Last weekend we had the first ever Perth Frocktails event. For those of you unfamiliar with the concept, Frocktails was an event started on the eastern seaboard of Australia and I have watched with some envy all the preparations for the various Frocktails events. Anyway, Perth now has its own thanks to Nat from www.sewoutnumbered.com!
The only real rule for Frocktails is that the attendees wear something they’ve made themselves. I had plans. I was going to make a silk dress and a capelet, but what I finished up wearing was this lace outfit.
So what went wrong? Well everything! I started too late and didn’t have time to consider what I was doing. I toiled the capelet, but it is very strange. I battled away but could not make it sit right. It is too big in the hips, but I figured that was an easy fix, but the cape part and the collar would not behave. I have not taken any photos of the disaster, but I might take some at a future date.
I then turned to the silk dress which was duly cut out and French seams were sewn, but then the zip refused to go in. I interfaced the back seam, but I still got dreadful wrinkles. I took that zip out at least three times, and in the end I hand sewed it in. I decided that to rush the dress was a mistake, so it is now in the naughty corner, and I turned my attention to the lace outfit.
The top was made some time ago (blogged here). It was a Burda pattern that was also a disaster, but which I managed to salvage. I have never worn this top as I felt it was rather “mother of the bride”. However, its time had come! I found some silk the same colour as the blouse and made a Colette Patterns Sorbetto, which is a free pattern. I simply omitted the centre pleat and I had a tank top to wear under the blouse. I had quite a bit of the lace as I had stalked the fabric in Spotlight for many weeks. Eventually it was on sale with a further 30% if I bought the whole roll. I bought the whole roll. Luckily there were only three or four metres left on it, so it all came home with me. I decided to make a pencil skirt from some of the leftovers, using the pattern that I developed at Workspace-FADS during my pattern making class. To make it less of a match, I lined the skirt with black silk. I didn’t mind them together too much. It might be the last time I wear them together though, I think I might make each of them a partner.
I put an invisible zip in the back, but it’s not quite invisible. Oh well. Sorry about the umbrellas. I didn’t notice them until I looked at the photos – what’s with that?
The skirt was a reasonably quick make. I didn’t need to hem it as I used the lace edging at the bottom, and there is no waistband – I simply sewed the lining in to the top of the skirt and caught it along the zip. It basically took a morning to make.
The bag is a Japanese knot bag that I made as a practice for an upcoming sewalong that I am conducting. The bag is embellished with chiffon and metallic thread and ribbon and is quite nice as an evening bag.