Two-Piece Setacular

Hi! Happy new year. It's been so long since I blogged. After Sewjourn in December last year I sprained my neck. That has seriously curtailed my sewing, blogging, fun etc. But I'm slowly on the road to recovery and have something I sewed at Sewjourn to show you.

I really love Gorman clothing. Their most current collection had a bunch of 'sets' of clothing - predominantly full skirts and culottes teamed with a cropped woven tank. I really wanted my own version. I was also hugely inspired by the round of Setaculars, the brain child of Sophie from Ada Spragg, that were everywhere in blogland last year.

First, I found the perfect fabric - an Italian cotton called Ink Floreale from Tessuti, which is now no longer available. I then decided to make a circle skirt and a matching cropped top. I used vintage Style 3863 for the skirt - a full circle skirt pattern from the 1980's.

I borrowed this picture from the Tessuti blog - Lisa also made this recently.

I then used my staple woven tank pattern, OOP Simplicity 2599, to create a cropped tank.

So, here she is! My Gorman-inspired two-piece setacular.

 

I tried to get it so that tank finished just over my waistband, and would only flash teeny bits of skin when I stretched. One of the women at Sewjourn helped me mark the length - I can't remember who it was, but they were spot on! Thanks!

Can you see my invisible zip at the CB? Me either!!

This all came together really well. I have made the tank a million times so no thought was really needed. The skirt hung from the first night at Sewjourn until last weekend.... so over a month. This wasn't intentional, I just couldn't really sew for a while after spraining my neck. I had to machine stitch it (I wouldn't usually) as I'm still not up to long periods of hand stitching (or sewing full stop).

I feel amazingly feminine in this outfit. There is something about wearing a waisted skirt with the cropped tank, and the swishy-ness of the skirt that makes me feel all w-o-m-a-n.

I'm glad to be back blogging. I have a backlog from Sewjourn and one item from since I've been back. I'm also really looking forward to sewing a bit more now my neck is on the mend.