SHANNON'Sdresses

1940ssuit

June 2010

This suit was made from Vintage Vogue pattern #1019 out of 100% wool brown tartan - that I'm pretty sure I actually used for a picnic blanket once. I mistakenly made the skirt a size too small, so it doesn't actually quite fit round me, but that's ok, because I learnt from this and made the jacket in the right size and it's fine. I wasn't overly confident about how this suit would turn out, as I had never made a suit jacket before, but it turned out pretty well. I didn't, however, include any facing fabric, because in my uncertainty I didn't want to waste the time or the money, but in retrospect it probably would have made the look heaps better. Never mind.

The other problems with the suit are few. For one, the shoulder pads didn't really work how I wanted them to. I'd never inserted shoulder pads into a garment before, so I just followed the instructions, but the shoulders still came out looking relatively rounded. I think I have a fair idea of what I'll do next time though. The other thing, and I have no idea how this happened, is that the lining of the sleeves didn't reach long enough to match up with the hem of the outer sleeve at the wrist, so it remains unnattached.

Pretty happy with this ensemble though. In true WWII fashion I didn't buy any new materials for this suit (in fact I lie - I bought the shoulder pads, even though I could have easily made them myself) and simply made it out of what I already had lying around. Thrifty! Just don't look inside the skirt - the only colour I had enough lining left of was bright emerald green.