The Strawberry Fields outfit

For Christmas, I gave my friend Kiwi what I named the ‘Strawberry Fields’ outfit.

Kiwi has commented several times about how she loves some of my outfits, especially the number of skirt I wear. My clothing is not overly ‘out there,’ but she has also commented that I wear things and combinations that she would never think of putting together. 

So, for Christmas, I made her an outfit that is something I would wear. 

The inspiration for this outfit was a old nightgown I found at an op shop, which had a cute strawberry motif. It was one of those full length, long sleeve numbers that in my opinion is totally hideous. (And, for anyone who sleeps as violently as me, pointless. They end up with most of the fabric bunched uncomfortably around my waist by the time I wake up.)

But, the pattern of the fabric was really cute.

So, I took the night gown apart, and used a pattern I based on this skirt:

It’s really simple. You have a three pattern pieces: a waistband, a triangle, and a rectangle that is slightly wider at the bottom than the top (a trapeze, I guess). You cut one of the waist bands (like my roll top hem skirts), and eight each of the rectangle and triangles.

Once everything is cut, you simply sew a rectangle and triangle together, matching the bottom seam. 

Then, you sew these pieces together, again matching bottom seams.

Lastly, attach the skirt to the waistband. The skirt should be slightly wider than the waistband (wide enough to fit over your hips), so you need to stretch the waistband slightly as you sew in order to make the two fit each other.

And, you’re done :)

The waist band I used was the lower half of a long sleeved top the same colour of the strawberries. It was one of those ones that had lace detailing and buttons to about the bust line. So, I carefully used a rolled hem stitch to finish the edge of, shortened the sleeves slightly to a 3/4 ish length, and I had a cardigan.

Lastly, I found an olive tank top at an op shop. I had diamantes on it already, and inspired by the packet of diamantes I had bought, and the super glue in front of me, I decided to add a strawberry to the top.

  

I placed the diamantes in the shape I wanted, and set about gluing them down. I soon learned the easiest way to do this was to get two wooden skewers. Using one to move the diamantes, I would move one out of the way, and then use the second skewer to put a dab of super glue in its place. I would then move the diamante back into place, and press it into the dab of super glue using the blunt end of the skewer.

Put together, we have the ‘Strawberry Fields’ outfit.