New Listings at GoofingOff Sewing: Costumes!

Crunch time at GoofingOff Sewing….no, not school or exams…the 5th Annual Costume Sewing Pattern Sale starts soon and I am stocking the shelves with costume patterns…lots of them.

Here’s some of the newest in the shop:

Simplicity 1487 Game of Thrones Gowns Available in Size 6-8-10-12 OR 14- 16-18- 20-22 Bust 30-31-32-34 OR 36- 38- 40- 42-44 inches UNCUT

Beautiful gowns inspired by Game of Thrones, available in size 6-12 or 14-22.

Simplicity 2072, Misses’ Sexy Costumes in size 14-22, bust 36-44 inches. School girl, cat, firefighter, witch, and sailor girl.

Cute and sexy…..

Simplicity 1299 Steampunk Costume in size 6-12 UNCUT $8

A little Steam Punk?

Simplicity 1347 Game of Thrones Costume pattern Tauriel Size 14-22 Bust 36-44 $10

More Game of Thrones…..Tauriel.

Simplicity 1301 Misses’ Steampunk Costume in size 6-14, bust 30-36 inches UNCUT

Simplicity 1248 Misses’ Steam Punk Corset and Jacket Bust 30-36 inches UNCUT

Lots of Steam Punk….Like ruffled bustles, jackets….

and corsets…

Simplicity 1956 Girls’ Tutus
Size XS -L
UNCUT

Something for the little ones….frilly tutus…

Simplicity 1350 Girls’ Costumes
Size 3-6 UNCUT

Skirts and tops…..

and Elegant Edwardian inspired by Downton Abbey.

Lots to look at

Dress up

Be who you want to be

It’s fantasy!

Post by Eileen of GoofingOff Sewing. The 5th Annual Costume Sewing Pattern Sale starts September 1st. All costume sewing patterns will be 40% off for the entire month of September…..or until they are all gone.

Simplicity 1517 Edwardian Gowns inspired by the series Downtown Abbey. Size 14-22, Bust 36-44 inches. UNCUT

Time Traveling with GoofingOff Sewing to 1943

Sometimes I wish I could time travel. There are certain eras that interest me more than others.

The war years….the 1940’s (a little earlier for folks across “the pond”) is one of my favorites. I like the Hollywood version, seeing Abbot and Costello on the silver screen and hearing the Andrew Sisters singing The Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy of Company B on the radio……..

and wearing a dress like Simplicity 1777. Skirts were a bit shorter during the war (rationing) and women were showing some leg.

Silk stockings were in short supply (silk was used for parachutes) so I would have to draw a line down the back of my legs it would look like I was wearing seamed stockings.

Of course I would be sporting a Victory Roll hairdo. The hair styles were pulled away from the face. The Veronica Lake Peek-a-boo hairdo didn’t work well with women on the assembly lines.

 

And my shoes would have to be sturdy shoes…something to wear while I walked everywhere….gas rationing, but a little heel wouldn’t hurt.

 

 

Vintage Air Step Shoe advertisement, 1943. from Catching Canaries at Etsy.

 

I think I’d wear the alligator leather shoes at the top of the ad.

But, then again, I’d probably be a nurse, maybe an Army nurse.

“So Proudly We Hail” 1943, Paramount Pictures starring Claudette Colbert and George Reeves

I wonder if sometime in the future someone will think “oh, the 2010’s was my favorite era. I just love the clothes.”

One never knows……

Post by Eileen of GoofingOff Sewing……Make Magic One Stitch At a Time

Little Girl and Her Doll Twin: GoofingOff’s Mid Week Rummage Find

Nothing  seems cuter than a little girl and her baby doll, except a little girl and her baby doll in matching outfits. The concept isn’t new….this ad for a little girl’s and doll’s matching outfits is from Ladies’ Home Journal, December, 1939. Hats, sweater, skirt, and apron match. Adorable! Great idea for holiday sewing. 

Nothing  seems cuter than a little girl and her baby doll, except a little girl and her baby doll in matching outfits. The concept isn’t new….this ad for a little girl’s and doll’s matching outfits is from Ladies’ Home Journal, December, 1939. Hats, sweater, skirt, and apron match. Adorable!

Post by Eileen at GoofingOff. 

Use the coupon code BLOGGIN to get your 15% discount during purchase. 

Mid-Week Rummage: Accent on Daintiness

Happy Wednesday.

My good friend, Nan, finished counting and checking about 100 patterns….which means I HAVE LOTS OF WORK TO DO! However, a gal has to take a coffee break sometime, so I did, and while I sipping my dose of caffeine (medicinal purpose…clears the cobwebs from the brain) I traveled back to 1939 through the pages of Ladies’ Home Journal.

I love to look at old magazines and newspapers. I heard someone say photography is like time travel…..well, I guess that is what I do. Today I traveled back to December, 1939, when Europe was at war but the U.S. wasn’t….yet.  English mothers were worried about their children surviving bombing raids, dresses were still long, and the photo gallery for 1940 shows legends like President and Mrs. Roosevelt. Among the pages was this advertisement for Hollywood Patterns by Charlotte Johnson.

Hollywood Patterns, Accent on Daintiness, 1939

“Accent on Daintiness” show several patterns for nightgowns, negligees, slips (fitted bodice and brassiere!), and robes. I love the hair styles and the Fred and Ginger fashions. Be still my heart! Maybe I can find some music, like Glen Miller or Benny Goodman to play so I can stay a little longer.

Coffee break is over. Back to 2015. Got to quit goofing off. Wait…I am GoofingOff! lol

Post by Eileen …..who is GoofingOff

Get a 15% discount with the coupon code BLOGGIN… good to blog readers. 

Pluto: Am I the Only One Obsessed?

Star Gazer Fabric in Half Yard or fat quarter lengths

The scientific world is buzzing lately with the pictures of Pluto coming back to earth. I love looking at them. I am so amazed at the thought that we have real pictures of this planet (ok, dwarf planet) coming back to earth. Ice mountain ranges, a moon with craters, and nitrogen (maybe water?) on this frozen planet!!! So cool. 

A patient called me into his room when the photos were first broadcast. He was as excited as I was. He went on to tell me how JFK spoke about putting men on the moon and space exploration and how lucky he was to be alive to see it. Well, I guess that’s how I feel.

 I doubt if I will be the nurse in the first Mars colony but maybe it will be someone I helped train or influence. Never know….Why not? The movie Avatar starts off in a VA hospital….yes, a very futuristic VA hospital….there will always be a need for nurses..even on Mars.

Or maybe I might get a pattern order from the colony…. Wonder what the shipping charges would be? How would they cut the fabric? Pattern weights probably wouldn’t work (low gravity) Or maybe they would…(more gravity). Lots to think about. 

Post by Eileen Patterson…..who is GoofingOff….and stargazing. 

Mid Week Rummage Find: The Suit He Left Behind

Yes, I said Rummage….as in rummaging through my stuff. Stayed home from work today to go to the doctor and don’t want to get too involved in anything so rummaging at home is perfect. Nothing on the stove to burn, nothing on the sewing machine to forget what I was doing….Besides, going through my stacks of sewing books is sort of like going through mama’s jewelry box….each clipping stashed in the book has a story to tell. 

What I found……

The year was 1943, the middle of WWII for the US and described by many as the darkest.  The guys overseas had it hard but life at home wasn’t easy, either. The waiting and worrying was bad enough but add rationing and shortages to that. Fashions changed to conserve precious materials….like the fabric that might have been a skirt before was now a uniform. This clipping from The Courier-Journal, Louisville, KY, showed how to use a man’s suit to make a woman’s suit.

The Courier-Journal, Louisville, Kentucky, February 24, 1943

 

Our society has since become a throw away society…..”don’t fix it, buy another” or “don’t pass it down.” Nowadays the stores are full of fabric and thread and I often forget how hard it must have been in my grandparents’ day….and how lucky I am now. 

Anyway, it’s a fun read. Hope y’all enjoyed it. 

Post by Eileen Patterson…..who is GoofingOff.