· Working Girl ·

Dress for the job you want.  That's the saying, right?

When I decided to transition away from doing entreprenurial/creative work as my main source of income, I knew that a predictable office job would fill the deficiencies I felt.  Something entirely unrelated to sewing has freed me up to pursue personal work and a few select customer projects without feeling extra pressure.  It's been a win-win so far, and I'm so glad I took this step!

Of course, what would the point of this blog be if I didn't have clothes on the brain while coming to this decision?? As you can tell from my Film Fashions series, I've been crushing on vintage secretarial clothes for well over a year now and I'm so excited to have an excuse to "need" them!

My work place is sadly not in this epic Art Deco beauty (love, love, LOVE it!!), and my office's dress code is rather casual, but that's no reason why I can't get excited about fulfilling my own fantasies of working as a secretary in a 1930s private detective's office or a 1950s department store.  My workplace's dress code allows for lots of lee-way, so I'm still able to dress for my fantasy job. ;-)

Years ago, I purchased as much of this herringbone rayon as the store had- which was not much.  I've been hoarding it ever since and trying to decide on the perfect use.  You know, like I always do with fabric, haha!

I had a test-run of this pattern with my red wool 1930s dress a couple years ago and I knew this would be the perfect fit!  Re-capping from my dress post, this pattern is from Mrs. Depew and it's a 1930s French pattern drafting system style pattern.  I've had sort of mixed success with this style of pattern- I mean, they always turn out looking like the illustration, but I never can tell how much major re-engineering of the pattern was required to get it to that point! ;-)  In short, it can be a fun challenge but must always be viewed from that angle- no quick and easy project here!

The fabric is so lusciously drape-y and perfect for this blouse!  I wish I could find this fabric in tons of colors!

The fact that I decided to make a skirt from the same pattern (McCalls 6993) I used for the aforementioned dress made for a funny coincidence!  I really adore the seaming on this pattern and we had just enough of this rust wool suiting left from a different project to make a skirt!  Bonus- stash busting!

This pattern has rather odd views of how to achieve a high-waisted skirt, however.  I'm not really sure how to accomplish that, but I'm pretty sure this wasn't the best way. ;-)  I was hoping this waist area would be less of an issue over time, but it seems to keep having issues- sigh. :-P

Hem lace- I feel like such a noob to have taken so long to appreciate the wonder of it!  Way back when I made the copy-cat dress, I was in a quandry as to how best to achieve a truly invisible hem.  Answer: hem lace.  WHY was I so resistant for so long??  Say hello to my newest friend and closest ally!  I'll definitely be making up for lost time now!  This is going on EVERY project from here on out!

Back view! Hand-picked zipper! Let's look at anything other than the fact that, goodness gracious, this poor skirt is crying out for an iron! ;-)

Here's to more vintage secretary-inspired makes!

· photos by the ever wonderful Kathryn! ·