Oh hey-a! I’ve been making some more stuff for Le Daughter… recently I went around to her place on an important mission: Wardrobe Assessment and Consultation following the Winter Blahs. She was feeling meh about all her clothes, so we went through EVERYTHING and worked out new combinations, identified tired stuff, rediscovered forgotten stuff, and dreamed up new stuff to fill some holes. It was actually great fun! we did the same thing with my wardrobe too; so useful. I reckon we could stand to do this every six months or so. Keeps things fresh, and you know how you tend to wear the same things over and over and over again and sometimes don’t seen yourself how tired and ratty things are getting? Just grab yourself a trusted friend/daughter/mum that doesn’t mind giving you the hard truth and have at it. It’s SO worth it!
Anyway, so we made a little list. Cassie wanted some more options to wear to work; she works in an office but in a very creative field, so along with the more professional stuff she sometimes likes to wear pieces that are fun, humorous and “arty” yet still city and office appropriate. She had a small piece of Batman print fabric leftover from when she made some pj shorts for her brothers, and I still had some yellow corduroy leftover from my own yellow corduroy skirt… the yellow is a perfect match for the small blotches of yellow in the Batman print, and I just managed to squeeze the pieces out with only one bit of piecing inside the pockets (see composite picture below). The Batman fabric… now it IS fun, but let’s face it; professionally iffy… To twee, to not to twee, that is the question. Then I thought of the black leather sleeves and we both went Oh yeah!! I think they “adult” the print up a bit, make it kinda cool and ok. Also; I like how from a distance the Batman print could just pass as a nice, blue/black/white nondescript print, and it’s only when you get up close you notice that it’s actually a cartoon. The black pleather is leftover from my shoemaking adventures. All fabrics are originally from Spotlight.
Patterns: the skirt is Vogue 1247. I do really love this pattern but to be honest, I’m getting a wee bit tired of making it?! I’ve just made SO MANY, and even though I love all of them to bits I think I just need a little break…!! Anyway, this was requested, and those pockets were the drawcard. I used some deeper gold cotton to bind all the seams; this is a leftover from Cassie’s Lucy Hartfilia costume… so in actual fact, her entire ensemble is a glorious mishmash of completely unrelated leftovers. Amazing how things can come together, no?!
Top is the epaulette cut & sewn top from “she has a mannish style”, by Yuko Takada. I’ve only just made this pattern up for myself, here; and coincidentally also with black pleather sleeves!
I took this picture to send to her when I’d finished the outfit. She was so pleased!
I love this funky look, that top is amazing!! And I need a skirt like that in my wardrobe, I’m not hugely adventurous but I think a bright skirt would be fab.
thank you Lynsey! a bright skirt is a surprisingly useful thing to have in the wardrobe! 😉 *enabling*
I love this! A perfect blend of work style and artsy fun!
Such a fun outfit! I must try that skirt!
Cute! love seeing you and your family having fun. And Cassie is just lovely.
I adore this! I know what you mean about the skirt – I felt a bit the same, so drafted one in my pattern making class and was a tad bemused to see that it’s very similar to Vogue 1247!
Lovely outfit and lovely post. You made me smile and laugh.
very cute outfit. I will never get tired of that skirt pattern, to me it is the greatest skirt pattern ever. Although I have never made it exactly as the instructions state 🙂
What a luck to have a daughter, isn’t it? The whole outfit you made her is beautiful. I like those crazy prints you can only recognize looking at close range! The skirt is a colourful basic.
Really fab outfit!! Even cooler that they were all unrelated leftovers!
I love that skirt too! I’ve never sewn with pleather but in the pics it really does look like leather! I made a similar top (using the Scout Tee from Grainline) out of a nice rayon for the body and silk for the sleeves. Reading your description of the wardrobe revamp and examination reminded me I just do that too. You are you SO right that we tend to get into habits of just grabbing the same thing to wear all the time and so many things find their way to the bottom of the drawer or back of the closet and we forget we have them 🙂 I did that once with my aunt because she couldn’t bring herself to part with anything and honestly her closet was so stuffed she didn’t even go into it anymore! We had about 6 garbage bags FULL to take to the thrift store once we were done and she was so happy. Great post as always Caroline. Love that yellow skirt and batman top. Arty yet dressy too with those pleather sleeves.
thank you very much Kathleen! 🙂
What a lovely Mum you are. Just contemplating making another of these skirts for the winter, I like colour in the dreary cold months, so you have inspired me again thanks
I do a wardrobe swap over every season. Some good stuff goes in the drawers under the bed in the spare room and I weed out stuff I know I am not going to wear and either go for a refashion, fix, gift a friend or just say goodbye. That is one useful skirt, I see why you have made it so many times. Jo x
Perfect blend of art meets professional matching Cassie’s personality perfectly as that first picture shows quite well!! And how fun to have similar tastes with your daughter…. to enjoy clothes together like a bff.
Looks cool and totally grown-up! I love that you only see Cassie is wearing a batman top when you come close and from far everything just looks so nice together!
whaou !!!! so fun
thank you! xx 🙂
Fab use of left overs to create this outfit. I’m quite envious of you mother/daughter relationship. Great work as always.
Love! So good that you and Cassie can do this with each other!
thank you! It is fun being able to still “dress” her, so to speak! 🙂
I really love this outfit. It’s amazing how well you put it together using left over fabric from different projects! Very resourceful indeed and it turned out so beautiful.
Oh I love this outfit you made for your daughter. You are right. It is not until you get close that you can see the cartoon. Nevertheless, you used the fabric perfectly. Very creative interpretation of an office appropriate ensemble! I love it.
I thought I recognised another V1247 skirt on your IG feed. Lovely skirt and top combo!
If you are looking for another little skirt to try out for a change have a gander at in house patterns New York mini. Wearing mine right now and its a goodie!
thanks so much, JenC! I will definitely check them out 🙂
A great fun outfit and the yellow skirt is so perfect for spring.
Such a cool outfit! I love the idea of the geeky print with the more glam sleeves.
Very cool use of the fabrics in your “hope to use again” stash. The photo is creative and perfect for the outfit. Really amazing.
thank you so much! 🙂
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