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A Claudia tribute outfit – the black silk shirt

Earlier this week I talked about my inspiration and goals for this project, as well as taking a deep dive into the making of the cape, and today’s it’s time to talk about the shirt!

The shirt was the garment I could see the least details of in any of the reference photos or sketches, so it actually meant that I gave myself the most room to make what I wanted here, and one that I would want to wear again and again! I already had some beautiful textured black silk in my stash for a number of years, so it seemed the perfect opportunity to put that to good use.

Whenever I need a woven, button-down shirt these days, I tend to reach for the “Saraste” pattern from Named’s first book, “Breaking the Pattern”. I’ve made the dress version twice now, and the swing top once (with another planned), but I’d somehow not made the classic long sleeved shirt yet. One nice detail I love about the sleeve pattern is that they’ve shifted the long seam so that it falls at the side of the arm rather than the underarm. It means you can just fold the seam allowances under rather than faff around with sewing a full sleeve placket, making it much quicker to sew.

A Claudia tribute outfit – inspiration & finished set

It’s been years since I’ve had a reason to sew something for Halloween. I’m pretty sure the last time was when I made the badger and fox suits for J and myself, and that was 6 years ago. So when I found out we’d be in Cornwall over Halloween AND there was a local outdoor fancy dress party, I started plotting. And when a friend said she’d be hosting a vampire party on Halloween weekend, I really got down to some serious planning.

You’ll already be aware from my tribute teeshirts how much I adore the recent “Interview with the Vampire” tv show (Brits, it’s on iPlayer now!), so my immediate thought was to try and recreate one of the vintage costumes from it. The first season takes place from 1910-1940 but the main female character, Claudia, is introduced in the 4th episode and spans 1920-1940. Unfortunately, for a good portion of that she’s dressed pretty juvenile, so those early outfits really didn’t appeal.

A fun knit bat dress

I’ve done a bit of impulse fabric shopping while I’ve been stuck in bed (no jury would convict), but the one that’s had the shortest stay in my stash has been this bat print jersey. I saw it on a few Instagram accounts but then ended up buying some when it was nearly sold out everywhere! It’s Art Gallery Fabrics “Winging It” (95% cotton 5% elastane), and I bought my 1.9m remnant from Sew Sew Sew for £27 total (now sold out pretty much everywhere!).

The fabric is super soft with great stretch and recovery, but has some white show-through when stretched. It’s also a dark grey rather than a black so it looks a bit washed out even brand new…

I decided to pair it with the Named Tuuli (bodysuit and dress) pattern which I bought a few years ago, possibly in one of their great advent calendar sales(?) but never quite got around to sewing. IMHO this is a criminally overlooked pattern and such a wonderfully flattering winter knit dress!

Sage green Aina trousers

In amongst the absolute frenzy of pattern sample sewing (the trisuit pattern is with testers now, for an estimated mid-June release!), I managed to squeeze in a small amount of Non-Work Sewing! Woohoo!

I’ve been wanting to sew the Named Aina trousers ever since they were released – I’m pretty sure I even bought the pattern on release day! I love that they appear to be a standard jean-like trouser from the front, but in the back they’ve got a half-elastic waist and tabs that extend around from the front to snaps. It means they still look like normal trousers, but have some elevated details.

Another golden Saraste shirtdress

When I first made the Saraste pattern from Named’s “Breaking the Pattern” book back in 2019, I had no idea how much I’d enjoy wearing it. I don’t usually wear casual dresses, to be honest, let alone ones with such a long hemline or that button up so modestly. But it turns out that I really enjoy wearing it – so much so that I wanted another dress (remember that I also made the top version last summer)!

So when I saw this beautiful rayon at Like Sew Amazing with its shades of yellow, blue, green, and white abstract flowers, I knew it’d be perfect for another shirtdress (as an aside, this was marked as “deadstock” at LSA but it’s also for sale at Textile Express so I don’t know if their supplier is stretching the truth or what??).

A monochrome striped Ruska tee

It appears I’m on a bit of a monochrome sewing kick at the moment, but this one was made more for frugal reasons that for any particular colour inspiration. You see, after I’d sewn the Joan wiggle dress I ended up with some oddly shaped remnants of the textured, black and white striped ponte from Like Sew Amazing (now sold out) that I’d used for the bodice. I looked at the pieces and though “I bet I could squeeze a tee out of that!”. As my stash shelving is quite full at the moment, I figure it was better off in my wardrobe than in my stash!

My Monochrome Birthday Rauha Tee

Today is my 43rd birthday!! (And THIRD pandemic birthday…)

I originally thought that this tee would be a practice garment for the dress version of the Named Rauha tee/dress, but after a bit of a fail in terms of both fabric/pattern and body/pattern suitability on the dress, I have upgraded this stash fabric tee to be my birthday make for this year, because I love it! And seriously, is anything more 2022 than making the best of a disappointment and pivoting to something better??

An ochre Named Saraste Top

For once I’ve actually coordinated my sewing with the weather! Though, like most of my makes, this had a rather long lead time… I actually bought this 1.5m of Atelier Brunette “Shade Ochre” viscose fabric from Lamazi Fabrics last summer but didn’t quite work out which pattern to pair with it until recently, when I decided I wanted to try another variation of the Saraste shirt/dress/top from the first Named book, “Breaking the Pattern”.

A chambray Luova tunic dress

I will readily admit that I don’t pre-order many books. But I absolutely pre-ordered the Named Patterns new “Building the Pattern” book as soon as I could! I mean, why wouldn’t I after making so many patterns from their first book (and a few more planned, too!)?! The focus on this book is fitting alterations so there are TONS of diagrams and instructions and advice on getting a great fit even before you get to the patterns in the book (which can either be traced from the sheets in the book, or downloaded in A4/AO formats from their website).

The Luova pattern comes in three styles: a blouse, tunic, or dress, with two different collars and three different sleeves to choose from. The tunic (a short dress, really) stood out to me and I thought that perhaps I’d be able to make it from a 1.5m remnant of stonewashed denim from Fabrics Galore I’d recently bought. I got it thinking I’d use it to make another pair of jeans but it’s in no way what I’d consider a “denim”, btw – it’s far lighter than jeans and what I’d call a chambray, suitable for shirts or dresses. So it seemed perfect for this tunic!