Sewing Project: original Vintage Dress pattern

It's been ages since I've attempted any sewing projects, and so I've decided to dust off my sewing machine and embark on another dressmaking adventure.

My sewing skills are fairly basic: I sweat blood over inserting zippers, I have never done buttons, and have only done sleeves once.

In spite of that, I am optimistic and undeterred and have decided to have a go at sewing from a proper, original vintage sewing pattern that I bought on eBay.

Here's the picture of what the finished product should look like:

Oooooooooh! Aaaaaaaaah!

Vintage sewing patterns are not like the modern patterns of today - they assume you have competent dressmaking skills and include only very limited instructions. Gulp.

This is all I have to go on.
The scant instructions say things like
"finish off side opening with a zipper." Oh, okay... er...

Luckily I have piles of "I got it on sale at $3 a metre" fabric so I reckon I'll give this frock a crack and see what happens, and if it all turns to custard I'll only be out $20 and 68 hours of my life. This is the fabric I've chosen to play with:

It's a nice browny-russety floral number with a soft feel and nice drape. I think it's a polycotton (maybe? I really am a dunce when it comes to fabric) and am hoping it will be easy to work with as it's not stretchy or slippery.

The pattern calls for lots of Rick Rack to be used along the seams, but personally I'm not a huge fan of Rick Rack so I might just try to use bias binding or something like that instead. Because when you're a novice sewer attempting a hard-to-understand pattern it's ALWAYS a good idea to improvise and make on-the-fly changes :D

I'll attempt to post updates with photos as I go along so you can either gasp with admiration or point your fingers and laugh heartily.

-- ADDENDUM --

I just nipped out to the fabric store to get thread and trim for the dress project. I actually found some nice burgundy-russety RickRack that looked quite good against the fabric and I started to hem and haw a bit about trying RickRack after all.

In the end, I went with cream bias binding instead because it contrasted better with the fabric and hence will look snappier from a distance (I hope), but mainly because it was 75 cents a metre (vs $2/metre for the RickRack). I'm giving this project a 40% chance of success (as in: it goes together properly, it fits, looks good on me and I'll actually wear it) so I'm going for the cheaper materials this time around.

Design your own Vintage Style Shoes with Shoes of Prey

I stumbled across the Shoes of Prey website the other day and couldn't believe it.

"What, you mean I can DESIGN MY OWN SHOES ONLINE and have them shipped to me? And, in the event that they don't fit, I can get them remade for free?"

*salivate*

I kid you not - Shoes of Prey is a new business based in Australia making bespoke women's shoes. Their website has an interactive designer widget thingy to literally design your own dream shoe, choosing from dozens of combinations of styles, colours and materials (leathers, suede, snakeskin, FISHskin, etc.)

Grey and black suede heels with purple snakeskin bow detail. Gorgeous!

Red and black patent leather Mary Jane heels

They've got a very generous returns policy which takes all the risk out of buying shoes sight-unseen. And, needless to say, there's hours of fun to be had using their online shoe designer!

Here's a few designs I whipped up:

Blue suede asymmetrical peep toe with silver leather heel and trim

Two-tone white and black soft leather flat Mary Jane style

Light green and pink heels with silver snakeskin accent

Prices are around the US$250 mark, which I think is extremely reasonable for a custom-made shoe - you'd pay that for a pair of Fluevogs easily without the ability to choose custom colours. And for bloggers wishing to promote Shoes of Prey to readers, they've got a nice affiliates program set up.

I wonder if 'Handbags of Prey' and 'Hats of Prey' might be next!?!?!!

The Stolen Sweets: Sleepytime in Chinatown

I recently had the good fortune to come into possession of a CD by retro-modern band The Stolen Sweets, entitled 'Sleepytime in Chinatown'.

On this album I discovered a song that's now a personal favourite and one I recommend you all get hold of (if you want to cut to the chase then scroll to the end of this post for details).

The Stolen Sweets are a 6-member outfit based in Portland, Oregon playing and singing in the style of the Boswell Sisters.

** Let's pause for a little history on the Boswell Sisters, shall we? **

The Boswell Sisters - Martha, Connee and Vet - were a close harmony singing group of the 1930s, with a style akin to the (now) more well-known Andrews Sisters (who actually started out as Boswell Sisters imitators).

Their heyday was the early 1930s, and they were particularly known for re-arranging songs: changing keys and tempos frequently.

The Boswell Sisters perform 'Heebie Jeebies' - listen out for the tempo changes and watch their quite impressive synchronised head bobbing...

** ... back to the Stolen Sweets **

As mentioned, the Sweets are an 'in the style of ' band who take their inspiration mainly from the Boswell Sisters, with a dash of Django-esque gypsy jazz thrown in here and there.

To this end, most of the tracks feature Boswellian 3-part close harmony singing, a sound that immediately screams 'vintage'. It's also a singing style that I personally find I prefer in smaller doses. I'm the same with the Andrews Sisters - while some of their songs I absolutely love (especially Bounce Me Brother with a Solid Four), I prefer listening to them shuffled throughout vintage music playlists rather than a whole album in one sitting.

The Stolen Sweets

The Sweets' songs are a mix of old standards and original compositions. Many songs feature the Boswell Sister's trademark tempo changes - to the point where I wasn't sure when a song actually finished and a new one started because some of the tempo and style changes were so dramatic.

Overall, the Sweets have a pared down sound. This is not robust Big Band material like Italian 'in-the-style-of' band Alfredo Rey e la sua Orchestra, but rather more stripped down, jangly and busky, similar to the Blue Vipers of Brookyn or the New Orleans Jazz Vipers - except more upmarket than down-home, with an air of genteel politeness. The Sweets do a lot of live gigs, and they'd definitely be worth checking out.

So, let's look at the Sleepytime in Chinatown album to see what we can find...

My preferred songs from the album are the jauntier ones: "I'm going to sit right down and write myself a letter", the title track "Sleepytime in Chinatown", "I'll Find You When I Do", the classic "Heebie Jeebies", and the Cab Calloway-like character-filled "Smoky Joe's Holiday". They make you feel like tapping your toes and remind us that music, back in the day, used to be about entertainment and feel-good fun.

Some of the slower songs don't turn my crank - I'm not against slow songs per se, but they just aren't swoony-croony enough for me (I confess my bias though: I have a loyalty to Sinatra where crooning's concerned, and nobody else can come close, apart from a few exceptions like Sam Cooke singing "Don't Get Around Much Anymore" - melt!)

Of course, given the frequent tempo changes, some songs have slow sections and faster sections, so I can end up liking part of the song but not the whole thing.

But there's one track on this album that, for me, stands out above all the others. After the first listen it was stuck in my head, on the second listen I was singing along, and it's now got a solid place in the list of my favourite songs. I'm talking of the eerily delicious ballad of "Willy the Weeper, the Chinatown Creeper".

It's mostly a slow song with a brief flick into some serious uptemponess near the end. Unlike their other slower tunes, here the Sweets drop the politeness and get all dark and creepy. The lyrics follow the story of poor Willy, a rather suspicious character whose girl runs off with another man - Willy rights this wrong by exacting his own rather bloody revenge.

MWAH HA HA HA!!!! *sounds of crashing thunder and lightning*

SIDE NOTE: Interestingly, the character of Willy the Weeper dates back to traditional American folk music and has inspired many other musicians such as Frankie "Half Pint" Jaxon who recorded 'Willie the Weeper' in 1927 (lyrics here), and later Cab Calloway who used it as the basis for 'Minnie the Moocher'. There are a few variations of Willie the Weeper songs dating from the early jazz period - you can download an MP3 of one of them here - but generally Willie/Willy is an unfortunate character and the songs use storytelling lyrics that describe drug use and general down-and-outedness.

The song by the Sweets is an original composition both musically and lyrically that picks up the mantle of the 'Willie' tradition. It's haunting and evocative with fabulous lyrics matched by beautifully spooky backup singing.

"He pawned a watch and a chain

that he stole from a grave

and his box-back swallowtail coat

and he bought him a Mauser

as big as a house and went

looking for Sammy and Bell...

...have mercy on Willy the Weeper

the Chinatown Creeper,

taking confession down at St Augustine's"

I simply can't say enough good things about this song. I urge listeners to purchase 'Willy the Weeper' online from CD Baby - it'll be the best $0.99 you spend this week :)

You can, of course, listen to the other tracks and buy the album on CD Baby if you like.