Hello all. Just as spring hits the UK I have a post about a winter garment to show you. However, as our weather is a fickle thing, it could be snowing tomorrow, I'm going for it any way.
My tartan mini-dress is possibly the garment I have spent the most time fixing in the couple of years that I have been sewing. As there were so many fitting issues the careful pattern matching that I had planned was completely ruined on the sides of the dress (although it did work down the back)! However, to show you the pattern matching perfection I was going for, I have the star of this blog post, my vintage tartan skirt!
I've been meaning to do a blog post on this skirt for ages because it is just such a beautiful garment. This was yet another item inherited from my stylish Granny. As I only ever knew my Granny when she was really old, I didn't know much about her stylish fashion conscious days but at her funeral there were stories about how great she had always looked and how much she had loved clothes. When I got a chance to see some of the old pieces that were still in the house, I totally got where everyone was coming from.
Look at the expert pattern matching going on on this skirt, swoon! It is all immaculate!
I've been wearing this skirt in pretty heavy rotation this winter and I love it, although to tell the truth, stylish granny was thinner than me so on days when I've been eating winter comfort food, I end up opening the top buttons. Although it still fits me better than it fits Rosie, I'm not sure why it's sitting quite so awkwardly in these photos and steadfastly refusing to close.
A quick look of the Vintage fashion guild site makes me think that this skirt is from the 1940s. The label on the inside says Harella, and the Vintage fashion guild site told me that they were an English clothing company set up in 1919 and by the 1960s was the second biggest exporter in the UK fashion industry. I would really love to know where my Granny bought this skirt as I know it was not in England and I guess the number of stockists in Belfast/Dublin would have been small.
I expect this skirt cost a pretty penny however, this clearly bought you serious quality back in the day. Look at the hand finishing on what (I'm assuming) was an off the peg skirt!
Also it was clearly important to take care of your clothes and the 'make do and mend' spirit was still in full swing. There are a couple of these darned patches on the skirt but I must have worn it at least 10 times before I noticed them-someone was doing some neat work there.
I also have a matching scarf but I haven't yet worn them together as the matching set is a bit too Vintage for me, I usually mix and match decades rather than recreating a particular period's look.
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Any of you have a favourite Vintage item in your wardrobes? Do you know the stories behind them? I have a few more classic items like this in my wardrobe and am considering making it a regular feature on the blog, would you be interested in more posts like this?
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