Let's Hear It for the ... 90s?

Mallrats

We talk a lot about vintage fashion in the blogosphere. The glamour of the 30s, the pared-down loveliness of the 40s, the bombastic 50s, the streamlined 60s, and the flowing and fun 70s. We never quite get into the 80s, and certainly not the 90s. Most of us probably don’t consider eras we were actively participating in as “vintage,” and what was sartorially fun about these recent eras anyway?

"in the nineties, there were two distinct aesthetics that defined the decade. two distinct schools of fashion that found favor with the women of those times. one who preferred beautiful simplicity through rigor and technique, and the woman who used fashion to realize the fantastical." —Source

The minimalism of the 1990s—think GAP—could be attributed to the huge move of the garment industry off shore, according to Elizabeth Cline, “with single styles produced in the tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, and sometimes millions of pieces.” Mass production cemented us into the already popular jeans and t-shirts, variation only to be found in color.

For style aficiandoes—and sewists who can relive eras through needle and thread—this might sound like a personal hell. People hate on the 90s the way I hate all that 80s ease. But I’m starting to wonder—no matter how much I adore other eras—if I’m really just a 90s girl, all growed up?

See, the 90s was when I started to express myself through my clothing. Sure, I was clad in t-shirts and jeans most of the time, but I wasn’t shopping at the GAP. I blew my scant spending money at thrift stores, raided my father’s closet and stole all of my grandmother’s cardigans. I wore a neon pink 70s mini-dress to a school dance with insanely high wedges. There was a purple swing number that made me feel I was in the 40s. Most days, under the tropical sun, I wore men’s flannel shirts with old lady cardigans and loose, fraying jeans. Vans and maryjanes and t-straps. Chunky heels and chokers.

We’re not talking Clueless here, with its privilege and knee-high cuteness; we’re talking Empire Records and Reality Bites and the irreverance and life-questioning and annoying, arrogant irony. I saw Reality Bites a gazillion times (and still own it).

This looks like people I know. How we dressed then, how we dress now. Either taking too many chances or too few.

I HAD to have this shirt Winona Ryder’s wearing (I really wanted bad boy Troy Dyer, but settled for the shirt). I owned a similar one for more than a decade and just recently donated it.

Empire Records

What would you call this? It’s not quite grunge, not quite all Doc Martens and Eddy-Vedder-I-Shop-At-the-Army-Surplus. It’s classic mid-90s: well-worn casual clothes, mixing masculine elements with the feminine, some funkiness thrown in with shoes and vintage. Not a lot of leg and boobage. The best expressions of femininity in the 90s, to me, was lined with badass-ness or rock-in-roll. Floaty dresses and shit-kickin’ boots. 

My So-Called Life

Courtney Love

I’m not saying I’m having a 90s rebirth and am going to go out and buy every last rayon floral dress I can find. Still, no matter what I can produce out of my sewing machine—vintage or contemporary—I keep returning to things I started to love then: I like my crotch rise higher and my shirt hems shorter. I can’t pass a pair of maryjanes without touching them. I love minimalist, casual clothes with occasional forays into vintage and color. My favorite dresses look like they could be the underwear of yesteryear—strappy and flowy slip dresses. I still love conservative cardigans and undershirts (but they won't be sheer "wifebeaters" atop a black bra, what was I thinking?).

Maybe I'm just getting old enough to become nostalgic, shaking my head at ultra-ultra low rise jeans, voluminous racer-back tanks and whatever is massively popular among teens today. But this clarity gives me some guidance in my sewing and shopping—understanding my 90s preferences, just better fitting and better looking.

What about you? No matter what you think of the 90s, was there a time when you set your preferences for the way you dress? How so?

128 Items, or: What I Gave Away

Last October, after a crazy, compulsive summer, I started to tally what was coming in and out of my closet, hoping that data would help me understand my habits. Using Daytum, I made a notation every time something left my wardrobe and where it went.

This doesn't include purging earlier in the year, nor the plethora of unworn me-mades that have been stashed elsewhere. But if the average American buys 60 items of clothing a year, than I purged more than two years worth of stuff.

In that same time, I gained 23 items. Besides thrifted items, I bought socks and stockings, a pair of boots, and hand-me-downs. 

In terms of handmade goods, I sewed nine and knit four things for myself.

Comparatively, I think I did really well: 36 things came in, 128 out. And the numbers aren't perfect, of those 36, several were sewing wadders or bad-thrift-decisions that were re-donated.

Why on earth does this matter?

I think, in a general sense, many women I know struggle with both limiting how much they accrue and letting go. I certainly do. All the while, psychologists tell us that we actually make better choices and feel better about the choices we've made the narrower our options are.

On a more personal level, this represents my growing ability to be selective about what's in my closet. Last year, Colette Patterns asked what our ideal wardrobe would look like. Referring to her own ideal wardrobe, Sarai says, "There wouldn’t be a ton of clothes, just a well edited and lovely selection. If I could sew a brand new ideal wardrobe from scratch, that’s exactly what I would make."

By massively slimming down my closet, I'm getting closer to an edited selection. I gave away cashmere sweaters and silk blouses, vintage dresses and things I bought just the month before. For some reason or another, they just didn't work.

What's left is the 20 percent of things I actually wear, plus a few things I'm trying to make more useful.  

My closet: All my tops, dresses, pants, pullovers and cardigans. My fabric stash above has—eek—43 pieces.

I'll admit it's less fun than my previous closest, but I know everything fits and flatters, and if not, I now have the discipline to donate it. At last count, I have 56 items in my closet, 25 percent of which is handmade and half of which is second-hand. That includes summer and winter wear, but not things like underwear, pajamas and slips. Since these photos, I've pruned a tad more.

With the pants folded away and the non-season items removed. My daily selection. So much easier to deal with.

For some, this wardrobe will still be abundant. For others, paltry. All I know is this: I feel better.
 
Most importantly, I'm not filled with guilt about everything I don't wear. The less I have, the easier I can understand what it is I actually like and what I actually need. 

This is the irony of it all: The less I have, the larger the possibilities. I'm discovering new combinations of clothes, repairing the ones I'm committed to, and dreaming of a few lovely pieces that will augment the basic wardrobe I've got. Of all the things I can imagine adding, some will be beautiful and some will be basic, but so help me, they'll all be me.

So this is the first (big) step toward my ideal wardrobe. What does your ideal wardrobe look like?

Julie Does Lola (Victory Patterns)

Thanks for all your comments on my Lola dress! I mentioned in a previous post that I was sewing it with my sister-in-law.

Julie moved to the area recently and she made a lovely A-line navy skirt (with lining!) in the fall as her first project and she tackled the Lola as her second project. Talk about cajones, this is an intermediate pattern! And she did a great job. :)

This is a purple heathered knit without much stretch. Like me, Julie used her sewing machine to construct the dress and a serger to finish the edges.

I wanted to share this with you because 1) She deserves a shout out because she diligently traced and fit and made this dress with far more quality than I would have as a beginner, no "homemade" feel to it at all, and 2) This Lola has a different shape from my own. This is what I love about sewing: we're all so unique in our body shapes and make different choices along the way.
  

The boy took a Hipstaprint.

Julie's about my height, but her body is the hourglass to my rectangle. While I didn't shorten mine, she took hers up two inches and the length looks perfect. The biggest change, though, has to do with the hem and the cuffs. Some of you were interested in what the dress would look like without that tight-sweatshirt hem and here it is! Still all the comfort and great detail, but a different silhouette altogether. With a wider hem, I suspect the dress doesn't ride up as much and may be easier to pair with cardigans, etc.

I also saw a red version of the Lola on Sew Weekly.

In other sewing news, I've been working on a Colette Negroni for the boy—slow going (could it be that I spend all my time longing for projects to make for myself??). I've also been thinking about all my lessons from Fashion on the Ration and blogging—some personal style posts on the horizon and I promise, some sewing :)

Happy sewing!

Lucky #37! Sewaholic Renfrew Winner

Thanks to all of you who entered the Sewaholic Renfrew giveaway! The random number generator picked #37.

By my count, that's mike and lisa. Congratulations!

For those who still want to get their hands on a Renfrew, Sunni of A Fashionable Stitch is running a giveaway kit that ends today!

Happy Aloha Friday!

Whatever Lola Wants... (Victory Patterns)

 

... Lola gets! Santa arrived in the form of my mother-in-law and so I got the Victory Patterns Lola, Chloe and Anouk patterns for Christmas.

With colored tights!

I just love the Lola dress. I tend toward sporty and simple pieces, and the Lola provides that but with amazing details.

With jumper, scarf, tights and converse.

Stylish. Comfortable. Leggy. Flirty.

Now I hate putting PDF patterns together, especially for large projects, but this was worth it. It took me one sitting to put the pattern together, one to trace the pattern, one to cut the fabric and two to sew. Much more time intensive than your average knit dress project, but I'm trying to slow down my making and I've been complimented every time I wear it.

My favorite: I was walking past a group of kids on the library steps and one young girl, likely 10 or 11, announced to her friends, "I wanna, I wanna, I wanna wear a dress that short! A dress like that!" It's definitely got some leg to it! :)

Pattern: Victory Patterns Lola Dress

Fabric Used: Charcoal gray knit in the stash, likely rayon/lycra. Instead of ribbing, used self-fabric for the hem, neckline and cuffs.

Size: Straight 4, based on my bust measurement. Figured there was enough ease in the waist instead of grading up to a 6 there.

Pattern alterations or any design changes you made: Using my helpful dress form, I shortened the rear upper back piece to address my sway back and I slashed and stretch the lower front center piece until it hung correctly over a full tummy.

Instructions: Good. It reminded me a lot of putting together the Colette Rooibos — lots of little pieces, but really more time than skill intensive. Helpful photos along the way.

What did you particularly like or dislike about the pattern?
This is really a fantastic pattern — there’s great attention to detail so it looks more complicated than it is. It really strikes that balance between easy comfort and stylish details. I like: the sporty triangle decal at the neckline, the princess seams to give great shape, the curved waist line from front to back, the big, bucket pockets (which are cut larger than the pattern piece it lays atop, fyi).

A few things worth mentioning:

-The pattern says this is made for a woman 5’6” to 5’9” but I’m so glad that I didn’t shorten it for my 5’3” frame. It falls about 3-4 inches above my knee as it is.

-The sleeve falls right below my elbow but the cuff is a bit tight and it tends to wander up. In another version I may lengthen the sleeve an inch or two and/or widen the cuff.

-Since this is a reimagination of a sweatshirt, the cuffs and hem are much smaller than the pieces they finish, causing the dress to pull in. I’m not sure if it’s because I used self-fabric rather than ribbing, but stretching evenly (without causing major puckers) was a bit difficult. I had to do the hem and neckline twice, and I’m still not satisfied with the neckline. Like the cuffs I may widen the hem in another incarnation, so it still pulls in but not as tightly.

-My serger hated the triangle decal, kept trying to eat the wee bit of fabric. I ended up drawing the shape on a piece of larger fabric and serging along the edges. 

With cardigan, leggings and converse.

Would you sew it again? Would you recommend it to others?

Absolutely. There’s so much potential in this pattern. You can make it as is for a great casual dress, but you could also leave off the triangle decal and hemband (or widen it to the same width of the actual hem) for a really lovely knit dress with waist shaping (think: a gorgeous color or print). You could even leave off the pockets to streamline the shape or shorten the sleeves for a more summery look.

Speaking of knits, don't forget, it's your last day to enter the Sewaholic Renfrew giveaway—click here!

Happy sewing!

Giveaway: Sewaholic Renfrew -- 'Cause Your Sewing Deserves It

Hello, all! As I've mentioned before, I was a pattern tester for the brand, spanking new Sewaholic Renfrew pattern, a knit top pattern with three interchangeable necklines and sleeve lengths for a total of nine different tops. As I've said in my previous post, it's the pattern that keeps on giving.

More often than not, when sewing knits comes up, other sewers will say that either that 1) they're afraid of sewing knits, or 2) that they hate sewing knits, based on some previous bad experience.

But I think sewing knits is so liberating, an incredible part of sewing know-how. More than half of my wardrobe is knit and I suspect we all have a few knits on hand because they're comfortable, forgiving and versatile. Why not spend some time sewing knits for yourself? An added bonus: They whip up in no time, a real treat between long or hard sewing projects.

So I'd like to give this pattern away and share my love of sewing knits. I know many of you clever gals have already snapped one up in the pre-sale, but if not, here's the info:

To enter: Simply leave a comment with your email address. If you'd like to share, I'd love to to hear how you might use the pattern as I think it's so versatile (and could even be easily lengthened into a tunic or dress!).

The giveaway closes at the end of Wednesday, February 8. Will ship worldwide.

Good luck!

In closing, here's some Renfrew inspiration: Amy of Sew Well made the Renfrew four times! And I just love anything very purple person makes, and her Renfrews are lovely. Plus many more are floating around the blogosphere. :)

Meet Luisa, my new assistant!

Thank you all for your helpful comments on dress forms. I ended up snatching up a cheap one off of Craigslist and I can already tell you that I love it, love it. It's like having an extra set of hands, which as we know in sewing, is invaluable.

You see Luisa's sporting a little dress. I whipped up her dress using my bodice sloper (with bust and waist darts) and favorite skirt pattern (6 panel skirt) and had the boy pin the seams in until I couldn't breathe. The idea was to have a second skin that fit my body perfectly. I then took the second skin, dressed Luisa with it and stuffed her a bit.

Remember by swayback? (The croqui doesn't lie!)

Here it is represented on Luisa:

It's not perfect, especially in the rear, but immensely helpful, and the measurements match up with mine.  With this second skin, I can see where the shortened rear waist and slightly forward shoulder is. I can also pin pattern pieces to the front tummy bump and slash the stretch the pattern piece until it hangs correctly.

These are the two ways I can already foresee using this for each sewing project:

1. Using Luisa as a model to tissue fit major issues before I cut fabric (small bust, forward shoulder, sway back, full tummy)
2. To display my progress as I work out problems in my head.

To the latter point, I think I sometimes either rush through projects because I'm tired of them being stashed away in pieces OR I see problems that might not really be present (i.e. is the garment pulling to the right or is it just the way I'm standing and looking over my shoulder to the mirror?). This way, I can slow down a bit. Check in on my progress and not be hasty.

There are other uses of course: pinning pieces together and marking hems. But I'm delighted! And look at this great fabric (snatched at the thrift store a few months ago!). How very meta. Luisa's got a sense of humor.

And yes, in the tradition of sewists naming their forms, I've obviously dubbed her Luisa. I've always loved the name and the boy's middle name is Luis.

He's usually the one that helps me pin and fit garments that are difficult for me to do solo, because he'd kind and wants to help. But we both end up getting all puffy about it as I'm completely overbearing: Are you doing it right? My natural waist, I said. How much ease are you leaving me?? And he's like, "What's ease?" Poor thing. 

Enter Luisa, bless her heart.

I've finished the Victory Pattern Lola, you'll meet her soon, too :)

Happy sewing xo