Mending My Favourite Vintage Night Gown

quick what is everyone doing right now

War Arc Mic coming apart at the seams and showing his true temper like

The riddles for tonight’s trick-or-treat are done. It’s by far not my best calligraphy work but for being something done in an hour while under heavy pain medication, it’s pretty good. I had a little accident with the ink at the end so I decided I might as well embrace the messy old scroll look and smear ink everywhere.

The ‘scrolls’ with a seal are riddles from The Hobbit and the other two are easier riddles for the younger kids.

That’s what happens when you have a husband and a kid

leave your laundry on the floor for them

I finally got around darning the toe of my favourite knitted socks!

I’ve had them for six years at this point and basically live (and sleep) in these socks all winter, and they are starting to fall apart; but I will darn them until nothing of the original yarn is left and then some more! They are from some generic fast fashion brand and I’m kind of surprised by how well they hold the constant use.

The purple yarn originally served to tie together a pair of leg-warmers my mum gifted me from a super cute and knitting and sewing shop. It was the perfect length to darn the hole in the toe of my sock.

The blue darned patch is from last year, I think, and it’s some sort of poly yarn leftover I found in my mum’s box of miscellaneous sewing and knitting supplies. I just had to pull in a few threads that came loose before they broke.

Sitting there making goo-goo eyes at each other

I made a Moonshine Cybin Flannel to see NADDPOD Live at Carnegie Hall (featuring an embroidered PawPaw)

Read more for details on how I made this

Making the Shirt:

Like a week before I left for New York, I decided that I wanted to make my own NADDPOD clothes to wear since I don’t have a lot of merch. I remembered that JoAnn Fabrics had this mushroom flannel and so I ran out and bought two yards.

I used this button up shirt/lined jacket pattern from MCall’s:

The problem is that I’m right in between the largest boy’s size and the smallest men’s size. So I had to make some adjustments. I cut out the pattern, then shortened it at the waist because there wasn’t room for my hips in the original pattern. Then I cut out all the pieces: shirt front, shirt back, sleeves, pocket, collar, and cuffs.

I knew from using the pattern before that the sleeves were too big for the armhole, and I don’t like the look of gathered sleeves. So I trimmed 5/8” from both arm holes.

Once those adjustments to the pattern were made, I stitched the sides together.

Next up was the collar. I cut two collar pieces, stitched them with the pattern-side of the fabric facing each other, trimmed the excess at the edges and flipped it right side out and ironed it.

I pinned the collar in place around the neck and stitched it in place.

Next up was the sleeves. I stitched each sleeve together, leaving a gap open at the bottom so that the sleeves could be unbuttoned. I hemmed the opening of each sleeve so no raw edges were visible, the gathered the top of the sleeves so they fit into the arm hole.

I pinned the sleeves into the arm hole and stitched them in place.

I cut two cuff pieces, and turned down one edge so that once it was stitched in place, there wouldn't be any raw edges. Then I pinned it in place so the right sides were together and the excess fabric of the cuff was pointed towards the shoulder. I stitched it in place, then folded the cuff in half, right sides together and stitched the ends. That way when the cuff was folded out the right way, all the raw edges would be held inside.

With that, the main construction of the shirt was complete.

Next were my first attempts at embroidery. I found a reference image online that reminded me of PawPaw and printed it out in various sizes. I stitched together a breast pocket, and pinned it to the shirt. Then I was able to use that and my printed images to decide how big I wanted the embroidery.

Once I decided on the size, I unpinned the pocket and transferred the drawing to the fabric using transfer paper. I pinned the drawing and transfer paper in place, and traced over the image. It left a carbon copy on the fabric, and I traced over that with heat erase pen so it wouldn't rub off while I worked.

After that, it was lot of stitching with embroidery thread. Have some in progress pictures.

With the embroidery done, it was time for the finishing touches. Using the guides on my pattern, I marked off the places where buttons and buttonholes were meant to go.

I used the buttonhole foot attachment and setting for my sewing machine to install the button holes, then I sewed the buttons in place by hand.

To secure the embroidery I cut out a patch of white flannel and ironed heat and bond to the back. Then I placed the patch over the thread on the backside of the embroidery, and ironed it in place. The patch prevents the loose threads from getting snagged on anything.

After that, I hemmed the shirt and it was finished!

I literally finished this project the night before I flew to New York. It ended up being a huge hit at the fan meet up in Central Park.

Along with mushrooms, I’ve also been making strawberry and Christmas tree ornaments! The trees get a vintage button for a topper🤩🎄🍓