July 2019 – Killer Kitsch Designs

Each year, starting on my birthday, I give myself a new garment related challenge. Last year I tried to make one garment a week and though I didn’t quite make 52 (made 45 garments for myself) I am quite proud of what I achieved. With my birthday approaching (July 31st for those keeping track), I need to come up with a new challenge. What o’ what could that challenge be?

I’ve been bouncing ideas around and decided to take a look at my wardrobe to see what I needed to fill in gaps. When I did this I noticed that I don’t have trousers, fitted skirts and very few blouses. I am also lacking coats and cardigans (and the ones I have are looking shabby). After this realization, I also concluded that I don’t have many structured/fitted garments and I believe a large part of that is because I am a curvy girl and it is hard to find sizes that fit right. I found myself saying out loud, ‘But isn’t that why you make your own clothing?’ Yes. Yes it is.

Hold on… did you say you don’t have any trousers. That is correct. I haven’t owned trousers of any kind in at least ten years. Why? I hate the way they fit. As I mentioned earlier, I am a curvy girl. I’ve always had an hourglass figure, (large boobs, smaller waist, wide hips) even when I was slender. I hated shopping for pants of any kind. If I was able to get them to fit in the hips, the waist was too big. I also have really long legs and a high waist, so I could never get the rise to fit right either. So…. I stopped wearing them. That is about to change.

Toile! Toile! Toile!

Anyone who sews knows you need to make a toile to get your fit down and when making pants I see a lot of them in my future! I want to make 3 basic types. 1930/1940 high waist style, 1950s Rockabilly style and elastic waist Beach Pyjama Style. These will cover most of my vintage inspired wardrobe needs.

Another large project I want to undertake is replacing all of my cardigans. Many are in shabby shape and I will likely repurpose them into mittens or other things. That said… knitting will need to wait for a while. I’ve done something to my thumb and need to wait a few more days before I can have it looked at. In the meantime… there is sewing!

However, me being me, I am adding and addition challenge starting January 1, 2020. I am going to start reproducing Miss Lemon’s wardrobe (from the TV show Poirot). Because in my world, one challenge is not enough!

Let’s get sewing!

Please add my Instagram account @killerkitsch13 to see regular progress updates.

We are super excited to be making another dress with Aly from Sewcial Dee for our August sew-a-long. We will be making the very popular Betty Dress from Sew Over It!

With this tutorial we will be posting the tutorial in three steps and will be posting those steps weekly. If you are someone who is new to dressmaking, this will be the perfect tutorial and sew-a-long for you. You will find the tutorials here (www.sewcialdee.com)

OH! and there is more!!! Aly will be running a giveaway related to the Betty dress for the add-on pack! For more info on the giveaway and to enter, head on over to Aly’s Instagram @sewcial.dee. The contest will run from August 1st to August 15th.

As with every sew-a-long, all of the links to the tutorials and more information on the Betty dress will also be found in the files area of our Facebook group. https://www.facebook.com/groups/killerkitschvintagewips/

The Betty Dress will be a will be a paid, downloadable pattern and can be found on the Sew Over it website. https://sewoverit.co.uk/product/betty-dress-sewing-pattern/ I believe many already have a copy of this pattern and this will be the perfect opportunity to make it!

Now a little bit about Aly! Aly is a postmodern girl in a new century world Southern California girl with an affinity for all things retro. Aly’s blog is about sewing and focused towards vintage styles (either vintage patterns or vintage recreation patterns). Aly’s posts are an indepth look and review about the patterns she recreates, with added flair. Aly considers the pinup look to be part of her lifestyle and she also uses this space to offer her opinion on vintage reproduction brands she loves.