I CAN DO THIS!!!

So, I finally finished my bias tap panties yesterday. They are gorgeous, see.....

But again, I must have done something wrong when I resized them. They were falling off of me! Of me! So, I did what any red blooded American girl would do... I attacked them with my sewing machine until I gave up. Now I have a not so pretty pair of tap panties that I wore around all day today, despite the fact that they look like crap.
I did cut out my pattern for my slip... yep that's right... another Mrs. Depew pattern. I just love her stuff, and this slip pattern is even neater than the tap pants. This one comes as a little itty bitty pattern and rulers to scale it to whatever size you need! So, once I got the pieces made guess what? It looks like I don't have to mess with widening it or anything! I could just shriek with the excitement! It will be a challenge, but I think I can manage. And after all, these panties have beyond frustrated me (I cried twice over them), so it is time for a new project.
Wish me luck!

If I have another daughter someday, I am going to name her Impatience...

because I have the least amount of patience in the world. And my poor mind scurries around subjects like a squirrel trying to escape a moving vehicle (or who hears jangling keys teehee!). I have so many topics on my mind and no way to filter them into anything coherent at all. Oh the joys of obsession.

Here are a few things on my mind right now...

Tap Panties- I am working on a new pattern again! This time I am trying another one from Mrs. Depew. It is a much simpler design, and I am quite enjoying it. Here are a few pictures of the project in action.

 I really messed up cutting it out. The waistband is supposed to include the little strip I left on the bottom of the large pattern piece. Oops. I rectified the mistake and cut out more material , only to discover I didn't really like the way it looked. So, I have decided to trim the waist, placket, and legs in black bias tape. It contrasts lovely with the pale yellow fabric. It is done in french seams (which I discover I love!), and my first attempt at them turned out gorgeous. I also learned a wonderful step to making my sewing look more professional. IRONING!! Someone should have told me long ago to iron everything in between every step. I will try to post some pictures of  the pants tomorrow, they look so wonderful. I'm very proud. 
Mrs. Depew is having a giveaway right now on her blog A Few Threads Loose! She will be giving away two of her wonderful patterns! I must say I want to win these, but I will most likely get the patterns one way or another. I already have a slip pattern from her, which will by my next project after I finish both sets of tap panties. After that I have picked out a nightgown and pajamas that I would like to try next! 
I must give a huge Thank You with a hug and a kiss to Shaun for allowing me to wreck the house to indulge this seamstress bug I have gotten!



Etiquette- I feel as if I am never quite lady like enough. I used to roll my eyes at my Mom when she would tell me that one of my actions was not lady like. Well, now I wish I would have listened! I am in great need of some finishing classes. I wonder if there are any around here?

Proper 40's Appearance- I wish I had access to a Sydney's like they have in the Women. I need my hair done, a manicure and pedicure, my eyebrows sculpted, a facial, a massage, my posture fixed, and my body exercised so these pounds would shed off. But, alas, I am but a monetary challenged person and could not afford it if there was such a place around here. So, I must improvise. I can do much of it on my own. This needs to happen in the next few days. I miss my Jungle Red nails!

Housekeeping- Boy! Have I let this one slip! I have been so obsessive over my sewing that I have let the house fall into slight messiness. Okay, looking around, quite messiness! I have laundry to do, a few dishes in the sink, and tons, I mean TONS, of thread and fabric scraps to pick up. I absolutely must get this sewing done!

Flylady- A few friends and I have started a FlyLady group on Facebook. I am anxious to see it up and going!

Well, add in some college courses and three kids, one of which is here tonight and I am missing the other two terribly, and you have me in a nutshell tonight. How about all of you? What is on your mind tonight?

Curse You Sewing Machine!

Now, I am not a seamstress. I can sew to save my life, but my items always come out sloppy. So, I don't know why I got it in my head to resize a pattern for tap pants.

Oh... yeah... cuz I really want a pair, and I want them to fit me... and, and... I don't want to spend $70 buying them off of etsy. So, I persisted.
I refit the pattern. I tormented over my angelicalishly demonic 1969 New Home sewing machine... and... I ... DID IT! Well, eh, kind of.

They do look pretty, albeit a little wonky. Like everything though, it will just take practice. Here in a few days I am going to try again. See, I forgot to lower the crotch on these, so they didn't fit so well. Also, I did a horrible job with the yoke. But it was a good first attempt (considering I haven't sewn anything of this caliber since I was pregnant with my daughter) , and now I know where to fix it next time. Plus, after a bit of tweaking, they are wearable now! Yes, ladies and gentlemen, this girl has undergarments befitting of a lady.

I also tried to do a pair of 1930 knickers using a circle pattern I saw on another blog a few months back, but the results were so atrocious that I dare not put them here. Maybe on another attempt.
What is next for me to attempt you might ask? Well, I am toying with the idea of finding a pattern for a slip. I found this marvelous pattern at the flea market last weekend, and I am dying to make both the dress and the apron...

But not until I am a little more practiced! And what better way to get practice than by making the things that go underneath and no one will see!

What projects do the rest of you have going?

Tap Pants and the Big Butt Botheration

I am so excited! I woke up this morning to find that Mrs. Depew had emailed me the pdf pattern I had bought from her. She has a lovely blog called A Few Threads Loose, where she charts her sewing adventures. She also has an etsy store, Mrs. Depew Vintage, where she sells pdf patterns.

So anyway, I looked at her blog to see how she put it together. I am fairly confident that I can make these. That is, I was fairly confident. I sat down and cut out the pattern, and then went to fit them together. It just didn't look right. So, back to the blog to see what I was doing wrong. Ah ha, I was missing a peice. So, I went back to my stack of papers and rifled through them to find it. It wasn't there. After about the tenth time going through the papers, just in case I had missed it the other nine, I had an epiphany! It fell off the printer. Sure enough the fan in the bedroom had sent the page all the way to the other side of the room. 

So, with that problem solved, I finished piecing together the pattern. Now, I am not a small girl, and this pattern was for a 28" waist. My waist measures in at 38" (insert a very sad, sad face here). And on top of that, I have a butt that would make Jennifer Lopez and Kim Kardashian jealous. So, I chopped the pattern up to add in some extra inch-age. I also added 3" to the bottom to cover up my bodacious booty. I added in some seam allowances (the pattern was not originally made with them), and FINALLY started cutting it out. Then to my despair, I realized that I had not added  enough inch-age! When I tried to see how it would fit, I discovered I still needed to add about 2" around the waist. And also because of the way I would like it to fit, I need to add a good 3-4" around the legs. I am just determined to get this right, but now it's time to get busy doing homework (I take classes online) and prepare for Shaun to come home. There just aren't enough hours in the day!

Learning Embroidery

I had the great pleasure last Saturday afternoon, to sit across the table from a great woman. Shaun's grandmother sat me down and taught me how to embroider on a tea towel! She picked out a lovely set of transfers that depict fruit correlating with the day of the week. I chose a cherry pattern (of course!) to start off with. We sat for a few hours discussing everything from clothing to childhood memories. I really enjoyed the afternoon and was a bit sad to leave.

I finally finished the pattern today! I'm sure with some more practice I will do better, but for my first attempt, I think I did quite well!

What I want out of my life...

I have thought quite a bit in the past few years about what I want in my life. To be honest, I want to be a lady, a real woman.
So, what is a "real" woman? In my eyes, the first way to see a real woman is by how she presents herself. She is poised, well dressed, and well groomed. You can see the kindness in her eyes. She is a woman who puts her family foremost. She supports her husband or significant other and does right by him.
A woman (even a career oriented woman) is in charge of her home. She is what makes a home. She is the foundation for the family to run smoothly. I long for the housewife of years past. I love everything about it. The clothes, the work, the roles of family members, the manners, the morals... all of it!
I look to the women of the 30's, 40's, and 50's for inspiration on how to be that "real" woman I long to be.

Follow me on my journey to find the woman in me. Who know's maybe you will learn something along the way as well!