SWAP Set 1

February 16, 2014 by sewruth 41 Comments

Can you see any pictures? I’m losing faith in my computer – one minute they’re all there and the next they’re gone!

While I having been blogging about what to do with scraps, I have been sewing up a storm. I just haven’t gotten round to taking photos. My blogging is way behind my sewing, which makes a first!

I have completed Set 1 for my Rainbow SWAP ’14 – the warm coloured end of the light spectrum. I have managed to photograph each item but never altogether as an outfit until today. So this is a bargain blog post – 3 in 1!

Jacket is Vogue 8430, mustard coloured boiled wool with red/pink/burgundy yarns felted in a checked design.

Shirt is vintage Vogue 1437 Danny Nobel designer, multi-colured check cotton, predominantly red, yellow, orange but with green, purple and blue too.

Skirt is Vogue 1247 (yes, again!), burnt orange corduroy.

Now for the nitty gritty details…..

The jacket is already documented here, so we’ll move on to the skirt.

Once again, V1247, lengthened and straightened, lined in my usual way, with a centre back vented split. The only tweaks this time were the inside waistband and pocket binding which match the shirt, and ribbon tabs for hanging up. That’s what we home sewers can do – make matching facings that no-one but us will ever see! Oh the power…….

The shirt is a very old Vogue designer pattern from 1980s. It’s boxy and loose but relatively simple to sew. I’ve made this a few times now including when it was a ‘new’ design; I was 18 and a slimline size 10-12 and made the whole suit in purple twill with an ivory cotton shirt. You can see from the state of the pattern envelope how old this is.

There’s a yoke over the shoulders which is supposed to be loose but I sew mine down and always add a little ribbon and bead in the centre back for an extra personal touch. I didn’t add the huge front pockets this time – there’s really too many checks and colours going on without making it any worse.

I cut the sleeves on the bias a la Shams, not just to get a fancy pattern but really out of sheer laziness so I didn’t have to match the checks! I did however try to match them across the fronts and at the side seams.

There is a little mandarin collar but I most often wear this folded down with the top 2 buttons undone.

And I match the Rothko!

This colour scheme is also a good opportunity for me to wear my unusual orange beads – resin in a trillion different shapes – but mighty heavy due to the hundreds of steel washers that hang around the back of the neck.

Now opinions please…. I like each item individually but I’m not too sure about them all together: yes they match colour-wise and they certainly brighten up a dull winter’s day – but as an ‘outfit’?