Diane's Barkcloth Bolero

This morning I have been making a bolero jacket for Diane.

She chose the barkcloth herself, and sent it over to me to be transformed. It's a Robert Kaufmann design, in a 1950s style.

The ends of the sleeves are trimmed with a narrow black bias binding, and the lining is also plain black.

If I'd been making this for myself, I might have lined it in the deep red, or the mustard yellow, or even the olive green, and trimmed the sleeves with the same colour. Then I would have made a plain black dress to wear with it, with trim to match...

I don't know what outfit Diane has in mind, but I'd love to see some photos of it!

Fastest Skirts in the West!

So fast, in fact, that I made two!

The pink flame skirt is a commission from Pink Weasel, and the skull one is for me.

The pattern is a really simple a-line skirt. The waist is drafted slightly larger than the hip measurement (so you can get it on and off!), and then gathered in again by the wide elastic at the top. This gives a lovely full swingy skirt, without having acres of excess fabric all bunched up around the middle.

Both skirts are just waiting to be edged with black cotton broderie anglais lace. This should balance out the waistband at the top, and add that extra little bit of girliness!

Now to investigate how many colours I can get hold of in the bomber jacket elastic, and then I can make some more...