Long Dog Dreams

If you follow my blog, or know me even in passing, you soon realize my love for dachshund dogs.  Just like sewing and sunshine, they make me happy!  My own little long yet short fur baby is the sweetest companion I could ever find, but lately, younger versions of him have been also catching my eye.  This past year, my parents picked up a cute and rambunctious dappled dachshund puppy.  More recently, after watching LouLou the famous dachshund have her litter of puppies 10 weeks ago, I’ve actually had some happy dreams of half a dozen happy little wiener dogs all over me.  Now, I do have plenty of store bought pajamas and nightwear that are made of dachshund prints, but nothing hot dog related self-made to sleep in.  It was high time to correct that situation so I could have more ‘long dog dreams’.  I dare you to look at the picture and not yawn!

This project is a fun merging of modern-made-vintage which I rarely do to this degree.  Yes, I used a true vintage pattern to make something out of its contemporary antithesis – polyester fleece.  This combo sounds like ‘heresy’ deep down to my old school sewing heart, but the print had me at first sight.  Besides, I don’t mind redeeming fleece every so often (look how I further redeemed fleece as a fashionable coat here).  Fleece can be so much more than just no-sew blankets!  The 40’s style is something so pretty and feminine for nightwear, fleece or not, I figure I couldn’t go wrong adding a dachshund print to the mix!

THE FACTS:

FABRIC:  polyester fleece – a JoAnn store exclusive print – fully lined with contrast sleeves in a lightweight polyester interlock

PATTERN:  Simplicity #2269, year 1947

NOTIONS:  Thread and ¼ inch ribbon

TIME TO COMPLETE:  The nightgown was made in about 5 hours and finished on January 22, 2020.

THE INSIDES:  left raw…as one does with knits

TOTAL COST:  about $30

The fleece I used is not what you would normally expect or find.  It is thin and a different kind of plushness, closer to a velvet than anything else – quite dreamy!  However, I do believe in the possibility of too much of a good thing.  So, I chose a contrast for the sleeves and waist ties.  This contrast fabric is also the same I used to fully line the inside body (which you can see here), because no fleece is immune to the bane of static electricity.  The light interlock does not really add weight, but keeps the fleece from sticking to me as I wear it.  When you make it yourself, you can cater to your every idea for a glorious creation that is something you will enjoy so much more than RTW.

There are no closures and relative simplicity of lines – this is a popover and tie nightgown.  This helped make it a quick and easy creation.  The size was technically too big for me, but I made it as-is (I didn’t want to bother with grading) and simply sewed in wider seam allowances.  Doing so had me worried at first because it looked so oversized!  However, the ties – sewn into the side seams – cinch in in just fine.   It is okay to be a bit lazy when sewing nightwear?  I mean why wait until it’s done to be chilling out?! Perhaps the overall relaxation of it all was wearing off on my sewing practices this time around.  If you want a slightly easier-to-find and more modern version of the pattern I used for my nightgown (thus more reasonably priced, too), search for Butterick #5688 from 2011.

For as simple as it was, my nightgown is not lacking in the conventional 40’s details such as shirred shoulders and puff sleeve caps.  These details were slightly more difficult in double layered knit.  I added a bit of extra detail myself – a thin, pink ribbon top-stitched 5/8 inch away from the neckline edge.  There’s two reasons behind my bonus trimming.  Firstly, it’s pretty (and I had a whole roll to use on hand)!  Secondly, it keeps the neckline stable, preventing it from stretching.  Something which is useful yet decorative is a great all-around win!

There was a happy surprise when I opened the envelope for the nightgown pattern.  This bonus to the pattern has kept me further occupied than sewing this simple nightgown.  There were four pages torn out of a 1940s Wards catalog, along with newspaper clippings, showing slips and more nighttime wearing options.  I love happy finds like this!  Anyone ever heard of “Madeline Patterns” from Kansas City, as seen on the two clippings?  These ephemeral scraps have become quite acidic and brittle over the years and although I scanned them in, they are still a bit hard to see but still so fun to look at, so here’s a little preview.  My favorite is the little, ruffled, one-piece, shorts playset….or maybe my favorite is the wrapped crop top and trousers, I can’t decide!

Luxurious nightwear seems to be taking the spotlight nowadays with people staying at home more than ever nowadays.  On Instagram, people seem to be calling it many things, but my favorite is the “Hibernation Libation” hashtag.  Luxurious nightwear and elegant loungewear does make for the perfect indulgence – much lower in calories than ice cream.  Speaking of a treat, just look at all the dachshunds around me when I wear this nightgown…and in my favorite colors of pink and turquoise!  You know, I even wore my treasured dachshund house slippers, too, that were a very good gift from my mom!

Now is a great time to remember you are beautiful, worthwhile, and loved…and dressing up for your own well-being is very important now more than ever when we are stuck at home in droves.  Take care of yourself, however that means.  For me, that includes continuing making and wearing fabulous, useful clothes which both make me happy – like this nightgown – and help me feel like my normal, non-quarantined self!

Preparing for ‘Ruff’ Weather

It must be miserable for dogs to have to do their potty business outside no matter cold or rain or whatever the weather.  Here where we live, it’s the cusp of when we normally start having all of winter’s most nasty weather, and our little fur baby does not at all like stepping outside in any such clime (not that I blame him!).  Being a dachshund – both long and short – most RTW coats do not fit him correctly and he waddles around in them unable to move naturally.  I’ve made coats for myself, I’ve made a coat for our son (posted previously, see here), and I have everything ready to sew a coat for the husband, but I realized there is one family member that really needed winter wear – our dog!

I had some scraps (literally just a few pieces) of quilted fabric leftover from the previous winter’s sewing.  The scraps were too small to warrant stashing away and an annoyance by keeping out.  Bingo! Our little companion can now go outside in relative comfort and style in a coat I made for just his body type!  Soon, everyone in my family circle will have a custom coat handmade by me.

His breed of dog has a German heritage, and so I put a bit of a Bavarian spin on the coat.  At first, that wasn’t intended – I was merely adapting the pattern to accommodate fitting his body, my shortage of available pieces to use, and easy finishing techniques.  However, I love everything about how it turned out!  In just over an hour, I had a made my pup a new coat.  Since the rest of the quilted fabric was used to make things for me, I personally know that stuff is super warm and cozy so I do hope he is as happy to wear the new coat as pleased as I am to see him in it.

I chose the extra small for the body of the coat and a small for the longer length plus under belly straps.  As it turned out, I only had to use one of the two under belly straps because he is such a little guy!  Also due to his smaller chest, a tissue fitting (tough to do on a wiggly animal!) seemed to show that the neck and tummy straps were at the wrong placement for him so they were the last things I attached at new spots for a custom fit.  He has a box of RTW coats which have been gifted to him and this is the only one that fully covers his back yet has him moving around and doing his outside business like he isn’t even wearing anything.  It’s about time…why hadn’t I thought of this before?!

The bias tape finishing the raw edges used up a color I never need otherwise and was the perfect solution to making this a quickly finished project.  My fur baby certainly doesn’t mind and I like the different combo of colors.  The tape highlights the extra collar that hangs over a half-hidden small pocket.  I will never know why dog coats have pockets – it is one of the world’s great conundrums.  Usually pockets are for the wearer of the garment to use, but I will be the one using it to carry things for his needs (if anything) so…is the pocket really for him?  If anything, it adds some extra interest and was a good way to use up the second chest strap I no longer needed otherwise.

I had a rectangle only big enough to cut out the main body without attached neck/chest strap, but as I mentioned before, they didn’t seem like they were going to fit as they were anyway.  The way to get the neck to fit was to have a separate chest piece…that was all I could manage out of my scraps anyway!  Those buttons are purely decorative because out of convenience the neck/chest piece is sewn down.  It’s one less thing to deal with to get him dressed because when he has to go, he sometimes can’t wait!  The sole side closure of the belly strap closes with Velcro loop tape.

This time every year I have so much more incentive to sew for others, anyway, but this is the first of my sewing going for a pet!  I don’t really expect to do much more sewing in that department, yet it is exciting to find a new use for my scraps.  I mean, dachshunds do show up on so many of the few pet patterns which do get released.  He probably hopes I don’t get carried away with my new discovery because he doesn’t necessarily like to model or be the subject of the camera.  He is so accommodating, though.   Don’t worry little buddy, the coat you were born with is plenty handsome…

THE FACTS:

FABRIC:  two-sided, 100% cotton covered quilted batting

PATTERN:   Butterick #4885, year 2006, View C

NOTIONS:  I only used what was in my stash – matching thread, bright orange bias tape, and some 1980s buttons out of the inherited stash of my husband’s Grandmother

TIME TO COMPLETE:  From start to finish, this coat only took me an hour and a half!

TOTAL COST:  Basically nothing – a few dollars or less!  This was made of the scraps leftover from 2 ½ yards of quilted fabric which has already went towards two different outfits.  A third re-iteration of the same fabric is practically free in my opinion!

Halloween 2015 – Me and My Cowboy

Halloween is a bigger deal than it used to be in my life now that our little one is actually old enough to realize what it is about and enjoy it.  I’ve also realized it does give me a very good reason to sew something for my half-pint and not just myself.  In 2015, I didn’t do that much sewing for Halloween, but enough to be proud of and count as projects to share.

My outfit wasn’t much, just something I put together at the last minute.  I dressed as some sort of punk, dark, vintage-style housewife, in an original 50’s blouse, a pencil skirt, platform heels, and a handmade apron with dachshund featured print.  Yes, that is purple hair I sported for the night.  However, my son’s outfit received most of my attention.  He went as a 1940’s cowboy, with part vintage, part handmade, and the rest being items from my childhood for a special kind of outfit.

THE FACTS:

FABRIC:  For the cowboy: ½ yard of super clearance polyester suede with a metallic printed wrong side; For my apron: a 100% cotton M’Liss print, exclusive to the now-defunct Hancock Fabrics store.

NOTIONS:  I had all I needed for the cowboy vest and chaps, and for my apron I bought skinny bright orange single fold bias tape.

PATTERN:  A vintage original Butterick 2744, year 1943, was used as the basis for the cowboy chaps, and the apron used the “Cosmopolitan” pattern from the book “A is for Apron” by Nathalie Mornu, published 2008.  (See this post to see my last apron from this book – I’m a big fan of it!)

TIME TO COMPLETE:  The cowboy outfit parts only took me about 3 hours hours in one evening on October 29, 2015.  My apron was finished on Halloween, October 31, 2015, made in 3 hours, too.

THE INSIDES:  The cowboy outfit is a costume so I didn’t do anything fancy inside, my apron is all clean finished bias bound.

TOTAL COST:  $2.00 for the suede fabric, and maybe $10.00 for my apron

His hat and six shooter set is mine from when I was his age, the sheriff’s badge on the vest is also mine from a visit to Silver Dollar City.  The shirt was given to us by a dear acquaintance – it a true 1940’s original with embroidery of swirls and hobby horses, fancy pockets, and special buttons.

For the sewn part, I basically took a simple button front vest from my tykes’ wardrobe and traced it out and remade it into the faux suede.  This was easy as pie (which isn’t as easy as some sewing) – just two small side seams and even smaller shoulder seams.  Next the vest was cut and re-shaped slightly to be more open and curved so the front so his shirt can be seen.

My original plans were to only make him a vest, but my hubby said some passing comment sounding surprised as to the lack matching chaps.  I took this as a sort of challenge even though this was not at all what he meant – he just didn’t know what I had in mind.  There wasn’t much fabric to start with and even less after the vest was made…but chaps aren’t a full pants leg, anyway.  So I pulled out a vintage 1940’s children’s pattern from my stash as the basis to cut by – this way I also was testing out the fit of a pattern I wanted to make anyway.  I didn’t have a length of fabric long enough to go all the way up his leg so I merely made a large loop to add on for the top of the chaps’ legs.  The loop is perfect for the chaps to hang, or float, over his jeans.  A length of elastic is tied around his waist with the chaps’ top loops going through, and the rest hanging from that.

A rectangular strip of fabric was sewn all the way up into the side seams, then it was cut into little strips to turn it into fringe.  I love how the metallic “wrong side” makes the fringe look quite neat, bestowing just enough ‘bling’ for a little boy’s Halloween outfit.

Our little “cowboy” was so tickled by his outfit and so proud of himself.  “Mommy made it!” he would tell others on me, but that’s o.k.  Being a cowboy must run in the family.  My Grandma has a picture of her husband, my Grandpa, in a handmade cowboy outfit when he was little, so I’ve been told.  My dad loved playing cowboy himself – his room (when he was my son’s age) had a western theme to it, as I can still see in the cute printed paper lining of his old dresser set.  One of my dad’s favorite Christmases growing up was the one when he was given a western set, and he still remembers the bright red velvet hat that came with the set.  In the old pictures from then my 5 or 6 year old “cowboy” dad looks so much like my son did for Halloween – very cute to see.

My apron is something I’ve been wanting to make for a long time.  The fabric had been bought a while back (maybe a year or two) and the apron pattern has also been on my radar of things to make ever since I bought the book in year 2011.  Now I could combine both into one!  Besides, how could I go wrong with something that combines my favorite things – a dachshund dog printed fabric (I own a dachsie, by the way), an apron, and a design named after one of my favorite mixed drinks, the Cosmopolitan.

This was super easy to make.  I like how the pockets are right over the hips – this way they can’t catch stray food like aprons with center front pockets often do.  I like the slightly vintage “café waitress” aura to it, as well, though this is not as strong with my version compared to the original in the book.  Look at how cute is that fashion themed fabric on the one in the book!  My fabric is pretty darling, nevertheless.  I mean there are cute wiener dogs dressed as a ladybug, police officer, witch, princess, and butterfly!

This is not the best apron for coverage against spills and messy cooking, but it is mostly decorative anyway.  I did slightly change the pattern by both making the inner dip of the U-neckline smaller and having the center back neck closure be Velcro hook-and-look tape rather than a button and button hole.  I also had to shorten the neck straps so the waist ties would be where they should be rather than on my hips.

I went through just over 2 packs of bias tape to go around and around all the edges.  Honestly – that is the hardest and only step that takes up all my time spent to make this apron.  I thought the amount of edging I had to sew would never stop.  This sounds like a Halloween “Twilight Zone” nightmare… the “different sewing dimension where the edges to finish never stops and keeps going…with no end…you can’t take your foot off of the pedal, and the bias tape keeps coming, never lessening…”  Oh, I could have too much fun with this!  Happy Halloween everyone!

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What’s Red and Black and Ruffled All Over?

Why my new “Parisian Dachshund” apron, of course! I’ll bet you would have never guessed that one coming, he he 😉

No really, with all its miss-matching of cultures and objects, this apron has a rocking vintage flair, fun prints, and feminine attitude. I can never get enough of aprons, but this newest one tempts me the most to wear it out for more than just cooking or entertaining. Should I wear this one as a fashion statement, what do you think? I personally think the apron looks best going overboard in matching and accessorizing in the spirit of fun, like I did in my photos…flowers, feathers, large bright earrings, tight black knit-wear underneath, deep red heels, and a big hairstyle! This wild combination shows the outgoing fearless side of me.

Just like for my “Tea for Two” aprons, my “Parisian Dachshund” apron was made into a carbon copy duo: one for me and one for a gift for a family member. I had small doses of both my fabrics and used my high efficiency cutting practices to make two of these highly dramatic frilly versions of a kitchen clothing cover.

As is normal for me, my best aprons are created when I don’t use a pattern. The starting ‘blank’ for this “Parisian Dachshund” apron was to outline an existing rectangular “cobbler’s” style apron which I own already. Then my supplemental fabric, the one with the layers of Fleur-de-lis, roses, dachshund silhouettes, and scroll work, was cut into long wide strips, to be ruffled. All four of the edges were finished on the strips before I ran two rows of loose straight stitches to gather the top about ¼ inch away from the edge.

I’ve always wanted a supper frilly, ruffle apron in forever. I was totally tempted to add two layers of ruffles to my “Parisian Dachshund” aprons, and I cut out two rectangles for a gathered duo, whether I used them or not. After sewing on one layer to the apron ‘blank’ bottom half, two ruffled layers seemed to make it way over the top. Thus, for each apron, I ended up with an extra not-yet-gathered rectangle, and it went towards making the back ties. I made sure to be precise and center two layers of print for the width of each tie. See how nicely the layers of dachshunds, Fleur-de-lis, and roses can be seen so much better on the ties than on the ruffle? By the way, I hate doing ties…but somehow or another I always seem to suck up my disgust and make them well 🙂

Cutting out the two apron ‘blanks’ out of only one yard left me with nothing more than a small triangle of scrap fabric left. This small triangle was slightly adapted and cut into more of a crescent shape and made into a neck band for my version of the apron set. I really enjoy the way that this crescent shape fits nicely around my neck. The two skinny ends come to join into the apron top corners, while the flared middle lays over the back of my neck like a collar. For the gift apron, I used two leftover ties of the ruffle fabric to make ties for neckline to make it easier to get around and over the head and face of the recipient.

Pockets are a must in my book for an apron! I took a liking to a decent sized scrap of black denim, and used it to make pockets for the aprons. Inspired by the interestingly placed decorative, but useful, pockets on many vintage patterns and garment originals, I added a “mother and daughter” type of pocket style to the “Parisian Dachshund” aprons. There is a normal hand sized pocket, monogrammed for a special touch with the wearer’s initial (a “K” for me, and a “B” for the gift apron) in bright red thread. There is a mini, but still useable (for change maybe), pocket hanging over the edge of the bigger one and slightly a step off and above. Both pockets are top stitched down in two rows of the same bright red contrast thread. I love to add little details and fine work to my projects!

This apron is perfectly blended with everything that I love and enjoy: dachshunds, anything French themed, Fleur-de-lis, and aprons. My mom’s side of the family has always had a dachshund in the household – my Grandparents had several, as well as my dad and mom, her sisters (my Aunts), and myself and my family currently own one. These long and short dogs are sweetest companions I know. Our own dachsie is good to everyone, but he is especially close to me, his dog-mommy. Anything French is hard to resist for me, after the wonderful time I had in that country years ago. I can never get enough Fleur-de-lis stuff because it is very symbolic to me in many ways, but especially since it is the symbol of our town’s patron, King Saint Louis IX.

Aprons are very meaningful and special to me, as well as easy but an incredible amount of enjoyment to create. I try to make each apron different and uniquely individual, especially when it comes to giving them as presents, which is my favorite thing to do with aprons! My aprons are not at all something to ‘save’ in fear of ruining them – they get displayed by being worn on a daily basis and getting loved by enjoying using them. The neatest old vintage aprons are always the ones that are stained and torn or threadbare because I can’t help but think of the times they saw and the work they helped out with – in other words an apron can be a tangible memory! Besides, I seem to think of aprons as the best friend of someone who sews or works with fabric – an aprons protects garments while decorating your style for the day, all the while expressing your personality. What an odd but special combination!

THE FACTS:

FABRIC:  Both fabrics are 100% cotton “M’Liss” brand prints, from the “In Paris” line of designs sold at Hancock Fabrics. I only had 1 yard of the red and black scroll fabric used to make the basic apron ‘blank’. The “layered with lines of designs” fabric was used for the ruffles and ties – and I only had ½ yard of it! Scraps from on hand went towards the apron pockets.

NOTIONS:  Thread was the only notion needed and that was on hand in plenty.

PATTERN:  None – I just winged it!

TIME TO COMPLETE:  Quick and wonderful – each apron took about 2 1/2 hours each, and both were done on December 10, 2014.

TOTAL COST:  Should I really address price when it comes to a gift? Anyway, with such a small amount of fabric used to make the two aprons and scraps for the pockets, the price was a very reasonable total.