In The Beginning It started with a coat....
The Coat that was to be The Hero piece but sadly wasn't...
The Disaster
Four days before Lift Off (flight to the United Kingdom) I was feeling excited about this coat. A jacket pattern I had wanted to make for some time. I loved this beautiful cashmere wool. I had a fur collar ready to go with this coat. I tried it on and the honeymoon was over. There is no way I could have seriously believed I could travel 24 hours on a plane with this coat. We parted quickly i.e. It was thrown in the air and the scramble was on to find a likely replacement candidate for the hero role!
The New Beginning
Oh Vogue 1263 Donna Karan Collection Vogue American Designer...You know what you are talking about!! My hero was decided. A bit of pressure but a deadline nonetheless. All I need is a deadline ... to deliver the goods. So much sewing and so (sew) little time :-( Three days but who's counting!
The Patterns
My New Hero! Boy did you deliver when the going got tough!!
The Sewing Injury
It is such a funny feeling to have your right pointer finger stuck inside the sewing machine at 1 am in the morning. There is no time for these shenanigans!! No time at all. No blood! Yippee!! Sewing machine now decides it is out of alignment. After a few stern words with the troublesome pointer finger and a bit of manual adjustment the sewing is back on track!! One more hour of sewing and then time for sleep.
The choice of patterns
I love trying new patterns. In case of an emergency and the need for a full travel wardrobe in three days ...my old faithful patterns are the ones I turn to. Dependable and no fitting issues. A secret to remember if ever you are in "need for speed!" On the Pattern Review webpageI record the patterns that I use time and time again in the one review.
The following photos show the mix and match Wardrobe
Vogue 1263 The Hero
I love this cape!! Burda 7313
The quick pack
Sewing took a lot more time than I thought!
I used all my creative thoughts getting this wardrobe to work.
I made sure I quickly took some photos of the outfits and the combinations before packing them.
I really could not work out what top to wear on the flight. My daughter came to the rescue.
We made the flight..not much time to spare
My son not only drove us to the airport he gave he gave me some thermal wear that made it possible for me to be warm in my wardrobe.
We had one suitcase between the two of us and hand luggage. We purchased another suitcase overseas for the fabric purchases I was bringing home. We almost took the wrong suitcase at the luggage carousel. Yes it would have been the fabric suitcase we would have lost...but didn't.
I did bring a few other items to wear that I didn't make. The black pants were RTW and were in a stretch fabric. The black jumper was a thermal knit purchased. My orange geometric skirt was from my existing memade wardrobe that I threw in the suitcase for a bit of variety! My Orange infinity scarf was a remnant piece of wool jersey that I just sewed with one seam. No neatening of seams necessary. (1.0 metre x 1.50 metre)
I took one pair of boots, I pair of lace up brogues and 1 pair of flat summer sandals for the whole holiday. I won't mention who broke these sandals on the second last day of the holiday. I was able to replace them within fifteen minutes in Dubai - the shopping Mecca! Coordinated Colored stockings were also packed and easy to launder.
Scarves and a few purchases from a thrift store meant I had a few extra items to take home. One of the best coat experiences was when Thomas (@sewingdude) presented me with a coat he designed, drafted and sewed himself two years earlier. Um guess what?? It fitted perfectly and it was mine to keep. What an incredible experience.
The camel hair/wool coat needed to be casually thrown over my arm and taken on board. If they had weighed that coat...
The lime stretch dress was so comfortable to wear on the flight home. The dress was splattered with a glass of red wine during the flight! No one to blame here:-) Good thing I had that camel coat to position over the front of the dress when we arrived in Melbourne.
We had a fabulous trip. The wardrobe worked well for me. I felt appropriate and very comfortable in everything i took in my luggage. I didn't feel the need to kiss the footpath on arrival in Melbourne....but I did anyway! I was so relaxed and happy to be home I tripped on a speed hump and landed gracefully flat in the middle of the road. Thankfully two women rushed to help me. No cuts no bruises and once I was up again, I was chasing Bruce who missed the whole incident and...a great photo opportunity!!
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