1930's green and orange blouse

 My go to outfit over the summer has been a solid coloured skirt (of which I have now made five) with a Smooth Sailing blouse. This is yet another reiteration.

The blouse is made of some vintage fabric of unknown origins, and the colour reminds me of something from the 1930's. It's rather different from what I usually wear, so it was finished for a few months before I finished my brown Ella skirt. Thankfully it was the perfect combination and looked exactly what I was envisaging in my head.
I had the perfect vintage orange buttons, but only had four, so skipped the bottom button hole. Construction was very straight forward- I cut the main body stripes vertically and the yokes horizontally.

I've also added in a detail shot form when I was making my Ella skirt. The yoke curves into a point where the top seam of the pleat sits.

That's all for now. I have a lot more to show you over the coming weeks, but I am finding it hard to get outfit photos!

The Ella Skirt

 

Have you ever had a sewing project that has been in your mind for years? For me it is this brown skirt. Back in the 1980's my grandmother, Ella, made my Mum this gorgeous brown gabardine skirt with a curved yoke and two deep pleats. I loved it, but it was much too small for me, so I decided that I would make my own version. Surprisingly, the original pattern was long gone. I dithered over what to do for a while, but then I decided I needed to draft it myself. I'd already bought some chocolate brown chino (that matched my blouses better than the original colour) and I knew I wouldn't be satisfied with a simple gored skirt.

I've done a smidgeon of pattern drafting over the years, usually fiddling around with pre-existing patterns, and the most I've done was with my wedding dress skirt, which took a number of attempts to get right. A few months ago, I just decided to jump in. I got out my Simplicity 6862 basic fore gore skirt pattern and using that as the block I spent a couple of hours drawing yokes, adding and removing seam allowances, and working out how to sew the pleats. I then made it up in some  navy, and it worked! I was so relieved. The brown skirt followed soon after. So that's the story of the pattern I've christened the Ella skirt. I'll be back next week with a post detailing construction etc, as the beauty of this skirt is in the details.

The blouse is yet another Smooth Sailing in a rayon that started life as a 1980's opshop dress made in Indonesia. I have very little to add about this pattern, other than I still love it and cannot see myself stopping making it any time soon.

Thanks to my sister for the photo!