Did you have the kind of mother who dressed you up in coordinating outfits when you were little? You know, something with a top and bottom that matched? My mom did. Sometimes she even matched my sister and I together. Thankfully, we aren’t twins. It seems for whatever reason people think twins need to match all the time. Anyway, I have managed to block the child outfit matching days out of my mind. That is until my mother decides to clean out her basement and manages to find a few horrific photos proving it really happened. Now, coordinating outfits have come a long way since I was little, and they are very trendy right now. At first glance, this blue stripe coordinating outfit looks like a dress, but actually, it’s a shirt and skirt.
Fabric – Blue Stripe Coordinating Outfit
Once upon a time, this fabric was used as a set of curtains according to the previous owner. I found it at garage sale. It was love at first sight. I loved the colors and the extra-large stripe pattern. Come on, who doesn’t love stripes?
I think the fabric is silk. I’m not exactly sure but it is definitely nice, expensive I’m guessing, fabric. It was one long panel and had been stitched together in two places. I think this was made by someone who specializes in curtains. The seams were impeccable and stripes matched perfectly. It sat in my fabric stash for a long time. Initially, I wanted to make a pair of wide leg trousers similar to the wool hounds tooth pants I recently made. You can read about it below.
Sewing Pants and Why I Avoided Making Them for so Long
As you can guess by the title of the pants, post I don’t make a lot of pants. However, it turned out I didn’t have enough fabric. I wanted to be sure the stripes matched up and there just wasn’t enough. So, I decided on an a-line skirt and shirt.
When it came time to make the outfit, I realized the fabric was dirty and needed to be washed. I thought about taking it to the dry cleaners, but imagined it would cost a fortune to clean. So, I searched on line to see if silk can be washed at home. According to multiple websites, you can wash silk in your washing machine on the gentle cycle with Woolite.
Sigh… I wish this story had a happy ending. Turns out whatever material this fabric is, it should not go in your washing machine. Now, to most people, you would never be able to tell something is wrong with the fabric. I’m probably the only per who can see what happened. Originally the fabric has a beautiful sheen. Now it looks slightly dull and the fibers appear to be damaged. Oh well, you win some you lose some. It didn’t stop me from making the outfit anyway and think it turned out great.
Pattern – Blue Stripe Coordinating Outfit
For the skirt, I used McCalls pattern 3341 and chose option D. It came together relatively quickly and I didn’t have too hard of a time matching the stripes. I think it’s because it pattern is so large. I didn’t have too many stripes to match.
The shirt was a little more challenging only because of the stripes. I used the reissued vintage Simplicity pattern 1364 . I love this pattern. It’s incredibly versatile and you change the look of it in so many ways. I have made it twice already. You can read about it below.
Statement Sleeves – You Can Never Have too Many
There is a large dart on either side of the front of the shirt and all of a sudden, my desire to have all the stripes match came to a screeching halt. However, the more I thought about it, I figured even though the stripes won’t match up, as long the match each other I’d be fine with it. The other issue I had to deal with was matching the stripes in the back. The shirt has an 18″ zipper in the back. After inserting the invisible zipper more than once I was finally able to match them up. All in all, I really liked the way it turned out.
Thanks for reading! I hope you are off to a great week!