Inspiration week 3: Granny

It's time for my most favorite inspiration, my own grandmother! My granny is someone I will always look up to, and whose values I will always try to uphold. She grew up in a humble working class home and spent her early twenties during the WW2. She met her true love during those years and ended up spending 55 happy years with my beloved grandfather. They had five children together and before her passing she became a great-great-grandmother. My granny and grandad were the embodiment of love and I can only hope to maybe one day have a glimpse of that myself.

I wanted to share this with you because it was my gran who inspired me to really start blogging. The name of my blog Malmikon palmikot  is a tribute to her. Malmikko was her maiden name and I wanted to honor her roots by using that name on my blog, and on my apparel too. Palmikko refers to braids or cable knitting, and it rhimes with Malmikko. The name of the blog can be translated into Malmikko's braids.

My granny and her friends in 1940. She's the second from the left with the lovely neckline embroidered dress.

A summer day with friends (and adorable button details!).

Looking classy on Tähtitorninmäki.

Gran and granddad around 1943 behind the Barker weaving-mill.

Who's your inspiration?

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Tämän viikon inspiraationa on oma rakas mummini.

The Back and Forth dress

 It feels like I started this dress ages ago! At first I had a clear vision of what I was making. I would make the Simplicity 4491 with the wider skirt and that would be it. And I did, until it was time to hem the dress. Then I started second guessing my choice and started thinking of tearing the skirt down and making the wiggle view instead. In the end I went back and forth with the decision for weeks (hence the name) and finally went with the original idea. Isn't that always the case by the way? lol! I did take some construction photos when I worked with the bodice part but forgot to take any with the skirt part. I underlined the bodice with white cotton and did the skirt lining with the same cotton. The flower fabric is a polyester cotton blend sheet I thrifted for 2 euros from the Salvation Army and the white cotton is and old sheet I got from my mother. The only new thing I had to buy was the zipper, so in the end the dress cost about 4 euros, not bad!

I did the underlining my own way; pinned the two layers togethet and staystiched the edges.

The sheet had a tag that said the fabric was ironing free. It wasn't but still it's pretty!

The darts were worryingly pointy at this point.

I trimmed the darts and finished them with hand overcast.

Sewing the neckline facings. I added interfacing to all the facing pieces to stabilize them properly.

I didn't make any alterations to the bodice piece since I had done it once already. With the skirt part I had to make do of what I had. There wasn't enough fabric to make the skirt as wide as the pattern required. I ended up not using the skirt pattern pieces at all. I just took as big a piece of the fabric as I could and made a one-piece dirndl skirt. I did to the pleats in the front according to the pattern, but that was easily done even without the pattern pieces. I handpicked the backzipper, all 50 cm of it! And twice! I also added a waiststay to secure the skirt.

Finished!

The hat is a must on the 1st of May, but so uncomfy on!

Here's a peak of the 1st of May celebration in the 1940s:

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Sain vihdoin valmiiksi mekon, joka on lojunut keskeneräisenä viikkokausia. Nyt se on kuitenkin valmis ja istuu kuin unelma!

Candy stripes!

Hello you all! My break from the blog seems to have streched a bit longer then I meant it to. I started work again on Tuesday and the whole week has gone by so swiftly that my blog posts have been non-existent, I'm sorry for that and will mend my ways! I have a lot of great things for you; I got my hands on some old catalogues and will post about them as soon as I get them scanned. I also finished two garnments that had been hanging on my door for too long. The first you'll see today!

The candy striped fabric was a sale find and my plan was to make it in to a 60's summer dress. But then I found another fabric and decided to make the dress from that (I'll show you that tomorrow). So the candy striped fabric had to go back to my stash. Then one day I had a terrible urge to make something fast and simple, a circle skirt would be perfect I thought! I went to Casey's blog and read the instructions on her circle skirt and was up and ready to go. Until I found I didn't have enough of the candy striped fabric for it. Oh well, I changed my plans a bit. I took the back skirt pieces from the McCall 7686 pattern I had made a while ago and cut two skirt pieces on the fold. Then I only needed to cut a waist band and sew the whole thing together! I handsew the zipper as usual, but ended up machine stiching the hem. The skirt is unlined and perfect for summer! And for the First of May of course!

My trusted McCall.

Frills, stripes and some gold accents and I'm ready to go!

Close up on the fabric. I love!

I'll be back tomorrow with the 60's dress! And I'll be posting another Inspiration post on Monday. It's my favorite one so be sure to check it out!

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Hauskaa vapun attoa! Tein pikaisen hameen suloisesta karkkiraitaisesta puuvillakankaasta. Huomenna vuorossa on kukkakuosinen mekko 60-luvun kaavasta.

Happy Easter!

I'm going out of town for the holidays, so there will be a small break on posting on my blog. I hope you'll all have a very peaceful and a happy easter! I'm going to spend my Easter celebrating my nieces birthday, eating mämmi and knitting, I already have a good start:

 

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Pidän blogista taukoa pääsiäisloman ajan, mutta neulomukset kulkevat mukana! Oikein rauhallista ja mukavaa pääsiäistä! Muistakaa syödä mämmiä!

Getting knitty

I've been in a little bit of a sewing slump the last few days. I have traced some patterns for future projects but I haven't taken the sewing machine out from its hidey-hole. There's still a skirt and a dress that both need hemming, and then they're done. (Although today as I was watching the dress hanging on it's hanger I started to wonder whether it would be a good idea to rip the skirt part out and make it into a wiggle skirt after all..) So in the meantime when I'm trying to decide what to do with it and while I'm getting my sewjo back (what a great word!) I thought I'd post something about knitting! I realised I haven't done that yet so here's a first one.

The neverending scarf. I believe I started it three years ago and it's halfway through now. lol. But it will be beautiful whenever it does get finished.

Knitting is something that I like to do, but also something I get bored with easily. I like making mittens and socks and hats and small things like that because they're quickly done and there's always something happening in the pattern. Where as scarfs in particular are a nightmare for me to finish. Last fall was propably the first time I was able to finish a scarf in a matter of weeks, this due to the fact that I was using large pins and a colourful yarn so it didn't get boring. lol! My challenge now is to make a sweater. I've never done one before but the vintage patterns are just so beautiful that I have to have at least one in my closet. The problem here however is, that I haven't been able to find a nice vintage knitting pattern in Finnish. It's a totally different thing to read sewing instructions in a foreign language opposed to knitting instructions, so I thought it would be wise to start with my mothertongue. Luckily I did find some comtemporary patterns that have that vintage feel and seem easy enough to knit. This summer therefore I'm going to make one of these knits from Novita magazine:

 Both of the grey knits are more like tunics, but I thought I'd make them without the hip part and start at the waist. Also I would add lenght to the sleeves in the cableknitted one and make the collar maybe a little lower. The lovely white cardigan might be a little over my skill level, but I had to add it just because it's so pretty!

Some of my loss of sewjo was undoubtedly caused by a missed friend who came today for a few days visit:

My sweet Emma

Wishing you all heaps and heaps of sewjo!

Inspiration week 2: Casey and her Elegant Musings

This weeks inspiration is a no-brainer to you I'm sure. Casey is someone who seems to inspire us all and her take on the vintage patterns and sewing (and knitting!) inspire me too. Casey's blog Elegant Musings was the very first vintage sewing related blog I ran into. I remember that I was looking for vintage garnments on the Internet and had read style blogs to find them, and somewhere from there I came to Casey's blog and was immediately enchanted by her style. I read all of her posts in one sitting and after that I was hooked, not only to her blog but on vintage sewing as well. So it's Casey I have to thank for starting sewing again! The thing I love about Casey and her blog is that she is so genuine in what she does. She knows her style and isn't afraid to try something new. Her sewing seems always immaculate and her pictures are just beautiful! She has some wonderful tutorials on vintage style and of sewing of course! If you haven't checked those out yet, be sure to do so! I especially love the 50's headband tutorial.

Here are some of my favorite pics and projects that Casey has made. By clicking the picture you'll get to the related post on Casey's blog. All the pictures are snapped from those posts.

 

P.S. My intention was to post some outfit photos today, but my allergies have gotten a hold of me and released the red-eyed monster. I'll spare you from those images and post the photos on some other day.

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Toisen viikon inspiraation lähteenä on Floridassa asuva Casey, jonka blogi toimi innoituksenani aloittaa vintage-ompelu.

A day's break

I'm a bit shocked about the outcome of our general election. So in the mist of this disappoitment and absolute state of horror, I'm going to wrap myself in blankets and eat some easter chocolates. I'll be back posting again tomorrow.