Knitting Among the Roses

A few days ago my friend Kacy and I met to catch up and enjoy a late summer afternoon. We scouted out a spot on the lawn at the beautiful Morcom Rose Garden and set about knitting, chatting and eating yummy homemade guacamole and home grown tomatoes.

New Things

Source: designmuseum.org/

Many wonderful things are underway for me professionally right now!  On Saturday I accepted a position with a small bridal couturier in San Francisco.  For a few days a week I'll be hand stitching beautiful french lace and crafting stunning bridal headpieces in a studio with some pretty cool, kind women.  To boot, Its located on Russian Hill, so my day will be lousy with picturesque San Francisco street scenes!   I'ts actually on a cable car route so I'm toying with the idea of hopping on one for my morning commute.  But let me be real, the 40+ minute queue to get on one of those suckers will likely be a deterrent...

The really super big news is that a few weeks ago I became a small business owner!

I want to announce the launch of a really exciting project.  Since early in the year, JP (my boyfriend, who I see I haven't yet introduced here on the blog!) and I have been cracking away on a dream of mine.  A few weeks ago we opened Time Capsule Fabrics.  It's a mom and pop online fabric store that offers a curated selection of fabric and sewing patterns for the retro sewist! Its also my first foray into the world of entrepreneurship so you can imagine how nerve racking/invigorating its been. See, it wasn't kdding when I said things are exciting 'round here!

Source: lamixx.blogspot.com

As a seamstress who looooooves sewing vintage styles, especially the 1920s-1930s, I was always on the hunt for new fabric that would give my projects a look of authenticity.  I was tired of longing for the depression era prints on quilting cottons, wishing I could find something similar on say a crepe or lawn.  By the way, I love sewing garments out of quilting weight but it isn't right for a lot of projects. Rayon crepe and challis for instance was ubiquitous in stores until about 15 years ago and that 30's or 40's frock hanging in your closet is likley made of one of these fabrics but it is getting hard for seamstresses to find.  I ended up compiling my own list of the fabric I found online that had that vintage "je ne sais quoi".  JP noted the hours and hours I spent sifting though thumbnails on fabric store websites and made the bold suggestion that I start a store that stocked the very same fabric I was longing for.  I needed a lot of support and encouragement to take the risk and go for it but luckily I have great friends and family who did just that and now, 6 months later, it's a reality!

In the fashion district wanting to take home all the fabric!!!!

The blog wasn't yet a twinkle in my eye when this project got underway but in summary I've spent the last 6ish months trolling wholesaler's websites, talking to reps and attending trade shows.  The highlight so far has been a trip to LA's fashion district where I wheeled and dealed like nobody's business, scoring some excellent rayon crepe!  Yessss!  It's also been a great opportunity for me to reach out and support other vintage bloggers and businesses.  I've been reading Lauren's sewing chronicles at Wearing History for years so sourcing her patterns for the store was a great opportunity to reach out and talk to someone I really respect.  I love that I can buy ad space and support blogs I love like Vavoom Vintage and American Duchess.

You can still take advantage of our Grand Opening 20% off Sale until the 15th too! If you love sewing vintage patterns or like to incorporate retro elements into your projects come take a look! 

She Dreams in Deco will likely include the occasional store news and I plan on documenting the garments I make for the store here but it will really be a personal outlet for me.  I'm going to be a busy lady so I'm looking forward to having this blog be a place where I can relax and muse.

My Current Knitting Project

 This is my latest knitting project: a 1940s ribbed cardigan, titled 'A Chic Cardigan to Knit', it has a Ravelry page here. Notice the darling little embroidered flower on the front? I did too and it killed me with its cuteness.

I'm using Rowan's linen drape, a linen/silk blend and I aim to finish in time to enjoy during our Indian Summer. The yarn makes a beautiful heavy drapey (surprise) fabric. Also be warned that it splits like crazy and I have found more than one knot while unwinding the balls, otherwise a lovely offering from Rowan. Only half of the left front and both sleeves remain. I'll be doing a long sleeve version if yardage allows.

I love the color, a cool deep steel grey but want to add more color to my wardrobe so I'll be embroidering the flower motif in some cheerful brighter colors. Biiiiig thanks to my sister who gifted me the Rowan yarn some years ago!

The pattern was found on the National Library of Australia's "Trove" database. The site offers a huge collection of digitized material from magazines, books and newspapers. I noticed several vintage knitting patterns on Ravelry from the NLA so I decided to have a look myself. I was not dissapointed, oh no I was not, a search for "knitting" limited to the 1920's-1940's yielded hundreds of patterns...and they're all FREE!!!! Some have complete instructions and high quality images and others were fuzzy or only provided scant guidelines for knitting them up.

The NLA's also has me covered for my next knitting project! Its called 'Blanket Wool Cardigan' and is on Ravelry here. The loose casual cropped lines of this cardigan and the super quick "blanket weight" yarn are all tempting me.

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A Kitschy Kimono Sleeve Blouse

Yesterday I finished Pictorial Review 5929 from the early 1930s.  It's a simple kimono sleeve blouse which is shown as part of a set of lounging pajamas. 

 This is the 3rd time I've sewn it. Last year I made up the trousers in a wool twill.  I absolutely live in them during the cooler months so  they'll be showing up in outfits soon.

  I tend to gravitate towards autumnal colors no matter the season so lately I've really been trying to  sew with brighter colors.  Tasha from By Gum, By Golly is a constant source of inspiration for me on the colorful front! This time I decided to put a mid-century Mexican spin on it. I used a bright novelty rayon print.  I couldn't resist the kitsch of it's cowboys, flamenco dancers and sombrero hats! I changed the neckline to a simple scoop neck. The neck and armholes are bound in green bias binding and the fun colorful melange of ric rac is vintage. 

                            

JP and I snapped some pics of the blouse in action at Friday's Old Oakland Farmer's Market.  We were sure to pick up lots of peaches because, alas, summer is fleeting. 

 I paired the blouse with a previous make; Wearing History's 'Chic Ahoy' Gaucho and Bolero set. They were a pleasure to make (the drop front with it's buttons and facings finish beautifully) and  I wear these quite a bit as last year I found I could even wear them into the early winter thanks to the lovely wool suiting's medium weight. 

Next up, I'm going to share the vintage knit I've got on my knitting needles! Enjoy your weekends!