I wear what I sew part 4: caramel skirt suit

I'm glad you're all enjoying these posts - but here is the last of the skirt suits that I have made (well winter suits anyway, the summer ones will have to wait). This is the outfit I wore to work last Thursday.

This jacket is also made from Simplicity 9839 - the pattern I used for the maroon suit, but I modified the wing collar to a shawl collar, by redrawing the collar piece with a gentle curve using my French curve rule. This jacket I did line, with a bemsilk lining, because it was very fraying and I wanted to serge the seams rather than bind then, plus I learnt my lesson re lining jackets after the maroon wool jacket. The skirt is made from Vogue 9615, which is an a-line skirt with a wide yoke (but I left off the pockets, because I didn’t need any excess fabric over my saddlebags!).



I made this jacket early last year, and have worn it quite a bit. It is made from polyester - yes I’m admitting it, I don’t ordinarily use polyester fabrics because I prefer natural fibres and I find sewing and pressing polyester a bit hit and miss sometimes. But when I saw the lovely colour and pattern of this fabric in Lincraft, I purchased it (when it was on sale of course) regardless of the polyester-ness of it. There are quite a few pulls in the fabric now due to the loose weave, so I may have to retire it soon. It also wrinkles quite badly for a polyester suit – check out those creases in the sleeves after a day of wear, almost makes me want to keep my arms straight at all times to prevent them!

I wore this suit with a RTW boat neck top in a maroon knit, and matching maroon patent leather peep toe heels. So for last week, by Thursday I was at eleven made garmets from twelve worn garments, with my percentage dropping to 92%. But that is still pretty high, so I'll have to see how long I can keep it up past this week that I'm documenting.

And in response to the question asked on the last post from Lucette, winters in Sydney are very mild. Definately no snow or ice, barely any frost even, and if the temperatures dipped to 10 degrees Celsius it would be on the evening news as a cold snap! Sydney is on the coast, and many people still swim in the ocean during winter (not me though), and in fact many Sydney women despise giving up their flesh baring summer clothes during winter so much that they still get around in open toe sandals, thongs (aka flip flops), skimpy dresses and their fake tans, with their only concession to the cold being a scarf!