Nostalgic Sewing

Stash-busting 2016:  Revisiting an Old Fav and Finally Blogging About It

I made a few skirts with this pattern back-in-the-day when I was much younger and thinner. Well, when I found this pattern in my current size over on Etsy, I couldn't resist the pull towards some nostalgic sewing. That was almost three years ago, goodness how time flies.

OOP Vogue 1378 is a Donna Karan design for a body blouse and skirts, circa 1994. I have in the past made both skirts. Version B was by far my favourite of the two and the one that I wanted to revisit with this sewing project.  

I cut out all the pattern pieces needed to make a direct copy of the skirt as shown above but as you can see it turned out quite different from the photograph on the pattern envelope.

I cut the largest size on the pattern remembering that it was quite fitted when I first made it and my hips are thankful that I did. But I had to do something about the excess of fabric at the waistline and above. I could have cut a size 12 at the waist and graded up towards a size 16 at the hips. So, after sewing up the sides I had a few trips back to the sewing machine taking the side seams in and reaching for my seam ripper to remove the old stitching lines.

Then I basted and chopped off the shaping of the raised waistline and did a rolled hem instead of bothering with the suspenders. I really do like the look of the suspenders but with how my wrists has been feeling I wasn't all that keen on turning over long tubes of fabric.  

This fabric has been in my part of my stash for a very long time, at least a decade if I were to guess. I found it at Mitchell Fabrics in the basement vintage section. I have no idea what the fibre content of this fabric is but I do know that it handled machine washing and drying quite well. It also wrinkles and presses well on a high temperature setting. It is a light-weight plaid and don't let the colours fool you, it would work best as a spring / summer garment. As I was sewing the skirt up and hand stitching the slits and hem, I came to realize that this would make a really nice plaid shirt. And I do have enough of this fabric in the stash to make one. Don't worry, I don't plan on wearing plaid on plaid. That's so 1994!  

The verdict on this one, nostalgic sewing is fun but sometimes you just need to change it up a bit. I do like how it turned out and I think it would be a nice addition to my weekend wardrobe. But I don't think that I'll be sewing up another one anytime soon. Although, it was a nice trip down memory lane.


The Stats:

Fabric:     1.2 metres $7.19 ($5.99 / metre + taxes)

Zipper:     20 cm invisible zipper $1.58 ($2.80 - 50% off + taxes)

Basting Tape:     40 cm $0.00, birthday gift.

Thread:    I'm going to average out about $4.00 for thread used for the sewing machine, serger and hand-stitching.  I managed to finish off a spool of thread during this project.

Pattern:     Vogue 1378 $24.65

Additional Tools and Supplies:  Sewing machine, serger, scissors, pins, hand needle, invisible zipper foot, zipper foot, about four hours, two cups of coffee, and one cookie.

Happy Sewing!