Fashioning a Summer [wardrobe]
Putting a pause on historical costuming! It’s getting sad to see all that hard work hanging up in a closet until I can find a weird event to wear them to. For now, I’ve moved on to regular clothes!
I’ve stayed away from regular fashion design for years because it’s not actually any cheaper than just buying clothes at the store, and it’s a lot of work for something that may go out of style in a season or two. But I thought I’d give it a try again, with some simple stuff I can wear for a long time. Pinterest has really served as the mood board inspo for things I want to make. The oranges and creams! The linens! The drape!
So far I’ve made a pair of pants, two shirts, and a jacket. For the jacket, I used McCall pattern M8011 with a tan faux suede fabric. I also lined the jacket with the same fabric (but inside out) and a layer of batting because I actually want the jacket to be warm! It was pretty difficult to make this jacket since I hadn’t made one before, and if I had to do it over there is a lot I would do differently (because suede is a bitch fabric, my buttonholes look sloppy, and I have limited arm mobility in the sleeves). But overall it looks pretty good for a first try!
For the pants, I wanted a cropped, wide-leg look. I used both Peppermint Magazine’s free pattern and New Look pattern R10283 and adjusted the length of the mid-rise waist so they were high-waisted. I used a burnt orange linen/cotton blend, which drapes beautifully but of course gets super wrinkly!
Both shirts were self-drafted and made from a linen/cotton blend (the orange one is the same fabric as the pants). When I say self-drafted, I mean that I draped muslin (an unbleached cotton fabric used to create patterns) on my dress form the way I wanted the shirt to look, then I removed the muslin and traced it onto paper, and used the paper as my pattern to cut out the real fabric. Now that I have a dress form, this is SO MUCH EASIER than trying to do it on myself. This is the first self-drafting I’ve ever done! Luckily the two shirts are drapey and don’t require much fitting anyway, but they were so fun to make—especially the poofy bell sleeves! If you voted in my poll on Instagram, thanks for helping me decide if the sleeves had too much poof—the overwhelming consensus was that they were just right.
I’ve already worn the white tank and the pants numerous times, and will probably make a second pair of pants out of a white twill (denim) soon. I have so many more ideas for new clothes now! And I can’t wait to wear the orange shirt and the jacket at some point when it gets chillier out.
I’m considering starting a sewing Instagram for my various projects. Let me know if that’s something you’d be interested in! Since there’s still not much to do during this strange socially distant season, I’m learning to fashion my own summer.
