Urban Simplicity: Water to Wine

Friday, October 2, 2015

Water to Wine

It is cold and rainy today, so getting photos this morning was a bit of a job. Apologies in advance for poor quality! Also: I took these after school drop off, so I'm a bit rumpled from being in the car and having children climbing all over me this morning.

This is the second blouse and skirt I made last weekend (although, I made both before the blouse and skirt from yesterday). The skirt is on the same model as the navy one, except I used decorative buttons on the pockets (I happened to have purchased a perfectly matching set around the same time as the fabric!)

This skirt does feel just ever so slightly bigger around the waist and hips, but I think that is okay. It is a difference of a centimeter or two, not inches. I fitted this one on my body as I was making it, whereas I felt more confident about the fit by the time I got to the navy one and put in the darts before sewing it up, which probably contributed a little to the small fit differences. The burgundy is quite a bit darker than it looks in these photos--it is a really saturated wine color.

The buttons are vintage--probably 1930s, if I had to hazard a guess, going by the style and materials. They are a perfect match and I really like the Art Deco detailing on the top.

I didn't have enough to put the same type of button on the waist closure, but I had a lone button in my stash that coordinated well enough. #horseshoesandhandgrenades

Nothing much to note about the blouse. It was a 1980s rayon challis remnant that I received as a birthday gift two summers ago, and just got up the courage to cut into.

It is wonderfully soft and drapey, and I'm totally happy with how it came out. I just made a basic Portrait blouse, with bias binding for the neck and hem. After taking pictures, I realized that the neckline looks as if it isn't lying flat, but I think that is to do with the photos--it seems to lie flat when I'm not futzing with a camera.

There are some beige and pinkish tones in the flowers, so I think it will look nice with a taupe wool skirt I have in my winter clothes, or even the navy skirt from yesterday. I really love the soft floral print.

I interfaced the skirt waistband with Petersham, as with the navy skirt, and worked the buttonhole by hand with embroidery floss. I do wish I had made the slash pockets a bit deeper, so that the button details were more obvious from the front, but on the other hand, having them a bit more subtle keeps the skirt from becoming a "specialty" garment. Overall, the skirt and blouse just feel like nice basic additions to my fall line up, and I'm pretty happy with them.

It was cold enough to put on a wool sweater this morning! I pulled out a yellow-gold 1940s resin brooch to pair with it. I love this style of pin (and I got lucky with the purchase--it was a great find on etsy. It isn't in perfect shape, but I don't care--it still has plenty of wear left!)