I have had SO much wear out of my slinky black jersey Vogue 1250. Not as a dress, but as a draped top that goes with my fave grey wool Aline skirt, easily dressed up & down with different silk scarves, tights & boots.
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| Am actually part way up a large rock, while supervising small children |
FunkBunny's fabulous Opp shop provided several metres of peacock blue ponte just as I was searching for some, so I cut out V1250 again, using a size 10 bodice and 14 hip from just above the waist/side darts. It works, but there's nowhere to hide...
So, after getting a thumbs up for the bodice enhancing fabric mass by DH, I went with my gut and added a large pouch pocket. It has transformed it from Vogue's image of sexy office wear to a more Japanese relaxed vibe - I was trying to channel Oanh's Lola, I admit it, and it's now practical - look ma, pockets!!! ;)
I considered a bottom hem band (again with the Lola channelling), but have left it off for now.
With some of the remaining ponte, I blatantly copied Blogless Anna's wonderful great wool (and pink chevrons!) shrugs from the Japanese sewing book Me&May.
For more details on the pattern, please drool over her version & it's binding, and for even more inspiration, Thornberry's made a few too ;)
The Shrug-a-lution has begun!
My other exciting sewing news is that I stitched both dress and shrug on my new to me Vintage Italian Necchi. This lovely, all metal, Italian design, assembled in Australia, 1960's machine made short work of both 10 layers of cotton and, with a ball point needle, switched gears to sew the ponte knit without a hiccup. Thanks Mike for pointing me towards the Necchi!
In non-sewing news, we went out for a family drive today - aka tire the boys out... and found a gorgeous old bluestone bridge. We then moved to the fabulous Woodlands Park, just next to Melbourne's Tullamarine airport, said hi to the retired thoroughbred horses, spotted dozens of large grey kangaroos and literally sat on one of 100 geocaches - what a perfect spot to spend time between flights!
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| Yes, I am poking my sons with a stick to stop the photobombing |
Ha! Because you poking the boys with a stick is the only probable explanation to that photo!! I can't believe you found this length of fabric at an op shop- I really need to be a bit more proactive & keep my eyes peeled for gems like this.
ReplyDeleteThanks Jenny ;) I've been pleasantly surprised at some of the gems - the leather half hide (& the rest!) is still my most impressive find - although there have been a few that never lost the mothball smell... I'm playing fair though & have donated back a few good lengths.
ReplyDeleteI'm with Jenny - I can't believe this is an op shop find. I'm always checking out the fabric in op shops but rarely find anything other that metres of mushroom beige polyester. Erk. AAdding the pockets to V1250 definitely makes it worthy of inclusion in the next volume of Drape Drape.
ReplyDeleteWonderful outfit!
ReplyDeleteThanks Paola - I can only imagine that DrapeDrape4 will include it cut as a single piece that will require 2.7m of 1.6m double knit though! ;)
ReplyDeleteThank you very much ;)
ReplyDeleteThis is lovely and the giant pocket is inspired, I can see this will become a much used item of your wardrobe.
ReplyDeleteI love the dress with the shrug! It almost looks like one piece at times. I think I need a shrug like this in my life. Love the big pocket, too.
ReplyDeleteThanks Louise - the pocket 'needed' to be large or it didn't look right ... - and as a bonus, it's really practical! I think I might add pockets to a few more dresses, as I do find myself reaching for outfits with pockets by preference.
ReplyDeleteThank you ;) I'm quite enamoured by the 2 items together as well - maybe our fore-mothers were onto something with all those dress & matching jacket patterns! It was a sudden shift to no pocket dresses around the 50's I think? - lets ensure they never go away again! ;)
ReplyDeleteWow, that dress is amazing! HOW did you find this fabric at an op shop?? I've obviously been looking in all the wrong ones...
ReplyDeleteI have got to keep up with my reading- I missed this bit of blie heaven. Total envy, as always!
ReplyDeleteThanks Anne ;) And I was thinking of you & your DH's photoshoots when mine's eyes lit up on seeing a field with a gorgeous vista - not seeing the masses of knee high thistles and my bare legs....
ReplyDeleteJust getting caught up on all of your makes over the past few months, my gosh you have been busy! What a wardrobe you've created - so many beautiful pieces - bravo!!
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