1970's outfit finished and a giveaway!!

It's finished! My 1970's poncho and corduroy pants from Simplicity 8932--the poncho pattern extraordinaire!

Despite the popular reader request to go with the cowprint vinyl, I opted for a nice wool fabric that I got in a recent charity shop fabric haul and some of my leftover purple corduroy (from the 'Purple Parfait' outfit).

I did, however, become inspired by the headband in view 2 and created my own to go with the 70's vibe.

I basically took 3 long and skinny pieces of both of the fabrics and braided them together and then secured the ends so that I could just slip the headband on and off.  Here's a close-up:

 

It made me feel very groovy:

hehehehe...All joking aside, I do actually like ponchos. There is something very appealing about being wrapped up in a warm blanket-like garment on a cold day!  I used to keep a poncho-like wrap at work for when they blasted the air conditioning in the summer.  It is a good garment to have handy.

The only way I could make this wool fabric work was to cut the poncho on the bias! Eeep...ignoring the grainline is not something I usually do.  I was really nervous cutting it on the bias as I was unsure how it would affect the drape but I figured it was probably ok because it was a heavier wool and I wanted a drapey effect.  Though I did go back and read all the comments from Sewaholic's post on when you can ignore the grainline.  Very illuminating and I decided to take the risk.  Overall, I think it's fine and I don't think it affected the drape too much.  Phew!

Another thing I love about ponchos?  They are fun on windy days:

That's Edinburgh Castle up on that hill!  I love the view from this street (aptly named 'Castle Street').

I also lined the poncho with some purple lining fabric I had in my stash:

As you can imagine, a poncho is fairly simple to sew together.  This just has a front and back seam and no collar.  I left off the hook and eye at the neck as I liked it a bit open at the neckline.


The pants are, get this, elastic waisted! ha!  I had no idea until I started making them.  They have no darts in the front or back.

I had originally picked up the pattern at the Salvation Army because of the magic words written across the front 'Corduroy cut crosswise'.  Oh yes, the rib is going cross-wise on the pants.  I think my corduroy is not well suited for this design feature as this fabric is the pinwale type of corduroy (i.e. really tiny ribs).  Ah well, at least I know it's cross-wise!

I've had quite a bit of this corduroy in my stash.  I've made these pants and also Collette's Parfait pattern as a pinafore with it:

Now I want to pass it along for someone else's creativity!  Up for grabs is approximately 3 yards of this lightweight pinwale corduroy fabric in a deep purple (it's more of the color in the photo above).

This giveaway is open to anyone and I will ship anywhere.  To enter just visit the Sew Weekly archives and leave me a comment about which theme of the Sew Weekly has been your favorite so far and what you like about it.  I'll pick a winner by random drawing.  Be sure to leave a comment here before midnight EST on Thursday March 31st!  I'll announce the winner on Friday the 1st of April (and it won't be an April Fools joke :-)