Saturday 16 September 2017

A Slice of Black Forest....

... with a cherry on top! This is what this me-made outfit reminds me off!


And who wouldn't like a slice of cake with the weather we have here in Denmark at the moment? There was rain and thunder outside during my little photoshoot :(

Cake and weather aside, this skirt is the How To Do Fashion "No. 8 Svaneke" skirt with 6 panels and the box pleat hack as described in this blog post from Nanna. In these pictures, I am wearing it with the zipper at the side, but it can also be worn with the zipper at the back, as shown on the dressform below, depending if you like the pleats meeting at mid front or not.


I made it up in this cherry print polycotton from Minerva Craft, a birthday gift from my boyfriend back in April. I got 14 m in total for my birthday, so expect to hear that phrase again soon, lol.

I used some waistband interfacing tape from my moms stash (thanks, mom!) for the waistband instead of the included waistband pattern piece, as I prefer the look of it. For the length of the waistband I just measured the waistband of one of my beloved Hollyburn skirts and added 1 cm of seam allowance on each end.

To add some extra interest to the skirt, I added 2 rows of bright red cotton tape to the hem of the skirt. I REALLY love how it turned out, reminds me of the navy and white trimmings on vintage sailor dresses.


The black color of the fabric did fade a bit during washing & drying and it shrunk a bit under too hot an iron, but I love it anyway. Using polycotton like this is fast becoming my go-to for 50's inspired dresses and skirts because of the slight stiffness and fun prints and also for wearable muslins because of the cheap price tag.



The top is the SeamWork Elmira Cardigan. I have wanted to make this since it came out and finally found the time to sew it.

The fabric is a wonderfully soft viscose & lycra jersey, also from Minerva Crafts. Somehow it is opaque enough as one layer on the back and sleeves while being thin enough not to be too bulky for the double-layer fronts and tie pieces. It was a bit fiddly to work with, though, but I would not hesitate to buy it again.


At first, I made the cardigan up as written in the instructions, but I absolutely HATED the way the left front tie sat in the side seam. It weighed the side seam down and made it impossible to adjust the waist using the ties. In the end, I chopped the left tie off while taking the side seams in anyway, cut it 30 cm shorter and sewed it back on at the short edge of the front piece.
This way, both fronts has the tie piece as an extension of the wrap, but one tie is shorter than the other. To wear it, I wrap the side with the short end over first and then wrap the side with the long tie over and around my back, to meet the short tie at the opposite side seam. (I hope that makes sense)

For next time, I have traced off a second, shorter tie pattern piece for the left side, and might put a buttonhole/slit in the left side seam to make the wrapping a bit easier and/or neater.

I made a size small despite being a medium in the size chart. I will recommend sizing down in all knit patterns from SeamWork and Colette if you have narrow shoulders and/or an A/B cup like me.



All in all, I really love these two items, especially worn together like this. The outfit is just vintage-inspired enough without being costume-y or unpractical. I did wear a petticoat for the pictures, but the skirt is lovely without it as well :)

I will leave you with this cute picture of Marie sitting on the cherry skirt. Have a nice weekend!


Disclaimer: I did receive the How To Do Fashion pattern for free as part of being a pattern tester. All opinions are my own. 

1 comment:

  1. Ooo! Your skirt is gorgeous! I'm going to look at the pattern right now.

    ReplyDelete