Fabulous Friday Find

The best thing I have found recently was a copy of Lutterloh’s The Golden Rule from 1969. I was buying lots of sewing notions and tools on ebay and it came in a lot of patterns, thread and other such items. It’s a simple red binder, but once I opened it up I knew I had something special.This is a manual of pattern illustrations with the pattern pieces shown in the back with instructions on how to enlarge them to you size (based on only two body measurements). The company is still in business and you can order current designs from them. I have paged through this book numerous times and there is almost nothing that I would not wear. Everything seems to have a timeless quality about it. I am very excited to make something from this book, but there are so many designs to choose from I am having a hard time deciding.
Have any of you hears of Lutterloh’s?

Fashion Repeats Itself?

So I know that fashion trends are constantly recycling looks from the past.  Today, while I was browsing through my pattern collection, I found this:This is one of the first patterns I ever made, back in high school Sewing 101.  I remember I got to buy navy blue tie dyed fabric at Loper’s, the fabric store in the next town over.  It wasn’t the best sewing I’ve ever done (no raw edge finishing, sloppy sewing), but I loved it and wore it for years. I may have even wore it out, I know there was a lot of stress on the front V neck and it did start to rip.
So can I pull this look off now?, I know it probably isn’t the most flattering silhouette for my apple shape, but it would be comfortable and cool.  I am also trying to stop wearing yoga pants and tank tops everywhere, is this better?  You’ll also notice that it has pockets, a big selling point!  This is my answer for the romper trend, I’m thinking view B, probably NOT tie dye (maybe tie dye wouldn’t be that bad?), maybe a solid colored knit fabric?  Thoughts?

Spring Time Delays

The weather yesterday was beautiful here, I took the baby for a long walk in the stroller, walked to pick the kids up from school and spent the evening working in the yard.  I was a wonderful day, really, except I didn’t finish the project I was working on for today.Ahem, as you can see, it’s a scarf.  I know that you are just dying for the pattern, but you will just have to wait.  I have been working on it this morning, but the kids are out of school for Arbor Day (only in Nebraska) and it is another lovely day…a little windy, but perfect for kite flying.  I’m sure I’ll have time to finish this up this weekend.

Have a super crafty weekend!

Vintage Patterns and Books

While my husband was on vacation we drove to the little town I grew up in to go to the antique mall/junk store and the city wide garage sale.  We usually have good luck there and this trip was no exception.  We came home with a ton of awesome vintage finds and today I’m going to share a few of them.
I am always on the look out for vintage patterns, the illustrations on the envelopes are eye candy for me.  I love to see the differences in hair and clothing styles.  I also like them to be cheap, chances are I’m not going to be sewing any of these so size and condition are not a huge issue, I like really vintage though, 1970’s or earlier.I love the pockets and yoke details on the three skirts on the left of that McCalls 5113, the three pattern pieces of the super jiffy Simplicity 9032 are great and who doesn’t need a terry cloth tube dress?, full and half slips on Simplicity 9115 (can you even buy slips anymore?), and the last two Simpliciy 7345 and 6653 are 70’s chic and such high and modest necklines!I was super excited when I saw this Barbie pattern, those little dolls outfits are amazing and all of the pieces seem to be intact, although they are all cut out, I bet someone’s Barbie had an awesome wardrobe!  There are even instructions on some embroidered embellishment for one of the skirts.  There are 10 full outfits, the other five are pictured on the back of the patten or you can see the back views of them in this picture.This little man pattern was too precious and when I peeked inside the envelope I found another treasure, there was a letter, some clippings with appliqué examples, and some colorful corduroy fabric swatches.Some lovely sewing and embroidery books also found their way home with me.  That center one has the most delightful, kitschy projects!  I HAD to have this one, I have never seen anything like it and surprisingly some of the projects look really modern, not the windmill sculpture or the owl plaques, but the pendants are nice.These pendants are definitely unique!  I’m wondering where exactly you find horseshoe nails these days? and are they comparable to nails of 1974?  The introduction says this is the perfect hobby for a man <snort>.  Another fun fact, this little pamphlet was published right here in Nebraska!
I hope you enjoyed seeing some of my new treasures, don’t worry I’ll share some more soon, I have a whole collection of crochet pamphlets and some very interesting German magazines.

Knitted Flat Bottom Pouch

It seems like I don’t craft a lot for my husband and earlier this week I noticed that his collection of dice, that he uses for playing Magic the Gathering, was being stored in a large, ripped, Ziploc bag.  I picked up the nearest ball of yarn (caron simply soft in black) and started knitting him a flat bottomed dice pouch.

I started by casting on 20 stitches using US size 5 needles and then I continued in stockinette stitch (knit the right side, and purl the wrong side) for 22 rows.  I didn’t cast off at this point and started picking up stitches along the sides.  Using double pointed needles, I picked up 20 stitches on each of the three remaining sides, which gave me a total of 80 stitches on my needles.  I began knitting in the round, after about 10 rounds I was able to get the stitches onto a 12” circular needle, which is easier for me to knit with.  Continue knitting in the round until the bag measures 4” from the bottom edge, where we picked up the stitches.  The next row, *knit 6, knit 2 together, and yarn over* repeat from * 9 more times to the end of the row.  Knit 4 more rows and bind off.  I made a twisted cord for my lace and laced it through the holes made by the knit 2 together, yarn over row.The reason I chose to make a flat bottomed pouch is so that he could leave it open while he was playing and easily get the dice he needs.

This project was a success, he really likes it and I’m sure he’ll get a lot of use out of it.  Let me know if I need to clarify the pattern instructions, it’s hard for me to write out what I did in my head.

Traditions and Vintage Patterns

Every 4th. of July there is a big flea market in the little town I’m from and it is my yearly tradition to go. This year we made the drive (about 1 1/2 hours), but it had rained all night and continued to rain all day and most of the vendors were already gone or packed up. We were so disappointed, luckily we were able to shop at the local antique mall (Nebraska translation – junk store). There were a lot of wonderful treasures and I hit the mother load of vintage patterns, the whole stack was bound together with a paper that said $1.00 for all.Here are the token ugly patterns from the 1980’s, maybe they’ll be stylish again in 10 or 20 years. I think these are from the 80’s as well, the one on the left is postmarked 1980. I can’t read the other one, but it is cute, I like the neckline detail. Some fun dresses and pant suits from the 1970’s, these are all really similar in design. The two simplicity patterns are Look Slimmer patterns, whatever that means. More fun 70’s dresses and culottes (is that really how you spell that?, it looks weird). In the very center of the stack DRESS PATTERNS FROM THE 1950’S!!!!! I about wet my pants when I saw these. The most exciting thing about all these patterns is they are my size (or darn close), can you believe it? I see vintage patterns fairly often and they are normally tiny, but these aren’t, they’re all around a size 20 or 22 AND THEY ONLY COST ME A DOLLAR!!!! can you tell I’m excited? Some of them are cut, but they are single sized patterns, not multi, like the modern ones and all of the instruction sheets seem to be intact. I am going to have to give some of these a try.

I found a lot of other great treasures that I’ll share in the future, they are waiting to be fixed, altered, and painted. Even Mr. Crafterella found something exciting for his collections (a vintage gas mask). It was a great day for shopping, even though the traditional 4th. of July flea market rained out. What are your 4th. of July traditions?

Piggies

My daughter is going through a phase where she loves little animals, she has a guinea pig and bunny that go everywhere in her pockets.  I thought I would try to crochet up a few new amigurumi friends for her.  I found a pattern for a pass the pigs game set and thought they were just adorable.  I was able to crochet them really quickly, however my finishing skills are a little lacking.  Sewing the pig butt to the body has left an ugly seam, I think that if I made them again I would just make it in one piece and stuff as did my decreasing on the butt.

He’s still pretty cute.  I would also get different eyes, these were called eyes, but really they are just black beads, I think a flat backed safety eye would be more to my liking.

I made two, you know so each child could have one, but I’m stalling about sewing the other one up.That’s a lot of pieces for a little pig.  I think I’m going to have to practice my finishing techniques.  There are a lot of other cute patterns on Roman Sock and I would really like to make the toad next, I love toads.

BTW if you have any tips for finishing amigurumi or sites that you recommend leave me a comment, I’m really enjoying trying out some of the little patterns and it’s a great way to use up all of my acrylic yarn stash. 

Another Pattern Storage Idea

As you know I have some pattern storage boxes that are specially made for sewing patterns, I have three and my collection of patterns has grown beyond the amount of space they provide.  I have not been able to find more of these pattern boxes and if I remember correctly they were a bit pricey for what is basically a cardboard box with a lid.  Thankfully I have found the perfect solution! and it has been hiding with the office supplies.  I found hanging file portable storage boxes (1/2 size boxes) at OfficeMax.  They come in packs of 6 for around $12.00 and are just slightly larger that the patterns are.The lids just flip up and they are already nice and white just waiting to be embellished.Here you can see how well the patterns fit, they even work for some of my larger Vogue patterns.  I also have several pattern that have been altered and won’t fit back into their envelopes that are stored in plastic zipper bags and they fit nicely too.

Another great use for these boxes (if you have a few that aren’t holding patterns) is magazine storage.  I save all of my Threads magazines and they stand up nicely in the boxes and I can read the spines to easily find the issue I’m looking for.  They also keep everything dust and cat hair free, a big bonus at my house!

I’m waiting until I get some of the decorating done in my craft room before I decide how to embellish these boxes.  I’m really excited that all of my patterns now have a home and are organized by company and design number, now I just need to make an index.  It’s getting more organized here, one small project at a time.

Another Lilblueboo Pattern

After enjoying the Sienna Dress pattern so much I decided to try the Lil Leggings pattern and, once again, I was not disappointed!  Nice straight forward instructions and a great selection of tips to make different styles.  The pattern recommends a knit fabric with 75% stretch, I used a less stretchy fabric and upsized the pattern a bit.  The result are some cute leggings to match Little Miss’s new Sienna Dress.

You should recognize all of the fabrics, they are from my thrifting adventure last week.  I know it may seem a little out of season for a Catrina, but she will be wearing this all spring and summer, what can I say, we’re a year round skeleton family.

Little Miss really likes these dresses and when she finds out that I’m making her a new one she hovers around waiting for it to be ready to try on.  It’s exciting for me that she really wants to wear the little dresses I’m making.  I think I may just have to buy all of the Lilblueboo patterns, there are so easy and stylish.  We get a lot of compliments and people are amazed that these are handmade.  If you have a little girl to sew for I can’t recommend these patterns enough.  Make sure to stop by The Lil Blue Boo blog as well for some great tutorials for embellishing you fabrics for a more custom look.

I have some other great girly tutorials to try, but I just can’t stop making these knit dresses, I wish the pattern came in adult sizes.  I have been eyeing the Halter/Tie back dress pattern for this summer.

And Now A Little Girly Set: In Progress

Yes, I bought another new knitting pattern, I am justifying it by saying that it is multi-sized and I can make one for every girl I know, if I want to.  Really, I have been admiring it for a while and I just really needed a super cute little girl hat to knit for baby gifts.  The Bow-licious Babe hat from Connie Haney was just too cute to resist.

The bow just makes this pattern, which is simple, but adorable.  The pattern is easy to understand and uses basic knitting skills and easily found yarn, all pluses.  It is also sized for newborns to adults making it super easy to make one for every female you know.  The only thing that I did differently was picking up the bound on edge and knitting it together with the hat (like in the little skater hat pattern) so I would not have to sew it up later.  The really awesome thing about this hat is that the bow is removable, just think of all the possibilities:  a bow in every color, ribbon bows, hair clips or giant flowers all can be easily attached where the bow goes!

Also pictured is bootie number one from the Saartje’s Bootees pattern (pattern link on right side bar).  This bootie pattern it a bit more advanced, but do-able by most knitters.  It work up quickly using all garter stitch and I think it is a great compliment to the Bow-licious hat.

Here are my two sets.  I really think that skater hat is just to big for the booties.  I think I will make a masculine version of the bow-licious hat, I think it’s size is perfect for a newborn.  The skater hat will be grown into later.

I am really enjoying knitting little baby things, I’m even thinking about making a little sweater.  I guess it’s time to go a make bootie number two, have a great weekend.

Skater Baby Hat and Booties

Last week I was in the mood to make little baby things, the advantage is that they work up really fast.  I used the Skater Baby Hat pattern from Emily at CoffeeBra.  Make sure you look around her blog a bit there are also special instructions how to make and insert the bill.  I think this hat turned out sooooo cute, although it seems like it might be a bit big for a newborn, but oh well he’ll grow into it.

I also made a pair of Little Button Loafers to match, they are so tiny, I may need to make the next size up to make sure I have a pair that will fit. 

Now I’m on the hunt for a cute coordinating fabric to make a tie appliqué for a little shirt.  I will be making a few more hat styles out of the left over yarn (it’s I love this cotton from Hobby Lobby in old leaf, burnt sienna, and white), I don’t think you can ever have enough little baby hats.

Available Patterns

Most of these patterns have been in my collection for a while, any that have been bought recently will be labeled and all are uncut except for the last picture. I know that the majority of these patterns were purchased on sale, so I don’t have a lot invested in them, if you are interested in any of these patterns comment here or email me (contact address is available in my profile) and we will work something out, I am actually more concerned about shipping costs for anyone who’s not local. Descriptions are from left to right, top to bottom. If you need more information on a particular pattern just ask.

McCalls 2754 – caftan, shirt, tank top, and pants, size F (16-18-20)

Simplicity 8422 – Jumper, vest, skirt, and pants, size U (16-20)

Simplicity 9503 – Top and jumper in three lengths, size U (16-20)

Simplicity 4050 –taken

McCalls 9371 – Unlined jacket, top, pants, and skort, size E (14-18)

Butterick 6354 –taken

Butterick 5903 – taken

Butterick 5843 – Cape, jacket and cover up, size 14-18

New Look 6087 – Six top variation in one pattern, size A (6-16)

Simplicity 9223 – taken

McCalls 9012 – Lined jacket, lined pant, and lined skirt, size E (14-18)

McCalls 9281 – one top, eight different looks, size E (14-18)

McCalls 8360 – taken

McCalls 8351 – Jumper in two lengths, size E (14-18)

McCalls 8233 – Sarong dress in two lengths, size E (14-18)

McCalls 2834 (purchased recently) – scrubs, size A (S-L)

McCalls 6843 –taken

McCalls 6891 – dress with neckline and sleeve variations, size E (14-18)

McCalls 5186 (purchased recently)- lined vests, size EE (14-20)

McCalls 2132(purchased recently)- low rise pants and shorts, size E (14-18)

Simplicity 4636 – baby accessories, I have had this pattern for a few years and view A the basket liner is cut, but all the pieces are included and still useable.

I also have several cut patterns if you are looking for pattern tissue to decoupage or other altered art type projects, just ask.

I guess I should get back to my cleaning, I really am getting anxious to start sewing.