Grey & Yellow Suit and Ribbed Cotton Top

I have a dear friend whose mother was a professional seamstress. Last year, she retired and was so kind as to donate some fabrics (the ones I chose) to me. This is one of those fabrics. It is a viscose-polyester blend, but I am not entirely sure. 

I immediately envisioned a suit, so I decided to make a double-breasted jacket and some straight pants. She also gave me some yellow fabric, and I made a sleeveless blouse with it, but the fabric was so tight that I had to make it too short, and it ended up in the bin. 

The pattern of the jacket is from Burda Style magazine. It hangs handsomely, but I do not like the buttons' positioning, so it is not a keeper, I think. 

For the trousers, I used the pattern from this book I have, for the nth time, perfect again. 

I finished the suit in June, and I could not wear it then, because it was too hot when I finally finished it. Last October, when I tried it on, I got inspired and made this sleeveless top from the same book, with a ribbed organic cotton I've had for ages. It goes very well with my suit, it makes it modern and casual, I love it, and prefer it to a blouse. 

White Long Cotton Skirt

 

A white, long, summer skirt was in my mind for some time now, and when I went to Lleida to buy some gingham for my next project, I found this gorgeous cotton English embroidery with 3D margaritas sewn into it. It is beautiful, and although it was expensive, at 32 €/M, I bought 1.5m to make a long skirt. 

The plan was a gathered, or pleated one... but then this fabric would not go well with added volume, specially in white... So after much thought, I decided to make it on the bias, using an old pattern of mine, which works like magic every time. 

The problem was that the usual add-on I have to make to pull an ankle long bias skirt with 1.5 m of fabric, and only one seam at the centre back, did not look good in the sheer fabric. I hid it with an embellishment cut from the fabric borders, which was destined for the bottom in the initial plan. I think the effect is nice, and makes the add-on inconspicuous. 

It was difficult to find a top to wear it with, but then I remembered the awesome denim vest I bought in my Toronto honeymoon last year. We found it in a 2nd hand shop in Kensington Market, one of the coolest neighbourhoods, if not the coolest, we've been to. 

I had to make a white jersey loose lining to give it weight and not see-through. 

All in all, it is perfect in any sense. Very proud of this special one.