Sunday, February 21, 2010

Perfect Day for the New Outfit

Today was an absolutely beautiful day for a photo shoot of the new outfit!  I made a bolero from the following pattern (Simplicity 3879):


The bolero was very easy to make and I definitely want to make more!  The only alteration I made was to shorten the sleeves so that the winged cuffs sit a bit higher on my arms.

I used this amazing cotton leaf-patterned fabric (the leaves are outlined in gold)...It's a busy fabric but absolutely gorgeous:

 

I'm also making the halter top from that pattern in the same purple fabric that I recently used to make a 1940's skirt.  I originally cut out the full skirt from the Simplicity pattern above but the more I thought about it, I realised I wanted more of a pencil skirt shape.  I searched through all my patterns to see if I had a skirt pattern that I could use with the already cut out material.  The only pattern I had that would fit was the skirt from this Butterick dress pattern (I used the slim skirt on the right):


I ended up using the original waistband that I had cut out from the Simplicity pattern and that worked really well to provide a thicker waistband (since the Butterick skirt didn't have one because it's really part of a dress and not a separate skirt pattern at all).  I also did not like the way the darts fit on this skirt so I ended up making two small pleats on each side of the skirt front.  I also ended up tapering the skirt as I sewed down so that it was a bit narrower at the hem.

Lastly, I was looking in one of my favorite stores, Monsoon, and came across a great gold blouse that they had on the clearance rack.  I think it looks perfect with the outfit!!

Here I am in the whole outfit and out and about in our wonderful small historic village in Scotland:

 

  

  
Love the winged tip cuffs!


The hair roll I learned to do from Casey's 40's hairstyle tutorial.  The lipstick is also new from Boots Pharmacy in the shade called "Retro"!


 

  
Lovely little lane in our town...

A close-up of the Monsoon blouse. Isn't it cute?  Reminds me of those keyhole blouses from the 40's.

 
The whole outfit.  Ah, I am so happy with the way it turned out....now we just need some warm weather (it's about 40 degrees in these photos despite the sunshine!!!)


SHARE:

11 comments

  1. Debi, you look utterly gorgeous! The purple and gold combination makes it very regal. I love it!

    Your village is beautiful (I adore Scotland - my favourite place to visit) and looks like a wonderful place to live.

    ReplyDelete
  2. What a great outfit! I thought the blouse looked vintage too -- I was just looking at some vintage blouse patterns and saw one with the exact same neckline -- what a find! And a lovely day to wear it, to boot!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Debi, that is such a stunning outfit! I love love love the purple cuffs on the bolero. You look so chic! The lipstick looks wonderful. Gorgeous!

    ReplyDelete
  4. You look great! Love the fabric...

    ReplyDelete
  5. Adorable! It's like South Pacific comes to Fife! I'll bet you got some stares.

    That hair tutorial looks extremely useful for those of us wrestling with non-retro long locks.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Wow! You look like a total knockout. Love the purple and gold colors. Love your hair and makeup. Everything is perfect.

    ReplyDelete
  7. David Lawrence GrantFebruary 21, 2010 11:49 PM

    Meow rowr!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Wonderful! It turned out great, nicely done!

    ReplyDelete
  9. What a fantastic outfit! Now I wish I'd bought that bolero pattern when I saw it. Plus, your village is pretty much my ideal idea of somewhere 'd like to live.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Left a message on Sew Retro but will leave one here too. To echo what everyone else has said -that outfit looks stunning. The Monsoon top is gorgeous and really could pass as vintage. It also works beautifully with the colours of the skirt and bolero. With that gorgeous light in your photos it makes you looks like you're positively glowing!

    Can't believe you're out like that though - I'm in London and it's freezing. You must be made of sterner stuff!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Saw your name and Sew Weekly and decided to check you out. . . Love the outfit and the colors are great. You are new to sewing? Wow you are doing a great job. I taught myself to sew years ago and left it behind for about 20 years. I hope if I can ever get my machine to work properly again that I will be sewing great garments like you have here. Great job.

    ReplyDelete

I read each and every comment--thank you so much!

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...
MINIMAL BLOGGER TEMPLATES BY pipdig