very loud, huh? Ah well, the lighting in those nightclubs was mostly dim.



The pattern for the blue blouse was this spectacular Vogue Claude Montana pattern. 

The blue blouse was made from - I think - silk organza, and was such a favourite of mine.  Even though it's washed and clean (unlike the trousers!) I've left it unironed because it has ripped along one of the underarm seams. I think it had weakened from sweat, to be honest, and then a recent wash was the final straw! Unfortunately I don't know how to repair it, and I think my iron could be dangerous to it :-( 

On a cheerier note (let's distract me), have I ever shown you my B&W gingham outfit from the same pattern?

So - a long post, lots of clothes, but you can't see what they looked like on; there just aren't are any photos of me wearing any of these clothes and of course they no longer fit.

So to finish up, here's a photo in which you can see me actually wearing another of my sheer collection, back in the day.

The blouse that you can barely make out was made by my mum - a sweet dotted black and white sheer cotton blouse with fitted waist band, short sleeves and press studs down the front. It had a sort of post-WWII look.

Hmm well you can't really tell what it looks like, can you... but that's me alright!

to be continued...

A little Liberty

This is one of the *other* little tops from Simplicity 1403, well and truly OOP but widely available on ebay and everywhere else. Wish I'd realised that when I bought it - I might have gotten the right size for myself!

Late at night, so as usual, excuse everything including my closed and weary eyes. And nearly inside out neckline.

proof that the neckline is alright

The fabric is a small remnant of Liberty Tana Lawn - Fairford it's called, and I think it might also be OOP as it seems hard to find. The pattern only needs about 0.6m of wide fabric for this little top - I had 0.7m and I was able to lengthen the top by a couple of centimetres as well as cutting out generous facings for the neckline. Very useful to have a stashbuster in your pattern repertoire, n'est-ce pas?

I haven't sewn with Tana Lawn before but I think this will be a perfect weight for our sultry summer days. 

As with that jersey top from the same pattern I had to make this pattern larger. I think I should have made it larger still.... overall it has worked out as I wanted though.

Thanks to Sherry's tutorial, my invisible zip which is contained down one side is my best yet!  I still have a ways to go before I can be relied upon with a zip though :-(

I guess I will have to practise, so I will just have to keep sewing.
  It's my duty!








I don't know what it's like in your house - maybe there are no little monsters, or maybe there are some but they know about going to bed at a reasonable hour and then staying in bed all night! If mine get up tonight I will see if this picture can send them back to bed:

go to bed!

PS Is there a really exhausting (shouting, arguing, crying) 4 year old version of "terrible twos"??? If so, when can we expect it to end?

Simplicity 1403 (OOP): 1940s jersey blouse

Finally, finally I tried my hand at sewing one of my properly vintage patterns, a pattern which dates back to about the 1940s... back when zips were "non-separable slide fasteners".


The pattern envelope shows a couple of little cap-sleeved numbers that I really felt like sacrificing a little something special for.

Restraint! It also includes a 3/4 sleeved jersey variant in the top LH corner (did you know they had jersey in the 1940s? maybe it was different to today's jersey though).

Since the pattern looked to be a few sizes too small (this is a picture of the size I should have bought - now that I have it I see this pattern everywhere!) I made the jersey version as a tester - testing whether my usual slapdash bodice adjustment method* would work in vintage world. 

Et voila:

* Basically I added a triangular wedge of extra width down the centre front and centre back - just about nothing in extra width at the neckline but about 2cm extra at the hips. I know that's not the right way to do it but I'm lazy! 

Rear view, vintage hooks & eyes on the collar

I do realise that I must come across as optimistic in my assessment of patterns, but for now this one counts as a win. It takes me quite a while (and several wears) to work out which garments are fails, to be honest!  Looking at these photos my only disappointment is that my tummy is too evident - the fault of lots of home made brownies and choc chip biccies.

You say life without chocolate?

Look I promise I'll try!

Can you see any darts? I think I sewed 16 darts and tucks on this little thing, and it felt like even more. You should be able to see 6 of them below: 2 darts going down from the shoulders towards the bust, 4 tucks providing shaping from hips to waist... There are also 2 more bust darts working alongside the gussets, 2 darts from the shoulders going down along the sleeves, 2 darts from the shoulders down towards shoulder blades at the back, and 4 more tucks for waist definition at the back.

The biggest challenge for me was the gussets. Gussets! I don't believe I've ever sewn them before. My gussets are not perfect, but they work. I tried the sleeves basted to the bodice without the gussets and there was some very unflattering pulling going on, both front and back - having gussets makes the fit much more comfortable.

OK, it's true, gussets are great

sunbeam highlighting The Mighty Gusset

So... I'm glad I waited before sewing a vintage pattern. The instructions on this pattern (well, I really mean the gussets) would have been quite beyond me a year ago. Hopefully this means I am now capable of sewing up some of my other nice vintage patterns too!