SWAP!
I have had a mammoth dressup-and-selfie session. Aaaaagh! How do models do it?! Please excuse any grim, loopy, vacant or otherwise weird facial expressions that pop up randomly amongst the following pics.
The good thing is that I am even more confident now that I have made a fairly cohesive collection and everything goes together pretty much as it should: and most importantly, I actually like it all and know I will enjoy wearing everything. The former is never a foregone conclusion, so that was a particular relief. 🙂
To summarise: the eleven pieces comprise three 3-packs; that is, three sets of three items that go together; and two wild cards. My three packs each have one skirt and two tops, and my two wild cards are a dress and a coat.
All the things: and each is linked to their original construction posts.
The Alabama Chanin 3-pack:
1) a fully embroidered mid-length skirt;
2) a fully embroidered fitted tank and
3) a plain fitted tank;
The first two are hand-stencilled and -embroidered and all three are completely hand-sewn, and all patterns are from the book Alabama Studio Sewing + Design, by Natalie Chanin. The midi skirt was the most major and labour intensive item of the entire swap, the embroidery alone taking hours upon hours of my time. I couldn’t even tell you how many … LOTS! just about sums it up, I think! The embroidered fitted tank looks deceptively little but was also quite major, coming in second place in time consumption. I’m almost too scared to wear these two pieces! but I’m pretty stoked with them. The little white fitted tank was a spur of the moment decision, a substitute for a different sleeveless white top that I had initially planned for the swap. It was relatively quick and easy, and I’ve already worn it a few times.
The Ivory 3-pack:
4) Vogue 1170 skirt in ivory leatherette
5) the loose drapey top from the book Drape Drape by Hisako Sato, in ivory rayon/linen knit and
6) Tao blouse, by Tamanegi Kobo, white silk/linen dyed pale cocoa brown
I’d originally planned for my big baggy pockets skirt to be the “bottom” in this group but changed my mind in favour of this twirly little leatherette skirt instead. I swapped out my swap, haha! Reason being that I ended up making the other skirt a quite long midi-length skirt, so it has a very similar silhouette to the Alabama Chanin skirt; this one is very different in length and style to my other two swap skirts and so I decided it adds a bit more variety to the mix. OK, I admit I realised that only, like two days ago; when I wore it together with my brand new cardigan! Revelation, and last minute change of plans! Fortunately I made it within the swap time-frame so it fits in with the rules. The ivory cowl neck top; I’d originally planned a long-sleeved Tshirt but the fabric was so thin I made the decision to make a double-layered, sleeveless top instead. The pale cocoa blouse was initially planned to be made with patched-together pieces, all dyed in slightly different shades of brown, but I decided that would be a bit too OTT so I made it plain. So retrospectively, this is rather colourless and undramatic little group, but y’know what? I’m very happy with all three pieces, and even more at how they will work beautifully with, like every single thing else in my wardrobe.
The Autumnal 3-pack;
7) patchwork skirt adapted from Vogue 8363, made from old jeans
8) hand-knitted Miette cardigan, a design by Andi Satterlund, in aran tweed yarn and
9) top X from the book Stylish Dress Book, by Yoshiko Tsukiori, white broderie anglaise
The sludge-coloured patchwork skirt, well yes, it is pretty eye-catching and more than a bit weird I admit that, but man it’s so comfy and I feel pleasantly kooky and a bit avant grade wearing it too. The white broderie anglaise blouse; from the very first I’ve loved wearing this nice summery breezy thing! and something like this can be a nice transitional item, worn with more wintery skirts just as the weather starts to cool off just a bit. I really like the contrast of the delicate white broderie anglais against rough, sombre, rustic patchwork of the skirt. The mustard cardigan was supposed to be a jacket, but I’m relieved I went for it as a cardi instead.
The wild cards;
10) (out of print) Vogue 2438, an Issey Miyake designed dress, chocolate brown pin-striped cotton, and
11) McCalls 5525 trench, charcoal check wool with ivory leatherette piping.
Both made entirely to plan. I’ve worn the chocolate dress a few times; it’s a simple and comfy, and quietly unusual. I like it more and more each time, and think it’s going to be a long-term favourite 🙂
As well as the 3-packs, I took some photos of other combinations just to show how everything goes well together. I only took the one photo above with the coat, but that’s OK; it’s a coat and so it will just get tossed over everything when it’s cold. Otherwise, I think I’ve covered many of the possible wearing combinations of everything. I might have missed one or two, but yah, I’m OK with that. I kinda OD’ed on playing dress-ups yesterday and so I can live without photos for a while. Phew!
So! This swap is finished. Please imagine that spoken in the same tone as Poltergeist’s “This house is clean”.
A post mortem… Well, probably it was good for my self discipline to be sensible and methodical, instead of my usual habit of haphazardly and whimsically making whatever my flighty self desires on the spur of any random moment regardless of whether or not it goes with anything else in my wardrobe, ahem! And I sure do have plenty of autumn/winter things to choose from now! 😉 I really like all the things, and so it’s funny to me that some of them I probably wouldn’t have chosen to make without that plan. Meaning, maybe it can be a good thing to force yourself to plan and add “usefully” to your wardrobe.
However, since sewing is my creative outlet as well as a purely practical means of clothing myself, then wild, thoughtless sewing maelstroms are kinda balm for my soul. And so I reckon it’s OK to indulge occasionally. Within reason, of course. 😉
