June is usually the coldest month here, and my warmer clothes are usually just op-shop finds to see me through an average of all of 3 weeks of cold weather. So I didn’t sign up for Me-Made June.
But this June turned out sooooo cold I had to dig out some of my southern travel clothes for their extra warmth. One old favourite is this blue velvet skirt. I found the skirt, a straight wrap-around in I think a size 8, (too small for me) in an op-shop in Darwin when I was 19. I made it into this straight skirt that buttons up at the side. (Gorgeous buttons. Mmmm!) The fabric was a tad worn and frayed in places when I found the skirt, and I do secretly love that. It has Character!
It turned out to be the perfect weight for the extra-cold weather. Yes yes, I really was barefoot even though it was freezing 😛 I wore this skirt so much that, especially on days I wore a top I had also made, like this one, I was doing a Me-Made June after all.
One day I will work out how to fit the back of my bodices so they don’t have all that extra fabric in them. I already take some length out of the waist. I have trialled taking some of that excess out of the shoulders/neck, without affecting the armscye. I think it is working. More on that in a later post when I am more confident of what I am doing.
The top is my “wearable muslin” of Sense and Sensibility’s swing era dress pattern, started when I optimistically joined Casey‘s Swing era dress sew-along earlier this year. I ‘fess, I went on holiday in the middle of the sew-along and never started the actual dress The muslin worked out just fine, however, so I finished it off as a top, (practised that crazy shoulder corner seam!) and it soon became a wardrobe favourite. I suspect it is partly to do with the colour (looks lovely on me and goes with everything in my wardrobe), partly the weight of the fabric is so nice (cotton poplin), the style is comfortable (love that back pleat!) and it suits my figure. What more can a girl ask for?
(For the record I have some red, red, red cotton sateen in the cupboard to make the actual dress up.)
Tropical Threads 
I had to giggle when you are writing of being cold, but you are modelling your clothes in BARE feet! You did a good job of altering the skirt, and your top turned out well. You are right, the colour does suit you, and after all why would you go to all that trouble if it didn’t?
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Oh yea of little sympathy! Did I ever tell you when we had our sunday evening chat with Granny in the dry, we would complain about being freezing, and she would say, with absolutely NO sympathy in her voice “Oh you poor thing.”
😀 😀 😀
I remember that day, the cold pavers felt so nice under my feet.
Thanks regarding the clothes 🙂 And Alex pointed out that not only does each colour suit me beautifully, but they also look great together, sort of playing one off the other.
But the skirt is put away now. And the ceiling fans are back on. Only on Medium, but still… The freezy-party is over for the year. Sending some tropical warmth your way! (((hugs)))
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gorgeous skirt! and I love the buttons
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On the one hand I’m snickering at the idea of ‘winter’ in conjunction with Darwin and on the other hand I’m envious. I lived in Kununurra near the NT border for a while and miss it dearly and your garden pics are reminding me of the wondrousness of Northern Australia. Mind you, the climate and lifestyle does rather limit the range of garments it is worth sewing doesn’t it. I’m in Perth though now and summer is so interminable that I’m already starting to get anxious about being more than 1/2 way through winter. That indeed is a lovely blouse by the way and I can’t believe it was your trial version.
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