Call the Midwife: 50s Inspiration

Kristine got me hooked on Call the Midwife last week when I had a long weekend and total control of the television.  Have you been watching??

Set in the late 1950s, the story follows Jenny, a young nurse who takes a position as a midwife in very poor East End London.  Jenny discovers on arrival that she will be living and working with the nuns at Nonnatus House.

The fashions and hair are very period accurate, so it was pretty much love at first sight.  Then the storyline sucked me right in annnnddd... it's all over.  I'm hooked.   

street fashions

I love Jenny's sweet style.  They all spend most of their time in uniform, but you get glimpses of everyday fashions from their patients and the people on the street, and when the girls are "off duty".  Jenny is a cardigan and swishy skirt kind of girl.

Isn't she adorable?  Her hair is so cute too.  I'm very tempted by this hair.  And her wardrobe. When Jenny arrives to Nonnatus House in the first episode, she's wearing this beautiful suit:

I am now very nearly obsessed with finding a vintage pattern to duplicate it. I read a blog that speculated the suit was from the 40s, not the 50s, but I disagree.  I think it is very period appropriate.  The nipped in jacket, with shortened sleeves, and the tiny bow accents all speak 50s to me. Check out the suit in the illustration below, which is from a Progressive Farmer catalog, 1957:

And this sweet tailored suit from 1953 is very similar. I'm feeling knockoff inspiration!

My love for Jenny has very nearly been eclipsed by her friend and fellow midwife Trixie.

Trixie is sassy and fun and a big old flirt.  She's also gorgeous and has more of a "bombshell" vibe than our sweet Jenny.  She drinks and smokes and wears pants (occasionally) and strips down to her skivvies and jumps in the pool! With boys!

The awesomesauce that is Trixie is best told in full animation: 

Then there's Chummy, the very tall, very awkward, very amazing latecomer to their small group.  Who pretty much steals the show.

Chummy sews!!

(I don't remember that part.  Kristine??)

I don't even have space left in this post to tell you about the nuns, who have their own special quirks and adorableness.

Or the tiny midwife, whose name I can never remember (sorry, tiny midwife).

 

The only quibble I have with the show has to do with the American PBS broadcast, which has been editing out 7 minutes of each episode.  SEVEN MINUTES.  Ugh. I was hoping my Amazon On Demand episodes would be the full British broadcast, the way my Downton Abbey eps are, but nope. 

Are you watching???

Vintage Vogue 9523 - complete!

 

I thought I'd start off with a bang and show a lovely photo!  Here's the pattern photo, in case you missed the in progress post:

I made very few changes to the bodice pattern, a small FBA and measuring it against another vintage sundress bodice that fits me well to adjust width.  I was worried about how widely-set the straps were.  And sure enough...they were too wide.  Falling off my shoulders too wide!  I compensated for that by making two little tucks in the front square neck:

Now it just looks like a design feature.  It does create a bit of a horizontal wrinkle from my underarm, but I can live with that.  I wish I had saved scraps of my fabric to make a tiny bias tube bow.  Do you think a solid bow would look bad?  

The straps sit much better with the little tucks though.  With the right bra, no straps showing!  I also changed the skirt to a full gathered skirt.  With my super high hips jutting out immediately after my waist, those a-line skirts are a real bear for me to get to hang right.  I love the gathered skirt though!

The fabric is a pink & orange & coral tropical print lawn from Fashion Fabrics Club.  The entire dress is fully lined in pink Imperial batiste.  I sort of winged the lining & attaching the strap part, since the dress pattern calls for facings.  I ended up making two bodices and leaving openings to insert the straps later.  Then I followed the pattern directions from that point forward for attaching the straps. 

The batiste underskirt (lining) makes the skirt just poufy enough.

The cardigan is from Old Navy and is the perfect coral color.  It's just a tad too long (as are most ON cardi's!)  

There's a center-back zip and a hook & eye:

I did have a pink invisible zipper, I'm just leery of putting them in.  Even though a sewing angel sent me the correct foot!  I think it's  a mental block. 

It has a super deep hem, nearly 5 inches!

Perfect summer dress. :)  

Except for the fact that, you know, after I went to all the trouble to ensure I was laying all of the pattern pieces in one direction to cut out...  The entire dress' print is UPSIDE DOWN!  

I just had to laugh because I've been staring at and/or stitching on this dress for two weeks and never once noticed.  I'm glad.  I probably wouldn't have finished it and I love it!  I'm going to wear it, upside down or not!

Happy Saturday!

Vintage Simplicity 4657 - skirt!

I finished my skirt, the sun came out, I had cute shoes...time for photos!

 

Here the illustration for Simplicity 4675, a vintage pattern from the 50s:

I really just used the skirt pattern piece for length measurements (plus, I had to shorten due to limited fabric!)

This cute dotty fruit print has been in my stash just over a year, but I bought it on ebay and I can't find another piece of it anywhere!  It's by Darlene Zimmerman (? I may be butchering that) and was part of the "Clothesline Club" in 2007 per the selvedge. 

It's just your basic dirndl skirt, but I love it.  It's swishy and poufy.  Maybe shows a bit too much knee, especially on a windy day, but I have a vintage crinoline/petticoat on the sewing table right now being "altered" to fit me.  It's RED polkadot lace and will be perfect peeking out at the knee. 

I stitched the hem in red:

No pockets yet, but as someone pointed out to me, I can always add them later!  I did cut them out, so I'll just stash the pockets away.  They may look cute on a different skirt at some point in the future too!

My red bow ballerina flats are from Target:

I have them in black too!

That about sums up the sewing for the week  (I sewed on one hook/eye and a button).  We had Saturday school to make up for snow. Blech.  But now we're on the downhill slide to summer...can you feel it??  I can!

One more swishy vintage skirt picture...

 

Enjoy this beautiful, sunny Sunday!