The kimono sleeve came into fashion for ‘Western’ women’s clothing towards the tail end of the 1940’s when the exaggerated shoulders which had previously been fashionable began to evolve into a more natural silhouette. As women’s fashion entered into the 1950’s, the fashionable silhouette for shoulders continued to move away from the large padded ‘Power’ look of the 1930’s/40’s towards the extreme opposite. A trend for petite and slopping shoulders emerged, alongside the nipped in waists, waspy hips and doll-like everything else, as a reflection of the demure and ultra-feminine stereotype to which society largely expected women to adhere. The kimono sleeve often fitted the bill for this look, as its construction method emphasises a continuous line between the neck and arm, subduing rather than highlighting the shoulder.

Also known as the grown-on sleeve in some pattern cutting books, basically it is formed by creating the body of a garment and the sleeve from the same continuous piece of fabric rather than separate bodice and sleeve pieces with a seam line running along the top of the sleeve as well as underneath to join the back and front. A close fitting kimono or grown-on sleeve variation may also include a gusset panel under the arm. This is a diamond shaped piece of fabric which allows for ease of movement.   

The kimono sleeve style became incredibly popular throughout the 1950’s and into the early 1960’s. Garments and sewing patterns featured a variety of lengths of kimono or grown-on sleeves, from the tiniest cap sleeve variation, to ¾ lengths and longer, with and without the underarm gusset; and as you can see by these images certainly looked a million miles from what many would imagine a garment with ‘kimono sleeves’ to look like!

This type of sleeve has re-appeared in women’s fashion but has never achieved the same level of popularity since that mid-century period. Because of this, I have always associated this sleeve style with that period which is also the era of dress I am personally most drawn to. Therefore, it has become one of my favourite vintage features and an element I look for when hunting for vintage patterns on eBay. Some sewers dislike this type of sleeve as the look and feel when wearing isn’t often as ‘tidy’ as a regular set-in sleeve. Personally, I love the smooth and elegant effect these sleeves achieve across the top of the bodice or blouse, particularly when combined with a high straight neck and dipped back.

As I say, I’m a fan. I recently deployed a vintage pattern that featured grown-on sleeves to create my Rockabilly tribute dress (pictured below). Gertie made a stunning job of a kimono sleeved blouse pattern by matching the gingham fabric perfectly along the sleeve seam. What are your thoughts on this type of sleeve or silhouette? Any successes or failures to report? Any fit issues that arose? We’d (well, I’d) love to hear!

As much as I love to wear black, there are few things as exciting to a sewer as putting together colors and textures. Playing with color must be a fundamental reason that a lot of us get into sewing. We each have our personal preferences, the colors we think look best on us, and the colors we have emotional attachments to. Putting these colors together in interesting and novel ways is a big factor in what makes sewing so much fun.

Lately, I’ve been noticing a lot of color-focused blogs and websites. They are a rich source of inspiration for picking out fabric or coming up with new color stories. Here are a few of the sites I’ve been checking out:

Color Collective, pictured above, is a gorgeous blog by Lauren Willhite. She pulls unusual palettes from the work of other artists and designers, and the results are striking and unusual.

The Wear Palettes blog draws its colors from street fashion photos. There are many beautiful slightly muted palettes to be seen here.

Colour Lovers is a community website where anyone can post color palettes, and it is absolutely chock full of good ideas.

Kuler is Adobe’s take on the color community. Again, lots of good ideas to be had!

Just looking at these makes me want to do a little fabric shopping!

I can’t even tell you how hard it was to pick finalists from all of the entries. The ideas were so diverse and cool, that I couldn’t bring myself to pick just three. So I upped it to five finalists. You can click each one to see the original entry, if you like. Please vote on your favorite at the end of the post!

Nautical Nutmeg:

Glamorous Cinnamon:

The neighbors will be shocked when I get the sunday paper:

Carvnivale Inspired:

Courtney’s Figure Drawings:

Edited: We have a winner! You picked Melissa with her Nautical Nutmeg. Congrats Melissa!

Some of you made already be aware of the Me-Made-May challenge that I wrote about on this blog back in April. Initially created as way to expand upon my personal Me-Made-March challenge, Me-Made-May took on a life of its own! Over 80 members of the sewing community participated by challenging themselves to wear their handmade garments throughout the month. Each individual assessed for themselves what type of commitment would be challenging but also manageable for themselves. A Me-Made-May Flickr group was born to share photos of what handmade and refashioned items were worn and how people combined their creations with either shop bought clothing or other handmade items. The discussion boards flourished with diverse topics such as advice on sewing knits, where to find useful online resources, ways to accessorise to make an outfit have more impact and even what, if any, music do you listen to whilst sewing. It has been fascinating seeing the different ways individuals responded to the challenge, and a true delight be have the opportunity to connect with sewers all over the globe.

I’ve mentioned before how easy it can be to be overly critical and dismissive of the items we create for ourselves. I think the majority of Me-Made-May participants learnt to accept, appreciate and even love their handmade wares more as a result of the challenge. Some participants acknowledged that shop bought clothing is often badly made with an unsatisfactory fit and produced in poor quality fabric, and on the whole their self-made items faired very well by comparison. I, for one, also found myself previously in the rut of sewing the same type of garment again and again, for example I’ve made countless skirts but usually wear trousers. There is, of course, nothing wrong with making the same type of garments if you are happy with the status quo, but personally I wanted the fruits of my sewing machine to more accurately reflect the types of garments I require from my wardrobe day in day out. Me-Made-May (as with Me-Made-March before it) certainly encouraged me to branch out and I’ve made some much-used garments that I probably wouldn’t have thought to attempt otherwise, and my sewing skills have subsequently expanded.

You may be wondering why I am reporting some of the many enjoyable outcomes of Me-Made-May we are now in June and it’s over. Well, I would like to announce another challenge that will run in a similar vein: Self-Stitched-September!  This new challenge will give participants (and those who would rather follow proceedings without actively taking part, of course) the opportunity to inspire, encourage, teach and learn from each other and have a lot of fun!  It has also been designed to be easier to sign-up to, whilst retaining the ability to be customised to each individual’s personal objectives and criteria. There will be another Flickr Group created, plus closer to September I’ll create a blog post (on my personal blog) linking all the participants blogs so the inspiration and discussions can commence with ease. With so many of the participants of Me-Made-May having already signed up within 24 hours of the announcement of this new challenge, I can guarantee Self-Stitched-September will be just as enjoyable. If you are interesting in finding out more, and/or signing-up for the next round of self-stitched fun, head over to this post. However, my intention is not simply to replicate Me-Made-May: the aim is to make September bigger, better and brighter by getting more than 100 participants. Hope to see you there!

I thought I’d celebrate our sweet new lingerie/ loungewear patterns with a fun little contest, what do you think? I’m calling it the Darling Dainties contest (I hope the silliness of that name amuses you half as much as it does me).

All you have to do is create an inspiration board based around one of the two new patterns, either nutmeg or cinnamon (or both!), to show how you’d make it. You can use whatever tools you like: photoshop, polyvore, or anything else that can manipulate images. Check out this example board I put together to see what I mean. Of course, yours does not have to be this dorky and overstyled.

When you’re done, post the image on your blog, and comment here with a link. If you don’t have a blog, that’s ok, you can also post an image to our Flickr pool.

In two weeks (Wednesday, June 16th at noon PST), I’ll go through and pick three finalists. You guys can then pick your favorite inspiration board and vote… the winner will receive a $75 Colette Patterns gift certificate!

Include anything you want that inspires you with these patterns. Some other ideas:

• vintage postcards
• old time movie stars
• color swatches
• fabric swatches
• cool vintage details you would add
• modern lingerie you might draw inspiration from
• lace, trims, and notions
• a beautiful setting you imagine lounging in

The sky’s the limit! Just don’t forget to post the link here in the comments, and have fun!

{image credits: Colette Patterns nutmeg sewing pattern, Burberry bra and panty set from net-a-porter, Esquire pinup, coral pink velvet ribbon, phillip lim set from net-a-porter}

I thought I’d share some more images from this sewing pamphlet from 1928 called Easy Ways to Pretty Frocks, which I gave you a taste of earlier. It was published by thread manufacturers J&P Coats. The pamphlet guides you through drafting a “plain dress,” which is in the style of the day, a sack dress. It then presents multitudes of ideas for trimming and altering this dress. This is what I love about deco fashion, all the beautiful variations on a single theme.

Last year I was lucky enough to go to an open air screening of Alfred Hitchcock’s film ‘The Birds’. It was a magical night, with the sun setting behind us and the film projected onto the side of a castle. But aside from the memory of the experience, I also came away that evening with a new style obsession.

‘The Birds’ was released in 1963, and for those who haven’t seen it, the main character is a spoiled socialite and notorious practical joker called Melanie Daniels, who one day goes shopping in a San Francisco pet store when she meets the hunky Mitch Brenner. Mitch is looking to buy a pair of love birds for his young sister’s birthday; he recognizes Melanie but pretends to mistake her for an assistant. She decides to simultaneously get her own back and flirt with him by buying the birds and following him to the quiet coastal town of Bodega Bay, where Mitch spends his weekends. As the weekend progresses, strange occurrences related to Bodega Bay’s bird population become increasingly more frequent and sinister. I’ll leave it there in case you get round to watching it yourself.

Melanie Daniels, played by starlet and former model Tippi Hedren, is clearly meant to be the style icon of the piece, but I would argue that  the secondary female character, Annie Hayworth, makes a more compelling pitch for the title. Annie Hayworth, played by Suzanne Pleshette, is the lovely local school teacher who was drawn from the city to Bodega Bay in an attempt to remain close to Mitch after their relationship faltered, despite having accepted that nothing more than friendship would ever materialise. Her self-induced melancholy translated into sultry stares into the middle distance and her tragic tale delivered in Pleshette’s naturally husky voice are the stuff true fictional icons are made of.

Annie Hayworth is perhaps surprisingly accepting of Brenner’s new love interest Melanie Daniels, and with a sense resignation even offers a kind of guarded friendship towards the flashy blonde. Like yin and yang, the scenes in which they both appear are like watching night and day in the same room. Pleshette’s warm, earthy character is a perfect contrast to the icy blonde beauty Melanie Daniels. To quote the ever insightful Gertie, ‘Gentlemen may prefer blondes, but I’ve always loved the drama of dark hair’, so perhaps I’m naturally drawn to a brooding brunette over an untouchable porcelain ice-queen such as Melanie. Also, having since read a little about the actress Suzanne Pleshette (yes, I was that effected by the film!) by all accounts she was a vivacious and fun loving individual with a love of sharing dirty jokes whilst on-set, so perhaps the appeal of Annie Hayworth has now fused in my mind with my vision of the zesty Pleshette. Anyway, how can you make the distinction between when a character ends and the actor begins!

Stylistically, the silhouettes of Hayworth’s outfits are similar to the more fashionable Daniels’, but Hayworth’s garments also reflect the colder climate of Bodega Bay as well as her profession.  Muted, moody and earthy tones seem to have been the costumier’s palette for the character, but I would argue they fail to subdue Annie’s restrained sexiness. I don’t know what Mitch Brenner was thinking!

If you’ve read my posts on this blog before, you may already be aware that I often use them as an excuse to indulge and fixate upon my sewing-related obsessions. On that note, enter today’s topic: piping! Very little seems to have been written (on the internet anyway) about piping aside from fairly basic explanations. Piping is an edge treatment made from stripes of bias fabric, usually containing a cord, which is used as a decorative technique for home decor and clothing. It can be made from either self-fabric or a contrast.

Piping can be used anywhere on a garment where two pieces of fabric are joined. Traditionally, it is used along the edges of yokes, collars, button stands, sleeve bands, shoulder straps, pocket openings or along princess seams. You just have to look at some of the Rooibos dress to see how much of a punch piping can add to an otherwise deceptively simple garment.

I have no idea when piping for garments first came into effect or became popular, of if it was initially used for children’s wear, or what have you, but there is certainly evidence of its use to be found on women’s vintage dress patterns from the 1940’s onwards. However, as some of these garments show, it can also be deployed to create an added punch to unusual and directional pieces.

Adding a plain coloured piping detail can be a great way to break up a busy print. It can also be used to highlight interesting or unusual seam or style lines, like the blouse pictured above. Piping containing a cord is a little stiffer, and this property can be utilised to give added structure to a seam or edge, the ruffle collared blouse pictured below is an example of this.

As stated above, it can be formed with or without a cord running through the centre. If you chose without, the bias strip is folded in half lengthways and inserted between the two layers being stitched together when forming a seam. If going for the corded version, you have two options. The first is to buy ready-made piping and the second is to make your own. Obviously, the former option is something of a time saver. However, making your own is necessary if you want to use self-fabric or if you desire an alternative fabric or cord size to the options available at your local haberdasher. Want some good news? There are approximately three squillion how-to’s and tutorials available on the internet showing how to make and insert piping, including Burdastyle’s make-your-own piping and sew-in-piping techniques.

Personally, I’ve long been a fan, but have never attempted to use piping in a sewing project. I’ve bought a very basic top pattern which I feel could really benefit from sliver of contrast piping around the collar. I’ve picked up some of the ready-made kind, having figured out what to ask for (ribetes in Spanish, FYI!), have studied the how-to’s and am about set to go. If it works out well, I feel my sewing life may be revolutionised! Wish me luck….

Have you tried piping? Were you happy with the result? Did you apply it in some way other than the ones I listed above? Do tell!

I came across this wonderful image in a sewing pamphlet from 1928. I’ve been doing some personal sewing this week, so I’ve been thinking a bit about wardrobe planning.

I love the idea of having set costumes for different types of occasions. I’m sure we all do this to some degree or another, with some idea in our minds of what we have in our closet that’s appropriate for different times and occasions. Well, I don’t know about you, but for me, that doesn’t go much beyond having some fancier dresses for weddings and parties, and some dark rinse jeans for biking and/or casual days. Otherwise, I pretty much wear what I feel like from my closet.

But it seems that this little guide prescribes a formula for dressing for each occasion in a middle class 1920s woman’s life, and that would make it quite easy to figure out what to sew. For example, look at the formula for “general day wear.” It says that “the correct costume is a tailored frock, felt hat, smart substantial oxfords or buckle strap shoes, service weight silk or silk and wool stockings, plain heavy pull on gloves, a coat not too dressy in line fabric and fur trimming.”

Wouldn’t it be easy to put on some variation of those things every day? Now I think we have a lot more options about what to wear, but it would still be wonderful to have a personal uniform that suited your own tastes, wouldn’t it?

I particularly like this outfit for “rough outdoor activities:”

And for lighter sports:

Then there are the dressier occasions:

I think that today, most of us don’t have such a variety of occasions that require different outfits. I doubt many people have separate types of dresses or outfits for church and afternoon parties. There are undoubtedly fewer rules about what’s appropriate now, but I don’t know if that makes it easier or harder to get dressed (or figure out what clothing is useful to sew).

I think the “occasions” in my life would be:

• Day-to-day wear
• Loungewear (a big category for me, since I work from home!)
• Workout clothes (purely functional)
• Physical activities, such as riding my bike, going camping, etc.
• Weddings, parties, “going out” and other slightly fancier occasions

Do you guys think this is a useful way of thinking about your wardrobe or deciding what to sew? Do you have a daily “uniform”? And do you sew things in order to “costume” yourself for particular types of occasions? Or do you just make what you like and figure it out later?