Inspiration

I tend to get a lot of inspiration for my sewing projects from movies, especially those set in my favourite periods. When I went to see Quentin Tarantino's Inglorious Basterds last year, I was thrilled by the few women in the movie and what they wore. I especially liked the suit Diane Kruger's character Bridget von Hammersmark was wearing during the bar scene:



Here's a close-up showing the different fabrics used for the jacket:



As usual I was mentally flicking through my pattern collection to see if I had anything that would be suitable for that kind of suit and I do happen to have a pattern that could work:



But I left it at that. Exams, Christmas and what have you got in the way and I didn't really think about it until last week. A friend had told me about a wonderful little shop in the heart of Aarhus, where a collector of vintage fashion was selling some of the dresses, hats, shoes, jewelry and other beautiful things from her collection. So we went to the shop to have a look (my friend was already addicted to the place) and I found a wonderful hat from the early 1940s (that's my guess, anyway). It was made in Aarhus by one of the best hat makers of the time, her label still in the hat. The felt is in great condition, there's no wear to it whatsoever. Unfortunately, the crisp colours of the hat weren't captured by my camera:



I didn't buy it right away, as I always try to not be too impulsive (I am a student, after all), but I couldn't stop thinking about it and I finally decided I had to buy it when I remembered I had these gloves:



The colour of the gloves is actually also more crisp in real life. How typical - damn mobile camera! Anywho, the colour of the gloves match the green of the hat alarmingly well and to make a long story short (too late), the hat and gloves sparked my imagination and I remembered the suit from Inglorious Basterds. I'm thinking about making the skirt of the suit in brown and the jacket in brown for the most part, with green details, should I still go with Simplicty 3688. I have also considered this pattern for the suit:



I think it would look rather nice with the majority of the jacket in brown and then the parts that are cut on the bias in the picture on the pattern envelope in green. Hmmm....

Introduction

I've been toying with the idea of a blog for quite some time and decided now was the time to start. I'm a full-time student and spend my sparetime hunting for vintage treasures of all sorts, especially vintage sewing patterns and other fashion-related vintage items. The eras that appeal to me the most are the 1940s and 1950s, both with regard to the styles associated with those decades, but also the resourcefulness of women during WWII and how sewing truly is a lost art.
My love of vintage fashion stretches back as far as I can remember and I've always found fashion history extremely interesting, as well as the craftmanship involved when creating a garment, which has made me very critical of the quality (or lack thereof) of today's off-the-rack clothes. This lead me to attend a sewing course when I was in high school and I haven't looked back since.
Other than sewing, I take 1950s-themed dance lessons with my fella and we're also starting lindy hop classes this week.
This blog will mainly focus on my adventures in sewing. I use vintage patterns most of the time, but I also use vintage reproduction patterns and occasionally new patterns with a vintage appeal.

Here's a sample of my work:


Thank you for reading, I hope you'll be back :)