Summer sewing

Where has 'the six weeks' gone? I've been busy...
After the black trousers fail I dived (that doesn't sound quite right, dove?) straight in to making crazy culottes using a striped cotton pique that I've had for a couple of years.

The pattern was Butterick 6178 view C and they were quick to put together.  Obviously I left hemming them until the last minute - I decided to wear them to my in-laws' ruby wedding party which we were attending on our way back from travelling to Bolivia and Peru (we like to get around) so had a self imposed deadline to work to.

Salar de Uyuni - Bolivia

Unfortunately what was planned to be an outside party turned in to an inside (but still great) party due to rain (two kettles required for all the cups of tea) so I didn't get chance for any photos of me wearing them without slippers on (so glamorous). So here they are before the aforementioned hemming.

On returning home we almost immediately had the bathroom fitters arrive, so I've been using sewing as an excuse to hide in the dining room all day! They are lovely but the noise and mess is too much.

The guys that are here right now say it will all be done by 'dinner time' - I've lived in the North East long enough to know that this is what I would be calling lunch time - so only a few more hours left!
I kept myself busy by making a blouse from a vintage Vogue Perry Ellis pattern, number 2081 from 1988 according to envelope.

I bought the fabric with Vogue 1438 (made previously here and here) in mind but this pattern had some different features I thought I'd like to try.  There isn't a collar band and the cuffs are formed by sewing two buttonholes and pleating the sleeve.

I did manage to take pictures of this one, but only after sitting in a cinema for nearly 3 hours so I'm a bit crumpled.

I like the end result but I think the Donna Karan blouse is still my favourite, there are two other versions of the Perry Ellis pattern to try out in the future though.

Finally I decided to sew up a quick short skirt out of some left over needlecord fabric. It was a tight squeeze as the fabric was not quite 45" wide with a large spot pattern that needs to be centred and I cut a size 14.  After trying on a previous version I decided I could lose up to 2cm if necessary, in the end I only reduced the front by 1cm and I reduced the seam allowances down to 1cm (I love mixing imperial and metric - such a rebel) .

If you look really closely you can just about make out those little holes you get at the selvage down one of the side seams.  I'll be wearing this out this afternoon so no pictures yet!

The bathroom guys are discussing how much they love taking the polythene carpet protector up so they must be nearly done!

Epilogue: The bathroom people feel (and to be fair we do agree) that our old bathroom door is just too crappy to put back in to the nice new door frame they made us so we have a temporary solution whilst we sort out the new doors we were planning to put in next year.
"I'll phone Chris the joiner" said Mr B cheerily ,"in the meantime it'll be like camping!" (Mr B really hates camping)...