Leather weather

“Summer time… and the leather is easy” according to the famous song by Ella Fitzgerald (OK, I might have altered a word for my own purposes there). Anyway, it actually is easy to wear leather in hot weather … when it’s not really leather. After making this skirt from a hideous opshop dress in fabulous oilskin-like fabric, I had the top part of the dress left over to fiddle with. This is what I came up with…

… and this is how I did it: I cut the sleeves short (I still have the lower part of the sleeve to fiddle with!), completely unpicked the side seams and resewed them so that the top was a fair bit smaller and more fitted. Then I rolled the sleeve edges up for a more casual sort of effect and hand sewed them in place.

I removed the original buttons and replaced only the lower ones with press studs, crossing the top over diagonally so it would fit smaller around the waist. Leaving the top of the neckline open also creates the illusion of a smaller waist which is helpful in that I am pretty much straight up and down so need to resort to visual trickery when I want to flaunt a more (admittedly, stereotypical) feminine figure.

And then I tried to get some decent shots of it on the very small balcony where I am currently catsitting… not the easiest task, but I think you get the gist!

I quite like the top and the skirt as separates but they work well together too. Compare the before and after shots and I think you’ll see what I mean!