We went on a holiday! We took the olds on the Cunard Queen Elizabeth, which was luxe, and included three ‘Gala Evenings’ (Christmas, New years and One Extra) which were black tie events! I did a lot of sewing in the months prior and took full advantage of this opportunity, and I can tell you I truly felt confident and beautiful wearing some of the fanciest outfits I have ever made.
Florence top & Whitlam skirt. Shoes bought in London from Kurt Geiger brooch from my collection of vintage. Great shoes but I think that brooch really made the whole outfit
The first Gala Event, Christmas night
We booked this holiday in September, so I had months to plan and execute my wardrobe, which I took very, very seriously. It came in as a SIXTEEN piece collection. I was planning and sewing for months! So much fabric and pattern purchases, THE DREAM THING THAT DREAMS ARE MADE OF!
More on these outfits next post!
I jumped on this heavy duchess satin from Drapers Fabrics in ‘antique gold’, a beautiful greeny-bronze because beautiful colour.
I liked it so much I thought I’d make a matching set of top & pants but I had made five toiles for cigarette pants and couldn’t get them right, so changed the pants to a skirt.
Going to make the skirt, I realised I didn’t have enough fabric for either the pants as I had planned, or even the skirt backup if I were to use this fabric for the top. And I really really wanted this gorgeous colour for the top. And then I found that this colour had sold out! No skirt no pants.
For these non-reasons, I stormed away from this outfit and moved on; I had a queue, I had a notebook with sketches and swatches, I had a spreadsheet to realise. I had things to make, pronto, the clock was ticking.
Then, it was communicated to me that this evening’s dress code was “red and gold” themed and I remembered I had seen a particularly rich shade of red as another colourway in this fabric family, in store at Drapers, and I thought AHA! Confirm the skirt! As I anticipate zero need of red satin pants for my life to run smoothly.
Yep, Christmassy
Elastic ugly put plushy
Do I really need to diagram?
The Muna & Broad Whitlam skirt is designed for knits so the pattern shapes work in 3D, but I had been sitting on a idea to turn it woven for a while. This satin has really good stretch across the grain but to increase that to four-way, I slashed across front & back pattern pieces from waist to high hip (this is an extreme high waisted design) to create a wide band, and cut that on the bias. I cut the main part of the skirt on-grain, stitched them together and it was spot-on. My top finished just below the seam and it looks like a design feature, if seen at all. It was great!
Added a split, handstitched hem, would’ve looked cleaner on the inside if lined, wore it with a slip underneath
I’m so excited this worked because long-midi length pencil skirts are what I want to wear which I have proven this over the last 30 years; I thought my day was done, come menopause changes, but the shape of the pattern pieces make it fit and the worries go away. Try this pattern, do not be put-of by the plus size brand, I take the smallest size which is 12-14 and I am not plus size….just older. Older body. With good outfits.
One’s vision for the top: I was thinking Ellery 2014 top left, for which I was thinking MN Dove blouse with some gores inserted, I was thinking panniers; thinking Valentino Couture Spring 2024 green volume; I thought there is a lot of sewing to do so better simplify; decided Merchant & Mills Florence top, last pic
One size too big for shoulders
The Florence top. I thought the bustle would be super cool in a fancy fabric that would poof out in a statement kind of way, I wanted volume. Suspecting this design to be slightly cropped, I widened it by two inches which was perfect high hip on me. I thought to increase the length of the ruffle to accomplish big volume but then thought it would be annoying to do the gathering in such a heavy, thick fabric, so I left it as-designed…and I’m a little bit not happy with the gathering. My thread kept breaking due to the heavy, thick fabric so I had separate sections sewn, and some crossing over sections sewn, and a bit of a mess with all the sewing….and afterwards I remembered my old Singer has a gathering foot! Mama mia!
little bit embarassing
With all the layers of gathering stitches messed up, in the end I did it the cord way. Sub-optimal.
It could have been so much better and much much fuller and truer to my ‘vision', had I remembered I had that presser foot. In my mind it is all so vast. I could also have gone down from size 14 to 12 so the shoulders fit neater and worn a different bra because it shows. I did so much sewing for this trip, and made so many toiles and versions of things, but not of this top, because I was so convinced of the fabric.
And as it sometimes goes, the brooch idea came to me because I was so unconvinced of the gathering! And now its good-different hind-vision!
Feeling pretty marvellous and without a doubt, best dressed
Its beautiful
I wish this top was Pattern Fantastique level of elevation but it was my dream and essentially, this was out of the box with only one tweak of lengthening the frill, so I say all this shrugging my shoulders; not really a problem.
I hand stitched all the facings, sleeve hems and all along the entire hem of this frill which took time; while this fabric shows every bump, stitching on the top would’ve looked worse. This fabric is so beautiful in color and sheen and a bit stressy to sew
‘Surrealist” buttons I bought from one of my jewellery suppliers, quality enameled metal.
I did vertical button holes to keep it sleeker, ie, I automatically just did it that way for no reason
37 scarabs drilled. Scarab embroidery in my future.
But relatedly to gathering disappointment, I couldn’t commit to the scarab embroidery in the end because it meant a lot of handling, and every mark shows on this fabric, it shows creases very easily and it couldn’t have taken pressing afterwards, so it wouldn’t have loooked as I wanted. But brooch!
My instructions were “make sure you get the shoes” I mean…
(Didnt take the right bra. Not sure if you can see)
Yep, Christmassy
Little bag!
Every night on this cruise, if not ‘gala’, were ‘smart dressing’, so every night, I consulted my spreadsheet, and let me tell you, it was SUPER FUN, and I felt magnificent sailing into the dining room in my beautiful, fancy clothes.
Espresso here every morning
I offer my enthusiastic recommendation of the Cunard Queen Elizabeth. We went in order to facilitate my parents wish for one, last cruise. They love them because they can travel easily with a wheelchair but this is coming to an end as they become more frail, so we helped them make it happen, one last time. We went to Fiji! On a floating five star hotel. Seriously, it was amazing! Its a different type of holiday, like a resort is a destination holiday. And I have never before seen the whole expanse of the ocean, without a bird, tree, building, or person in the way. There is just…expanse, and its life changing in being a glimpse of infinity. Maybe we can take them on another one-last cruise? I was having this holiday for months before we even got on the ship, with all the sewing! Never had so much fun.
Above all I am grateful to have spent the precious time with these people I love while I have them. There is no connectivity out there, phones are obsolete and left in the cabin, so you sit there, and have to talk to whomever you are with, look at the surroundings, engage. Value in this.
On the South Pacific Ocean, two days out from Sydney