...and another OOP

In my last post I said I'd show you what that wearable muslin skirt (from Vogue 1915, OOP) looked like on, so here you are:

If you're wondering, it's not that my neck comes out to the side for a dance or something, it's that the top has squirmed off to the side. 

The shadows are tricky too, aren't they - something to do with the time of day I believe.

Here on the left is proof of at least one functioning pocket - oh wait, make that two functioning pockets - very handy.

























You may be wondering about the top too...

... I wondered about the hemline when I saw this photo!


Evidently the top is from the late 1980s - same era as the skirt, which is why it kind of matches even though yes, it is mostly navy blue whereas the skirt is black. I cut this top out ooooh about 20 years ago (woah!) and then left it because it looked too boring. It was a good low-mojo kind of project - the sewing was much easier than expected and I had pretty low expectations and no need to finish the thing if indeed it was too boring.

The pattern is well and truly OOP, a Tamotsu Vogue "career" pattern (V2454). Very easy to sew, very loose, very basic.  The fabric is some kind of chiffon that the younger me had cut out very carefully and precisely, and my sewing machine coped fine with it (with simple French seams wherever possible). A bit too boxy for my liking these days with no darts to shape it, but good for a quick production and no doubt easy to wear.










PS That hemline is straight. The top is not hanging straight. Nothing to worry about.

Life, Interrupted

It feels ages since I last posted although I know it's only been a little more than a week... My dear friend Chris passed away about 10 days ago from brain cancer, leaving behind another dear friend, his wife, and their young son - I just really haven't felt like blogging since.  There has been some sewing though... Chris' memorial service was last Thursday, and I sewed a cover for the coffin trolley (in a regal looking red velvet) - my first completed project in velvet, but I don't imagine it would make a particularly interesting sewing post.

I had also been doing minimal sewing for the school book parade, but the parade was postponed due to rainy weather - nothing to show there either!

So all I really have to show for the last 10 days is a wearable skirt muslin. The skirt design is vintage but looks current enough to me (do skirt styles just keep getting recycled, or am I just insensitive to the variations?). The pattern is Vogue 1915 (OOP), an Anne Klein pattern from the 1980s or 90s that I picked up recently for 50 cents.

Skirts should be easy but I always struggle with the sizing. This time I cut out a straight 14 but then had to sew narrow side seams, so maybe that should have been a 16. The fabric is a stretch one, that I used before in these trousers (no longer being worn because I did something stupid to the zipper)...

The skirt fits but for now I'll just show it on the dressmaker's dummy:

 

Photographic evidence suggestive of decent pleats and pockets... but dodgy waistband and vent...

 

If I can get my blogging mojo back I'll take a picture of the skirt on me and share that; I know the dummy can mislead on fit.

What else to say.... well, if you come across this pattern second hand, it is certainly worth 50 cents or a dollar. Everything lines up well and the pleats and side pockets look good. They'd look better than the above photos in a non-stretch fabric too. There's a centre-front seam, which might even make this a stash-busting pattern.  I wouldn't pay a lot for the pattern though because the vent at centre back is not the schmick kind, and the waistband is cut as a straight piece but seems to need a bit of curve.

I'm considering making this in one of my Tessuti remnant sale pieces... no promises of course :-)