The gift of fabric

I have made some more real clothes recently.

This shirt from Vogue 8323:

And this skirt from McCall's 6608:

I thought I had finished making these shirts last time I posted about them but apparently I had one more left. To my surprise I found I liked the cowl-necked view better than the crossover view. I don't think I will make any more though. Something doesn't fit right across the shoulders, and while the square should adjustment I did helped, it's un-right enough to annoy me.

Both these fabrics were given to me by my mum as birthday presents. I've had the velvet for a while because I couldn't work out what to do with it. I think it looks very nice as this shirt but I wouldn't make another one in velvet because the nap pushes against a coat and bunches up in the armpits. This was sad discovery as I have a number of very pretty velvets in the stash that I've been trying to work out what to do with for ages.

The purple floral was a recent gift for the express purpose of making this skirt. It is most lovely.

For such a picnic as this

My school friends used to organise occasional picnics with dress codes. For one, the theme was 'heroines' and I chose to go as Esther as characterised by Veggietales in Esther: The Girl Who Became Queen. In the show Esther has three outfits and, naturally, I chose the most extravagant one.

I searched all of Canberra and part of New South Wales looking for a burgundy fabric with a gold stripe, but apparently such a thing doesn't exist. I had to settle for a plain satin. If I ever find the elusive stripe I will make the dress again because the satin has an unpleasant texture and the weave is skewed so it doesn't hang straight. I couldn't do anything about it at the time because I only had a short amount of time before the picnic. The outfit wasn't completely finished in time for the picnic so I wore it held together with bulldog clips.

For a pattern, I used a 1960s pattern that I had previously modified to be an underdress for a 1930s dress (the overdress for which I haven't made yet).

For Esther’s waistpiece, I cut down my Victorian corset pattern (TV110) and cut the back on the fold instead of having it lace up (more details here). I also added extra centre front panels as I didn't want a gap and slimming wasn't necessary. This was the first corset I made with a coutil layer. My outer fabric was the gold brocade leftover from my doublet (used right side out this time) and the lining was yellow, leftover from my Victorian gown. This corset has since had a lot of wear in my everyday wardrobe.

I made the gold and purple thing down the front separately then sewed it to the dress. For wearing, it pins onto the corset, hiding the lacing. I was trying to keep the plasticky 'computer generated' texture of the character in the show so, for the purple, I used craft foam. The gold is a smoothly textured satin leftover from a barbie costume. It's sewn together on the sewing machine – the foam sews fine (but it doesn't unpick well). The 'gem' is a cheap ring I found in a jewellery shop when on holiday after the picnic.

The frame of the shoulder piece is made of buckram edged in gardening wire. It has faux suede on the outside and satin on the inside. It was all sewn together by hand; trying to get a needle through two layers of suede around buckram and wire is a painful process. This is the only thing I've managed to break a hand-sewing needle on (and a heavy duty one at that). The collar opens at the front and fastens with snaps. In the animation there is a shiny pattern on the suede but I didn’t want to risk damaging the fabric for something that is barely noticeable. I also didn't quite manage to get the shape of the turned up edges – such sculpting is a bit beyond me. I chose the white fabric because of its texture. The jewel is made from sculpey III and has a purple craft gem in it.