Birthday Suit

I had a birthday recently, and in lieu of presents I chose to go out for dinner with the family. A good excuse to sew something special.  July in Virginia is hot, with temperatures over 90 F, and humid. What with the requirement for social distancing, many restaurants have expanded their dining areas outside (often called patio dining).  A loose flowy dress seemed a good choice for outside dining, but I was missing the structured garments I used to make for a work environment. A good compromise: a birthday suit consisting of sleeveless vest and knee length shorts.  I originally chose Burda 7074, a collared vest that I had admired on another blog. 

But the fabric situation required another solution. I recently purchased 2 yards of a lovely lavender cotton/spandex fabric from Vogue Fabrics.  It was labeled as shirting but when it arrived, it was definitely bottom weight fabric.

Though the perfect color, the 2 yards was not enough fabric to make a pair of shorts and a collared vest. However, Vogue Pattern 1707, a collarless, lined to the edge vest (no facings)

combined with Burda 12 2010 108 for the shorts was possible with only  2 yards of 54" fabric.  The pant pattern is high waisted, flat front. I made them knee length and tapered an additional inch on each side of the legs. 

The vest is lined with a similar shade of lavender silk crepe, part of a 8.5 yard "remnant" I bought from Trim Fabric in NYC in 2005 for $40.00. I got some great bargains from them back then.

I don't know if Vogue has changed their draft or my body is changing again, but the front bust dart on this pattern had 4" of take-up which made the cup size huge. My sloper waist bust dart take-up is 2".  The back peplum was also shaped for very curved, bodacious butt. It looked like I needed a padded insert to fill it out until I altered it to my shape.

I also made a coordinating mask. The lining is cotton, the outer layer is glittery mesh over the silk georgette, topped with a lace applique. Everyone dressed up and we had a great time.

Vogue 1707

Coordinating Mask

With matching mask

 With the girls (future DIL's)

Smooth Sailing

And life goes on. Mom's surgery went well. Thanks for all your well wishes.  She is home and everything is back to normal. Back to smooth sailing in the journey of life.   Well,  maybe not, but it was a good segue into my latest project.

The other print I pulled out of my stash was this one, of sailboats.

  I  sailed a lot as a teen and young adult. I taught sailing at a summer camp and we even owned a sailboat,  which we docked on a lake in Pennsylvania.  These day I still love to sail, but we do it in warmer climates and we charter the boat  with a captain, or  take a cruise on a large sailboat.  In fact we were supposed to be sailing Italy's Amalfi coast  in early June, to celebrate my sister's birthday.   Don't worry sis, when everything settles down, we will go! Until then you are still 59.

The fabric is polyester chiffon, from JoAnn's.  I don't particularly like polyester fabric, but I loved the print.  For the pattern,  since it was still out on the sewing table, I used the same New Look blouse pattern from the previous project. The only difference was I made view D, which has  the 3/4 length sleeves with turn up cuffs.

When I sew, I like quiet. No TV or podcasts running in the background. I do a lot of my thinking then.  Boats got me thinking about nearby water bodies. The ocean, reachable with  a 2 hour drive,  The James river, turbulent around large  rocks covered in goose poop, a short walk from our house. Decorative lakes in nearby office complexes. With improbable fountains spurting in the middle, to keep them from becoming "slime ponds" in the summer heat. The rain barrel on my deck.  No real ponds and creeks like where I  floated  stick "boats"  as a kid.  How about a folded paper boat for the rain barrel?   Why not?

It floats!