Safari Adventures

There has been a bit of silence round these parts as I have been away on safari! Well, not quite as exotic as that sounds, but I needed a safari suit for a murder mystery dinner party in the depths of West London.

Apologies to my Australian readers, but my character was a loud and brash Aussie businessman who wears a safari outfit, and this was my me-made short-notice costume. I got the invite with costume details while on a Spoolette shopping trip to Goldhawk Road and was rather disappointed to discover I wasn’t going to have the chance to drape myself in Oriental silks (the mystery was set in China), but I had just bought some calico for muslins/toiling.

I made the long shorts using my self-drafted/traced pj pattern, adding a few extra inches of ease all around. Luckily it was winter and I had to wear tights underneath, as the calico was a little too see-through to wear in public. I found some home-decor weight fabric (a remnant I got thinking I’d use it to make tote bags) that was just big enough to fit the By Hand London Victoria blazer on. I lined it with scraps of rusty red and leopard print I had (I was just a bit too late for Jungle January) since this was fancy dress, but I quite like the mix-and-match lining.

The first Victoria blazer I made fitted amazingly in the stretch twill I used, but it was lucky I made this “wearable muslin” as this stable fabric was a touch too snug around the arms. Wearable for an evening, but good to know for a future everyday version.

No Australian outfit would be complete without a cork hat. I joked that as a non-drinker I should use milk bottle tops instead of corks, but then I found these cut little wooden spools! I borrowed a hat from a friend and sewed them in place, but they got very tangled during wearing. Strewth! Finally I used a scrap of faux fur to make a moustache (not pictured here) to complete my outfit.

Aubergine Corduroy Hummingbird skirt

This skirt has taken ages to appear on the blog.

The fabric was bought over a year ago at the Peter Jenson sample sale, but because I had so much of it, I wasn’t desperate to sew with it. Then in the summer I got the Cake Hummingbird pattern and thought the cord would make a great skirt. I cut the fabric in the summer but couldn’t find a zip that was anywhere close to the colour. So it sat untouched until the autumn, when I found a brown invisible zip that blended in okay, but by this time I had lots of other projects on the go and was busy moving house. Then in the Christmas holidays I remembered I had a skirt cut and ready to sew, and it was really quick to put together.

A month later and the weather, time and laundry have finally coincided for me to be able to take some decent slightly better photos!

This is my second Hummingbird skirt (the first is a black twill that is worn all the time, but is too dark to get decent indoor winter photos) and the construction was really straightforward. As with all Cake patterns, it is really easy to get a good fit just by following the steps in the pattern. This time I added the tail flounce which was a little trickier as there was a long bias edge to work with. The flounce is really fun and allows a lot of movement in an otherwise fitted skirt.

The colour is very aubergine and as much as I love it, I’m finding it tricky to pair with other garments, especially in winter darkness when I’m getting dressed. I wasn’t sure if it would be too much purple to wear with my new cardigan, but when I had some fabric in my bag (to send to Gillian so we could be twins) someone said they looked nice together. What do you think?

I lined the pockets with leftover hot air balloon fabric for a fun surprise. The skirt isn’t lined which is a bit of a problem when wearing winter tights, so I made a wearable muslin of a half-slip to wear underneath. I made the slip from some old lining fabric but I have some Valentino silk I picked up at a swap ready for the real thing.