Isn’t it great that everything old is new again?  I’m now at that age where I see the way that fashion cycles throughout the years.  Much of what Clare wears is reminiscent of what I wore in the 80s; much of what Stella wears reminds me of the early 90s.  This pattern dates back to the 70s – my childhood.

This jacket is Simplicity 6620, without any style or fit changes. It’s in the size that was already cut out, and once again it’s from a Junior Petite size range. I really need to set up some alerts on eBay/Etsy etc for Junior Petite patterns; they work so well for Clare!

Isn’t that jacquard fabulous! It has all the colours that Clare loves to wear. But – it’s a remnant (from The Cloth Shop). I had SO many attempts at playing pattern tetris to not only fit all the pattern pieces on the remnant, but to keep the directionality the same way for paired elements. It was a struggle – and it’s one that I lost. In the end I used a contrast scrap of cashmere for the lower back piece.

I am going to deluge you with photos of this jacket because I love it so much! It’s unlined, and the jacquard was fray prone. I overlocked edges very smartly after each seam was sewn, and took advantage of the double rows of topstitching to keep things secure.

This took a little while to sew. Lots of pieces, lots of cutting out, a few darts, lots of seams, lots of topstitching. All so worth it!

We chose to sew the topstitching and buttonholes in pink, and found some minty blue-green buttons in stash that worked nicely with the variety of pastels in the jacquard.

These 70s patterns have lots of shaping through darts and incorporation in the seamlines. Darts at places like the back neck (and you often see them at the elbow in vintage patterns) really do make a difference in fit, yet they’re so rarely used in current patterns. When I see darts in patterns I often inwardly groan, but I don’t know why! They’re not actually hard to sew, and don’t even take long! I wonder what’s happening in the recesses of my mind that makes me resist darts?

There’s enough ease in this jacket to go over Clare’s crochet jumpers. It definitely works in well with the rest of her wardrobe.

Now I should get on with sewing Clare the pink cashmere coat that has been cut out for months (the urgency vanished when lockdown started…)

Ah, there’s nothing like sewing something fabulous from a remnant.  This wool remnant came from The Cloth Shop.  There was just enough to sew vintage Simplicity 6616 again for Clare.

This is a Japanese wool, in a herringbone weave. There was just enough to eke out the skirt. Because it’s wool I fully lined it with a smooth cotton so that it wouldn’t stick to tights or be itchy (Clare is sensitive to wool).

I found an invisible zip in stash that matched adequately. One of the great things about invisible zips is that it doesn’t matter if they’re too long; you just cut them to size.

The pockets are lined with the same smooth cotton that I used for the rest of the skirt. I like the way that the top of the pockets forms belt loops.

I used the blind hem foot and stitch on my machine to hem the skirt.  The stitches have almost disappeared into the weave.  Gee it’s lovely to sew with wool.

This was a ‘bonus’ garment that Clare hadn’t asked for, but likes a lot! She’s wearing it here with one of the many crochet jumpers that she’s made herself this year.

Okay, finally back to garments sewn this year! I’ll start off with another garment for Clare – and it’s a winner. This one was sewn in April.

Every now and then I sew something for one of the girls that is just something that I feel like sewing for them. This is always a risky decision to make, and experience has taught me that there are absolutely no guarantees that the finished product will be worn. This time though it all worked out.

This is a vintage Simplicity pattern, 6616 from the 1970s. The pattern was in stash, and I went ahead and sewed the the size that was already cut. Talk about taking a chance!

Those old Young Junior / Teen patterns work so well for my girls. I really wish that there was still as much variety in the pattern blocks as there once was.

The fabric is a fine wale corduroy that has been in stash for a very long time (I think left over from a dress I sewed for Clare about ten years ago). It seems to work fairly well with her wardrobe. I lined the pockets with some printed cotton that was in the large scraps area of the cupboard.

I didn’t have a suitable invizible zip in stash, so inserted a regular zip centrally into the back seamline. It’s really not my favourite way of inserting a zip – other methods give a superior finish, in my opinion. But it’s acceptable.

Hooray for vintage patterns and fabric leftovers! The top she’s wearing with it is the Stitch Witch Patterns Tudor Blouse with the front wrap hack, blogged here.

Clare and I had fun trawling through my stash of old patterns late last year in search of skirt patterns.  She’s a mix of sizes, but for skirts will generally fit into a women’s 6 or 8.  She was looking for fuller skirts, that ended above the knee. Then we spotted this one:

This pattern is from 1986, and I do think that the cover art is a perfect example of the fashions of its time. The pattern description is as follows. Misses’ Skirt, Trousers, Culottes and Shorts: Flared skirt, slightly tapered trousers, culottes and shorts are gathered front and back onto waistband with side-front pockets which form buttoned opening.

So as you can see, we decided on the shorts! The fabric is double gauze from Clear It, left over from an earlier project.

I do rather enjoy working with printed patterns from this era. I learned to sew using them, and they really do give me pleasure. They are SO familiar to me! We cut straight size 8 for Clare. The pockets tuck into the side seams but form part of the opening at the front.

The buttons are also vintage, from stash, and are the only closure. You can see the slanted front pocket edge in the photo. Because of this opening method, the pockets aren’t actually as deep or as secure as you might think. The teen does keep on putting her mobile phone into the leg opening rather than into the pocket!

The gathers at the front and back provide lovely fullness to these shorts, and they really do work in the same place as an equivalent skirt. Clare tie-dyed the tee with a friend as some school holiday fun. She also dyed her hair!

Clare’s hair is waist length, so she needed a friend to help her to get the ombre pink to purple effect! They’re just temporary colours that wash out after around 8 washes (Schwarzkopf Live Colour range; we get them from Priceline) and it’s become a bit of a school holiday tradition to have ‘holiday hair’. If it’s done right at the beginning of the holidays it is all gone by the time that school goes back – Clare’s school is quite strict about ‘unnatural colours’ in hair.

Of course, Stella wanted to be in on the action as well. Her choice was ombre blue ends! They really do enjoy this bit of holiday fun. I’ve still got a few of last year’s projects to get up on the blog, so will try to get that done over the next few days. I’m between jobs at the moment, and as you can see we haven’t gone away on a ‘big’ holiday this summer. We’re all enjoying the time at home, pottering away and getting lots of things done that we never usually have the time for. Yes, there is lots of organising and sorting and tidying up and throwing out going on! As well as reading, watching movies and Netflix, and from me, sewing.