This year is the 10th anniversary of Perth Frocktails and I have attended them all.

I have made and worn outfits that I’ve never worn since, so over the last three years I decided to wear things that I will wear again, and this year is no exception.

Lindy from Stokx Patterns gifted me the Tulpen top pattern and I immediately knew I had some appropriate fabric in my stash; some pink silk and pink, green and white patterned silk jersey.

The top combines a bias cut woven front with a stretch knit back. It has a front neckline with soft high drape that extends over the shoulder into the back armhole. The back neckline, stabilised with a ribbed band, crosses underneath the draped front into the front armhole.

There are 2 sleeve options:
A 3/4 sleeve in stretch knit or the Tulip sleeve; a floaty wrap sleeve in the same fabric as the front.

I had a couple of dramas with the top, first the darts were too high and when I lowered them, they were too low. It’s quite difficult to adjust long darts after a garment is finished, so there was some fiddling about.

Then I found a vintage green sheet in the box of fabric that had belonged to my son-in-law’s grandmother and thought that a Stokx flirt skirt would be perfect.

The pink silk has a lot of drape and I feel that my neckline is lower than others I’ve seen, unless, of course, I’ve made a mistake in the assembly. I will be interested to make another and compare.

I decided that the skirt needed a bit of floomph to make it more frocktails worthy, so I made myself an underskirt left over from the netting from the same stash. Fifteen minutes before I was due to be picked up I decided that the way I had constructed the underskirt added a lot of bulk around my waist, so I took it all apart and added a flat elastic waistband (recycled Calvin Klein) which made it sit a lot better.

I faffed around with shoes and in the end decided that gold Rollies would be the best, although not the most elegant. There is much standing around at these events and I didn’t want sore feet.

My neighbour Sarah always takes me to the event and here we are with one of her friends. Sarah’s dress is made entirely from Liberty fabrics and she even has matching earrings and shoes.

The Frocktails committee have a “Find your match” challenge and I was rounded up by these lovely ladies who were also wearing pink and green. So good.

The thing about a long flirt skirt is that it twirls beautifully, although I don’t!

The green Japanese knot bag was made by me many years ago – I had a knot bag phase and have many of them!

Of course I had to catch up with Megan, Katherine and Bronwyn and we had such a fun night.

I mentioned that I’ve attended every frocktails since their inception in 2015. The first one was attended by 17 people and we had a sit down dinner. I thought it would be nice to show my outfit and yes, I have another Japanese knot bag! Also, the shoes would not be appropriate for a stand up event with more than 200 people.

In the few days since Frocktails I’ve worn both pieces, separately. The top goes really well with my new pink Stokx Play Pants, in fact I think this might be my favourite pairing..

and the skirt goes brilliantly with my Fibremood Delma.

I tried it with my Stokx skater top, but am not sure about the length. It does go quite nicely with my Fibremood Ulima made from indigo dyed shibori.

I wore the skirt to lunch with a white tee and a Pattern Union Felix jacket made years ago from a Victorian bedspread given to me by my sister.

This is a photo taken as soon as I had finished the top, and I seem to have that cowl under better control. Wearing it with my Stokx Rock made from recycled jeans and I’m loving this pairing too.

I’m calling this outfit a success in the rewearing stakes.

I am going to document (for my own benefit) the fact that every Stokx skirt I’ve made is too big and I have to add elastic at the waist. I make a size 3 but the next one will be size 1. I always make size 0 for the Stokx trousers, so not sure why I make the skirts too big, they possibly should be a size 0 too.

I had to share this photo of the three pink dresses I made going for a ride in the pink car. Miss G can actually drive this car, with little or no intervention, although her dad follows with a kill button!