Tag: dress making
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1970’s Crimplene Flower Power Shift Dress

What an amazing job by Sallyanne. With just one yard of vintage 1970s crimplene fabric and using one of her grandmothers 1960s patterns, she has made this iconic shift dress, fully lined with lace edging too. It is so satisfying to see the fabric I have unearthed being put to such good use.
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Wool fabric – for cold weather.
Clothing made from wool fabric has always been considered the best for wearing in cold weather, it traps heat and will prevent the body from cooling. Wool absorbs moisture, but stays warmer than many other fabrics, it is also inherently flame retardant. So a good choice for clothing when the weather gets colder. A lovely soft…
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Toile de Jouy Fabric
Toile prints were originally produced in Ireland in the mid-18th Century and quickly became popular in Britain and France. The name Toile de Jouy originated in France in the late 18th century and means “cloth from Jouy”, a town near Paris. Christophe-Phillipe Oberkampf set up business in Jouy-en-Josas outside Paris in 1759, where he joined with engraver and designer…
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20th Century Rayon Dress Making Fabric
Considered the oldest manufactured fabric, rayon is made from cellulose ( often wood pulp), and thought of as semi-synthetic. There are several different ways of processing the cellulose each producing slightly different fabrics such as viscose, modal, lyocell and tencel. Known as artificial silk when it was first introduced in the late 1800’s early 19o0’s, it…
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What People Make with the fabric I sell – ‘The Village Hippy’ Gifts and Clothing
I met Lindsey of ‘The Village Hippy’ on facebook some time ago. Such a lovely person with a kind and positive outlook on life. She makes great bags, hangings and memo boards using vintage fabric, buttons and bindings. Here is one the memo boards she made with linen fabric she bought from me, the design is ‘flowers…
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Ideas for Using Vintage Fabric – 1950’s Style Striped Dresses
I always loved the dresses my mum wore in the summer when I was little. The ones I remember most were striped, with full skirts and a fitted bodice, sometimes the stripes would be horizontal on the skirt and vertical on the bodice. Here’s our family in 1958, with Mum in one of her striped…
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My Vintage Fabric Stash
Bundles of fabric from my collection.This one include several spotted fabrics, the green in silk, the navy rayon and the bottom one cotton. 1940’s fabrics inc early Liberty silk and 50’s crepe.  The one below has some lovely pieces of 1940’s rayon and cotton, French toile and old Liberty checked silk.  This pile…
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Ideas for using Vintage Fabric – Pink Shot Silk & Cotton Dupioni.
This vintage late 1930’s early 40’s pink dress making shot fabric has a darker pink slub cotton one side and satin-like silk dupioni on the right side (though each side could be used uppermost). Wonderful stuff which is fairly heavy and could be used in many different ways.. It would make a lovely long full skirted…
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What People Make with the Fabric I Sell – Shot Silk Outfit by Kitty Lou
Kitty Lou bought some vintage tartan check shot silk from me and kindly sent photos of the finished outfit..fantastic.  She collects 1940’s vintage sewing patterns and is a seamstress herself too, making reproduction clothing with original patterns. Check out her facebook page it is really worth seeing. Kitty Lous’s authentic outfit, reminded me of…
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Ideas for using Vintage Fabric – Marilyn Monroe Wiggle Dress
The iconic wiggle dress made famous in the 1950’s by Marilyn Monroe was an the style to be seen in at the time and one that has lasted. So called as it fitted so closely round the legs that it was necessary to wiggle to walk.. Marilyn is seen ablove with her husband Arthur Miller…