Traditionally, I’ve never been a very good summer dresser and my summer worthy wardrobe has left a lot to be desired. This in part is because, as my best friend tells me, I am a vampire and the Sun burns me to a cinder. I love the sunny days, blue skies and sea dips that summer entails but I have to enjoy them from under 10 layers of factor 5000 sun screen!
Now that I have re embraced my love of vintage however, summer dressing has become so much easier to navigate. And this gorgeous pattern from Now & Then Patterns which you can find over at Till The Sun Goes Down, is perfect for just about any summer occasion you can think of.
I had to order it as soon as I saw it on Instagram and, despite wanting to make EVERY version immediately; I made the skirt version first. And I love it!
I used this vintage style cotton poplin print from Minerva, which has been in my stash for a while and it was gorgeous to sew. The pattern is straightforward and quick- I think it took me about 2 hours from start to finish and it was one of the nicest patterns I’ve worked with for a long time! I thoroughly enjoyed the whole process and love the finished skirt! It was a perfect fit straight off, which is super unusual, and it is both comfortable and versatile. My only issue is that as it’s a wrap skirt and I live in a windy seaside town, there’s lots of potential for knicker reveals. But that just means I wear my fanciest pants right? Or employ the use of a discreetly placed safety pin!
If I had had enough of the fabric, I would have made a matching top using one of my favourite modern but looks vintage patterns, the McCalls M7900 Summer blouse {To read about this wonderful pattern, read here!}. Instead I made it in black linen and I’m over the moon with my new summer outfit. Because of the natural materials I’ve used, it’s cool to wear and also gives me lots of much needed coverage {Vampire remember…} whilst still looking very summery.
I went for a walk along the seafront with my best friend, Queenie and she took these photos of me on Hastings Pier. Although hot, it was rather breezy and my well placed safety pin did it's job admirably!
Both the bag and sunglasses are thrift finds and the bangle was from the Victoria and Albert Museum in the shop for the Alexander McQueen exhibition. I'm not sure where I got the espadrilles but they're my go to summer shoes. I really want to make my own espadrilles!
The dart apex is very pointy on this pattern so I'm going to re draft it soon but I'm embracing the pointy boob for now as I love this top so much.
I’m going to have to make this outfit as a matching set when I get enough fabric {It does use rather a lot so keep that in mind when fabric shopping} and think it would look gorgeous in some kind of green linen or a vintage inspired tropical print or a Liberty print or just about anything! I can see I’m going to be making this time and again and it’s going to be a firm favourite throughout this Summer season and beyond and my little Vampire self will finally be able to enjoy the sunshine…from the shade of course!
Love, Tara x
Comments