Whew, it has been a crazy couple of months, or weeks, or whatever it has been since I last blogged! :-O Time is flying by, life is somewhat crazy, sorrows and emotions come on at the strangest moments, but all in all the Lord is good. He continues to uphold us and carry us through in a miraculous way.
Now for today's post; we have had downright glorious weather here of late, so the other day we finally broke down and went out for some photos! It was wonderful to be in short sleeves and *sandals* and be just the right temperature! And I can't say I was unhappy about the clouds - they prevented me from having to be clothed in sunglasses the whole time. ;P
I made this outfit almost a year ago, but it never found its way into a photo shoot until just this past week. The skirt is made from some glorious fabric we bought at Hancock ages ago - it is a perfect weight for skirts, and doesn't wrinkle much at all. I used Vogue 9000 to make it, this time making it as full as the pattern showed, unlike my polka dot dress. I really like that pattern for a skirt, and when you have 60" wide fabric, it doesn't eat it up quite so viciously like it definitely does on 45" fabric.
As for the blouse, well, it was quite an experience! I started out wanting to do a wacky '50s stand-up collar like this, only with the "V" in front instead of back. So, basically, making it backwards. Needless to say, that plan didn't work out so well....at all, so I was left to come up with a new plan for my freshly cut-up blouse. Finally I decided to try drafting my own collar - I don't really know where I came up with the idea for the shape, but I followed this tutorial for how to draft it, and found it to be extremely helpful! I did the partial roll version, and it lays quite nicely.
I used a '30s Playtime print for the bodice of the blouse, and some pink polka dot from the Windham McCall's collection, I believe it was, for the contrast.
If the truth were known, almost every '50s garment would probably be better with winged cuffs, so I had lots of fun putting them on this blouse. ;) I used the cuff from Butterick 6018 as a guide, altering the shape a little bit.
I really like these particular cuffs because they actually stay stiff and pointed on their own, even after repeated washings, without having to be tacked together.
I can't remember for sure which pattern I used for the bodice of the blouse, but I believe it may have been Simplicity 2154, with added kimono sleeves and a different neckline, of course.
Since the greenery outside is not exactly green these days, and we found our favorite wall at the train station turned into a parking lot for the day, we decided to try a good old-fashioned train track photo shoot. ;) No trains came by while we were at it (thankfully....haha!), so I think we can call it a success.
This hat is a favorite of mine, even if it isn't in the greatest condition - we found it at a local antique shop last year for a song, and it is just a lot of fun to wear! Plus it stayed on all day long on a windy day, so now I like it even more! ;)
Thanks for stopping by and putting up with my irregular blogging schedule! ;) Have a lovely weekend!
