It was with a heavy heart that I announced I'm taking a break from hosting the #VintagePledge this year, but I promised to celebrate your beautiful makes from 2017 and celebrate we shall!

Thanks to the generosity of lovely sponsors, I have SIX fabulous prizes up for grabs. 

If you haven't yet pinned all your 2017 makes to the dedicated #VintagePledge Pinterest board...get to it!!! To give you plenty of time, I'll be picking winners on Sunday 11 February and announcing them on Tuesday 13 February. 

PRIZE 1
A £25 gift card to spend on a range of knit fabrics at Girl Charlee UK and two vintage-inspired PDF patterns of your choice from Decades of Style.



PRIZE 2
Three vintage-inspired PDF patterns of your choice from How to do Fashion and a 12-pack of delicious Doughnut Pattern Weights from Oh Sew Quaint.



PRIZE 3
A £30 gift card to spend on your choice of fabrics and sewing patterns from Sew Essential.


PRIZE 4
A £30 gift card to spend on gorgeous sewing accessories and tools at Beyond Measure.


PRIZE 5
A beautiful dressmaking fabric hamper worth £50 from Minerva Crafts.


PRIZE 6
A Simplicity gift hamper including three sewing patterns of your choice and from their 90th anniversary range a tote bag, iron-on transfer and sewing planner stickers.

As I've said before, even though I'm not up to hosting this year, I'll still be sewing vintage so feel free to keep using the #VintagePledge hashtag on social media so we can stay in touch and continue to inspire each other!
Sunday, January 28, 2018

Hi friends! We're halfway through January already and I'm still getting around to sharing all of my 2017 makes, one of which is this faux leather McCall's 7253 I made for Charlotte as one of her Christmas presents.



The pattern was a freebie with Sew Now magazine and a dead ringer for Charlotte's favourite faux leather RTW skirt. I knew it would be a big hit with her, especially when I found the perfect print from Fabric Godmother. Sadly, this gorgeous floral faux leather is all sold out, but Jodi has plenty of other beauties to chose from!

With just three pleated rectangles and a waistband, the pattern couldn't have come together easier and the sizing was spot on too.

I made a couple of changes, including installing an exposed zip for an edgy finish. It's really not my neatest zip ever, but I'm letting myself off as this was only my second time sewing with faux leather. The other change, inspired by Charlotte's RTW make, was to finish the waistband with bias binding and secure it by topstitching from the front. This RTW technique was perfect for reducing bulk and I'll definitely be using it again.



Tips for sewing with faux leather

Sewing with faux leather is nowhere near as tricky as you may think. Here are some tips I've picked up along the way:
  • A lot of faux leather can be pre-washed at 30 degrees Celsius, but test a small piece first
  • Always use a needle suitable for leather fabric
  • Pin your pattern pieces within the seam allowances to avoid unsightly perforations
  • A walking foot will save the day
  • If you don't have a walking foot, try masking tape on the bottom of your sewing foot for less resistance/drag
  • Increase your stitch length slightly
  • Set your iron to a low heat and always use a pressing cloth to avoid direct contact with your faux leather



So, what do you think? Doesn't Charlotte look peachy in her skirt/outfit?

Have you made McCall's 7253 or sewn with faux leather before? I'd love to hear your top tips...
Wednesday, January 17, 2018

Happy New Year, friends! I'm kicking off my 2018 blogging with a heartfelt apology to my #VintagePledge family, as I've totally let you down. Sure, 2017 started well and we even had a fun #VPJuly fortnight with daily photo prompts and generous sponsors. But since planning and starting comprehensive building work at home in the autumn, my mental and physical capacity to host the pledge fell by the wayside. 

The good news is that I've been busy organising belated end-of-year prizes and thanks to generous sponsors I can reveal them next week and announce winners in early February. So what are you waiting for? Get those half-finished #VintagePledge makes done and shared on the dedicated Pinterest board!

With our building work overrunning and life/work being as busy as ever, I've made the difficult decision to pause the #VintagePledge this year. I've absolutely loved running it for the past four years and it's my HUGE privilege to have had so many of you take part. But I don't feel I can give it my full attention and it's been a struggle keeping on top of it these last couple of years.

I'm so sorry, but I hope you understand!

Hopefully, once I've recharged my batteries it will make a return, but in the meantime, feel free to keep using the #VintagePledge hashtag on social media so we can stay in touch and continue to inspire each other with our vintage makes.  

Finally, I wanted to round-up some of the gorgeous makes added to the Pinterest board during the last quarter of 2017.

Although it's the wonderful array of coats/jackets that really caught my eye, a special mention has to go to the absolutely stunning 1930s wedding dress by Annotations of Jenny, who also made the 1930s bed jacket as outerwear below that.



Vintage Gal: 1930s winter coat in wool teal


Verity Vintage Studio: 1940s red coat


Stitch and Kitch: reversible 1960s coat


Kat Klebenow: 1950s plaid jacket


By Gum, By Golly: 1940s plaid jacket and 1950s swing jacket



And this is just the tip of the iceberg! There are countless beautiful dresses to list, fabulous knitwear, lovely bottoms and adorable kidswear. I encourage you to go have a look for yourself and can guarantee that it's a total treat.

While you're at it, why not check out previous contributions on Pinterest? Make a cuppa and immerse yourself in 2014, 2015 and 2016 too. 

Thanks SO much for your unwavering dedication to #VintagePledge...keep stitching up a bygone storm!
Wednesday, January 10, 2018
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