I bought Vogue 1543, a vintage Vogue Emanuel Ungaro pattern in an opshop in Launceston, Tasmania several years ago and have been wanting to make it for a while, especially the top.

The pattern is from the 1990s and most surprisingly it was in my size.

I chose a lovely Indian Ikat from Woven Stories Textiles, which I’ve had in the stash for too long. This pattern takes quite a lot of fabric and of course I didn’t have enough, so had to chop a lot off the length of the pattern, and now it’s more top than tunic, but I still love it.

I used small pearl buttons from my stash for the front. As with a lot of vintage patterns, the armscyes are too high, so I’ll change this for the next version.

We had a picnic in Kings Park overlooking the city, on quite a nice evening. I thought I’d wear it with a Pattern Union Eva Tee underneath it.

As the evening got cooler I donned a Stitch Diva Studios Endless knitted cardi shawl, which I made about ten years ago and still love.

I took this photo as I was checking how much the top rode up, and in spite of the high armscyes, it seems that it’s very little. I’m actually looking forward to making this again at the proper length. When I get time I’ll have a burrow in the stash and see what I can find.

I used some of the scraps from this top to make a pincushion which was part of the Making Zen online retreat.

I filled it with crushed walnut shells, but had to top it up twice, and it’s still a bit soft. However, it sits nicely on the arm of my chair, and works well. It is a bird but if viewed the wrong way up it looks like a dolphin or even a platypus!

Finally, a photo of Miss G in the park playground. Granddad laid down for a rest and she thought she’d join him. She’s looking at a piece of broken equipment and discussing it with Granddad – if you can imagine how a two year old discusses such things!