That turned out rather well, didn’t it.

Butterick 5880, a reissue of a 1951 pattern, is a winner!

It’s made from an old gold polyester curtain that probably came from an old dead person’s house. In fact, my fella said “We had those curtains in orange,” when he saw it. It has a weave shot with nubbly yellow and black, so it has that metallic shimmer that’s incredibly difficult to photograph.

This make is a cautionary tale in overcompensation. I added 4.5cm to the bodice length (for tallth, you know) only to shave it off again. Likewise, I cut the skirt wider only to resew all the seams 4cm narrower. Ah well – better too big than too small.

And because I love nose-to-tail eating, I used the curtain lining (lovely soft cotton sateen) as the interlining. If you look closely at the guts of the frock below, you’ll see bands of yellow staining from its decades of curtainry. This delights me no end. (Also, not shown: a tear in the front where light damage weakened the fibres. About this I am somewhat less delighted.)

 

Here’s more adjustification – pulling in the back waist darts and the back skirt seams to better follow the curve of my terrible posture.

Anyhoo: I declare this a win. And will make again, if I can be arsed.

Jungle January in by a cat’s whisker

Deadlines. Sometimes they’re oppressive. Other times they’re inspiring. Jungle January, by definition, finishes today and look at me scraping in just in time!

As promised, I made a frock from vintage Japanese silk twill with some kind of animally dot. I don’t think any real critter is bedecked thus, but this is as close to animal print as I’ve ever been or, in all likelihood, will ever get. I worked out why most animal prints make me wince – it’s the beige background. I loathe beige. Ugh. No matter how wacky the spots and stripes are, if the background is beige, I declare BEGONE FROM MY EYES.

The fabric came from Rathdowne Remnants in two pieces. It’s clearly from some old lady’s stash – sometimes RR has utter diamonds buried in their remnant buckets – and smells faintly of mothballs when wet. One piece had the end of the roll stamped with the manufacturer’s details, which is why I’m clear on its Japanese origins. It’s the softest, slinkiest stuff and required a good gelatining before it would sit still enough to cut and sew.

Soft folds at waist

I made Butterick 5850 view B but left off the bow (for I am not a box of chocolates, thankyouverymuch) and added length and width to the skirt. For those keen to make this pattern, be aware there’s an error in the neck where one piece (back neckline) is impossibly too big to fit to its intended neighbour (the collar). I did some darts in the spot fabric and gathered the lining to compensate. It’s ugly, but works. Not sure I’d recommend the pattern for this reason though.

I think the animal print discombobulated me because I put the bloody zipper in upside down! Ah well.