Draperies and something special from the pattern stash.

My back is finally starting to feel better. Hurray! So I celebrated last night by making some boob darts and some shoulder darts in my never ending magenta dress. I must say that I am now a big fan of double sided tracing paper which lets me mark both sides of fabric at once! I've always penciled in my darts, never knowing what I was missing. I've been so deprived!

But that was about as much as I managed. So... after that I went off to soak my back and sleep. Tonight it's back to painting the dining room. I'm just doing super obsessive clean up work with an artist's brush around the trim now. After that we should be able to get the room cleaned out and the furniture moved in. I can also begin to plan draperies, that definitely warms my heart. These are the decor fabrics I've been toying around with in my head. They are not vintage, the are not $25. You must also picture our dining room. Crown molding, antique Brazilian mahogany table and chairs (Beau's inheritance) with burgundy seats, and a massive china cabinet. 

I like these vintage looking fabrics and my Beau seems to like anything that looks antique. I'm not completely sold on any of these though. I guess they're just a little too murky colored for me. I'm a big fan of vibrant color after all. I'll be ordering lots of swatches when it's time to make these, of that I am sure. For now though I'm going to concentrate on getting the furniture into the house... which I'm still unsure about. Not quite sure it's going to fit through the door BUT as Beau always says "if it don't fit, make it fit."

And as I've gotten in the habit of sharing patterns from my ridiculous way too large Vintage Pattern archive, I thought I'd share something special. These are some of the oldest patterns I own and I think very neat to look at. Someday I'd like to trace their fragile tissue pieces and make these garments, but for now I just like having them and hoarding them. 

This is Simplicity 184. This pattern dates from the 1920s and is in great condition considering it's 90 years old. It's a size 14 years, but I don't really know what that means as far as 1920s sizing. I'm sure it would need some grading if I were to make it eventually, but I still think it's just darling. 

This is Designer Pattern 3257. Other than the creepy headless ladies on the front I love this pattern. I've twice consider making one of these capes for myself, but then I remember that I live in Georgia now and this might be a wee bit impractical. She also dates from the 1920s.

And finally this lady, who is a new addition to my collection. She is a blouse from the 1890s and now qualifies as my oldest vintage pattern. Love her, and she is in amazingly good condition for being 110 years old. Her tissue paper is still very flexible. This blouse is definitely made to be worn over a Edwardian corset, which I do not own. I have dreams of finding myself a Edwardian style corset in the future though and making this blouse up. It think it could be quite steamy.