Vintage McCall's 3835

This was my first finished garment of the year. I actually started this overall dress back in December but the topstitching was giving me so much trouble that I set it aside for a while. My machine just didn't want to stitch over even one layer of this lightweight denim with topstitching thread and it was super frustrating. I finally cleaned and oiled my machine and came back to the project with more patience. In the end it was totally worth persevering. This is McCall's 3835 from 1973. Oh how I adore 70's fashion, I am a child of the 70's after all. I found the pattern on sale on Etsy and just had to have an overall dress. I used some Japanese cotton Denim leftover from the Miette Wrap skirt that I made for my friend Gretchen.
 

Styling wise I think this dress works pretty well with tights and this tee, however it looked even cuter with a more fitted Nettie top that I wore with it this week.

The original pattern has an invisible side zipper but I wasn't feeling that. Instead I made a little tab for
a button and button hole. I sewed one side shut, as I only required one button to be open to shimmy into this thing.
 

I shortened the dress, and had to draft the missing strap pattern piece. I use the term drafting loosely because, rectangles, duh. It did work out better that way so that I could make them fit my hardware perfectly.
 

I am really happy with this addition to my wardrobe and I feel like I will wear this dress year round. The fabric wrinkles easily but that really doesn't bother me too much. I think this style is the perfect mix of vintage and modern, hip and art teacher-esque.

Where I Have Been

Ack, where have I been?! It has been over a year since I posted anything here. I guess I will start with showing you what I spent most of last year devoting my energy to. Frank and I have been in our sweet little 1923 bungalow for almost 16 years. It was in desperate need of some love and attention and we gave it quite a bit last year.

This is the front of the house after a face lift. We put in new windows, doors, a new roof, a fresh coat of paint, new light fixtures, house numbers and spruced up the landscaping.

This is the front room. We painted, de-cluttered and put in a new light fixture that you can see in my Christmas selfie below. I adore that light fixture by the way.

Our dining room after a fresh coat of paint and a new light fixture.

In our hallway and front bedroom we put planks on the ceiling to cover the old glittery popcorn.

Aaaah, our bedroom. It is my favorite and most complete room in the house. This is the smaller of our two bedrooms and was Frank's music room for about 15 years. We swapped rooms so that we could share the back room and to give me a dedicated sewing space. I still need to make a bedskirt for the bed and frame and hang photos on the big wall to the left, but otherwise this room is just how I want it.
 

Probably the most exciting thing for me about this entire year was creating a sewing studio in our back bedroom. Previously my sewing projects were strewn across the dining room table, creating an ugly mess or preventing me from sewing altogether when I would clean and pack up the mess. I am so happy with my space now. I have a ton of storage and am more organized than ever. I can see my fabric and have quick access to all of my tools and patterns. Best of all, I don't have to put anything away. I used an Ikea shelving unit for storage and an Ikea kitchen island that I converted into a rolling cutting table. We had new light fixtures installed so that I can actually see what I am working on!

Our back patio. There's a lot more to our back yard but I couldn't find any good photos. Of course right now it needs a ton of work (weed pulling) to get ready for Spring. I will have to get some good pics after we clean it all up. We really enjoyed eating meals out on the back patio last Spring and Summer. They always needs work but I love our gardens.

There are more projects to do, now and forever I am sure. Our living room needs some touch up paint, and we totally ran out of money to renovate the kitchen and bathroom. Someday we will get to those major projects. For now we are enjoying our home and I am back to sewing, cooking and exercising, all things that were sorely neglected last year. I can procrastinate with the best of them, so this blog renovation is slow going. I am back, and plan to share my sewing and other creative endeavors here. I am slowly but surely updating the layout and cleaning up this space. I hope you enjoyed my little home as much as I do.

* I neglected to mention what wonderful parents I have. They spent so much time helping us with these projects last year and I can never thank them enough. My dad put in our doors, finished out our windows and showed us and helped us install that ceiling and all of our fans. My mom helped me paint and clean and do all kinds of dirty work around here. Now don't I feel like a jerk. Really, I hope they know how much we appreciate them!