Sewing

Buttons and Buttonholes

Yesterday was a busy day. I finished my Mathilde Blouse. The adaptations worked perfectly, so now the neckline sits in my collar bone and the blouse finishes just below my hips.

I mentioned before that I have a Singer sewing machine from 1934. Due to my eBay stalking, I also have a 1940’s buttonholer.

It comes with a series of cams that you put inside for different size buttonholes. The first things I did when I received it was to make a buttonhole sample strip. This means I can test buttons to check which cam I need to make the right size buttonhole.

So with buttonholer attached I finished off Mathilde with its buttoned back.

While I had the buttonholer out I also made the buttonholes for a shirt I finished ages ago. I copied an existing shirt to make this, and I’ll post at some point about how I did this (basically brown paper and lots of patience!).

Onto the next project: The Mini Skirt.

My teenage daughter has asked to help me make a mini skirt for her. So I found a pattern on Burda Style for a sequinned pleated mini skirt.

I have spent the morning (while waiting for said teenage to wake up!) printing out and sticking together the pattern.

30 A4 pages that need to be patiently trimmed and tessellated together. I’ve still got to trace the pattern pieces (and add my own seam allowance, because the pattern doesn’t have them), but that will have to wait until I have an awake teenager to measure.

In the meantime here is the fabric she has chosen for her skirt:

Red roses for the main skirt, very dark blue lining. She’s hoping to wear this skirt tomorrow – I think that means I’ll need to go and wake her up (again!).

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