Bonus Bolero (Plus Skirt!)

Here it is! The bolero suit ensemble! (Note: you must pronounce "ensemble" in the French manner: Ahn-SAHM. Try to look very sophisticated while you say it.) I paired the Ahn-SAHM with a vintage sweater guard and my pink portrait blouse. I would love to show you more detailed shots of these pieces, but this is what I could get as I was running out the door this morning. (Don't you just hate it when life interferes with your sewing and blogging?)

The bolero is the bonus variation from Vogue's New Book for Better Sewing, which is view C of vintage Vogue 7259. I had to draft the front piece on my own since it was missing from my pattern. It went pretty well, if I do say so myself. I decided to make the sleeves elbow length, which I thought was the perfect compromise between what VONBBS wanted (short sleeves) and what Doris wanted (LONG sleeves!).

The skirt is Vogue 8603, and I am IN LOVE. I will definitely be making this again, probably in black stretch suiting, with about two inches added to the hem. It falls just above my knee as is, and I prefer a just below the knee length. Here's the back view:

Take that, hip ruching!

Anyway, I can add more pictures later if you're interested in some detail shots. I must say that I'm quite proud of this little ensemble!

(Oops. I mean this little Ahn-SAHM, of course.)

Presenting el Bolero!

Ta-da! Here she is, my sixth completed project from Vogue's New Book for Better Sewing. This is the "cropped, cutaway bolero" worn with my "slim, supple skirt."

VoNBBS encouraged me that I would "learn a lot making a little bolero," and I feel like I certainly expanded my horizons with this one. This is definitely not the sort of thing I would usually make, and I'm not sure I would have ever sewn with velvet if not at VoNBBS's urging.

One of the most versatile of the versatile separates is the bolero. We made it
in black velveteen. Teamed with a wide or narrow skirt, it adds up to a smart
suit. In the evening, it transforms a bare sheath into a covered-up
jacket-dress. It should take about 7 hours to complete. After you have made it,
you will add lining a jacket to the edge and setting-in a sleeve to your sewing
talents. - VONBBS

The only areas where I got tripped up were setting in the sleeve and pressing the velvet. On my first sleeve, I tried to get all couture (read: complicated) by pin-easing the sleeve cap, then hand basting, then machine basting, and then machine stitching. (Whew!) It didn't ease perfectly, and so on my second sleeve, I went the usual route of gathering the sleeve cap with two rows of long stitches, then machine basting, and then stitching. It went in like a dream. Keep it simple, stupid!


As for working with velvet: it's tricky, basically. I read an article in a recent Threads magazine that helped me a lot. But I feel like VoNBBS led me a little astray by telling me to baste the edges of the bolero so the lining wouldn't "scoot over to the outside." And then, right before the final pressing, the book directed me to gradually remove the bastings as I was pressing.

So I probably should have done this basting by hand, but I was lazy and did it by machine. This left permanent needle holes in the velvet. Waaah. I tried some agressive steaming to get them out, and then just succeeded in warping the curve of the bolero. I feel a better technique would have been understitching the lining by hand. Ah well. You live, you learn.

Also, I have new shoes to console myself.

Next I'll be moving on to a "bonus project" in VoNBBS: a short-sleeved version of this bolero with lapels in a plum-colored gabardine!