The Facts
Fabric: about 1 metre of wool (or acrylic?) blend woven stuff from my stash – I’m going with ‘free’ as it was a remnant from something else I made a few years ago. And about half a metre of red lining, also leftover from another project.
Pattern: McCall 804
Year: 1940
Notions: none
Time to complete: 4 hours
First worn: to visit the in-laws, then shopping for baby stuff
Bump: 25 weeks
Wear again? yep!
Total cost: free! Yay!
Ok, I admit it – I’m rather late with this 1940′s creation! I started in it time, but the preggy exhaustion kicked in again so delayed it’s completion by a week unfortunately. But hey, here it is, all ready to wear!
This is the second time I’ve made up this little pattern – the first time was pretty much exactly a year ago, where I made my Bookclub Bolero for the Sew Weekly ‘Embellish This’ challenge in 2011. I like this little pattern – it comes together nicely, and has some of those lovely 1940′s details such as the four darts in the sleeve head to make a nice fit with defined shoulders.
I lined this one fully with some red lining from my stash. I love how it gives it a ‘pop’ of colour when I take the bolero on or off. Gotta love those splashes of colour! I must admit to having ignored the ‘how to attach the lining’ instructions though – the pattern called for slip-stitching the entire lining to the facing. I say, screw that. And bagged it out instead, which meant I only had to slip-stitch the gap that I left to turn it all in the right way after sewing it together. Far easier, far faster, and far tidier than my (somewhat messy) hand sewing would ever be.
And the best part? This fits well over preggy clothes, as an alternative to cardigans. Yay! It’ll be getting a fair bit of wear over the next few months.
