Thank you all for your kind comments on the last post.  You realize, right, that the topstitching on the previously posted trousers is now The Standard, which I shall drive myself insane trying to meet for the rest of my sewing life….. 🙂

Earlier this summer I went on a stash-busting spree. No particular motive in mind, except that I was so sick and tired of feeling ugly and underdressed. It started at Easter back in the spring, and I’ve been sewing up a storm, but never feeling like I wanted to photograph anything when I was wearing it. So I’m working backwards.

In August I took DD2 and DD3 on a month-long road trip to Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia. I grew up in western Canada, and had a deep need to drive for miles under the open sky, wind through the mountain passes, and dip my toes into the Pacific Ocean. Along the way we visited Drumheller in the middle of the Alberta Badlands and home to the Tyrrell Museum. It’s ground zero for dinosaurs. Now, I’m not particularly interested in dinosaurs, but I do love the geography of the Badlands. It’s dry, windy, dusty, incredibly surreal and other-worldly. See?

I’m wearing the second version of the slim BurdaStyle trousers mentioned in the last post. The fabric is a stone-coloured stretch denim from EOS that’s been languishing in my stash for I can’t remember how long. It was a roll end, I believe, and there was just enough for these jeans. (Trousers? I always want to call them ‘trousers’, even if they’re made of denim, because they don’t have all the traditional ‘jeans’ details…)

This is a softer, stretchier denim than the peach denim in the last post. This was actually the first iteration of this pattern.

The top is from the last set of Donna Karan patterns that Vogue put out. I purchased it just because it was a Donna Karan pattern, and I’m glad I did. I love this top. It’s boxy, but it’s so comfortable and so fun to wear. I made it up from a linen blend from very deeeeeeeep stash. I honestly cannot remember where I purchase the fabric, and that’s saying something, because I always remember where fabric comes from.

Now, I really dislike fabrics that show the outline of undergarments, and this wasn’t quite opaque enough for me. So I self-lined the bodice, and used flat-felled seams to ensure nothing will ever get shifty.

But it didn’t quite work out in my favour at the hemline… lack of planning, I suppose, in terms of which direction the ‘fell’ went in the flat-fell. 😀 But it’s not really noticeable while I’m wearing it, unless you’re a fellow seamstress looking closely at details. Yes, this is the right side of the garment, looking at it from the front.  oooopsie…

It was windy on the photoshoot, which worked in my favour, because it shows how the back flounce moves on this top.

Here’s another photo to show how much ease is built into this design. It made for a cool top in hot weather!

And a last one from the front. Like I said, it’s boxy, but I’m somehow liking this at the moment.