Yay! I WON! ...6 patterns from "Patterns From the Past"

Thanks to the awesomely generous Michelle Lee, owner of "Patterns from the Past" (oldpatterns.com), I was the lucky recipient of a prize consisting of 6 patterns from her awesome website. They arrived in my mailbox today. (extremely quick shipping and in great shape!) THANK YOU Michelle. I won these as the 2nd place prize in patternreview's "pattern stash" contest. Well, I actually DIDN'T win the contest. I came in 2nd place, having sewn 28 patterns. The contest was set up so that the second place PRIZE (of $50 worth of patterns) be awarded by random drawing. But the winner of that drawing (a very generous seamstress named Jan...Thank you Jan!!), told the organizers to give the prize to me, since I sewed more patterns. In the end, we decided to split the prize, so we each had the fun of browsing through a huge selection of wonderful vintage patterns.

The ones I chose are very "modern" compared to many of the truly "vintage" patterns that Michelle has. Patterns from the Past resells vintage, retro and costume sewing patterns. They carry all kinds of out-of-print patterns, from the 1920s to the present. They also have older knitting, crochet, and tatting books. These are the original items, not reproductions.  I'd highly recommend you take a look at her site.

So here's what I chose:
The two stylish Vogue skirts in the first pic. I LOVE those gussets on the first one and the pocket seams on the second).

And this cute little faux wrap skirt...

 Two floaty, drapey tops

and last but not least, I fell in love with Skeeter Skater. (I used to skate in a Precision Skating Line so I had to have this lil guy)

Thanks again, Michelle and Jan. You both made my day!

Hemming and Hawing: Patterns

Design mode today ... no actual construction, but I hemmed and hawed about patterns.

I updated my pattern stash catalog here:
Butterick
McCalls
Simplicity

Plus I just bought 2 new Vogue patterns which I haven't catalogued yet.

I'm trying to find the right pattern to match with the right fabric. I'm stymied what with having too small of fabric pieces as I try to cut apart old garments and reuse the fabric ... (I may have to bite the bullet and actually go to the fabric store) ... But wait, my idea is that with small pieces, I might be able to fit styles like this dress but cut short to be a top instead ... that's the idea anyway, but when I try to make it work, I don't seem to have enough fabric.