Jane, you were right! I did make culottes this week!! I made view 2 from Simplicity 8248, a pattern from 1977!!! I paired it with a turtleneck and pair of boots from my closet (a la Jaclyn Smith from Charlie's Angels)!
I really like how they turned out! I made these photos look a bit more 70's with that characteristic orange tint :)
Here are some really funny hair flip photos...(the best way to get that 70's volume):
So there are three special things with this project! First, my Grandma gave me this pattern and I've been wanting to use it and this was the perfect challenge to try it out! Secondly, I've been really wanting to do a Jaclyn Smith inspired outfit for awhile. She embodies 70's chic to me:
The third thing that came together this week was the fabric for my culottes! Back at the beginning of the summer, I was in Glasgow and just so happened (hehehehe) to be in the neighbourhood of Glasgow's best fabric store, Mandors. I was delighted. I spent ages looking at EVERYTHING (if you've ever done any fabric shopping with me, you know how indecisive I can be--my modus operandi is to do a reconnaissance mission first and then I only buy fabric on my second time around)! Not so on this day. I was thoroughly inspecting the wool section and lo and behold on the very bottom shelf was this amazing 100% cashmere fabric. I looked at the price tag and it said £5 per metre!!!! WHA???? The original price of £35 per metre was crossed out! I kid you not, my breathing actually got shallow!! Ok, I needed to act cool. I looked around a bit more. Then I casually approached the lady for check-out. I asked her if that was the correct price. She was just as surprised as me. Apparently, there were a few bad spots in the fabric--but really, you could hardly notice them and they were few and far between. As she was unfolding the fabric, I first asked for 5 metres....then I started to hear the staff taking dibs on the fabric and increased my request to 7 metres! I figured this was probably my only chance in the near future to get to play around with sewing with 100% cashmere so I should buy enough for a suit plus some other projects! My first experimentation with the cashmere is for these culottes!
The cashmere is so incredibly lightweight and drapey--but also a bit temperamental (needs narrow hems as pins and other pricks show on the right side of the fabric). It's like butter...it's so smooth. I really wanted to get a feel for it--so I thought this was the perfect pattern to test it out on (also because this is my most neutral 70's shade in my stash) :) It went together very well.
In retrospect, I think I could have cut one size larger as the pocket area has some creases (you can see in the photo). Now, the pockets were a bit difficult to insert--so that just may be my bad sewing but I think I probably could have made it one size bigger (and basted my pockets flat before sewing the seam--cashmere like other drapey fabrics likes to shift a bit).
YAY! Very fun!!! Have you or would you ever wear culottes??
The Giveaway:
This week's pattern giveaway is this pattern, Simplicity 8248 in a 28 inches waist size. It includes a pattern for these culottes, a long skirt and a knee length skirt--all with this very cool yoke pattern! All the pieces are present and the instructions are easy to follow! A very class skirt/culotte combo indeed!
This giveaway is open to everyone. Just leave a comment on this post by Sunday midnight (GMT time) for one entry. You can also do a blog post on this giveaway, tweet about it or put it on facebook for an additional entry for each method (up to four entries total). Just come back and leave me a comment that you've done all those. I'll randomly pick a winner on Monday. It would be great if you could leave me some way of contacting you in your comment!
The only restriction of the giveaway is that you do not sell this pattern. Keep it for as long as you want and once you are done--pass it along to someone else!
YAY! Good luck.
Oh, you can still comment even if you don't want to enter the pattern giveaway--just let me know! :)
The Giveaway:
This week's pattern giveaway is this pattern, Simplicity 8248 in a 28 inches waist size. It includes a pattern for these culottes, a long skirt and a knee length skirt--all with this very cool yoke pattern! All the pieces are present and the instructions are easy to follow! A very class skirt/culotte combo indeed!
This giveaway is open to everyone. Just leave a comment on this post by Sunday midnight (GMT time) for one entry. You can also do a blog post on this giveaway, tweet about it or put it on facebook for an additional entry for each method (up to four entries total). Just come back and leave me a comment that you've done all those. I'll randomly pick a winner on Monday. It would be great if you could leave me some way of contacting you in your comment!
The only restriction of the giveaway is that you do not sell this pattern. Keep it for as long as you want and once you are done--pass it along to someone else!
YAY! Good luck.
Oh, you can still comment even if you don't want to enter the pattern giveaway--just let me know! :)
