#CRAFTS WITH ANASTASIA--MAKING BIAS TAPE WITH AUTHOR ANNE LOUISE BANNON

Aside from her tendency to think of weird ways to kill people, Anne Louise Bannon is appallingly normal. Her only real quirk is wearing earrings that don’t match. She is the author of the Freddie and Kathy series, set in the 1920s, the Operation Quickline series of cozy spy novels, and the Old Los Angeles series, featuring Maddie Wilcox, a doctor and winemaker in 1870. Anne and her husband live in the Los Angeles area, where they make the things most sane people buy. Which would be a quirk but seems to be increasingly normal these days. Today Anne stops by to talk about making her own bias tape. Learn more about her and her books at her website.  

Making Your Own Bias Tape

 

Lisa Wycherly, one of the two main characters in my Operation Quickline series, sews a lot of her own clothes, but we don’t actually see her doing it very often. That’s probably because it’s a lot more interesting to see her chasing down bad guys or fighting with her partner, Sid Hackbirn, than it is to see her putting in a zipper. 

 

On the other hand, in the latest Quickline story, My Sweet Lisa, we see her doing working on her friend Kathy’s wedding dress. And we get to see her sewing room through Sid’s eyes and through her mother’s eyes.

 

It's no coincidence that Lisa sews. I do, too, and like Lisa, I have a lot of scraps hanging around. One of the things I sometimes do is make my own bias tape. It’s rather easy, thanks to a gizwatchee called a bias tape maker (https://clover-usa.com/collections/bias-tape-makers).

 

The best fabrics to use are medium-weight cottons, but I’ve made bias tape out of corduroy, and it worked well. I’ve also used the backs of shirts whose collars have died. If I can get some solid strips, I’ll make bias tape out of it. The toughest part is finding the bias on a scrap that no longer has its selvedge. The second toughest part is figuring out how much you need if you have a specific project in mind.

To find the bias on a scrap, look for the warp (lengthwise grain) or the weft (crosswise grain), and draw a line with a washable marker, chalk, or whatever you like. I use Flair pens because the ink shows up well and washes out easily.

Next, get a right triangle – you can find them in art supply stores or raid someone’s toolbox. Line up the triangle so that one of the right angle legs runs along the grainline you marked and the hypotenuse cuts diagonally across the grainline. If you happen to have a bit of selvedge on your scrap, you can line up the triangle along that instead. Mark the diagonal line, then use your ruler to make a series of lines parallel to each other along the diagonal.

 How wide to make that line depends on how wide you want your finished tape. It can vary and you should check the directions that come with your specific bias tape maker. As a general rule, the cut width is going to be three times your finished width. So, if you want half-inch wide bias tape, you’ll want to cut your bias strips an inch and a half wide. The wider the tape, though, the more it will depend on the specific bias tape maker you have. Another thing to consider is that if you’re using heavier fabric, you’re going to want to make the tape a lot wider since corduroy, for example, won’t go through a half-inch maker.

 

Once you’ve drawn your strips, you need to stitch them together. The best way to figure out which angle to match the ends is to lay the pieces out. If it will make a nice straight line when sewn and pressed, then that’s how it goes together.

Now, the fun starts. Depending on how long your strip is and how clean your floors are, you can just let the fabric hang off your ironing board or find something to roll it on, such as an empty toilet paper tube. You’ll probably also want another tube or piece of cardboard to roll up the freshly pressed tape.

 

Get your bias tape maker ready and your iron good and hot and steaming, adjusting for your fabric as needed. Poke the end of your strip into the wide end of the maker and push it through. This can be a little tricky and some makers have little holes in the top or bottom so that you can use a pin or other pointed object to push the fabric through. Once you’ve got the end through, get your iron in place and press on the end. Pull the maker back along the strip and you’ll see the folds magically form. Press those folds into place, roll up the strip, leaving enough space for the iron, then pull the maker back, and press again.

 

That’s pretty much all there is to it. Use your bias tape like you would any other. I used some corduroy tape to bind the edges of a vest. Other tape I used as decoration on a dress, and there’s a blouse somewhere in my closet that has my homemade tape binding the raw edge of a collar.

Now, whether we’re going to see Lisa Wycherly making bias tape in a later Quickline story, I don’t know yet.

 

My Sweet Lisa is currently appearing as a fiction serial on AnneLouiseBannon.com/blogs. It’s the seventh Operation Quickline story. You can find the previous six stories at https://annelouisebannon.com/operation-quickline-series/

 

My Sweet Lisa

Finally, it's real love... Now what?

 

Lisa Wycherly's surprise birthday party ends in a terrifying disaster when she's kidnapped off the street. Her partner, Sid Hackbirn, is so devastated that he loses his interest in sleeping around - the one thing keeping the two of them apart. The kidnapping gets messy enough when it comes to light that the kidnappers got the wrong target. But there's also a defecting KGB agent playing games with the CIA, who are involved with the Colombian kidnappers.

 

Then Lisa's recovery sets in motion a whole other set of challenges as she and Sid deal with her trauma and try to get the KGB agent under control, only to find that Sid's randy past will continue to haunt them. The only thing worse? Figuring out how to be a couple.

 

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#CRAFTS WITH ANASTASIA--MYSTERY AUTHOR BARBARA BARRETT ON CRAFTING & WRITING IN QUARANTINE

Mystery and romance author Barbara Barrett writes the Mah Jongg Mysteries, a cozy mystery series set in central Florida, and contemporary romances, the most recent being the UnderWright Productions Series. Learn more about her and her books at her website. 

Over the years, I’ve worked out a writing schedule that accommodated my enjoyment of lunches with friends, lifelong learning classes and two Mah Jongg games a week. But my writing has always taken precedence. The sewing machine I purchased two years ago, with the exception of a couple projects, has remained unused. Other projects I’ve started have been stored in bags in my closet, rarely seeing the light of day. My mind was on my books and getting the word out about them.

Then in March, even those limited external activities came to an abrupt halt when COVID-19 hit.  

Because I have spent the last several years focused on my writing, adjustment to the “new normal” of the coronavirus was easier for me than for some. I’ve been able to remain fairly productive, finishing the sixth book in my Mah Jongg Mystery series, Jokers Wild, due out in early July. I started the next book, The Charleston Challenge, scheduled for release next fall. I also wrote and published The Mistresses of Mah Jongg, an introduction to the four protagonists in the series. You can download it for free here. 

However, with little outside stimulation, when either the words wouldn’t flow or I just needed a break, I’ve been revisiting some of those craft projects that have gone wanting. If you’re old enough, you may remember the sitcom “That Girl” starring Marlo Thomas. At one time, she leant her name to a collection of dress patterns. In the mid-70s, I used one of those patterns to make a white sundress trimmed with a red and blue quilt border in honor of the Bicentennial. Forty-five years later, with that dress having been given away years ago, I decided to see if the pattern would produce a new sundress that looks as stylish today as the original. This time I used a bright aqua sport cloth. Took a little restructuring, but in the end, it turned out pretty well. Everything is finished. Except for the hem. Now, with warmer temps, it’s time to wear it. If only there was somewhere to go. 

While I was working on my dress, others were sewing face masks. I couldn’t get excited about such a project, even though they were easy to make and so needed. I held off until my son requested some for his family, since they didn’t have a sewing machine. As part of recent downsizing efforts, my fabric collection was no longer the robust assortment it used to be, so I was lucky to find four pieces, plus an old torn sheet. But once I got started, my mind took on a factory line mentality. 

In fact, once I finished the first batch of ten, I braved a trip to the fabric store to purchase licensed college and professional team cotton featuring the Iowa Hawkeyes and Minnesota Vikings. I produced another twenty-five masks. The main challenge was finding enough elastic. Everyone was sold out. I finally purchased ponytail bands. I still have a few masks to finish, but after those first two efforts, I can’t get excited about completing the job.    

I was somewhat more successful with the needlepoint Christmas stocking I began three years ago for my youngest grandchild. I find needlepoint restful, unless I miss a stitch. There’s still a little more to finish, but I think this is the Christmas it will be hanging with the rest of the collection. 

Since I only work on the stocking in the daytime when there’s enough natural light, I needed something else to occupy my restless hands later in the day. I pulled out an old knitting project that I worked on whenever my knitting group met. While the rest of them created sweaters and afghans, my speed was squares. These will eventually be stitched together to make a bed cover. I laid them out to photograph for you. Looks like I’m not done with this project yet, either. 

Notice any trends here? I think it has something to do with what feels like the never-ending nature of the quarantine. Guess I just don’t feel rushed. Except to get the next book finished. 

Jokers Wild

The Mah Jongg Mystery Series, Book 6

Marianne Putnam’s one-act play is about to come to life, if she can put up with the guidance of an egotistical New York director who seems to think his primary job is tormenting the cast and crew at the Serendipity Springs community center. Jason Newhall’s efforts might be working in more ways than one — while the play gets better, everyone hates him more and more, including a trickster playing jokes in the theater. 

Just when Marianne’s baby is about to have its moment in the spotlight, the director fails to show up for curtain time. Marianne and his wife rush to his house to find him dead. Though no one really liked him, who hated him enough to kill him? Everyone in the cast and crew is considered a suspect, along with the director’s wife and Marianne. 

Sheriff Formero plays a trick of his own when Marianne and her mah jongg friends want to investigate the case—he invites Syd, Micki and Kat to work with him and his deputies to interview a long list of potential suspects, but only under his conditions. But Marianne can’t resist getting involved too. She enlists the hapless husbands of her friends, and they set out to solve the crime on their own ... only to learn the hard way that independence can be dangerous. 

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CRAFTS WITH ANASTASIA--DARNING EGGS AND BETSY WETSY DOLLS

Darning Mushroom with Yarn and Needle

Author Lois Winston, she who writes about me, stops by today to talk about the first time she sewed something.

Do you remember the first time you picked up a needle and thread? Probably not, unless the memory is more involved, which is the case for me.

When I was four years old, I was spending the day at my grandparents’ house. My grandmother was sitting in the kitchen, darning a sock. Most people these days have no idea what darning means, let alone how to do darn, unless they lived through the Great Depression. Even people lucky enough to have income during those years, as my grandparents did, never wasted anything. If you tore a dress, a shirt, or a pair of pants, you patched it. If your big toe wore a hole in a sock, you darned it.

Darning involves placing a wooden egg or mushroom shape inside a sock. Some darning eggs have handles attached to them, as in the photo above; others don’t.

The darning egg is placed in the sock. The hole is stretched over the egg and held tightly in place with one hand. Then, with needle and thread to match the color and weight of the sock, a series of parallel vertical running stitches are made close together over the hole, extending at least 1/2" beyond the hole on all sides. Once the hole is covered with these vertical stitches, horizontal rows are woven over and under through each of the vertical stitches until this woven patch completely mends the hole.

So getting back to my story…

Grandma was darning a sock, and I wanted to sew something. “You have nothing to sew,” she said.

“Betsy Wetsy’s dress is too long,” I said, holding up the doll for her to see. “She’ll trip.” 

Betsy Wetsy was a popular “drink-and-wet” doll in the 1950’s. The doll came with a baby bottle you filled with water. You inserted the bottle’s nipple into the hole in the doll’s mouth and squeezed the bottle to “feed” Betsy. Then she’d wet her diaper from the hole in her body. 

I have no idea why my doll’s dress extended below her feet. The dress must have been a hand-me-down from another doll. Come to think of it, Betsy was also probably a hand-me-down from an older cousin.

“Needles are sharp,” said Grandma. “You’ll stick your finger.”

“No, I won’t. I promise.”

After a good deal of pestering on my part, Grandma finally gave in. She threaded a needle for me, and told me to be careful. I marched into the living room, pulled the ottoman up to the sofa as a seat, and used the sofa cushion as a table. With Betsy still wearing her dress, I began to sew a hem.

I was extremely pleased with my efforts—until I lifted Betsy to show Grandma what a good job I’d done, only to discover I’d hemmed the dress to the sofa cushion! Needless to say, Grandma was not happy.

“But I didn’t stick my finger,” I said.

Click here to watch a Betsy Wetsy TV commercial from the 1950’s.

As I grew older, I began sewing my own clothes and eventually designed dolls, just like Emma  Wadsworth, my heroine in Love, Lies and Double Shot of Deception. 

Love, Lies and a Double Shot of Deception

Life has delivered one sucker punch after another to Emma Wadsworth. As a matter of fact, you could say the poor little rich girl is the ultimate poster child for Money Can’t Buy Happiness — even if she is no longer a child.

Billionaire real estate stud Logan Crawford is as famous for his less-than-platinum reputation as he is his business empire. In thirty-eight years he’s never fallen in love, and that’s just fine with him — until he meets Emma.

But Emma’s not buying into Logan’s seductive ways. Well, maybe just a little, but she’s definitely going into the affair with her eyes wide open. She’s no fool. At least not any more. Her deceased husband saw to that. Besides, she knows Logan will catch the first jet out of Philadelphia once he learns her secrets.

Except things don’t go exactly as Emma has predicted, and when Philadelphia’s most beloved citizen become the city’s most notorious criminal, she needs to do a lot more than clear her name if she wants to save her budding romance with the billionaire hunk someone is willing to kill for.

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#CRAFTING WITH ANASTASIA--ON THE LAM WITH A CRIMINAL CRAFTER

This doll is a double-offender--sewn and knitted!

Good grief! Don’t tell anyone, but I just learned I’m a crafting scofflaw! There are actually laws on the books in New Jersey that I unknowingly violated for years. Me! Goody Two Shoes! Right now I’m quaking in those shoes, terrified the law is going to catch up with me.

My crimes? Sewing dolls and their clothing and knitting without record keeping. Stop laughing! This is serious!

N.J.S. 34:6-131 states, “The manufacturing, altering, repairing or finishing in whole or in part of any dolls, dolls’ clothing in any tenement house is hereby prohibited.” 

I lived in an apartment in Newark for several years. I’m thinking that qualifies as a tenement of sorts. But even if it doesn’t and I’m off the hook for the dolls and doll clothing I made back then, I still have to contend with N.J.S. 34:6-130.1 According to that law, since 1940, anyone who knits at home in New Jersey “shall keep a daily record of work done, and all employers in said industry shall likewise keep and maintain a record of the daily work done…for a period of two years.”

I never kept any records of my knitting. Didn’t know I had to. I wonder what the statute of limitations is for these two crimes. I’d do a bit of research, but I’m afraid to call attention to myself. Maybe I need to go into hiding.

#CRAFTS WITH ANASTASIA--GUEST AUTHOR CAROLYN MULFORD ON MAKING A BLANKET COAT

Hudson Bay blanket coat
photo by Steelbeard1 from Wikimedia Commons

Carolyn Mulford worked on five continents as a magazine editor and freelance writer before making the transition to fiction. She divides her time between her first love, historical novels, and her last love, mysteries. Her latest releases are Thunder Beneath My Feet, set during the devastating New Madrid earthquakes, Show Me the Ashes, the fourth book in her Show Me series. Learn more about Carolyn and her books at her website.

My teenager had to have a blanket coat. Nothing else would do for her.

Lots of young women felt that way last year when fall fashions arrived. But the blanket coats advertised in 2015 were ponchos or ruanas rather than the original hooded, calf-length wool coat. Worn by French-Canadian voyageurs from the late 1700s, the warm, durable garment spread rapidly among American fur trappers and Native Americans.

And it endured. Most fashions and textiles have changed drastically in 200 years, but the frontier blanket coats—particularly those made from the Hudson Bay Company’s white wool blanket with short red, yellow, green, and black stripes—lived into this century. Today those who value them for outdoor activities settle for used ones or buy the blanket and make their own.

My teenager, fifteen-year-old Betsy, wasn’t making a fashion statement in 1812. She needed the coat to survive a three-week trek from a mild climate into weather so cold that the Mississippi River froze from bank to bank.

Betsy is the resourceful, courageous protagonist of Thunder Beneath My Feet, a novel for tweens and teens set during the devastating earthquakes centered near New Madrid, Upper Louisiana (Missouri) Territory in 1811-1812. Weeks of quakes, severe aftershocks, and shakes destroyed homes, made the river run backwards, created lakes, and prompted most of the population to flee.

Betsy stayed on her family’s farm with her younger brother and four strangers until the shocks and shakes posed more danger than a 200-mile walk north.

I’d placed her in this historically accurate fix, so I had to find her a realistic way out. Her shawls definitely wouldn’t withstand the cold and snow. She couldn’t walk and work under the weight of the buffalo robe. She lacked the time and materials to make a wool-lined buckskin coat. That left the blanket coat, which she could also curl up in at night.

I’d seen the coats in photos and a museum, but my 4-H sewing projects hadn’t included making a coat of any kind. I remembered how frustrating it had been to put a sleeve in a blouse or a dress. At least these coats had no buttonholes to contend with. Instead a sash held the open front closed. Could Betsy make coats for herself and her little brother?

I went to Google for advice. To my surprise, links led me to information on making blanket coats, including the original French-Canadian capote (cape). One site said it took only three to five hours. A Californian who used a pattern to make one for winter hiking warns that he’d spent three days, part of that time practicing on an old blanket. Smart man. And he had no regrets.

Betsy had no pattern. She borrowed a blanket coat to figure out how to size it by measuring with a piece of yarn, cut the pieces with a knife and by tearing, and sewed together the loose-fitting garment. Ease of construction and warmth far outweighed such considerations as how it draped.

A traditional blanket coat has only five or six pieces. The major one is the body, made by cutting according to the wearer’s girth and height and folding that piece with the edges overlapping several inches at the front. Betsy would have overlapped folds on the shoulders and left a flap for the collar. The pointed hood, two pieces sewn together, attached to that. The hood had to be big enough to go over a skunk- or coon-skin cap.

A slit from each shoulder to under the armpit allowed her to insert the broad end of the raglan-style sleeves, ones long enough that she could turn down the cuffs to cover her mittened hands. She would have used a multipurpose rope rather than a sash to keep the front closed.

Making a blanket coat remains relatively simple today despite our concern for fashion. If you want to make a traditional or modified one, I recommend investing in a pattern rather than winging it as Betsy did.

Thunder Beneath My Feet

Shy, sensible fifteen-year-old Betsy takes charge of the family farm and her ten-year-old brother Johnnie when their mother rides south to bring her sick husband home to New Madrid, Missouri Territory. Four days later on December 16, 1811, powerful earthquakes destroy homes and trees, flood and poison the land, and turn the Mississippi into a river of death. Their neighbors flee the never-ending quakes. Betsy stays to wait for her parents, care for the animals, and find the family’s stolen money. She and Johnnie share a lean-to with four strangers—a 16-year-old French-Shawnee boy, a mute slave woman, a poor French tutor, and his elegant Spanish wife. Their secrets hold them there as the quakes and the cold threaten their lives.

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#CRAFTS WITH ANASTASIA--GUEST AUTHOR MINDY HARDWICK

Mindy Hardwick writes sweet contemporary small-town vintage romance as well as children's books which celebrate art and community in the Pacific Northwest. Learn more about Mindy and her books at her website and blog.

Vintage Aprons

The heroine in my sweet contemporary romance, Sweetheart Cottage, is part of a sewing circle of women who sew vintage aprons. As a child, Rylee spent summers in the small town of Cranberry Bay where her grandmother taught her how to sew. But when Rylee returns as an adult to sell her deceased grandmother’s house, she has not touched a sewing machine for years.

Like my heroine, I also learned to sew in middle school with alphabet letter pillows and crooked hemmed skirts. I hadn’t touched a sewing machine in years. Then, technology ushered in new ways to sew and inspire such as: Pinterest, Cratsy Classes and great fabric shops such as Creative Fabrics in Wheeler, Oregon which inspired the sewing shop in Sweetheart Cottage, and suddenly I had a new love and appreciation for sewing.

When I wrote Sweetheart Cottage, I knew my heroine needed to have some friends who could help her get back together with her former high school boyfriend. I love writing about vintage items and what better way than to have the women sew vintage aprons while helping Rylee reconnect with her true love.

Every vintage apron tells a story, from the full-length work aprons of the pioneers to the postwar 1950’s aprons sewn from Simplicity or McCall’s patterns which were stylish and playful with bold fabrics. I had a lot of fun setting up a Pinterest page for Sweetheart Cottage, which showcases some of these playful vintage aprons.

Vintage aprons were used for different purposes. Women might have had an apron for housework, gardening, washday, and special aprons kept at the back of the drawer for company. Brides were often given handmade aprons for every occasion from the regular supper to serving cocktails.  And don’t forget the holiday aprons! Vintage aprons could be for Christmas, St Patrick’s Day and Halloween.

One of the fun pieces to an apron are the pockets. Pockets can be made from contrasting fabric, lining fabric, quilt squares, potholders, or vintage handkerchiefs. A pocket could be a flap pocket, a fold-over pocket, or something such as a flower.

Vintage aprons are a way to connect with the past and the stories of the women who came before us—but don’t be surprised if the vintage aprons in your attic are a little threadbare and worn!

Sweetheart Cottage
Can a bet to save a dying town bring two high school sweethearts together for a second chance at love?

Self-reliant and determined never to fall in love again, Rylee Harper is traveling with her dog, Raisin, to Cranberry Bay, a small Oregon Coast town. Rylee intends to make friends with no one least they discover the family's long-held secret. But when former high school sweetheart, Bryan Shuster, offers her a job staging his vintage river cottages, Rylee finds her guard softening. However, when Bryan's plan threatens to unearth Rylee's shameful family secret, will Rylee run away or will she trust Bryan with her heart and stay?

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#CRAFTS WITH ANASTASIA--GUEST AUTHOR CLAUDIA LEFEVE

My inexpensive Brother sewing machine is a champ.
There is nothing it can’t do!

Claudia Lefeve was born and raised so far down the Texas Gulf Coast she has to pull out a map to show people it's nowhere near Houston. Now living in Northern Virginia, she’s taking a hiatus from a civilian career in law enforcement to write full-time. Learn more about Claudia and her books at her website. 

One of the best things about being a writer full-time (and a part-time professor,) is getting to wear whatever I want. Granted, most of the time I live in my pajamas, but on the days when I actually venture out of my cave to write at the local coffee shop or attend my local writer’s group, I can choose what I please.

The only downside to writing full-time, however, is my checking account! Book royalties aren’t as stable, as let’s say, a salaried bi-monthly paycheck. In other words, when I ditched my job with the police department, I gave up my steady income.

I’m such a sucker for vintage shifts,
I buy most of my 1960’s patterns from eBay and Etsy.

So this year I decided I could still be fashionable on a budget. My grandmother taught me how to sew when I was younger, but I hadn’t used a sewing machine in over 20 years, though I still felt compelled to purchase my very first sewing machine. Instincts kicked in, and within a few weeks, I had a whole new summer wardrobe.

I usually reserve my sewing projects for the mornings and use the time to think about whatever I’m currently writing as I sit in front of the machine. And by early afternoon, I’m chock full of ideas ready to be written!

Fall is around the corner, so I have already started picking out my fall fabrics!

Next up on my quest to style myself up, is learning how to use an embroidery machine (which arrives this week) because growing up and living below the Mason-Dixon line, I have a strong desire to have everything monogrammed.

Destined for Trouble

A Jules Cannon Mystery, book 1

After getting dumped by her boyfriend, FBI crime analyst Jules Cannon flees to her hometown of Trouble Island, Texas, to nurse her wounds. All she wants to do is unwind, forget about her failed relationship, and work on her tan.

But when the owner of the local crab shack is murdered at Jules’s welcome-home party, she is forced to scrap her rest-and-relaxation plans. Now her best friend, Abby Lee, is the prime suspect, and her high school sweetheart, Deputy Chief Justin Harper, is working the case. Even though Jules knows she shouldn’t, she just can’t keep herself from getting involved in the investigation—and entangled with handsome Assistant District Attorney Hartley Crawford. While an old flame threatens to rekindle and a new one sparks, Jules must find a killer and prove her friend’s innocence. But will she put two and two together before trouble catches up with her?

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#CRAFTS WITH ANASTASIA--GUEST AUTHOR ANNE LOUISE BANNON

Anne Louise Bannon is an author and journalist who wrote her first novel at age 15. Her journalistic work has appeared in magazines and newspapers across the country. She was a TV critic for over 10 years, founded the YourFamilyViewer blog, and created the OddBallGrape.com wine education blog with her husband. She also writes the romantic fiction serial WhiteHouseRhapsody.com. Learn more about Anne and her books at her website. Today she stops by to discuss her passion for sewing and 1920s fashion.

SEWING THE 1920s

Oddly enough, when I was researching my mystery novel, Fascinating Rhythm, it didn’t occur to me to make outfits based on 1920s clothing, even though I was making a fair amount of my own clothes at the time. But the intervening years were not kind to my waistline, and I realized fashions from the Roaring 20s were.

Who knew this kind of “sewing retro” was actually quite stylish and hip? Granted, most retro fans prefer outfits from the 1940s and ‘50s, but 1920s styles offer some significant advantages.

The styles are much more flattering to the fuller figure. The lines are generally a lot simpler, and the clothes aren’t fitted as tightly, which if you’re new to pattern drafting and adapting, makes life a lot easier. There are plenty of resources, including the VintageDancer and DecadesofStyle websites. Past Patterns has a pretty nice collection of designs from the 20s, as well.

However, I would offer the following caution – if you’re new to sewing clothes, get some practice in on simple, current patterns first. Most of the retro patterns assume you already have basic knowledge of how clothes go together and, truth be told, the instructions aren’t always written as clearly as they could be.

You’ll also be better off with a commercial pattern for your first project or two, unless you’ve got a fair amount of experience re-drawing and even drafting your own patterns. 

And no matter how much experience you have, I also highly, highly recommend making what’s called a muslin first. Find an old bed sheet and make your new outfit out of that first. Or use some other really cheap, but similar fabric. That way, you’ll know how the pattern goes together and whether it will fit before you cut into that luscious $30-a-yard silk. And you may end up with a cute, second outfit, as well.

But go ahead and plunge in. Who knows? You may be cutting out The One-Hour Dress and following vintage instructions to drape your own dress.

Fascinating Rhythm

It's New York City, 1924, and editor Frank Selby has been killed in

his apartment. The primary suspect is his secretary Kathy Briscow,

because Selby was known for that kind of behavior. And Kathy does have

a motive, just not the one they think. She's been doing Selby's work

for him, including editing The Old Money Story by wealthy socialite

Freddie Little. Freddie, however, is pretty sure it wasn't Kathy who

killed Selby. So the two team up to search the speakeasies and streets

of the city to find a killer with an obsession.

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#COSTUMES OF YORE WITH GUEST AUTHOR CAROLINE LEE

Note the mini-tricorn hat. How cute it that?

Caroline Lee is the author of the bestselling sweet Western romance series, The Sweet Cheyenne Quartet. Learn more about Caroline and interesting social history finds—including gorgeous costumes—on her Facebook author page.

Confessions of a Costume-a-holic

(I’m 78% Certain That’s a Real Word)

One year ago this week, my family (or The FamiLee, because I like puns) moved to a new home. As you can imagine, the process of moving, putting things in storage, and then moving again was the perfect time to go through ten years’ worth of accumulated stuff, to decide what we could get rid of.

That doesn’t mean that we actually did, though.

My husband still has his boxes of childhood comics, and eighteen rolls of different kinds of tape, and that bin of assorted, outdated ethernet wires (“just in case”). My sons have every LEGO piece known to man. And I have this:

The Costume Closet

This is my costume closet. I haven’t acted in or crewed a performance in almost ten years, but I’ll be darned if I’m going to give up my costumes. Yes, that’s an entire closet in my new house, dedicated to bins and bins of costumes I haven’t worn in years. I moved all of those boxes into storage, and then moved them here, because I’m addicted.

I love to costume. I’m a social historian, and a big part of social history is the material record left by our ancestors… often in, well… material. The history of clothing and fashion is just fascinating, and I love knowing the evolution of the necktie (from utilitarian scarf to cravat to tie) and the sock (from ‘hose’ to ‘stocking’ to ‘sock’), although I try not to share too much at cocktail parties, because that gets annoying. “Would you like to know the history of that skirt, ma’am?” just isn’t a good way to meet people. I mean, it’s a great way to be remembered, but usually as “that weirdo.”

So I limit myself to costuming at Halloween. And school spirit-nights. And the murder mystery parties I have to throw just to make sure my costumes get used. And of course, the kids’ collection.

They don’t get a closet (because their closets are filled with LEGOs), but I made sure their costumes are readily accessible to them and their friends, and haven’t regretted it. I can still remember sitting in the car on the drive home from the doctor’s office after finding out that our first baby was going to be a boy. My husband was grinning ear-to-ear, and I was stunned. Finally I said (in a pitiful little voice), “Do boys like playing dress-up?” I’d spent years dreaming of making princess dresses and hoop skirts, and knew nothing about little boys. My husband, bless his heart, knew immediately what I needed to hear: “You’ll have to start making pirate and firefighter and knight costumes.” And I did.

Now I have two little boys who love playing “dress up and adventures” as much as I do! Granted, the Red Ninja and the Black Pirate end up in a sword fight within seconds of donning the appropriate headgear, and the knight always has to chase the dragon around with a spear… but still. They’re using their imaginations, and that has to count for something, right?

But I don’t have to rely on my kids to fulfill my costuming love, oh no. Because, see, I write historical romance. And in historical romance everyone’s in costume. Yep! No matter what my characters are wearing, it’s a costume to me, and some of my fondest bits of social history research are related to the characters’ clothes.

In an effort to make a use of these neglected skills, I decided to costume my cover models myself. The cover of A Cheyenne Celebration, the second book in my Sweet Cheyenne Quartet features the heroine in her favorite yellow bustled dress with the black trim. This is the dress she wears to the town’s Fourth of July festival and bonfire, right before she gets lured onto the dark prairie with all sorts of dangers waiting for her. Of course, the hero manages to save the day… but not before this lovely yellow dress gets conveniently… ruined.

 

Not pictured: another sleeve, the neckline, and pretty much the entire front of the dress. Which is why I didn’t make those parts.

Confession: I actually designed the dress in the book around what material I had in my sewing closet (my sewing closet is a story for another day.) It was an old bolt of (fairly ugly) fabric I’d been looking to get rid of for years, and just happened to fit the “look” of the 1880s’ patterns. I added some lace in appropriate places, and made the dress.

Further confession: I was actually too lazy to make the entire dress.

For Serena’s dress, I made only one sleeve, the bodice, the bustle, and enough of the skirt to wrap around the model. You would not believe how many pins (safety and otherwise) appear on the cover. It’s not perfect, and it’s not perfectly accurate… but it’s fun. It was fun to make and fun to model and fun to shoot, and that’s what costuming should be all about. We all had fun making that cover (and that genuine 38-star flag!), so I count that as a win.

Costuming should be about having fun, whether you’re reenacting or messing around in heels for Halloween or making your kid that Jedi Knight costume he’s been bugging you about out of a bathrobe and a piece of rope. Or even creating the cover of a bestselling book. Costuming is merging history and research and fabrication and patience (and impatience) and pins and creativity. And fun.

A Cheyenne Celebration

Circumstances dictate that Serena Selkirk must choose between two very different men for a husband: her coarsely handsome rancher neighbor, and a sophisticated and urbane Cheyenne schoolteacher. Cam MacLeod and Sebastian Carderock embody opposing aspects of success in Wyoming, but both types of men are necessary for the Territory to become a state. And while Wyoming’s future hangs in the balance, so does Serena’s. She’ll have to decide between pragmatism and her dreams, but only one man will be able to make her truly happy. It will take a Fourth of July showdown for Serena to realize what her heart—and her future—really desires.

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