The thing with treasure hunting for anything is it's always a game of roulette! Sometimes you score and you score big! Sometimes you come home with nothing but tired feet and a headache!
I have shopped in charity and vintage shops just about my whole life and I made the decision to either make or thrift my wardrobe a very long time ago. One of my favourite ever finds was a vintage Liberty print Tana Lawn maxi skirt that someone had lovingly made in the 1970's. The waist was minuscule and the zip was broken so I had to really think about paying the extortionate price of £1.75 for it!
I decided to create an elasticated waistband so that I could wear it and that was about 10 years ago now. I have loved that skirt, and worn it endlessly but now it's starting to rip in places and I decided that I really should make myself a new one.
When I looked at DIY patterns for gathered skirts with tiers, they all followed the same formula which to my mind, looks a bit stingy in terms of volume! My skirt is voluminous and swishy and voluptuous ~ perfect for Summer days and nights. Comfortable and glamorous at the same time and super easy to wear which is a win win win as far as I'm concerned.
I love my skirt so much, I thought I should share the pattern with anyone who wants their own vintage inspired gathered skirt. And because I love vintage dressmaking guides, especially the ones from the 1920's to the 1940's, I decided to come up with my own version for modern dressmakers. So here's The Calypso Skirt Sewing Guide!
Included in the downloadable PDF sewing guide are detailed instructions to cut out and sew your very own skirt and there's also a sew-along over on my Youtube channel if you'd like more support whilst you're sewing , or would simply like to sew-along with me!
I chose to make my first version (there's bound to be a second, third, fourth...) in beautiful cotton lawn with parasols on in a blue colourway which I got from my favourite local haberdashers, Jacobs. Other than that, you only need some matching thread and elastic for the waist. It's a quick and simple make for a confident beginner and I made my mine in under 2 hours.
I'd love to make another McCall's M7900 in the same parasol Lawn to go with my Calypso skirt (for more on this perfect Summer top read here) and then you can wear them together as a sort of dress or separately which is something I love to do as it extends your wardrobe and gives you lots of different looks.
This skirt made me think of Summer evenings dancing along to fabulous music with somebody you find very va va voom, and what music could be more Summery than Calypso music? Hence the name!
You can buy your own Calypso Skirt sewing guide here and I hope you love this skirt as much as I do! Please let me know and share your makes over on Tara's Sewing Circle which you can join over on my Tara Deighton Atelier page on Facebook.
I hope you're enjoying the fresh air while you can and keeping safe and well!
Tara x