Making this piñata, I mean… outfit was a random, didn’t really care about the outcome, “just because” bit of experimental fun… so of course it turned out perfect. I love it.
So, we were going down to our beach house for the week between Christmas and New Year … and I have this teeny tiny dinky little sewing machine that I keep there and was thinking it was high time to give it a little workout. Other than one other time I made a “real” garment, a pair of shorts, it’s been a strictly curtain-hemming and minor mending jobber. btw, I gave those shorts to Cassie recently, she looks so much better in them!
This cheap little sewing kit that I bought from Coles a few years ago lives in the beach house too; it’s pretty much perfect…
So I packed some stuff to take down with me…. fabric, patterns, thread, zip and a button. I even remembered white cotton for facings, and interfacing. Who IS this efficient creature? I don’t even know. Oh, and pompoms!! Why pompoms?? WHY NOT POMPOMS, is more like the question!
I’d bought the fabric from the upholstery section in Spotlight last year; at the time I’d picked it up to cut so I could pay for my things at the cutting counter rather than at the all-inclusive checkout counter, which I had noticed on the way in was HUGE. The things we do sometimes…. #stashenabler Well played Spotlight, oh very well played… I’m sure they sell a lot more fabric that way. I’d also bought the burnt orange pompom trim a few years ago for something else that never got realised… I’d put them both in the “red” cubby hole in my new storage system and thought they looked quite nice together… so fortuitous! My new system is proving itself already!
Clara says hi… #soBIGnow
I chose the simplest and most featureless of patterns, because the super-loud colours plus pompoms is already a busy enough story on its own… The skirt is basically Vogue 1247 stripped back; I lengthened it by about ?10cm? roughly… this pattern always needs lengthening. Also, eliminated the pockets and horizontal seams, and flared out towards the hem a little more to be more A-line. I think unlined summer skirts do need a little more flare to them, makes them cooler and breezier. The top is yet another riff on New Look 6483, a great basic pattern for a simple shell with a whole lot of variations for the sleeve/armhole and neckline. I’ve had it for years and used it loads of times. This is view B, cropped a LOT.
Everything came from my stash; #stashbustingwin and this button! It’s been in my stash for so long, and there’s never been just the right project for it. As soon as I spotted it again in my button bag, I knew its time had come!
My little holiday-house machine is so very un-serious, like using a toy sewing machine, you can’t help yourself but feel like you’re playing while you’re using it. It’s so clunky and little. It doesn’t even do buttonholes. I actually tricked it into doing a sort of buttonhole, by careful zig-zagging, and manipulation of the stitch length and width, and careful realigning of the fabric to do each side.
I had so much fun making this crazy carefree little number! I was on holiday, just having total fun with it, and so making it felt like a holiday too. I think it even looks like a holiday!
Details:
Top; New Look 6483, cropped
Skirt; modified Vogue 1247
Clogs; designed and made by me, details here
my favourite bit… the pompoms!
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