Yet another skirt

After over two years of fairly frequent wear, my sort-of-bouclé skirt is looking a bit tired.  It's fine for lounging around the house, less so for being seen in public, so it was time to buy another remnant and make a replacement. There's not a lot to say about it, really. It's made from the same self-drafted pattern as all my other skirts. The black and white wool mix fabric will go with anything, but is far more 'me' than wearing black.

Perfect for teaming with this rarely-worn blouse

A couple of weeks ago I read this article, all about using the clothes which you already have rather than buying more. Most of my clothes nowadays come from either remnants or my apparently bottomless fabric stash, but nonetheless I liked the idea. So here the skirt is paired with a blouse which I've had for ages. It was a present from Mr Tulip, and well over a decade old. It's a beautiful, soft, garnet-coloured silk, and I've always kept it for 'best'. However it finally dawned on me that I no longer have a lifestyle which requires fancy clothes for going out, so I've decided start wearing the blouse regularly, and get some enjoyment from it. Plus, it goes perfectly with these shoes, which were a recent gift from my friend F.

The weather turned colder this week, which means that I can finally start wearing this fabulous 1940s cardigan from Crafty Elsie.

It works with a 1940s cardigan as well

I met her at the Howarth 1940s weekend, where she had a stall. Bought knitwear is always too long in the bodice on me, and while I am learning to knit, it's a slow process - both the learning and the actual knitting. Happily for me, she takes commissions. She has a huge collection of vintage knitting patterns to choose from, but I saw this cardigan made up on her stall, and loved it. As you can see, she made a perfect job of altering the pattern to fit me. The only problem was that it's toasty-warm to wear, so when it arrived in the summer it had to be put aside. It was well worth the wait, though. We met up again at Morecambe, and compared notes on our respective button stashes! The buttons she chose for the cardigan are just stunning.

Two-tone buttons in green

I did (ahem) somehow manage to buy a second wool mix remnant, so another skirt is in the offing at some point!