I really like handkerchief skirts and bolero jackets and in this case I also like the combination of both very much. It is a classic gothic costume with this dark roses fabric and the ruffles :-)

Photos: Faust (2017)
Jewellery: Sandra

* back *

The beautiful patterns are from F.I.M.I. (Winter 2006) and they are presented as a combination in one of the pictures. I liked it immediately!

Although I did not change anything on the patterns of the bolero and the skirt (except that I skipped making a waistband for the skirt), I had some real trouble with the bolero jacket.
The ruffles took a huge amont of time to pin in place and I trimmed each seam allowance with a single or double folded bias trim. And when I finally finished it…. I was not as happy as I should have been.
The bolero jacket was very tight, the sleeves were a bit too short and the buttons were above my breast, which looked a bit funny when it was closed because the bottom edges were sticking out a bit awkwardly.

So the perfectionist in me decided to start again… from the beginning. The fabric remains from my Mourning Robe were quit enough for a second bolero jacket.
I went through the whole pinning-up-the-ruffles-thing again and finally got the second jacket done, with longer neater sleeves, smaller decent ruffles and buttons below my breasts and the collar had round edges now. Perfect, right?

Nope. When I put on the two bolero jackets and compared them… I liked the first one better!
How is that possible? I made all the things I did not like about the first one BETTER on the second one! How can I like the first one more?
I really do not know. Now I have two bolero jackets and can decide which one to wear with the skirt. Maybe one day I will sell one of them, I do not know which ;-)

Because I had that selling thought when starting the second jacket, I counted the time I needed to complete it. Just a tiny experiment ;-)
I knew what I was doing because I started right after finishing the first jacket, so I thought I would be quicker. Well… I needed 23 hours. That is a lot of work for such a “tiny project”.
From now on this is my example when people ask me why I do not make a living out of my sewing abilities.
Nobody would pay a price worth so much time plus the materials.
That is it.
I am sewing just for fun, for myself and the people I love :-)

Completed: 2017

Status: still in my Klamottenkiste with both of the jackets

I wore the skirt with the version 1 jacket at Christmas 2017 on the first time.