I learned to embroider when I was about 7, and I was maybe 14 when I made this shirt. The pattern is long gone, but it’s Big 4, probably Butterick because back in those days (and unlike today) it was actually a trendy line and my favorite. The fabric is a truly wretched synthetic pretty typical of that era; for laughs I did a burn test and got a hard irregular char that did not melt and smelled of vinegar so I’m guessing the fabric is a linen acetate. One thing I find pretty funny is there is no connection at all between the various embroidery motifs, we have a tropical sunset on the yokes, ivy tendrils on the collar, a row of flowers on the cuffs and a beetle on the hem in the back.
All of the images are clickable!
Too Cool, Phyllis
The only “sewing from my past” that I have are some suits from my corporate days in the mid to late 80′s…very boring, nothing as cool as your retro shirt! I sure wish I had saved some of my sewing from my high-school era….the 70′s.
I love your shirt. Brings back memories… I put the sun (set? rise?) on the front of a t-shirt. My chemistry teacher would always comment on the sunrise over the foot hills. They certainly weren’t mountains at that time in my life…
You know why none of these motifs relate to each other…because as a 14 year old you didn’t care. You embroidered what you liked and that’s what makes this shirt so refreshing! I have to tell you though I’m amazed that you have garments from when you were 14!!
That’s a great blouse! I wish I had something I made when I was 14. I doubt if I actually was as good as I think I was!!
LOL! I did similar embroidery back in the early 70′s on purchased chambray shirts . . . your photos bring back some great memories! You’ve done a marvelous job preserving your vintage garments.
Wonderful! I think the only sewing projects I still(?) have from my Home-Ec days are a pencil case I added embroidery to, and a tye-dye pillow. Any clothes that I made, I’ve long-ago out grown and passed on. You did a nice job on the embroidery!
I love it! I, too, was a 70s embroiderer- covered my jeans with flowers. My daughter was asking me the other day how I did it, thinking, I guess, of MACHINE embroidery…I told her with a needle and emb. yarn….LOL. I wish I had hung onto some of my early projects like others have. I bought corduroy the other day for the first time in over 30 years- my first and only experience with it was when I was about 15. I had no idea that there was a nap layout on the pattern. Heck, I didn’t even know what nap was! So, you guessed it, half of my mini-skirt was right, half was wrong…I do know better now. Maybe. LOL Thanks for sharing!!
June
Vertical Attitude
Some of my very early sewing projects were embroidered gingham aprons for my grandmother and a great aunt. When my aunt died a number of years ago the apron found its way back to me – with my name pinned to it. I love having it (it is much more painstakingly finished than I would bother with now) and think it is sweet that she must have immediately put it aside for a future me.
Lois K
You were a budding, young artist! With an imagination and a vision!
I LOVE it – but then you knew I would!
That’s awesome! How fun is that? I have NO IDEA what happened to my first “real” sewing project…although I still have the pattern; it was a long prairie skirt with a big ruffle along the bottom from 1980.
This is darling and you are so lucky to have it in your posession. It is so fresh and uninhibited in its design. Love it.
Oh I had one of these too and my mother kept it for many years and then sadly it got lost . Mine was a babydoll yoke and butterfly sleeves made out of muslin and embroidered with big clocks on the pockets . I loved that top and was also 14 when I made it. Werent we clever compared to most 14 year old of today??
What a talented and patient teen you were – the disconnected but well executed motifs are a hoot. The big question, of course, is, do you STILL embroider?
Yes, Butterick used to be a high quality Vogue for the trendy. I made a wonderful jacket that was part jeans jacket, but with Victorian puffed sleeves and velvet cuffs. I sold this in a yard sale for $50 to a Berkeley fashion queen who said, “I’ve wanted the jacket off your back all year.” And a hippie frock I made earned me, “Are you an actress” at a party in San Francisco.
How boring the Big4 are now, so safe and suburban, as if everyone works for an insurance house..or wants to.