A vintage outfit!

A couple of months ago the lovely ladies at SewCrafty asked if I'd do a hack of their shift dress pattern and sent me some gorgeous materials to do it with. However my version did not work at all so I threw it in the corner and sulked for a while.

And then I came to my senses and realised that I wanted to do something with the altitude bird cotton that SewCrafty had sent me so I decided to refashion it into something that I would actually wear. Enter this vintage summer blouse pattern from 1982 (apparently this is the year that I sew the 1980s!).  I hummed and ha-d over what size to make and luckily I had decided on the size 12 because when I got it out of the packet this size had already been cut out. I'm not sure where I bought this pattern from, I'm going to guess it was part of a job lot on eBay but I guess I'm lucky that my size remained in tact.

I'm not really a fan of ruffles but they've been popping up everywhere this summer and I thought the ruffled version of this looked cute without being too OTT so I gave it a go. Although I used some little flower buttons from my stash so I wasn't exactly trying to move too far away from the 'cute' factor!  The ruffles were made from some scraps of a cotton linen blend that I had in my stash.

I want so many versions of this top! I've been searching for a good shirt/top pattern for ages and this might be the one! Although I wish it had a sleeved version as in it's current form, it's only good for summer. However hopefully we've got months of summer left so I can enjoy this for a while.

The shirt was worn on holiday with a new pair of Megan Neilsen Flint shorts.  I seem to have become a little bit obsessed by this pattern.  Personally I think this is a super cute look and is also giving off more 1930s vibes. I made the shorts from a scrap of denim that I had in my stash, that I think my mum donated at one point, and some scraps of stretch cotton.  I also used 2 vintage buttons also from my stash. Basically, these were a great stashbuster!

I used red topstitching on the denim and navy topstitching on the waistband and for the button holes. I have done a lot of topstitching recently and I think it adds a really nice detail but maybe it's time to give it a rest now!  I'm actually wearing these shorts as I type, since the weather in the UK has decided that it's properly summer.  I hope you all have a lovely weekend in the sunshine!

Rocking the 1930s

As soon as Megan Nielsen released the Flint trousers I bought them. I just loved the style and the details and I had to have them!

I'd never actually made one of Megan's main patterns, although I have made the free Veronica circle skirt a couple of times; here and here. I was interested to see how the pattern came to together and how clear the instructions were on a more complex pattern. I was impressed! The whole thing was a breeze to put together, although really the only complicated bit is the opening.

I made this in some unidentified fabric that was a gift from a friend of my mums. I'm not a 100% sure it's a dress making fabric but so far it seems to be working. I cut a size x at the hips and size x at waist and it fits perfectly.  I so into making trousers at the moment.  For years I gave up on wearing trousers, mainly because I couldn't get ones that fitted.  It's so much fun being able to include trousers in my wardrobe again.

My mum and sister both had the same response to these; that they liked them but that they should be an inch or two shorter.  Actually I think the pattern might be meant to sit at about this height so maybe they have the designers eye!  Update-when I washed these they shrunk upwards so they are now a couple of inches shorter, hows that for the ultimate lazy fix!

I wore these on a trip to Eltham Palace with a friend a couple of weeks ago, it is the most incredible house done in 1930s art deco style.  I completely fell in love with the lobby of the house and have decided that if I ever get married, I want it to be there (although I say this every time I find a beautiful venue).

How awesome is this???

 And these doors!

Anyway we found some opportunities for dressing up and I tried on this gorgeous hat, which made me want to run out and buy one to wear on a daily basis.  This whole visit completely reaffirmed my love for the 1930s and when I got home I had a little search for some 1930s patterns.  I did not find any that I could actually afford but I realised how period appropriate my outfit for the day at Eltham Palace had been!

Anyway I loved the Flint trousers so much I've got plans for several more, including a jumpsuit hack for an event I'm going to next week so watch this space...

Taking a circle skirt up a notch

Today's post is about a total basic, the circle skirt.  However, this one has been made super fabulous by the awesome fabric, which is so summery!  Plus I had a great backdrop and wonderful photographer taking these photos so it all worked out pretty perfectly.  

 This is the Megan Neilsen Veronika skirt pattern which I've used once before for my pleather skirt which is still a big winner in my wardrobe.

The fabric is a gorgeous stretch cotton with tulip print that I bought on Goldhawk road.  They had 5m left in the shop and my cousin and I split it.  I think we both may have made the same skirt so we'll have to be careful not to wear it at the same time as I'm not a fan of the whole matching outfit thing, to be honest I don't reckon she is either so at least we'll be on the same page.

Aside from hemming the skirt, which was as lengthy as circle skirts always are (also despite the above photo which makes the whole thing look lopsided, it is straight).  The whole thing came together quickly, its really just a few seams and an invisible zip. 

I love this skirt and this was the perfect backdrop as I also love London, even with construction stuff going on, which is lucky as it's also a feature of the London skyline!

These were taken by my lovely friend Dominika (thanks Dominika).  Fingers crossed for more lovely evenings like this with lovely clothes, lovely friends, lovely weather and lovely settings (and if my mother ever reads this sentence with this many lovely's in it, her head will explode!)

I'm entering this as one of the makes in Allie's Social Sew, this month's theme is 'hot, hot heat', come sew with us.  Happy summer all!

A leather circle shirt

Hi all and happy Friday. As I mentioned in my autumn/winter planning post, I really wanted a drapey leather skirt since I saw this one made by Carolyn but I knew I wanted a fuller circle skirt.  I was planning on drafting it myself and then I remembered that Megan Neilsen had released a free circle skirt pattern and my natural laziness won and I decided to use the Veronika pattern.

I used a pleather that I had in my stash.  It was left over from a coupon I had bought in Paris and used some of for this bag.

I can't really comment on the instructions as I didn't use them but the pattern came together really easily.  Of course the whole thing was made a touch easier as I didn't have to finish any seams and I didn't bother to hem it!  I used a leather needle in my machine and it sewed up really easily, I don't know if all pleather is this easy to sew but if it is, I need to think of some other pleather items for my wardrobe.  *Edit* having worn this a few times now, I think maybe having an all pleather wardrobe is a less good idea-you are essentially wearing plastic, which in a hot room equals gross sweatiness!  Maybe I should stick to the 'everything in moderation' mantra!

This is the first item made from my fall essentials list.  I'm quite excited about wearing this with tights and boots and that snuggly cowl I'm going to finish knitting soon...hmmm better get back to that.

Have a lovely weekend everyone!