VTT 11 - Spring Hats

Dear Ladies, it is finally April, and Easter is this weekend. Have you made or bought a new spring hat already? Here is some inspiration from my fashion magazines.

The coat pattern is also available. Or what about this one:

 

The next one is in colour, probably an advertisement so no pattern is available:

  

I would love to have her blouse any day! Here is the last hat. The magazine if from Feberuary 1st 1907, and you will need time to find the materials and make the hat before you can wear it.

 
I hope you enjoyed the fashion show and will be inspired to wear nice hats for spring. For me the warmer weather means I can forget about wearing anything on my head, but now I still have to live with the fact that without a beret I will catch cold or at least feel very uncomfortable.

This was my post for Vintage Thingies Thursday, hosted by Suzanne at Coloradolady. Go there and see what all the nice people have found in their cupboards, attics or thrift shops for this week. Happy Easter everyone!

VTT 10 - Very old pattern sheets and ivory rose

Just this week I was digging in my basement sewing room for some perlé thread for tying the string quilt I'm working on, and at the bottom of that box I found a treasure. Many many years ago my mother gave me a bunch of old pattern sheets and folders from 1895 to 1921. They are not all in very good condition:

The sewing instructions are very short compared to modern day sewing magazines. I noticed this, when I actually used one of these patterns. Why on earth? The schools have a big ball for the "new oldest class" when the graduating class leaves school to make their final exams. The students learn old ballroom dances and dress accordingly. My daughter Kaija was invited to this ball one year early as a dancing partner because the older yearclass had exeptionally a minority of girls. Kaija naturally asked me if I could make her that dress in only six weeks - usually the girls start planning what to wear months if not years before, rent the finest dresses or spend hundreds of euros to have a dress tailor made. Some girls make their own dresses, and some mothers sew dresses too. This is a picture of their dance. It is more like a performance for the other students, for the parents in the evening and for smaller pupils in other schools the next day.

    

 Sorry about to poor quality of the picture. I don't have a scanner so I had to take a picture of the picture.

I believe this was the pattern we mainly used, but ended up making many alterations.

Aren't these "the puffiest sleeves ever" in the picture below? (I'm watching Anne of Green Gables when I'm ironing.)

Here are some of our patterns, the sleeve in two parts:

We had to leave out the puffy part because the fabric was so heavy and this was difficult enough!

The skirts were usually very very wide, but I think our (we really did it together) pattern was in eight segments.

Do you want to see the result? Here she is, with a crocheted vintage evening pouch in her hand and wearing my ivory rose necklace. The skirt has a little tail and it looked great when she was spinning round dancing.

 

 I just happen to have a picture of the rose here:

 

The original ivory chain has broken so I have a golden chain instead. It belnged to Great Auntie Saima, like the lace handkerchiefs under it.

This was all for Vintage Thingies Thursday. Coloradolady Suzanne is hosting a long list of links to other vintage thingies. Thank you for coming!