After several interruptions to my sewing I have now completed the “sailing” outfit. I decided to make the dress in two parts so that I can wear each piece separately with other co-ordinates from my wardrobe. I made the 4-gore circular skirt using the skirt section of McCalls 6438. I used a plain white cotton for the in-seam pockets to avoid any show-through of the print on the fabric and made a separate elasticated waistband.

As the fabric was 60″ wide I have sufficient fabric to make two co-ordinating blouses. The first is the sailor-collared version from Simplicity 8620 and the second (yet to be completed) will be my version of the princess-seamed McCalls 2797 with the added shawl collar from McCalls 6438 known in my sewing room as a “Loralie” blouse as I first made this adaptation using Loralie printed fabric.

The sailor-collar blouse has turned out well. I added to the length and gave a shirt-tail shaped hemline so that I can wear the blouse over Blue, Red or White cut-off trousers. The collar has been top stitched with a triple stitch in Red thread and the buttons are also Red. When worn with the skirt I shall finish the outfit with a wide elasticated belt also in Red (as shown in the Jubilee Cherries dress). Now I just need to sort out some shoes to complete the ensemble!