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A Very Cherrieful Outfit

I’ve finally finished the last of my summer sewing projects this weekend. This particular project, had been setting on my sewing table since sadly late August is this adorable “Cherrieful Outfit” as I’m calling it.

The idea behind this outfit came from this navy fabric I bought. It had little cherries embodied all over it. I found it at an antique store, where I usually buy all my fabric. There wasn’t much fabric there but just enough I figured I could make a quick gathered skirt.

Inspiration came from this cherrie fabric
Inspiration came from this cherrie fabric

To make the skirt I basically followed the tutorial from Gertie’s New Blog for Better Sewing. Since I had limited fabric to work with I thought I would use a contrasting fabric for the waistband and hem.

I dug through my fabric stash and decided to use some red gingham fabric. I also decided to make an elastic waistband for this skirt since, I hadn’t made an elastic waistband before, and I just so happen to have some elastic in my stash.

Trim of the skirt with contrasting gingham fabric
Trim of the skirt with contrasting gingham fabric

The skirt took no time at all, but then I started thinking what would I wear with this skirt. Since I had a bit of red gingham fabric left over, I thought I’d make a matching shirt to go with it.

I was so happy with how my Ice Cream Social shirt came out that I decided to use Simplicity pattern 2215 again.

The pattern doesn’t take much fabric, in fact I just enough for the shirt. However, I did run out of fabric for the button bands (I forget the technical term). Anyways, I put the shirt on hold until I could think of something to do. At first I was just going to a white or red fabric to finish this part off. Then, while at Joann’s fabric, my hubby suggested I use some fun cotton lace instead.

At first I wondered if this would be too childish and girly, and then he reminded me that I was childish and girly. So, with that comment I thought what the heck, let’s try it.

I absolutely love how the shirt turned out. I used a cotton lace with little hearts for the finishing of the sleeves and on the button bands. The lace itself wasn’t quite wide enough for the band, so I sewed it to double wide bias tape then folded the tape over the edge. I might make a tutorial about this later, since it worked out really well.

Close up of the cotton lace on the shirt.
Close up of the cotton lace on the shirt.

The idea to use bias tape to start with came from an article on Lucky Lucile, which describes using it on the hem of button down shirts.

This has got to be without the doubt the best-fitted button down shirt I own. It was as if it was made for me, oh wait.

Me posing in my new Cherrieful outfit.
Me posing in my new Cherrieful outfit.

Once I got the shirt done and put the out fit together I was like “I’m adorable”, but wait I’m missing something. I went back to my scraps and discovered I had just enough bits of the red gingham material to make matching bows for each side of my head.

Matching bows for my outfit
Matching bows for my outfit

All put together I decided to take some photos with my new favorite outfit. I also was brave enough to wear my matching red gingham shoes, which I just happen to have. My hubby loves these shoes and bought them for me. I don’t usually wear them because I have a thing about seeing people’s toes, and I personally don’t like mine. But I had to wear them; they matched this outfit too perfectly.

My Cherrieful Outfit with accessories
My Cherrieful Outfit with accessories

I absolutely love this outfit, sadly though I hear cold weather is about to set in so I probably wont’ get to wear this outfit again until next spring, but I love it!

Cherrieful Outfit twirl
Cherrieful Outfit twirl

What are your thoughts on my Cherrieful outfit? Have you embellished anything with cotton lace?

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Akram Taghavi-Burris

designer, writer, educator, tech nerd, crafter, baker, sewer and vintage collector, who Brings Creative & Crazy Ides to Life.

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