Cabbage Roses

Sometimes it's the projects that rattle around in your head for years that are the most satisfying. 

And, more importantly, when you give an idea a bit of time to breathe, sometimes the process becomes more streamlined.

I knew that I wanted to do something with the remaining pieces of this upholstery fabric after making the skirt a few years back.  And I really did hope that I could squeeze a jacket out of them.

I had a couple of patterns in mind, but nothing was perfect.  I was also going to have to make some significant alterations, including adding or changing collar pieces. 

That was going to be a lot of work, and I couldn't be sure that I would be completely happy with the outcome.

I forgot about the remaining yardage for a while, until I happened upon a box of forgotten vintage patterns.  Simplicity 2841 was exactly what I was looking for.

It's embarrassing to admit that I had a box of patterns that I forgot about, but maybe not that surprising considering the amount of them that are stashed away.  But the double breasted 1960s silhouette was exactly what I had imagined to pair with the pleated skirt . . . which reminded me of the abandoned upholstery fabric remnants that I had put away.

A resolution that comes up for me again and again is to use the patterns that have been stashed away for an extended period of time instead of whatever shiny new design gets released and distracts me.

I have been slightly better about that, although there is always room for improvement.

Thankfully, a new pattern often reminds me of a stashed fabric, where an older pattern may require a bit of fabric shopping.  Funny how that works out.

For the time being, however, I really do want to work with the items that I have on hand as the sewing room is getting rather crowded.  This project just happened to use vintage fabric and a forgotten vintage pattern.  And it doesn't get much better than that!

Jacket:  Made by me, Simplicity 2841
Skirt:  Made by me, Butterick 6556
Shoes:  Miss L Fire
Necklace:  Estate Sale

The Cropped Jacket

It may have taken years, but I finally made a matching jacket for my pleated skirt.

While doing a bit of decluttering in the sewing room, I came across Simplicity 2841.  It was just the type of jacket design that I had thought would pair perfectly with my pleated skirt and it seemed like as good a time as any to make it.

The fabric matches a wing backed chair that lived in my Grandmother's home, although I am somewhat confused by the remaining and somewhat oddly sized pieces that were left.  This couldn't have been ripped from the chair itself as there is little to no wear on the textile, but it also doesn't have any stitched hemlines that I would associate with discarded curtains.  But no matter, it ended up in my hands, and I am very glad that it did.

I had thought about possible patterns for this fabric last year, but I knew that I was going to have to significantly alter the jacket pattern that I had in mind, and I am so pleased that I waited until I came across this vintage pattern.

The size of this particular pattern is larger than I usually use, but I was more concerned about making all of the pieces fit on the random fabric scraps that I had available to me. 

And while I technically was not able to fit all of my pieces on the fabric, it's not apparent from the outside of the garment, which is all that matters!

As is a common occurrence around these parts lately, I did not have a suitable lining fabric.  But I do have more of that striped silk . . . 

One bottle of Rit Dye later, and I had a (much brighter than expected) pink lining.

Although it is not marked on the pattern piece, the instructions mention adding a pleat to the upper edge of the bodice back lining, however, they push the piece off grain to accommodate the upper edge, but not the waist edge.  I thought this rather odd, so I just added about one inch of ease along the entire center back, and later pleated the upper neck edge and also the waistline for a couple of inches as I have seen done on at least a few coat patterns.

And while I was somewhat surprised by the dark color that didn't fade with rinsing, it does match extremely well to the darker pink shading in some of the flowers, so that was a happy accident!

The lining was hand stitched into place.

I do enjoy a bit of hand sewing, but also, if you have been around vintage clothing, it is common to have the lining fail when the rest of the garment is in great condition.  If that lining is hand stitched, it is SO much easier to remove and replace than if it is machine stitched.  I also find it somewhat irritating to machine stitch two very different types of fabric together (heavy upholstery and lightweight silk would be such a combo) so that's another reason that I prefer hand sewing the lining into place.

And finally, I hand worked an internal buttonhole.  I haven't done one of these in quite some time, and since it is hidden internally because of the double breasted situation, now seemed like the perfect time to get in some hand stitched buttonholes for practice.

As far as the finished product goes, I probably should have sized down slightly with proper drafting through the shoulders.

In the end, I took both side seams and all four darts in at the waistline to give a bit more shape to the jacket.

But the shoulders are a bit dropped for me.  Then again, the illustration does show that shoulder hanging off of the model's shoulder, so perhaps the fit isn't as far off as I imagine.

The good new is that I now have a matching top for my pleated skirt.

And I do think they look great together!

Wearable Curtains

If you have been following this blog, you are probably familiar with my love of upholstery fabric for garment sewing.

It's beautiful, sturdy, and I love the oversized prints.

This particular skirt is made from some rather special upholstery fabric.  It was once curtains and a wing back chair owned by my maternal Grandmother; I believe her sister covered the chair, and I am not sure who made the matching curtains.  I am not entirely clear on what became of the chair, but I don't believe the fabric remnants I have were ripped from a chair because they are in pretty good shape!  So the yardage in my possession was probably leftovers and maybe some curtain pieces.

I knew that I would eventually make something with the fabric, and after stitching together my first Butterick 6556 dress (which, coincidentally, was also made from upholstery fabric), I thought that the pleated skirt pieces would make an excellent skirt.  And I am so glad I went ahead with the project!

The top is The Gable Top from Jennifer Lauren Handmade.  This version was a bit of a test as the pattern is meant for a much lighter weight knit fabric with more stretch than the pink ponte I chose. 

I love my polka dot Gable that was made from a rayon spandex.  This top, unfortunately, does not get nearly as much wear since it is not as comfortable.  The ponte just doesn't have the same kind of stretch, and the mistake is entirely mine.  But that's just part of my learning process with knit fabrics; I still have so much to learn with stretchy textiles.  

I do adore the pink color, which is why I purchased the yardage.  But I just couldn't see wearing such a light colored knit fabric on the lower half of my body, so it had to be a top.  That's my own hangup, but I just don't think it looks good.  ("People of Walmart" flesh colored leggings come to mind, and I never plan to be the person wearing light colored leggings as a pigment challenged individual. Those photos give me nightmares.  If you have beautifully pigmented skin, go ahead and rock those pale pink or taupe colored leggings, but why on earth does anyone want to wear leggings that are almost the same shade as their skin?!!?)  And why do I think that a shirt that is a pretty good match to my skin tone is acceptable?  I can't quantify it, but in my world, it works.  Moving on . . .

The really nice part about this print is that the color palette goes with so many of my tops and sweaters, which is probably the reason it gets so much wear.  And now I'm off to go find even more cool toned pink and maroon fabrics to make more blouses to match.

Top:  Made by me, "The Gable Top" by Jennifer Lauren Handmade
Skirt:  Made by me, Butterick 6556
Shoes:  American Duchess "Marilyn Pumps"

Whatever Happened to that Wingback Chair?

As I was going through old photos, I came across this skirt.  For some reason, the project never made it to the blog, so I am going to remedy that.

This is upholstery fabric that my Grandmother used for some home decor projects.  My Mom brought me the remaining pieces which had been stored over the years in Pennsylvania.  She knows how much I love an oversized floral!

It was folded up and forgotten in my sewing room for a couple of years until I made Butterick 6556 and I realized what a wonderful skirt the pattern would make with the simple addition of a waistband.  The remaining pieces of upholstery fabric happened to be almost exactly the size needed for each pleated pattern piece.  It was meant to be!

I pick-stitched the zipper by hand, and added a single bound buttonhole at center back.

The fabric is rather weighty, so I used a dark green scrap of silk organza (that I hand dyed for this epic project!) to make the facing window.  [Which is the main reason I never manage to get rid of my fabric scraps . . . they may come in handy somewhere down the line.]

I think I would have had trouble using a machine to make a buttonhole with this fabric, by even so, the extra time it takes to make a bound buttonhole is so worth it!!

I also added two ribbon hangers at each side seam.  In this case, I attached each one at two separate points because of the weight of the fabric; this works better than folding the ribbon in half and attaching at a single point when the garment is substantial.

And I gave my skirt a nice wide hem because it makes a garment hang so nicely.

This skirt comes out to play quite often.  It's comfy, and I just can't resist that print!

Do I look like a sofa in granny's living room?  Maybe so.  But I love this skirt!