Green wool shirt - Butterick 9899

One blouse I do love is this one. Made from a left-over piece of lightweight wool from the stash (last used for this) dyed solid green.

Butterick 9899 was a gift from a friend who - like me - loves opshopping, and knows my passion for 'rescuing' old patterns. (Heard a story of them being used instead of newspaper to wrap breakables - the horror!) Using just the body and sleeve A pattern pieces, I lenghtened the front and back 20cm, curving up to the side seams, and extended the sleeve by 12cm plus cut a cuff 3cm finished width.

Shell buttons from Pete's Emporium.

A perfectly practical skirt

Read any article about "Wardrobe Essentials" and it will prescribe a "black pencil skirt". Meh. How about a navy-blue A-line skirt instead? With pockets, of course.

Belt from David Jones, shoes from I Love Paris

The pattern is a very old one I made myself, with a few adjustments. Originally high waisted (ahh, the '90's!), it now has a waistband and belt loops. And pockets. Navy blue wool fabric is yet more left-overs from the nehru-style suit made ages ago for SunnyJim - I've already made another skirt out of the scraps. While I now haven't the foggiest where it came from, I do remember it was reasonable price, hence buying more than needed for the suit.

While I don't love this skirt, it's practical for work, and as a consequence is on fairly high rotation in my wardrobe. It can be worn with multiple blouses, and looks great with a pair of brown opaque tights and shoes from I Love Paris dyed brown using Waproo leather dye.

Vintage McCall's 3932 and the Purple Rain Dress

Y'know how sometimes something starts off a bit wrong, and then just gets progressively worse? Well, that happened here.

Mistake No.1 was buying fabric on TradeMe I had an inkling wasn't quite what it seemed. When it arrived, instead of being a lovely rich burgundy, it was a shabby dusky pink. Inkling had me ask "Is colour true to image?" before I purchased (assured it was – it wasn't). Don't get me wrong, dusky pink is a gorgeous on the right complexion; however it's my 'nude', thanks to a good smattering of Irish in my bloodline. So, the ghastly thing went into the pot with the next round of dyeing—purple. Success – a much better colour for my skin tone.

Fitting was Mistake No.2. This pattern is a little too small all over for me, but I must have carried the 1 too many times while working out how much extra to add because it ended up 10 cm too large. And of course I'd put in the pockets before discovering this – oh joy, more to unpick!

Finally, thought it was all finish, and tried it on to check everything looked ok, turned around to see the back view – and instead of the bodice blousing nicely at the waist, I had an ugly poochy back roll. ARRGH! The back neck to waist measurement needed to be shortened by 3.5cm – yet more unpicking.

So at the moment, I'm feeling a little ho-hum about this dress. Can't even be bothered taking decent photos of it. It might have to hang in the naughty corner of the wardrobe for a while until I forgive and forget. Sigh.

On the plus side, I'm chuffed with the belt I made for it using the wrong side of the fabric, topstitched in black thread. One little spark of genius in that big gloomy cloud.

Wish I could join Snaggle-Puss today, it's so dreadfully wet outside. Awww, isn't he sweet.
Had issues imbedding this video of Prince singing "Purple Rain" from the movie into the post, but click on the link if you'd like a trip down memory lane. The costumes are fabulous!

Update 04/12/14: forgiven and forgotten. Incredibly practical dress - always looks elegant and polished with minimal effort - just slip it on, step into shoes and I'm on my way!